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Saturday
July 20, 2013
Tongass Sunset
Murphy's Landing north of Ketchikan, on July 15th at 9:15 pm.
Front Page Photo By DOUG BURKMAN ©2013
Whale Pass Photography
(Please respect the rights of photographers, never republish or copy
without permission and/or payment of required fees.)
Ketchikan: Fishing Vessel Grounded at Refuge Cove By MARY KAUFFMAN - In the wee hours this morning, the F/V Kelly Anne, out of Washington, grounded on the Refuge Cove beach in the Sunset Drive area, north of Ketchikan.
F/V Kelly Anne
Photograph by CARL THOMPSON ©2013
The Alaska State Troopers received the report of the grounding at approximately 2:16 am, Saturday. - More...
Saturday PM - July 20, 2013
Fish Factor: Alaska wild salmon not good enough? By LAINE WELCH - It might sound like a whopper of a fish story – but Alaska salmon is not good enough for Wal-Mart or the US National Park Service.
The reason? Alaska’s wild caught salmon does not brandish a specific eco-label verifying that it is sustainably managed – as determined by two Outside groups: the London-based Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) or the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California.
Alaska’s seafood industry recently opted out of high priced eco-endorsements from elsewhere, believing the State’s brand of fisheries oversight can stand on its own merit. But without the MSC stamp of approval, customers won’t find Alaska salmon in Wal-Mart’s super stores, and the Park Service is requiring that all food vendors at its parks and monuments, etc. can only serve seafood endorsed by those private enterprises.
Senator Lisa Murkowski blasted the Park Service for ignoring federal guidelines that state “the government does not endorse any particular labeling or documentation program over another.”
The Park Service also brushed aside the government’s own FishWatch program that has been rating US fisheries for years.
Murkowski also criticized Wal-Mart for turning its back on USA salmon and Alaska’s small fishing businesses.
Likewise, Governor Sean Parnell sent a letter last week to Wal-Mart CEO Michael Duke expressing “great disappointment,” and saying that while he commends Wal-Mart’s desire to source its products responsibly, he believes the decision was based on “incomplete information.”
“I encourage you to recognize that sustainable labeling has grown beyond the days when domination by a single eco-label was a viable option,” Parnell wrote.
He added that while Wal-Mart’s “commitment to source only MSC seafood may have been sensible when first declared back in 2006, that policy is now sorely dated, and is serving only to deprive your customers of high quality products produced in America, and forcing your company to source salmon from less sustainable fisheries in foreign nations.”
Parnell pointed out that the Alaska State Constitution has mandated management of fishery resources on a sustained yield principle - the only US state with such explicit conservation language in its constitution.
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“No one understands more than Alaskans what it takes to protect fish stocks and their habitat,” Parnell wrote. “Because we have chosen, as a state, to put sustainability above profit, our historic fisheries have thrived famously, and the Alaska model serves as an example to other regions.”
Big Bay pay day! A base price of $1.50/lb for fishermen at the world’s biggest sockeye salmon fishermen at Bristol Bay, an increase of $.50 higher per pound over the past two years. The final price will be even higher for many fishermen who will get an extra $.15 for chilled fish and another nickel for bled.
The price boost comes from a slightly lower catch than expected (15.5 million so far) -- and big improvements in fish quality. Last year for the first time more than half of the Bristol Bay salmon catch was chilled, a number that will climb even higher this summer.
Spearheaded by the fishermen funded/operated Regional Seafood Development Association, more Bristol Bay fishermen are routinely using improved handling techniques, and the group has partnered with processors to barge ice out to the far flung fishing fleets.
“Everyone literally has stepped up – harvesters, processors, marketing, sales transportation, everything has improved in the whole supply chain. It’s taken a lot of hard work from a lot of people,” Glenn Reed, director of the Pacific Seafood Processors Association told KDLG during a visit to Dillingham.
Sockeye salmon are Alaska’s big money fish and the bulk of the catch comes from Bristol Bay. Last year, for example, sockeyes were worth fully half of the statewide salmon value of $505 million at the docks.
The economic benefits of the fishery circulate far beyond Bristol Bay – the salmon also supports thousands of jobs in Pacific Coast states and beyond. According to a University of Alaska report, the Bristol Bay fishery also creates nearly 8,000 jobs nationwide in transportation sectors, and all along the distribution chain as it heads to markets in the US and around the world. - More...
Saturday PM - July 20, 2013
Southeast Alaska: Oxycodone Dealer Convicted For Large Scale Drug Conspiracy And Witness Tampering - After deliberating for four hours, a jury of four men and eight women found a California gang member guilty of drug conspiracy and witness tampering earlier this month.
Richard Melvin Corum, a/k/a “Little Man,” 30, a resident of Sacramento, California, was tried before U.S. District Court Judge Timothy M. Burgess in Juneau, Alaska.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorney’s James Barkeley and Jack Schmidt, who prosecuted the case, the evidence presented at trial established Corum was a source of supply of oxycodone since April 2010 through January 2011, for a large scale drug conspiracy which operated between California and Alaska. Corum, a reported member of the criminal street gang “Bloods,” supplied oxycodone pills to the drug trafficking conspiracy, who would then utilize drug couriers to transport the pills to Juneau, Alaska, for subsequent distribution. In November 2010, due to heavy law enforcement interdiction at the Seattle-Tacoma airport of drug couriers, Corum and other members of the conspiracy decided to utilize commercial package delivery services instead of drug couriers in order to evade law enforcement detection. - More...
Saturday PM - July 20, 2013
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Ketchikan: UAF Names Spring 2013 Honor Students - The University of Alaska Fairbanks has announced the students named to the deans’ and chancellor’s lists for the spring 2013 semester. The lists recognize students’ outstanding academic achievements.
Students receiving a 3.9 grade point average or higher are placed on the chancellor’s list, while those receiving a grade point average of between 3.5 and 3.89 are named to the deans’ list.
The University of Alaska Fairbanks is a Land, Sea and Space Grant institution with an enrollment of nearly 11,000 students. Located 160 miles south of the Arctic Circle, UAF is the leading doctoral-degree-granting institution in the state.
Since it was founded in 1917, UAF has been internationally recognized for research relating to the Arctic and subarctic, in areas such as biology, geophysics, engineering, natural resources and global climate change.
Individuals from Ketchikan and Prince of Wales named to the honors list are: - More...
Saturday PM - July 20, 2013
Columns - Commentary
 DAVE KIFFER: Every Summer We Go a Little Gaga By DAVE KIFFER -
One of our favorite pastimes in these here parts is to sigh and roll our eyes at what goes on “Outside.”
After all we are truly immune to all that “all that,” aren’t we?
Clearly, Ketchikan must be “the place” to be because we all pretty much came here from somewhere else. We chose to be here, or at the very least our ancestors chose to be here.
So we really don’t care all that much about the Outside world, right?
Except when it comes to celebrities.
Yes indeedy, there is nothing like a celebrity sighting – or reported sighting – to get the indwellers of Our Fair Salmon City into a serious bout of rubbernecking.
Take, for example, the recent hubbub over whether or not Lady Gaga and Johnny Depp were in town. Everyone said they were – especially on Facebook and other Social Media - so it must be true.
But there were no pictures, and no one actually said they saw them. They just heard from other people that they were here. Still, it was enough to get folk running around (including my son and friends) for a glimpse of Captain Jack Sparrow. I don’t think they were as interested in Lady Gaga. - More...
Saturday PM - July 20, 2013 |
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 KIC RECALL By Eliasica Timmerman - The Tribal Council meeting on Monday July 8th was very important and informative. The recall committee was there to address their petition, but did not stay to hear or ask any questions on the matters they are concerned about. I stayed until 11pm to listen to all the department reports. - More...
Saturday PM - July 20, 2013
Thank You By Connie Sue Knutsen -
My husband Greg Knutsen and I wish to thank all those who helped care for him from his recent fall in June. We sure appreciate the South Tongass Fire and Rescue, and all those at the scene. Also the emergency room techs here in Ketchikan were wonderful and professional in his care and getting him to the medivac to Seattle. His care helped keep him from major damage. - More...
Saturday PM - July 20, 2013
The Abominable Snowden By Donald A. Moskowitz -
Edward Snowden is not a human rights activist, he is a loathsome (abominable) traitor and spy. - More...
Saturday PM - July 20, 2013
End the IRS By Beverly Martin - Lighting fireworks on the 4th didn't restore freedom taken by the tyranny of the IRS. Reading the Declaration of Independence underscored this nation's return to conditions founding fathers found intolerable: government use of fear to take property and control citizens. - More...
Saturday PM - July 20, 2013
Facts Regarding STVFD Grant By Steve Rydeen -
With all due respect to Mr. Plute, I find it remarkable that he didn’t investigate before writing his letter. The South Tongass Fire Chief and the Borough Manager are readily available to answer questions and to provide accurate information. The project in question was a grant request to the State for a back-up Generator and alarm system for the new Mountain Point fire station. - More...
Wednesday PM - July 10, 2013
Another tax break for the rich? By Norm Noggle -
I appreciated reading Bill Walker's piece regarding the recommendation to allow the public to vote on any proposed tax giveaways to the oil companies in this state. Gov. Parnell came up with the scare tactic that the oil companies need to have reduced taxes in order to continue to have the financial resources to explore for more oil. - More...
Wednesday PM - July 10, 2013
Maisch Hoodwinks Congress About the Tongass By Larry Edwards -
Alaska's chief forester, Chris Maisch, should be fired and be held in contempt of Congress. Falsehoods were plentiful in his June 25 testimony to the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee, representing the state on Tongass National Forest issues. - More...
Wednesday PM - July 10, 2013
Sealaska By Michael Beasley - Humbling opinion. Leaves You with a heavy heart. I believe Sealaska is a product of the Landclaims settlement and has lost its way by hiding behind being a Corporation. Altering the election system and creating a monopoly of directors is the cancer with Sealaska Corporation. Nothing will change until a fair election system occurs. - More...
Wednesday PM - July 10, 2013
Bugge's Beach By Clayton J. Benner -
I grew up in Ketchkan, bike riding out to Bugge's Beach many summer days as a teanager. In about 1945 or 1946, when I was just learning to drive, Dich Borch organized a big project at the beach. He gathered a bunch of us youny-ins and, with the help of Public Works equipment (trucks, bull-dozer, etc) we scooped out the muck from the enclosed beach area. Then the big job. We added 2'-8" to the top of the dam and a diving board mount on top of that. - More...
Monday PM - July 08, 2013
The Lies and Truths of Local Government By Ed Plute -
With the recent revelations of scandal after scandal in our current government, it is only a matter of time before our own communities corruption comes to light. Exhaustion is the only word that comes to mind when dealing with the current system. Not to mention as we speak, every person reading this is certainly wondering what is REALLY going on? Not only out there in the world, but right here in our own town of Ketchikan. For the past few years the world has been progressively waking up to the reality that our own bureaucracy is a facade and that our current local governments are not much better. Supporting personal agendas through manipulative processes and seemingly getting away with it time and time again. However, it is about time we put our own community back together. How, you may ask, do we do this? - More..
Friday PM - July 05, 2013
Let Alaskans Vote on Oil Tax Overhaul By Bill Walker -
The fight for Alaskan statehood took 88 years - from the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867 to our Union admittance in 1959. During this time, Alaskans suffered one form of exploitation after another. - More...
Friday PM - July 05, 2013
Referendum to repeal SB 21 By Sen. Bert Stedman -
Americans just celebrated the declaration of our independence from the British and the birth of our country based on democratic principles and individual rights enshrined in our Constitution. In light of this important holiday, I find it rather fitting that on Wednesday my family and I exercised our right to petition the government by signing the referendum to repeal SB 21, the new petroleum tax that undervalues our oil. Every Alaskan who signs the referendum to repeal SB 21 is simply expressing a desire to participate in a public debate about the selling price of their primary resource. I’m proud to place my name on the referendum with other Alaskans who want to exercise their fundamental right to participate in the government process. - More...
Friday PM - July 05, 2013
Open Letter: A "Bit" of Governmental waste By A. M. Johnson -
The following has come to my attention. Perhaps you are aware of the issue, perhaps not, It would not be surprising if you are not, It would not be a issue normally visited by the general public and so assumed, would remain hidden un-noticed, ignored,and allowed to continue with congressional awareness unabated. - More...
Friday PM - July 05, 2013
RE: Ketchikan-what a town! By Jim Duncan -
Great Call Teri! Fantasy Island I like to think! - More...
Friday PM - July 05, 2013
Racist Words By Al Johnson - Since Wal-Mart and Target dropped Paula Deen, I fully expect them to remove all hip hop and rap DVDs that contain the same word and that are also racist against whites. - More...
Friday PM - July 05, 2013
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