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Ketchikan: USCG CUTTER CAPE ROMAIN STILL ON PATROL; Longtime Ketchikan ship still sailing for CA Sea Scouts By DAVE KIFFER - While Ketchikan is all abuzz with the arrival this spring and summer of two brand new 154-foot United States Coast Guard cutters, there are still many local residents who remember the long history of an earlier Cutter, the Cape Romain, which spent more than two decades patrolling the Alexander Archipelago.

During its 26 years in the First City, the Cape Romain took part in just about every major event in the community, according to a 1986 story in the Ketchikan Daily News, 

The Cape Romain was the 20th of the 36 cutters built at the United States Coast Guard Yard in Curtis Bay, Maryland. It entered service on Oct. 11, 1955.

It was a B class cutter meaning that is was slightly larger, at 105 tons, than the A Class cutters that preceded it. The 95-footers, as they were colloquially called, had aluminum superstructures and steel hulls. The 95-footers replaced the 83-foot wooden patrol boats that had been around since before World War II.

Originally, they were designed for anti-submarine warfare, although they all spent their careers primarily as patrol and search and rescue boats. Originally, the ships simply went by their hull numbers, which in the case of the Romain was 95139.  Prior to the early 1960s, coast guard cutters under 100 feet in length were not named, but the law was changed in 1964 and they were named after American geographic capes. Becoming known then as “cape” class cutters.

The Cape Romain was named after Cape Romain in South Carolina, not far from Charleston. Cape Romain - also sometimes called Cape Roman - is a dangerous spit of land that has had lighthouses on it for nearly 200 years because its shoals extend up to nine miles out into the Atlantic Ocean.

The type B Cape Class ships like the Romain were powered initially by four Cummins VT-600 2,200 horsepower diesels, although some were eventually refitted with a pair of Detroit 16V149 diesels that generated 2,470 horsepower. Top speed was 22 knots, but most of the time the ships cruised around 12 knots. At that speed, the Cape Romain had a range of about 1,700 miles. A crew of 15 operated the boat.

Although the ships didn't have anti-submarine duties most were still equipped with depth charge racks. The Type B ships like the Romain also had an 1.40 mm cannon and two .50 caliber machine guns. Later cutters including the Romain also received a grenade launcher retrofit.

Originally, the Cape Romain was stationed at Point Loma, California, according the Cape Class cutter history on the USCG website. She performed law enforcement and search and rescue duties there until 1962 when she was stationed in Ketchikan. She remained in the First City for 23 years. She was then stationed in San Francisco from 1986 to 1990.

Her duties in Ketchikan were mostly search and rescue and the Cape Romain was involved in a variety of high profile crew rescues, in addition to helping to fight several major waterfront fires in the 1960s and 1970s, according the history website.  The Cape Romain was also sent north to help in the aftermath of the Alaskan Earthquake of 1964.

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, there were disputes over the US-Canadian border in Dixon Entrance and the Cape Romain was frequently sent on patrols to monitor Canadian fishing activity which was taking place near Alaskan territory at Cape Chacon and Cape Muzon. - More...
Thursday AM - June 08, 2017

Science: Meals on the go: The physics of whales' eating habits - In a recent paper published in PLOS One, Saint Louis University professor of physics Jean Potvin, Ph.D., and biologist Alexander Werth, Ph.D. at Hampden-Sydney College, detail for the first time how baleen whales use crossflow filtration to separate prey from water without ever coming into contact with the baleen. Baleen are comb-like keratin plates that have replaced the teeth of the whale's ancestors about 30 million years ago and play the role of a filtration surface in their mouths. The researchers looked at how this type of feeding affects a whale's drag as it moves through the water and how this form of filtration is enhanced by a large body size.

Scientists hope that a greater understanding of how these aquatic mammals feed will shed light on how whales have evolved to the enormous sizes seen today. This new knowledge also will aid conservation efforts for whales, most of which are endangered species. 

"As a physicist, I collaborate with biologists and paleontologists," Potvin said. "We study the physics of the various feeding mechanisms used by whales such as the humpback, blue and right whales. One practical aspect of this research is to know how much food they need. For the largest species, the food is krill and copepods. With climate change and human exploitation currently affecting prey availability, scientists wonder how whales will adjust to the possible food shortages or geographical displacements that are likely to arise. Answering how much food whales need to eat, or in other words, how much energy they have to spend throughout the year to catch and digest food, will help answer this question. 

"Blue whales, for example, feed on millions of krill that gather in big patches, in many cases patches that are larger than the whales themselves. This allows whales to grow to enormous sizes. These whales are the largest animals to have ever lived on Earth - they are larger than most dinosaurs. They engulf water and prey, and then filter what they don't need out through the baleen plates. - More...
Thursday AM - June 08, 2017

COLUMNS - COMMENTARY

JEFF LUND: Adventure tolerance - In July, my first set of friends from California will come up and get their week-long slice of Alaska. It’s been fun to see how far we’ve altered the threshold of adventure for a few of them since they first visited. 

“I’m really excited to come up, I don’t even care if we fish,” said Brian a high school teacher and softball coach before he was shown the ways of taking terminal salmon with a snagging hook. 

Fast forward five years and he’s the one checking the tides and recommending we get up at 3:30 a.m. to get on the road and make sure we get to the snagging grounds on time.

His sense of wild has changed. His perception of the amount of adventure he can handle has changed. He craves the outdoors – as long as it’s for about a week, in summer and under my supervision. 

It’s normal to get hooked by the idea of being bolder. Not in that teenage rebellious type way, but in that, me vs. nature sort of way. - More...
Thursday AM - June 08, 2017

DANNY TYREE: How Much Do You Hate Property Taxes? - Many people in my hometown have been freaking out over their property tax appraisals, so it was timely that I discovered a Motley Fool article titled "Why Property Taxes Are The Most Hated Levy In America."

First, a couple of disclaimers. Since I have a child in public school, I have not felt particularly overwhelmed by my own tax bill. And I'm truly appreciative of a conscientious county employee who got two worthless buildings removed from my mother's tax appraisal.

Still, I can see why a survey conducted by Gallup, CNN and USA Today a decade ago declared the property tax to be the most despised tax by more than a two-to-one margin.

It is hard to wrap your mind around the logic of some taxes. Sure, "sin taxes" indulge our Puritanical heritage of discouraging antisocial behaviors.And fuel taxes defray the costs of infrastructure. But income taxes punish us for working and investing. And property taxes punish us for (a) keeping realtors busy or (b) upgrading the appearance of our existing property. - More...
Thursday AM - JUne 08, 2017

SOCIAL SECURITY MATTERS: Social Security Isn't Welfare; Raiding the Social Security Trust Fund; & Government Pension Offset (GPO) & Maximizing Benefits By RUSSELL GLOOR, AMAC Certified Social Security Advisor - Dear Rusty:  I receive Social Security, but I still go in the hole to the tune of about $300 per month!  I hear some people describing Social Security as "welfare" but I resent that description.  Between my employer and me, we pay over 15% of every paycheck to Social Security, so it's not "welfare", it's my hard earned money that I've paid these taxes on for 47 years.  The Government has spent my money instead of investing it to make sure I could retire and not live under a bridge.   I think that they should pay me back plus interest so I can live out my retirement!  Signed:  Disgusted

Dear Disgusted:  You're right that it's your hard earned money that you've contributed to Social Security for many years, and it's certainly not "welfare" by any definition.  I do understand your frustration but I'd like to clarify a couple of things you are concerned about.

You're correct that you and your employer have contributed over 15% of every paycheck to "FICA", but not all of that goes to the Social Security Trust Fund.  The breakdown is that 12.4% goes to the SS Trust Fund, and the rest - 2.9% - goes to help fund Medicare.  The combined 12.4% Social Security contribution is evenly split - 6.2% each by you and your employer.  Of the 6.2% you both contribute, 5.3% goes to the Old Age & Survivors Insurance (OASI) fund from which regular Social Security benefits are paid, and 0.9% goes to the Disability Insurance (DI) fund from which SS disability benefits are paid.  Nevertheless it is, as you say, your money - and your employer's - that goes into these funds. - More....
Thursday AM - June 08, 2017