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Ketchikan:- World War II in Ketchikan; War years were ones of uncertainty, change in the First City By DAVE KIFFER - Seventy-five years ago this month, the defining event of the 20th Century, World War II, came to an end.

Approximately 850 Ketchikan residents, out of the population of slightly more than 5,000 enlisted in the conflict which involved the United States from 1941-45.

Five residents of the First City - Irvin Thompson, Jerome Rice, Ragnar Myking, Robert Henderson and Awen Anderson - were killed during the war. Many others were wounded. All came back different than when they left.

Like many American communities, life in Ketchikan during the war was one of sacrificing for the war effort. Food and important supplies were rationed and the newspapers were filled with stories of the combat in Europe and Pacific.

But unlike most American communities, there was also fear of invasion. particularly after Japan invaded Attu and Kiska islands in the Aleutian in 1942. After the War, the US learned the Japanese had only attacked the Aleutians to draw US resources north and had no intention of advancing further on US territory, but for most of the War, Ketchikan residents remained concerned that the Japanese Army would advance further into Alaska. There were local air raid drills, plans were made to evacuate people and supplies inland and blackouts were maintained in the community at night.

People who lived in Ketchikan those years, remembered decades later the uncertainty. They remembered stockpiling supplies. They remembered a palpable fear that swept the community - and all of coastal Alaska.

Not long after the Pearl Harbor attack, a ski cabin high on Deer Mountain burned down and many in the community thought the fire was a sign to Japanese forces lurking offshore.

During the War, the Ketchikan Coast Guard base expanded dramatically and there were also Canadian servicemen in town frequently, as the Canadian Air Force was involved in flying patrols from the Annette Island Airfield after it opened.

There was another tangible example of the War, the presence of nearly 200 Aleut refugees at the old Civilian Conservation Camp at Ward Lake. Many of the Aleuts worked in Ketchikan businesses during their time here. often replacing residents who had been called elsewhere for the War effort. Several chose to remain in Ketchikan after the War.

Besides the Ketchikan residents who went off to fight in the War, the community was also feeling the loss of the more than 50 Japanese American residents of the community who were interned - mostly in Idaho - along with all the other Japanese residents of the West Coast. Many of the Japanese that were taken away declined to come back after the War, including several who joined the war effort despite seeing their families sent to internment camps.

Besides the conflict itself, the war years brought significant changes to the community.

The faltering salmon canning industry received a brief boost when millions of cases were purchased to support the war effort. The use of timber in the war effort also put pressure on existing sources in the Lower 48 and led the US government to support opening up millions of acres in the Tongass National Forest for harvest.

Alaska's position as an American territory and the relatively brief Japanese incursion into the Aleutians led the federal government to seek ways to improve access to the Last Frontier. As a result, the Alaskan Highway was built to connect the territory to the Canadian road system. The Alcan Highway significantly spurred the growth of the tourism industry in Alaska. - More...
Sunday PM - August 16, 2020

Alaska: Governor Dunleavy approves extension of federal UI benefits to help unemployed Alaskans; $300 weekly increase in benefits begins this month - With the goal to help Alaskans who are receiving unemployment insurance (UI) benefits, Governor Mike Dunleavy has authorized the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development to begin the FEMA application process and utilize state UI Trust Funds that will result in a $300 weekly increase in unemployment benefits.  

“After reviewing in detail all of the federal unemployment aid options presented to me and my team, choosing to give $300 more per week allows us to use the state’s unemployment trust fund and helps us to best serve Alaskans who need unemployment assistance across the entire state as they weather a very difficult period in our history,” said Governor Mike Dunleavy.  

Department of Labor and Workforce Development Commissioner Dr. Tamika Ledbetter stated, “This option ensures additional resources to UI claimants in the quickest manner possible without compromising the state budget.  It also keeps in place increased benefits during the time period leading to a longer term Congressional solution.” - More...
Sunday PM - August 16, 2020

1996 Cold Case Solved: Jessica Baggen Killer Identified through DNA; Suspect in Arkansas commits suicide as investigators were getting warrant to seize DNA
Jessica Baggen is pictured on the left.
On the right is Steve Branch, 66 of Austin, Arkansas, who was identified through DNA of the sexual assault and murder of Jessica Baggen in 1996. Branch killed himself on August 3, 2020, after denying to investigators that he had any knowledge of the crime and refusing to provide a DNA sample for comparison to the DNA collected on scene 24 years ago.
Photo of Jessica Baggen - Alaska State Troopers
Photo of Steve Branch Public Obituary Photo

Fish Factor: Dr. Al Gross has the “Prescription for Change” Says Campaign By LAINE WELCH - It was inaction on health care that ultimately made Dr. Al Gross of Juneau decide to challenge Republican Dan Sullivan, who is running for a second, six-year term to represent Alaska in the U.S. Senate.

Independent Dr. Al Gross Challenges Republican Dan Sullivan for U.S. Senate Seat

Gross, who has opted for the Independent ticket, has fished his whole life, his four kids have fished to pay for college, and he left a 20 year career as an orthopedic surgeon to get a degree to go to work in public health.

His campaign claims Dr. Gross has the “Prescription for Change.”

“As a doctor, I stepped up and proposed a means of fishermen obtaining affordable health care, which I know is a really big deal because so many of my friends are commercial fishermen.  Seeing how much they're spending to buy individual policy plans really hurts their bottom line. It's a real struggle,”   Gross said in a phone interview while campaigning in Fairbanks. “Sullivan’s done nothing about that, and  he voted down Affordable Health Care over and over again in the Senate. That's a big part of what incensed me to step up and run against him.”

“I think a public option allowing individuals like commercial fishermen to buy Medicare at cost and no one else's expense will allow them to obtain affordable health insurance at a fraction of what they're paying right now on the private market. I think it's a big step,” he said, adding that “separating health insurance from employer based insurance really makes a lot of sense to me, and especially in the commercial fishing industry.”

Dr. Gross’ mother, Shari, was the first executive director of the United Fishermen of Alaska and founded the Alaska League of Women Voters. His father, Avrum, was state Attorney General and worked alongside Governor Jay Hammond to create Alaska’s Permanent Fund. 

Gross said growing up on the water in Southeast means he’s seen firsthand the impacts that warming waters and off kilter ocean chemistry are having on fisheries and the marine ecosystem. He calls it Alaska’s biggest challenge, and said Sullivan has been silent as the Trump Administration has rolled back protections of our oceans, lands, and air.

“There's a worldwide movement to get away from petroleum products and consumption which leads to ocean acidification, and I'm very much in favor of moving towards renewable energy wherever it makes sense in Alaska as part of that broader worldwide approach,” Gross said. “We're an oil and gas state and we've benefited a lot from that, and I don't think we should stop producing oil and gas as long as there's a worldwide demand. But the reality is that demand is decreasing. And that's good, because it's going to lead towards less acidification of our oceans.”

Another major challenge to the seafood industry, Dr. Gross said, is ongoing trade wars.

“First and foremost, we need to solve this tariff problem with China. It's really hurting our fish prices and it's limiting our exports to China dramatically. That needs to be fixed and fixed fast. And it's directly attributable to President Trump's trade war that Sullivan has done very, very little to correct,” he said. “It also is not fair that Russia has not been buying our seafood for six years while we are buying from them. That is a terrible trade inequity.” - More...
Sunday PM - August 16, 2020

Ketchikan: Timber harvest to limit public traffic on Vallenar Bay Road - The Alaska Division of Forestry will be imposing public vehicle restrictions on Vallenar Bay Road on Gravina Island near Ketchikan starting September 1.

The intermittent restrictions will be in effect during harvest operations over the next three years, and are intended to help ensure the safety of both the public and a contractor conducting timber harvests associated with the Vallenar Bay Good Neighbor Authority Timber Sale in the Tongass National Forest and Southeast State Forest, as well as a timber sale on University of Alaska lands on the north end of Gravina Island, said Greg Staunton, the division’s Ketchikan Area forester.

The Vallenar Bay Road was built in 2016-18 to provide access for timber harvest and to accommodate coordinated commercial forest traffic. It is a one-lane road approximately eight miles long, beginning at the old sawmill area at the Gravina Island Industrial Complex. It has seen notable public use for remote recreation and deer hunting on Gravina Island, located across the Tongass Narrows from Ketchikan. The road system is accessed by the Ketchikan Airport ferry. - More...
Sunday PM - August 16, 2020

Alaska: M/V Matanuska sailings canceled through 08/20 due to required COVID-19 testing for crew - Thursday afternoon, recent passengers on the Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) alerted AMHS that they had tested positive for COVID-19. The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) believes that these passengers were likely infectious while on the vessel. AMHS is notifying the public out of an abundance of caution.

The passengers boarded M/V Matanuska in Kake on the morning of August 10, passed through Sitka around 11 a.m. the same day, and arrived in Juneau at 11 p.m.

The Matanuska arrived in Bellingham, Washington Friday morning, and the crew will receive testing before its northbound departure. The crew must be tested and are required to receive negative results before the ship resumes service.

The M/V Matanuska's sailings are canceled through August 20. The Alaska Department of Transportation anticipates that the Matanuska will pick up the schedule northbound from Bellingham at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, August 21. - More...
Sunday PM - August 16, 2020

Alaska: Division of Elections verifies Alaskans will see Libertarian ticket on the ballot in November - The Alaska Division of Elections has certified limited party status for the Alaska Libertarian Party (ALP), ensuring the Libertarian presidential and vice-presidential ticket of Dr. Jo Jorgensen and Jeremy “Spike” Cohen will appear on the ballot for this November’s election. The ALP submitted 5,024 signatures to meet the requirement, far above the 3,212 required.

“Our petitioners and those who stepped forward to sign the petitions have demonstrated their resolve to have the principles of individual choice, decentralized control, and voluntary self-government represented in this upcoming election,” said Jon Briggs Watts, Chair of the Alaska Libertarian Party. - More...
Sunday PM - August 16, 2020

Southeast Alaska: PLAN FOR TULSEQUAH CHIEF MINE CLOSURE AND CLEANUP IS MAJOR MILESTON; BC Asks Bankruptcy Court to End Receivership Process to Pave Way for Mine Closure - Last week British Columbia (B.C.) made significant progress toward the closure and cleanup of the abandoned and polluting Tulsequah Chief mine in the transboundary Taku River watershed. Yesterday the Province released a cleanup and closure plan for the mine. It also announced funding for preliminary cleanup steps. And at a Tuesday hearing in front of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, both the Province and the Taku River Tlingit First Nation (TRTFN) asked the court to end the receivership process, which started in 2016 when mine owner Chieftain Metals (incorporated in Ontario) went bankrupt, and allow B.C to take responsibility for mine remediation.

“After more than 60 years of polluting a world class salmon watershed, two bankruptcies, four years of receivership proceedings and a lot of promises, we are finally seeing real progress toward mine cleanup and closure,” said Chris Zimmer of Rivers Without Borders. “We have some concerns with the closure and cleanup plan and as to how and when the plan will be implemented. But between B.C.’s strong demand to end the receivership process and the release of the cleanup and closure plan, there is real momentum toward ending pollution from the Tulsequah Chief.”

“It is good to see B.C. recognize the widespread opposition to the Tulsequah Chief on both sides of the border and increasing demands for both an end to the long-standing acid mine drainage and a full closure of the abandoned mine. But this is by no means a done deal, and we urge Alaska’s leaders to protect Taku salmon by ensuring B.C. conducts a full cleanup and closure,” said John Morris, Sr., an elder of the Douglas Indian Association. - More...
Sunday PM - August 16, 2020

Canceled tour season allows study of undisturbed humpback whales
By ALICE BAILEY
Scientists watch humpback whales near Juneau.
Photo by Bruce Baker, NOAA Permit 20648

Southeast Alaska: Canceled tour season allows study of undisturbed humpback whales By ALICE BAILEY - Researchers are collecting valuable information on humpback whales while tourism in Juneau is at a minimum during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The data will establish a baseline of behavior and physiology to help determine how whale-watching tour vessels affect whales in more typical years. 

“When I learned back in March that the cruise ship season would be postponed or even suspended for the summer, I realized we had this incredible opportunity to study whales in the absence of high levels of vessel traffic,” said Heidi Pearson, the principal investigator of the study. Pearson is an associate professor of marine biology at the University of Alaska Southeast. She works on the project with colleagues at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s  Auke Bay Lab and the NOAA Alaska Regional Office

The whale-watching industry in Juneau has tripled in the past two decades, raising concerns about potential impacts on humpback whales.

Studies indicate that humpbacks tend to increase speed, change direction and breathe faster in the presence of vessels, which indicates that the whales may be taking measures to avoid them. 

Marine mammal scientists have studied humpback whales in Southeast Alaska for decades but never before in an environment so devoid of human activity. The lack of baseline data has made it especially challenging for NOAA Fisheries, the management agency for humpback whales, to evaluate impacts of tour vessels and support continued recovery of the species.

“The goal of the project is to determine humpback whale presence, local abundance and residency patterns. We’ll examine the blubber biopsies and respiratory blow samples to measure steroid hormones associated with stress, like cortisol, corticosterone and aldosterone,” said Shannon Atkinson, a co-principal investigator for the study and professor at the UAF College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. 

Atkinson will lead the laboratory analysis, with an emphasis on hormones. 

“We’ll also analyze progesterone and testosterone to help identify sex and life-history status,” she said. - More...
Sunday PM - August 16, 2020

White killer whale spotted in Southeast Alaska
By NED ROZELL
A white killer whale, spotted in early August, swims in the waters of Southeast Alaska.
Photo by Stephanie Hayes (For use with article)

Southeast Alaska: White killer whale spotted in Southeast Alaska By NED ROZELL - People in an 80-foot charter boat out of Petersburg recently saw what a biologist described as a “less-than-once-in-a-lifetime” event: a white killer whale swimming through the sea.

University of Alaska Fairbanks graduate student Stephanie Hayes was on the Northern Song, operated by Captain Dennis Rogers, on Aug. 7, 2020, just offshore of the village of Kake. Hayes, working as first mate on the boat this summer, and others noticed a pod of killer whales about one-quarter mile off.

As they took a closer look, they noticed that one of the orcas was somehow glowing.

“There was a collective gasp from everybody on the bow,” Hayes said.

They continued to watch the white orca swim with its pod — a family group including three or four others, their color a typical dairy-cow black-and-white. Having studied killer whales during her undergraduate work in British Columbia, Hayes knew they were witnessing something special.

“There have only been about eight white killer whales ever recorded in the world,” she said by phone from Petersburg. “To have one in Southeast was an incredible phenomenon.”

Captain Rogers, who often hosts researchers on his vessel, including those who study killer whales, said it was the first white killer whale he has seen in 45-plus years of sailing on Southeast waters.

Because he lives with a view of the ocean in Petersburg, Rogers was able to get a second view of the white killer whale a few days later. He looked out a window and saw a pod of killer whales. He lifted his binoculars and saw the white orca among them.

He called Hayes, who drove over in her pickup and spotted them, surfacing for air, from the shore. She hopped out of her truck and saw the white orca within the pod, about 100 meters offshore. She took photos, as she had from the boat.

Hayes, who studies squid in her graduate work at UAF, said the white killer whale has a condition called leucism, which she defined as a “lack of vibrancy” in its pigmentation. Caused by a mutation in the whale’s DNA, leucism is different from albinism, in which a creature is all white, with pink eyes.

With a little research, Hayes and Rogers found that their white whale had been documented by British Columbia researchers.

Tl’uk — a word for moon in the language of the Salish peoples of the Pacific Northwest — is a two-year old male killer whale who has not yet left its family group. When it soon does (after other group members kick it out, as a mother moose rejects a full-grown calf), its glow might be a disadvantage, perhaps alerting seals of its approach. - More...
Sunday PM - August 16, 2020

DAVE KIFFER: Just how Ktown R U? - It seems like every 4.5 seconds one of my Facebook friends posts some sort of 'questionnaire' that is designed to elicit (hmm, I almost typed 'illicit,' Freudian slip?) information that establishes ones 'local lifer' bona fides.

Either that or it is some Nigerian-Ukrainian Superbot that is trolling our lives for the information that can be used to suss out our most secret passwords by gleaning info that only we would know. 

If fact, that actually makes more sense because anyone who has lived here more than 15 minutes already knows everyone else's deepest, darkest secrets because that is what Ketchikan is all about.

If you spilled milk on the floor at Log Cabin Grocery in 1968, we know.

If you set fire to the lights in Social Studies class, we know.

If you accidently dated your third cousin in junior high, we know.

Our ability to survive on this claustrophobic rain-rock we call home is predicated on having that information.

It is called MAD or Mutually Assured Dissemination.

If anyone even thinks about threatening anyone else on the rock, they are faced with having all their dirty laundry immediately aired. Of course, you ask, if everyone else already knows, what difference does it make? Ketchikan is all about keeping up appearances. Even if I know that you know that I know that you know something I need to be able to pretend that you don't.

But, as usual, I digress.

Anyway, here is a recent response I came up with in taking one of those life questionaires (ever get a tattoo, ever ski dive, ever go skinny dipping!) and making it a little more K-Town Centric. - More...
Sunday PM - August 16, 2020

Political Cartoon: Congress on vacation
By Steve Sack ©2020, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, MN
Distributed to paid subscribers for publication by Cagle Cartoons, Inc.