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Klawock, Prince of Wales: Preserving the Past, Carving the Future By BILL HUPE AND SUSAN BATHO - In the shadow of an ancient forest, next to State Highway 921, a modest carvers' shed shelters three totem poles in progress. Outside it, poles lay, still colourful, but cracking, weathering, waiting their turn to be the next to be recarved, so that their story can continue.

Carver Jon Rowan Jr., a 43 year old teacher, comes each day after school to continue the task, five days a week. During summer he employs apprentices, teaching the skills he has learned himself, passing on his knowledge about the woods and their nature, seeing those apprentices develop into skilled and master carvers themselves, reaching their own potentials. - More...
Monday - October 09, 2006

National: Experts see no clear options for exiting Iraq By ANNA BADKHEN - Experts analyzing how the United States can disentangle itself from the increasingly unpopular war in Iraq disagree over many aspects of strategy, but they are united in one view - the complexity and scale of the problem defies simple solutions.

How can the United States leave without allowing the current Sunni-Shiite bloodletting to escalate into a Bosnia-style civil war or creating an even more fertile breeding ground for militant jihadists?

And what can it do to stop Iran - Iraq's Shiite neighbor and the most potent regional military power - from filling the vacuum when American troops leave? - More...
Monday - October 09, 2006

National: Democrats have a plan for changes if victorious By LISA MASCARO - With fewer than five weeks to go before the mid-term election and the very real possibility that Democrats could take over the House - and in some scenarios the Senate - the question comes naturally: Just what would Democrats do if they were in charge?

When Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and his counterpart in the House unveiled the Democratic platform for the 2006 elections back in July, there was little appetite for the news. Democrats were hardly able to generate the hype that surrounded Newt Gingrich's Contract with America, credited with helping Republicans in their astonishing 54-seat sweep into power in the House of Representatives in 1994. - More...
Monday - October 09, 2006

Science - Technology: Global network of eyes and ears monitors North Korea By LEE BOWMAN - A global network of eyes and ears is watching North Korea.

More than 325 monitoring stations report 10 billion bits of data each day in a system designed to give almost instant notice of a possible nuclear device explosion like the underground test carried out by North Korea.

The sensors - the world's largest scientific watchdog - detect seismic, hydroacoustic and acoustic pressure, and are maintained under the Preparatory Commission of the International Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and the data collected at the International Data Center in Vienna, Austria. - More...
Monday - October 09, 2006

Alaska: Rate of breast cancer in Alaska women higher than U.S. rate; Awareness is essential in the fight against breast cancer - Alaska Governor Frank H. Murkowski has proclaimed October 2006 as Breast Cancer Awareness Month to raise awareness of breast cancer incidence in Alaska women and promote early detection strategies.

An average of 141 out of every 100,000 Alaska women will be diagnosed with breast cancer annually; which is greater than the national average, of 129 women out of every 100,000. Although health officials are not sure exactly why women in Alaska have a higher incidence of breast cancer, they do know that the most effective way to survive breast cancer in women is through early detection. - More...
Monday - October 09, 2006

Alaska: Alaska Retirement Management Board Adopts New Assumptions - The Alaska Retirement Management Board held a 3-day public meeting in Anchorage last week. The actuary, Buck Consultants, reported that experiences in several areas departed from assumed or forecasted numbers sufficiently to warrant revising the assumptions to more closely align with actual plan experience. The board approved those assumptions for the coming actuarial review to set employer contribution rates for fiscal year 2009, the year that begins July 1, 2008. All actuarial data is reviewed by a second actuary, Gabriel Roeder Smith & Company.

Had those assumptions been available and adopted for setting fiscal year 2008 rates, the average PERS rate would have been 46.64% instead of 39.76%, and the TRS rate would have been 59.56% instead of 54.03%. For example, data shows that TRS retirees are living longer than expected, members from both plans are retiring earlier, and pre-retirement mortality has been lower than expected. Consequently, revising the assumptions to reflect actual plan experience over the last five year period has resulted in increased costs. This illustrates that under a defined benefit plan, when retiree costs rise the employers must make larger payments. - More...
Monday - October 09, 2006

Fish Factor: 2006 Alaska's salmon catches to top $300 million By LAINE WELCH - Headlines so far have heralded how Alaska's salmon catches will come up short for the 2006 season. The statewide harvest for all species is projected "at best" to approach 140 million salmon, down 37 percent from last year's record haul of 221 million fish. Regardless, the fishery should ring in at a respectable $304 million at the docks, compared to $334 million last year.

"It marks the first time in ten years that we've had back to back salmon harvests that topped $300 million, and it almost doubles the low point of $162 million in 2002," said market expert Chris McDowell of the Juneau-based McDowell Research Group, the first to come out with an official value for the 2006 fishery. Here is an early look at other season highlights: - More...
Monday - October 09, 2006

Kootéeyaa Project Totem Pole to be Raised Oct. 14 Tlingit master carver Wayne Price Front Page Photo courtesy SEARHC

Sitka: Kootéeyaa Project Totem Pole to be Raised Oct. 14 - The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) will be raising the Kootéeyaa Project Wellbriety totem pole during a ceremony Oct. 14 in front of the SEARHC Community Health Services building in Sitka. The community is invited to attend the raising ceremony for the totem pole, which will have the Tlingit name Yei éek kwa néix (which means, "you are going to get well").

The festivities will start at 11 a.m. as people gather at a large tent set up in front of the SEARHC Community Health Services building. At noon, dozens of people will carry the pole from the covered shelter where Tlingit master carver Wayne Price has been working on the pole since April to where it will stand in front of the Community Health Services building. The pole will be raised at approximately 4 p.m., after some final pieces are attached to the totem. The pole-raising ceremony will continue at about 5-5:30 p.m. at the Hames Physical Education Center at Sheldon Jackson College, with Alaska Native dance groups and comments from tribal elders. A dinner featuring traditional foods will be served as part of the ceremony at Sheldon Jackson College. Tables will be available for tribal members and clan leaders wishing to display their at.óow regalia.

"The raising of the Kootéeyaa pole has tremendous significance," said Mark Gorman, Vice President of SEARHC Community Health Services. "It is SEARHC's first totem pole and the first one to be raised on Japonski Island in modern times. The Kootéeyaa pole will serve as a beacon and symbol of hope, health and healing for all who come into contact with it." - More...
Monday - October 09, 2006

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters Basic Rules What will our leaders do? By Viola Burgess - Monday Bike Show By Dan Hart - Monday Police and law enforcement in Ketchikan By Vicky Newlun - Monday Gravina Island Clean-up By Jerry Cegelske - Monday Just the Facts By Dave Kiffer - Monday NEVER okay! By Diana Chaudhary - Monday Aan Kadax Tseen is my Name By Aan Kadax Tseen - Monday Time to pay attention to November elections By Janelle Hamilton - Monday BoonDoggle Bridge By Lonnie Guthrie - Monday Hypocrisy? By Mark Neckameyer - Monday Election 2006 Stars aligned? By Alan Bailey - Sunday Go East For Development By Walt Bolling - Sunday Klukwan your Cultural Identity is at Stake By Albert K. White - Sunday Excellence in Teaching By Aaron Burns - Sunday Boondoggle Bridge By Don Hoff Jr. - Sunday Seniors are Elders. By Ken Lewis - Sunday Open letter to Congressman Don Young By Mike Jones - Sunday The Hypocrisy By Robert D. Warner - Sunday Why tax increases failed - Global Warming By Marvin Seibert - Sunday Folley flap?? By Mark Neckameyer - Sunday Much Ado About Nothing By Alan Lidstone - Sunday WHITECLIFF NEEDS SO WE CAN VOTE YES By Pete Ellis - Wednesday Proud of the No voters! By Rick Watson - Wednesday Call Dave! By Charlotte Glover - Wednesday Seniors Still need a New Building By Dan McQueen - Wednesday Some words of Thanks By Gregory Vickrey - Wednesday An Uninvited Houseguest By Kim Butler - Wednesday Democrat hypocrisy is a joke in the Mark Folley affair! By Mark Neckameyer - Wednesday One Nation Under Greed by Martha Leftwich - Wednesday More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Political Cartoonists Political Cartoons Ketchikan City Police Report AK Troopers Daily Dispatch Arts This Week Today's Forecast Ketchikan Weather Data Current AK Weather Map Classifieds Auto-post your ad in the proper category, or email your ad & photos to ads@sitnews.us  Classifieds: Categories Announcements For Sale / Free Stuff Garage Sales Homes / Apts/ Property Pets Wanted Lost & Found Local Services SitNews Archives October 2006 Click on the date to read the stories published on that day. S M T W T F S 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31         More Front Page Archives

Tom Purcell: Columbus Day Oct. 9th - Exploring Christopher Columbus - "Dad, why does America celebrate Columbus Day?"

"Well, Billy, in 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed from Europe to America and founded the very first settlement in the New World. His arrival marks the beginning of America as we know it."

"But didn't he discover America by accident, dad?" - More...
Monday - October 09, 2006

Dale McFeatters: North Korea - again - The simple fact of a possible nuclear test by North Korea is that there is little the U.S. or the U.N. can do to a regime that has limitless tolerance for the suffering of its own people.

And it is testament to North Korean's credibility that the major nations awaited independent confirmation that it was a nuclear device rather than take the regime's word for it.

President Bush said he had been in contact with the other four nations involved in negotiations with Pyongyang - China, Japan, Russia and South Korea - about seeking additional U.N. sanctions and had received a positive response. - More...
Monday - October 09, 2006

Bob Ciminel: North Korea Enters the "Nuclear Club." Now, They Must Pay Their Dues - Having spent a good portion of my early post-adolescent adulthood pushing 16 nuclear-tipped, submarine-launched ballistic missiles around the Mediterranean Sea, I can attest to the fact that, if it already wasn't, Pyongyang, North Korea now has a plethora of computer-calculated crosshairs squarely over Kim Jong Il's presidential palace and any other building where he and his government may choose to park their sorry asses. Why any country would envy being in that position is beyond me.

I can picture the FTBs (missile fire control technicians) entering the "bal winds" data into their computers, but that's old technology. We had to transcribe the weather reports over our assigned targets into numerical values and adjust the missile gyroscopes to compensate for wind drift as the free-falling warhead(s) re-entered the atmosphere. With today's sophisticated guidance systems and geo-positioning satellites it's probably much, much simpler. - More...
Monday - October 09, 2006

Preston MacDougall: Chemical Eye on Cyber-Jazz - Time for a coffee break. Close your eyes and take a virtual trip with me to your favorite café. (Just for a minute, then open them again so you can keep reading). Mine's in Milan, where's yours? We can close our eyes, but we can't close our ears. What did you "hear"?

I could hear instrumental music in the background as well. Like the Italian sing-song conversations, the music was enjoyable listening. Except for a few words, like "Ciao!", Italian is not familiar to me. But the music is; it was jazz - the quintessential American music.

This scene hasn't only played out in Milan. In my travels across the continent, I have found Europeans that love jazz. Gernot had a particularly large collection of jazz records, Riccardo too. The same was true down under in Australia, and even in China where it is kind of taboo. - More...
Monday - October 09, 2006

Dan K. Thomasson: One scandal displaces another - When you have Mark Foley who needs Jack Abramoff? The nefarious onetime super lobbyist is old hat - as black as it is.

Suddenly, the great hope of the Democrats for regaining control of Congress has shifted to the tawdry activities of Foley, who resigned his Florida House seat immediately after it was disclosed that he had been sending dirty messages to teenage boys who were House pages and that Republican leaders had known for sometime that something was amiss and failed to act appropriately.

So out with the old and in with the new (scandal that is). It's the Washington way at election time, after all. Besides this one is much closer to balloting time and involves indiscretions about which there can be little doubt. In fact the only gray in the Foley mess is what did the House Republican leaders know and when did they know it. For Watergate buffs that should sound familiar. - More...
Monday - October 09, 2006