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Saturday
July 02, 2016
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Upper Mahoney Lake
Located approximately 6 miles northeast of Ketchikan.
Front Page Feature Photo By JASON CUSTER ©2016
Ketchikan: USFS: Tongass Forest Plan Amendment supports sustainable communities and viable economies ; Environmentalists Say FS Plan Would Perpetuate Destruction of Tongass Old-Growth By MARY KAUFFMAN - Friday, the U.S. Forest Service issued a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and Draft Record of Decision (ROD) in the Tongass Land Management Plan amendment process. According to the USFS, the plan amendment focuses on accelerating the transition from old-growth timber harvest to young-growth while maintaining opportunities for a viable timber industry in Southeast Alaska. The plan also contributes to sustainable and diverse local economies by promoting renewable energy development.
“Through years of collaborative efforts, the Tongass has sought a resolution to long-standing conflicts regarding timber management,” said Earl Stewart, Tongass Forest Supervisor. “This amendment is the culmination of those collaborative efforts, and aligned with the unanimous recommendations of the Tongass Advisory Committee (TAC).”
The USFS says the plan amendment has a narrow focus and does not include changes to the Tongass Conservation Strategy, Wilderness or Wild and Scenic River Designation or changes to most land use designations. The plan amendment does not propose rulemaking to modify the 2001 Roadless Rule application to the Tongass National.
The plan amendment reflects the unanimous recommendations of the Tongass Advisory Committee to the Forest Service. The advisory committee included 15 members who represented a broad and diverse range of viewpoints and expertise. They were from geographically diverse communities in Alaska and the western U.S. and included representatives of state and local government, Alaska Native Corporations, the timber industry, the environmental community and the general public.
According to the USFS, the amendment also complies with a Memorandum from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who directed consideration of an amendment to the Tongass Forest Plan to promote a transition to young-growth management.
After publication of the draft amendment, public meetings and federal subsistence hearings were held in nine communities across Southeast Alaska in January and February, where public comments were received. Tribal organizations and corporations were also involved in the process.
The draft decision is the culmination of a comprehensive public involvement process that sought, and carefully considered, input from the public, local, state and federal agencies, federally recognized tribes, as well as previous decades of collaborative efforts. The USFS reported over 165,000 comments were received on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement.
According to Audubon Alaska, although the decision scales back the amount of old-growth trees available for timber harvest in the coming years, there is no firm deadline for finally ending this ecologically destructive practice. - More...
Saturday AM - July 02, 2016
Ketchikan: One Killed, One Seriously Injured in Roll-Over - A Ketchikan woman sustained fatal injuries in a single vehicle roll-over wreck at Mile 5 South Tongass Highway late Wednesday evening.
The driver of the vehicle, Verna Edenshaw, 43 of Ketchikan, was declared deceased on the scene. Five passengers were in the vehicle with Edenshaw.
One injured female passenger, identified as Melissa Williams, 26 of Saxman, sustained serious injuries and was transported to a hospital in Anchorage for treatment according to the Alaska State Troopers. The four other passenger were transported to Peacehealth Medical Center in Ketchikan to be evaluated. - More...
Saturday AM - July 02, 2016
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FISH FACTOR: Brexit & Alaska Seafood Trading By LAINE WELCH - The United Kingdom’s recent exit from the European Union – dubbed Brexit - has turned seafood trading on its head.
For 43 years the UK has been a major part of the 28 country EU, and what the pull out means for longstanding business arrangements is anyone’s guess. Last year the UK imported over $90 million dollars of Alaska seafood.
“It’s still speculative, but anything that has a negative effect on currency values relative to the dollar hurts exports. I do expect we will continue to be strong trading partners with both with the UK and the EU, I guess separately now,” said Tyson Fick, Communications Director for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute.
Following the vote to leave the EU, the value of the Euro, British Pound and the Yen all dropped significantly against the US dollar, making our products more expensive for overseas customers.
The hit could be especially hard on canned salmon sales which make up nearly 70 percent of Alaska exports to the UK. Canned sales last year were valued at $23 million for sockeyes and nearly $9 million for canned pinks. Alaska also saw big increases in sales of frozen pinks to the UK last year. The pull out also affects other Alaska seafood besides salmon. - More...
Saturday AM - July 02, 2016
Ketchikan: Filing Forms Available for Ketchikan Borough Election - Filing forms are now available for the October 4, 2016 Ketchikan Gateway Borough Election. The candidate filing period begins August 1 and closes at 5:00 p.m. on August 25th. The Borough has elective seats open for the offices of Borough Mayor, Assembly Members, and School Board Members on the October 4, 2016 Borough ballot. The following seats are available:
Borough Mayor – one (1) seat for a three-year term
(Seat currently held by David Landis)
Borough Assembly – two (2) seats for three-year terms
(Seats are currently held by Alan Bailey (termed out) and Bill Rotecki (termed out).
School Board – two (2) seats for three-year terms
(Seats are currently held by Trevor Shaw and David Timmerman)
To qualify as a candidate for Borough Mayor or Assembly Member, a citizen must have resided in the Borough for one year prior to the election date, and must be a Borough registered voter 30 days prior to the election. To qualify as a candidate for School Board, a citizen must be a Borough registered voter 30 days prior to the election. - More...
Saturday AM - July 02, 2016 |
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Ketchikan: Random Contact in Ketchikan Leads to Federal Drug Charges - The U.S. District Attorney’s Office indicted Jason Alto, 20 of Egegik, on June 22, 2016 on federal drug charges based on an Alaska State Trooper drug case. A few weeks prior to the indictment, on May 30, 2016, two Alaska State Troopers contacted Alto when he arrived into Ketchikan from Bellingham, WA, on the ferry, M/V Kennecott. Alto was ticketed to travel to Whittier. The random contact quickly led to a massive drug seizure.
Alaska State Trooper K9 Lutri
Ketchikan, Alaska
Photo courtesy AST
According to Investigator Larry Dur’an who is with the Alaska State Troopers’ Southeast Alaska Cities against Drugs (SEACAD) task force in Ketchikan, they had no prior knowledge that Alto was onboard the ferry. “I was training a new drug investigator who was to be stationed elsewhere in Southeast Alaska. The reason we went to the ferry terminal that day was so that I could demonstrate how to conduct consensual contacts.”
After Alto disembarked the ferry, Investigator Dur’an started up a conversation with him. During the conversation Investigator Dur’an developed reasonable suspicion that Alto was smuggling controlled substances. Investigator Dur’an, who is also a K-9 handler, used his partner of two years, K-9 Lutri, to sniff Alto’s luggage for any odors of controlled substances. Following a positive indication on Alto’s luggage, Investigator Dur’an seized Alto’s luggage and applied for a search warrant to search the luggage. Alto as allowed to reboard the ferry and continue traveling to Whittier. A search warrant was obtained and 3.2 gross pounds of methamphetamine was discovered inside Alto’s luggage.
“This was a very significant find for Southeast. The street value in Ketchikan for three pounds of meth is easily a million dollars,” said Investigator Dur’an. “In a larger city like Anchorage, where there is more product and the demand isn’t as hard to meet, the street value isn’t as much.” - More...
Saturday AM - July 02, 2016
Ketchikan: Report of drug sales leads to arrest of 2 men, 1 woman - Responding to a report of drug sales, Ketchikan Police Officers served a search warrant on a local hotel room where they contacted John Grayson, age 39, Lapairs Shaw, age 24, and Kourtney Duggins, age 18.
According to information released by the Ketchikan Police, Grayson refused to identify himself during the investigation. Officers located a plastic baggie containing suspected Methamphetamine valued at $7,500.00 and a small amount of Heroin. - More...
Saturday AM - July 02, 2016 |
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Southeast Alaska: Dead Humpback Whale Found Afloat Near Point Carolus – Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve Superintendent Philip Hooge announced that a dead humpback whale was found floating in Glacier Bay National Park waters off Point Carolus on last Sunday morning.
With a 44-year sighting history, Festus was the longest-sighted humpback whale recorded in Southeast Alaska.
Photo courtesy National Park Service
Charter vessel operator Paul Johnson on the M/V Yakobi reported the whale to park staff around 10:20 AM on June 26th. After notifying the National Marine Fisheries Service, park staff towed the whale to shore on Sunday afternoon and are making preparations for a necropsy examination by veterinarians on Tuesday.
A preliminary examination of the carcass by park biologists indicates that it is an adult male, approximately 40 feet in length. More information on the cause of death and the condition of the whale are expected to be available later this week, after the veterinary examination.
Fluke identification photos indicate that this was whale #441, nicknamed "Festus," who was first documented in 1972 in Lynn Canal by researcher Charles Jurasz. Festus was last sighted in June 2015 in Glacier Bay. - More...
Saturday AM - July 02, 2016
Ketchikan: One Injured in ATV Rollover - The North Tongass Volunteer Fire Department and the Alaska State Troopers responded Thursday to an ATV rollover crash near Whipple Creek approximately 12 miles north of Ketchikan.
Investigation revealed a 69 year old male driver from Bakersfield California had driven off the trail while operating the ATV which then rolled over onto it side and came to rest on top of a 67 year old passenger, also from Bakersfield, California. The passenger received several injuries from the incident. - More...
Saturday AM - July 02, 2016
Ketchikan: Alaska Power & Telephone to Construct Wind Project Near Tok - Alaska Power & Telephone announced Friday that it was selected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to receive $3,000,000 in grant funds through the High Energy Cost Grant Program to construct a 1.8 megawatt wind farm in interior Alaska. AP&T currently provides service to communities located above the Arctic Circle, deep in the Wrangell Mountains and throughout the islands of Southeast Alaska.
The 7-Mile Wind project will be a 1.8 MW Wind farm, located in a Class-4 Wind area adjacent the Glenn Highway, near the community of Tok, Alaska. - More...
Saturday AM - July 02, 2016
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Columns - Commentary
RICK JENSEN: What We Really Learned from the Benghazi Investigation - The most important information the American public learned from the Benghazi Committee Report is not actually in the report.
True to his word that the report would not be a partisan attack on Hillary Clinton or President Obama, Rep. Trey Gowdy's (R-S.C.) committee reported on organizational deficits that led to the destruction of the CIA station in Benghazi, Libya.
The gist of the report is that the State Department failed to plan for attacks on the Americans stationed in Benghazi and the resulting dysfunction.
Even the Democrats' "CYA" pre-emptive report reads, "...security measures in Benghazi were woefully inadequate."
Requests for more security in Benghazi leading up to the attacks were refused, ignored or not received. - More...
Saturday AM - July 02, 2016
DICK POLMAN: Goodbye, Benghazi Sleuths. Take Your Tinfoil Hats. - To quote poet T. S. Eliot, the House Select Committee on Benghazi finally folded its tent Tuesday - "not with a bang, but a whimper."
Most of us ---- with the exception of paranoid conspiracy theorists and fact-impaired trolls ---- have long assumed that this partisan Republican concoction would fail to nail Hillary Clinton for the deaths of those four Americans at the Libyan outpost in 2012. We have not been disappointed.
None of the previous investigations unearthed any evidence that Clinton, in her role as secretary of state, had done anything perfidious or criminal. The Republican-led House Intelligence Committee, in its 2014 report, had found no such evidence. The Senate Intelligence Committee found no such evidence. The Senate Armed Services Committee found no such evidence. The House Foreign Affairs Committee found no such evidence. The House Oversight & Government Reform Committee found no such evidence. The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee found no such evidence. - More...
Saturday AM - July 02, 2016 |
Editorial Cartoon: Independence Day
By Nate Beeler ©2016, The Columbus Dispatch
Distributed to subscribers for publication by Cagle Cartoons, Inc.
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 WISH Situation is Dire By Diane Gubatayao - By now it is well known that since September 2015, Women In Safe Homes (WISH) has been on probation with the Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (CDVSA), the State agency responsible for funding and administrative oversight of 18 shelters throughout Alaska. The original probation document cited nine systemic issues involving staff, participants and community partners. I do not believe it is productive at this time to debate the merits of the probation. I trust that a State agency comprised of a Commissioner and assistant State Attorney General, among others, has done due diligence before imposing such a serious sanction. To their credit, many associated with WISH have made the effort to meet the requirements outlined by CDVSA. However, we have learned recently that the situation is dire with the exit of five Board members and some staff, and continued problems with WISH management and leadership highlighted by CDVSA. - More...
Wednesday PM - June 29, 2016
GOVERNOR, THE NEXT CUP OF COFFEE IS ON ME By Richard Peterson - Earlier this month, I wrote a commentary on whether or not the 2014 “Unity Team” would keep its promise to steer away from litigation against Alaska tribes and instead work towards improving tribal relations. Today’s commentary is a follow-up to express my gratitude to the Walker Administration for not appealing the recent Alaska Supreme Court decision in State of Alaska v. Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. This important court ruling affirms that Alaska tribal courts, some of whom already handle custody, adoption, and paternity for tribal children, can also decide child support. - More...
Wednesday PM - June 29, 2016
PART 12: “OIL COMPANY” WALKER, “OIL CAN” ORTIZ AND OIL COMPANY SOCIALISM By David G Hanger - Voting for Bob Sivertsen for state representative in the upcoming election is the equivalent of pouring gasoline on a fire that is already out of control. I have nothing personal against Bob Sivertsen. I hear he is a moderate conservative “who hasn’t run into a local social program he hasn’t enthusiastically supported.” But what Bob calls ‘leadership’ I call sheepishness, and that limitation is a disaster in the making because these folks up north who call themselves Republicans are anything but, yet Bob Sivertsen will still follow that bunch wherever they go. - More...
Wednesday PM - June 29, 2016
Local radio dropping RUSH By A.M.Johnson - The following is written as a public service. Recently KTKN radio station announced that effective July 1st, the station with locations in Ketchikan, Sitka, and Juneau have or are dropping the Rush Limbaugh program from their schedule. Inquiry as to the reason was given the fiscal disappointment of revenue. When asked if there was a political venue related to the action, I was assured that there was and is no such pressure. When the question of what is anticipated to replace the Rush programming that will result in equal or additional revenue during the three hour period, there was no response other than Drop by the station sometime by the general manager. - More...
Wednesday PM - June 29, 2016
RE: Public restrooms on docks closed too early By Douglas J. Thompson - Regarding the letter from Mr. Phil Borngraeber published recently in Sitnews: We have ten harbor employees and probably more with their 'summer help'. They are costing Ketchikan's taxpayer between ninety and one hundred forty thousand dollars per year each. We pay for a multitude of vehicles for them and all expenses. The department is supposedly run by Corporan under Amylon. Somewhere along the way as I have pointed out before they have decided they no longer need to work to collect their salary. Case in point is Mr. Borngraeber letter showing they once again "contract out" the most simple menial tasks that they themselves should be doing. It is ridiculous that cleaning Harbor Department bathrooms is approved for contracting out. With the overstaffing it should easily be handled and could even be done with 1/3 of the employees currently employed to no discernible benefit in that bloated department. - More...
Monday AM - June 27, 2016
Gov Walker's 5th Special Session By Marvin Seibert - We are now in the grips of Governor Walker's calling for a 5th special session. Special sessions were not instituted till the governor of a state gets his way. Taxes being considered will have a devastating effect on the people who can afford it the least. - More...
Wednesday PM - June 22, 2016
Public restrooms on docks closed too early By Phil L. Borngraeber - Just in the last two weeks I have been among the many local folks riding, walking, taking the kids or dogs out for relaxation and exercise. But wait, no matter how great the weather is, don't plan on using the restrooms at dock 4 or 2 after the ships have left. - More...
Wednesday PM - June 22, 2016
Please abide by leash laws By Mishele Rhein - In light of summer and the added outdoor activities at the local beaches, I would like to encourage the locals and our numerous summer guests to abide by the leash laws. Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy watching my dogs run, play and dig with abandon on the sandy beaches as well, but doing so on a leash. Being a dog owner, I understand the need to get out and exercise man’s best friend, but to be honest, I am growing weary of being assaulted by “friendly” dogs when the owner is truly no where to be seen. I am not sure what’s worse, missing dog owners or oblivious dog owners. The latter being the friendly passers by greeting you a wonderful afternoon while their dog is running circles around you and your now distracted leashed dog. Everyone tends to think their dog is “amiable enough” and “its no problem.” Even though my exuberant animals feel the need to greet everyone, everyone does not feel the need to greet them. Just tonight I went for a walk and was greeted (whether I wanted to be or not) by no less than three dogs before I even got to the beach. One of which had a leash trailing but no person holding the other end and the fourth dog came to investigate upon exit and felt the need to walk us part way home. - More...
Wednesday PM - June 22, 2016
The 1967 Fairbanks' Flood By John Calhoun - I was living in the Northward building at the time of the 1967 Fairbanks' flood. We were able to get power from a building across the street by a long cord hooked up to an electrical panel to provide emergency lighting in the halls and stairwells. - More...
Wednesday PM - June 22, 2016
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