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Tuesday
July 17, 2012
Northern Lights
As viewed from Saxman, Monday night.
Front Page Photo By CARL THOMPSON ©2012
Ketchikan: News in Photos - A Cessna 185 sunk at Ketchikan Airport today due to high winds. Waves flooded and damaged the floats sinking the plane.
Photograph by
DEREK LINKENHOKER
©2012
Alaska: Alaska Says No to Funding Health Insurance Exchange - Governor Sean Parnell (R-AK) today announced that Alaska will not create a state-run health insurance exchange under the new federal health care law. His announcement came after the State of Alaska completed a study on health insurance exchange planning.
“Allocating state dollars and personnel to design and implement an exchange is the most expensive option,” Governor Parnell said. “It doesn’t make sense to spend Alaskans’ dollars to set up an exchange when so much uncertainty exists about how to implement it and how to gain federal approval. Federally mandated programs should be paid for by federal dollars.”
The federal law requires exchanges to be established by 2014. Other states have also decided not to create an exchange including Ohio, Florida, Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Texas with the list changing daily. - More...
Tuesday - July 17, 2012
Fish Factor: Strong Salmon Run at Bristol Bay, Very Low in Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers By LAINE WELCH - The red salmon catch at Bristol Bay is on its way to 20 million fish and will very likely go higher, due to a strong run of more than 30 million fish. The reds were still surging into the region’s five big rivers and should serve to boost the harvest beyond the forecast of nearly 22 million fish.
With all the salmon fisheries going on every summer all across Alaska, you might wonder why so much attention is focused on Bristol Bay? The answer can be summed up in two words: sockeye salmon.
Bristol Bay’s rivers are home to the largest red salmon runs in the world. Sockeye is by far Alaska’s most valuable salmon fishery– and well over one third (sometimes as much as half!) of the state’s total salmon fishing earnings come from Bristol Bay. The Bay also has the most fishermen, with more than 2,800 salmon permit holders.
Whereas other fishing regions like Copper River, Prince William Southeast, Kodiak, Cook Inlet and the Alaska Peninsula might get sockeye catches ranging from one million to five million fish, Bristol Bay’s harvests typically fall into the 20 to 40 million range.
Here’s how it stacks up in terms of value, based on the 2011 season:
Last year’s exvessel (dockside) value of Alaska’s total salmon catch last year was $603 million, the third best ever. Chinook salmon (kings) rang in at just over $20 million; cohos (silvers) were worth $23.4 million; and chums topped $93 million at the Alaska docks. The pink salmon catch had a value of just over $170 million.
Here’s the biggie: Alaska’s sockeye salmon catch was worth $296 million at the Alaska docks last year, on a catch of nearly 40 million fish. More than half of the sockeyes came from Bristol Bay.
Help for kings and ports
King salmon returns are so low to the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers, almost no fishing is being allowed for anything, even for subsistence purposes. Alaska Senator Mark Begich last week asked Governor Parnell to declare a fisheries disaster in the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta, including the interior region of the Yukon River watershed. By doing so, it will allow Begich to pursue federal help, such as happened during a similar salmon situation in 2009. - More...
Tuesday - July 17, 2012
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Southeast Alaska: 1869 Bombardment of Wrangell To Be Researched - A largely forgotten piece of Wrangell history may soon come to light, as the Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) has been awarded a grant to research the 1869 Bombardment of Wrangell.
Sealaska Heritage Institute was the recipient of a one-year National Park Service (NPS) Battlefield Preservation Grant to document 1869 Bombardment through oral history work with elders in partnership with the Wrangell Cooperative Association (WCA). This is the first ever Battlefield Preservation Grant awarded to an organization in Alaska to study a U.S. military conflict with a Native American tribe.
The 150-year-old conflict between the U.S. Army and Tlingits of Wrangell was a National news story at the time, but it was not a story that was retold to generations of Wrangellites. According to a report compiled by Vincent Colyer, Secretary to President Ulysses S. Grant, on Christmas night in 1869, just over a year after Alaska became a U.S. Territory, a member of the Stikine tribe bit off the finger of white woman, a stunt that eventually led to the deaths of two Stikine men, a white male killed in retaliation named John Smith, and the military threatening to completely destroy Fort Wrangel until Smith’s murderer was finally hung. - More...
Tuesday - July 17, 2012
Alaska: Murkowski, Hastings Press NOAA, BSEE About Arctic Protests; Greenpeace ship on way to study unexplored Arctic ocean habitats they suspect threatened by offshore drilling - U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA) sent a letter last week to Dr. Jane Lubchenco, the Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere and Administrator at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and James Watson, Director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), asking what measures NOAA and BSEE have taken to ensure that the planned protest activities in the Arctic by Greenpeace do not disrupt or threaten safe operations, disturb marine mammals or interfere with anticipated Native Alaskan subsistence efforts.
“We share your concern for ensuring proper oversight of oil and gas operations on the Outer Continental Shelf,” Murkowski and Hastings wrote. “In that regard, we want to be sure that you have the resources, are planning and prepared to respond to the steps that Greenpeace is planning to impede exploratory drilling operations in arctic waters off the north coast of Alaska.”
Greenpeace is attempting to protest and “monitor” Shell’s activities by interfering with permitted work in the Arctic through the usage of a 216 foot ice class ship, two large rigid hull and four small inflatables, two submarines, and an aerial drone. Murkowski and Hastings are concerned that federal agencies have not accounted for the likelihood that Greenpeace’s activities will cause disturbance to marine mammals, pollution to the environment, or conflict with Native Alaskans through the physical presence of vessels. - More...
Tuesday - July 17, 2012
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Columns - Commentary
 WILL DURST: The Care Less Party - All of America should drop to its knees and thank the GOP for attempting to provide us with replacement fireworks. As you undoubtedly know, cities all over the country this year were forced to cancel Fourth of July festivities due to fear of fire, glitchy computers and twitchy bureaucrats. Like there's another kind.
The Republican House took great pains to salve our sensory-deprived souls by trying to set off enough indoor fireworks to make the San Diego Big Bay Bust look like a fluttering votive candle. It was designed to be a spectacular explosion fueled by ego, obstinacy and behavior so self-absorbed, the casual bystander might assume we were in the middle of an election year.
For the 33rd time, all House business slammed to a grinding halt to accommodate another vote to repeal Obamacare. Again. Thirty-three times. Let's look at that, shall we? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33.
You got to give the majority party credit for being able to flog this dead horse without getting any flying bits on them. Thirty-three times is at least 32 times more than the administration ever tried to sell this bill to a public overwhelmingly in favor of its component parts.
They persevered even though everyone knows there's a better chance of flamingoes flying out of monkey butts than the Senate ever signing on. And getting past a presidential veto, substitute polka-dotted pterodactyls for the flamingoes. - More...
Tuesday - July 17, 2012
 SUSAN STAMPER BROWN: Obamacare: Lies, Mistruths, Falsehoods and Fabrications - Legalization of something does not necessarily make it a good idea. It was once legal to own a slave. Democrats who voted against abolishing slavery in 1864, have been doing their part ever since to enslave Americans to one social program or another. Obamacare is just the latest example.
For years, Americans have been abundantly blessed with a mostly free-market healthcare system in which competent physicians at state-of-the-art healthcare facilities deliver the latest medical care. Yes, that care comes at a cost, but the alternative, which Obamacare will certainly create, is rationing.
Now that the Supreme Court deemed Obamacare's individual mandate for what it is -- a tax, Democrats are attempting to redefine it as a penalty. It's just their nature. Why call it a baby when you can reduce it to a fetus? Why bother worrying about illegal aliens when the term "undocumented workers" sounds so much more nebulous? I'll go halfway; let's call it a "penalty tax." - More...
Tuesday - July 17, 2012
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Political Cartoons
Secretive Obama
By: Rick McKee ©, The Augusta Chronicle
Today's Political Cartoons
Viewpoints
Commentary
Opinions/Letters
Basic
Rules &
Freedom of Speech
Questions, please contact
the editor at editor@sitnews.us or call 617-9696
Sitnews reserves the right to edit.
 Mail-borne Ballots By
Hunter Davis -
As long as the elections office can verify that the ballot was filled out and mailed by the registered voter it was addressed to, fine. But there is a reason I do not use my street address for mailings. I've watched people walk by my steps and look in the box. - More...
Tuesday - July 17, 2012
Peace & Tranquility? By
Richard Rold -
I live in an area in the Ketchikan Borough that is very beautiful, and once was peaceful, and quiet; that is why I moved here from town in the first place. Over the years the peacefulness, & the quiet, has gradually subsided; now it can be anything but peaceful. - More...
Tuesday - July 17, 2012
Burning Garbage By
Kathy Doyle -
To the people of Mile 10-11 North Tongass: Here it is a lovely warm summer night when it is so nice to open the windows and have a nice breath of fresh air. Instead you start to cough, cough, choke, gag on some one's disgusting trash smoke coming into your home. - More...
Tuesday - July 17, 2012
19th Nervous Breakdown By
Chris Elliott -
I'm not an expert on the healthcare law. Who is? After reading Mr. Spence's letter, I did a tiny bit of research. When the House passed the legislation sent to them by the Senate, the vote was 219 for and 212 against. 34 Democrats voted with all the Republicans. That's a pretty darn close vote for legislation that affects so many Americans and is such a big percentage of our economy. A recent Rasmussen poll (July 13-14) indicates that 52% of Americans favor repeal of the law and 42% oppose repeal. Again, pretty close. This is a VERY controversial issue. - More...
Tuesday - July 17, 2012
Mail In Ballots By
Connie Williams - It is with a smile that I read the letters regarding the recent Ketchikan bond vote, and a whooping 7% return. How sad that such a small portion of the population was interested in what was being voted on, it should be in everyone's interest when it's going to cost you come property tax time. - More...
Tuesday - July 17, 2012
Too Many Life Guards? By
Charlotte Tanner -
I just had to respond to the letter asking if 4 life guards is too many at the small pool. - More...
Tuesday - July 17, 2012
Election Chaos Puts Ketchikan in Political Peril By
John Harrington -
The on-again, off-again State election district boundaries have created disarray and political danger particularly for Ketchikan. - More...
Saturday - July 14, 2012
Congress' Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown By
Michael Spence -
The most recent action of our US House of Representatives to repeal the Health Care Act reminds me of that Rolling Stones song about a spoiled adolescent who cannot reason: - More...
Saturday - July 14, 2012
Too many lifeguards? By
Audiene Teal -
I recently made a trip to our Ketchikan swimming pool with my family. We have children so we spent a lot of time in the kiddie pool so they could play and splash around. Now I know it is for our own safety to have lifeguards at the pool but there were four lifeguards that day at our little swimming pool. I felt it was in excess. - More...
Saturday - July 14, 2012
MAIL BALLOT THE ONLY CORRECT VOTING SOLUTION By Pete Ellis -
Michael Spence has certainly "hit the nail on the head" in terms of local election needs and results. The mail ballot is the only solution in terms of determining what the local voting residents really want. - More...
Monday - July 09, 2012
4th of July Fireworks By
Catherine Brown -
Thank you to all those who put together the festivities for the 4th and especially the fireworks display. - More...
Monday - July 09, 2012
“Oh, you’re so negative” By David G. Hanger -
There is something particularly juvenile about the attitude that you can judge some other person, “Oh, you’re so negative,” and thereby invalidate anything that person might say. In the article that you were criticizing so harshly I actually discussed that local inclination briefly. Thus my simple observation that your ignorance has precluded the possibility that you begin to comprehend the fact that everything you said is far more negative than anything I have said. It even has a word or label by which it is called: nullification. It’s the old slay the messenger game because you don’t have the guts to deal with the message. - More...
Monday - July 09, 2012
Thank You By
Sandy James-
The Ketchikan Seventh-day Adventist Church would like to thank the community for supporting our Fund Raiser for a Sound System. Shamburgers (veggie burgers) and Homemade Pies were a HUGE success. - More...
Monday - July 09, 2012
Thank You & Before the fireworks start By
Ken Parks -
I was at the fireworks display this fourth and was suitably impressed by the display, not so much from the locals shooting off roman candles as it was over my kids and almost at them a couple of times. This ironically enthused my kids and they still had a great time... I wanted to thank the City of Ketchikan and their workers for a great display, making it a fun and enjoyable as well as memorable event for my family. - More...
Monday - July 09, 2012
Whale watching By
HelgaOhmer Ohmer -
On Saturday morning (June 30), I enjoyed watching a big pod of killer whales going down the channel. I counted at least 12. All the boaters got out of the way, enjoying them from the distance. But not so for the two tourist outfits who turned around to get closer than comfort just for the sake of picture taking clients! - More...
Monday - July 09, 2012
Spins & Facts By
Paul Jarvie -
Charley, thank you for your information. As a concerned voter you have taught me to check the facts for myself. - More...
Monday - July 09, 2012
A patch to grind??? By
Joey Garcia -
Bill Meck "Road" caption in the Jun 25 issue sure has something to reckon with. I think you should not go far inside the hillsides of Ketchikan to wrangle up enough spirits of something like what Bill was pointing about. - More...
Monday - July 09, 2012
Comeuppances By
A. M. Johnson -
Hummm, It would appear that I have been corrected by readers. I accept the comeuppances. Yet, there is good from this. The fact that these executive orders produce the wrong sided intent is made apparent. Kennedy, Bush, Obama whom ever. The bottom line is many of these executive orders affects the Constitution's intent of guarding against over bearing government intrusion or violation of our freedoms and rights under the Bill of Rights and the Constitution itself. - More...
Monday - July 09, 2012
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