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Ketchikan: M/V POW Sails South for Upgrades - After four years and eight months of service on the Hollis-Ketchikan run, during which the Inter-Island Ferry Authority's M/V Prince of Wales has logged over 200,000 miles, the vessel sailed south Thursday to undergo a major refit. The ferry has hauled over 220,000 passengers and 56,000 vehicles during this period.

IFA general manager Tom Briggs announced Thursday that the board of directors has approved an intent to award a $1,330,000 contract to the only responsive bidder for the scheduled retrofit, Dakota Creek Industries of Anacortes, Washington. This shipyard built the M/V Prince of Wales and sister vessel the M/V Stikine. Briggs said that because the bid amount was in excess of engineers estimates, it was decided to defer planned bridge wing enclosures until next year. - More...
Friday AM - October 27, 2006

Alaska: Gov. Murkowski Addresses AFN - In an address before the Alaska Federation of Natives annual convention in Anchorage Thursday, Governor Frank H. Murkowski called on delegates to focus on fighting the spread and dangers of illegal drugs in Alaska's villages.

The governor highlighted his administration's accomplishments over the past four years during the course of his 30-minute speech, before closing with public safety ­ highlighting the recent strides made by Alaska State Troopers in combating illegal drug sales and seizures throughout Western Alaska.

Murkowski also called for focused efforts to provide quality in-state care for troubled Alaska youths, under a program the state calls "Bring the Kids Home." Citing the high number of youths in facilities out of state for intensive behavioral health, Murkowski said increased capacity in Alaska - including a 60-bed facility in Anchorage and another 44-bed facility in the works for Fairbanks - will allow the youths to get treatment closer to home. - More...
Friday AM - October 27, 2006

Alaska: Labor Agency Accuses State of Violating Bargaining Law - The Alaska Labor Relations Agency, charged with overseeing the State's dealings with its employees, found probable cause Thursday that the State violated the bargaining law and the Alaska Correctional Officers Association's rights by refusing to bargain regarding the new Tier IV Retirement scheme.

The Alaska Correctional Officers Association (ACOA) challenged the State of Alaska's unilateral change in the retirement system on July 1, 2006, and its refusal to bargain the retirement program offered to the Association's members. - More...
Friday AM - October 27, 2006

Alaska: Doyon, Limited Announces Dividend Amount - The Doyon, Limited Board of Directors has announced a dividend in the amount of $2.78 per share, or $278 per 100 shares, to be distributed on Friday, December 11, 2006 to its almost 14,000 shareholders.

Doyon, Limited is one of the thirteen Native regional corporations established by Congress under the terms of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA).

With the land entitlement of 12.5 million acres, Doyon is the largest private landowner in Alaska and is one of the largest private landowners in North America. Doyon's lands extend from the Brooks Range on the north to the Alaska Range on the south. The Alaska Canada border is at their eastern border and their western portion almost reaches the Norton Sound. - More...
Friday AM - October 27, 2006

Alaska: Climate and fishing effects on pollock bring international scientists to Alaska - Alaska's massive schools of pollock are the mainstay of a billion dollar commercial fishery, the largest single-species fishery in the United States. But will this bonanza survive amid continued fishing pressure and warming ocean waters caused by climate change?

Scientists will discuss the ability of pollock, cod, and other members of a family of fishes called gadids to adapt to human and environmental pressures at an international symposium in Anchorage October 31-November 3, 2006. The symposium will take place at the Hotel Captain Cook. - More...
Friday AM - October 27, 2006

Alaska: ANGLERS TO RECEIVE ADF&G SPORT FISHING ANNUAL SURVEY - On October 30, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) will begin mailing out 47,000 printed surveys to a sample of 10% of fishing license holders, both resident and non-resident. Called the Statewide Harvest Survey, the questionnaire covers all of Alaska, from Prudhoe Bay to the Southeast Panhandle, and asks anglers where and when they sport fished in Alaska, and how many fish they kept and released in 2006.

Survey responses are used by ADF&G researchers and managers to evaluate the sport fisheries, and to provide guidance to the Alaska Board of Fisheries in the development of management plans. - More...
Friday AM - October 27, 2006

Sports: Cardinals take 3-1 lead in World Series By TRACY RINGOLSBY -  The St. Louis Cardinals were late additions to the postseason. They had to wait until the final day of the regular season to get their invitation, and it came by proxy, Houston losing to Atlanta to open the door for the Cardinals.

Now that they are here, though, they seem intent on hanging around until it's all over, and taking home the trophy.

The Cardinals rallied for a 5-4 victory against the Detroit Tigers in Game 4 Thursday night, moving within a victory of the 10th world championship in franchise history, the first since 1982.

If the Cardinals claim another championship, they will have done so with fewer regular season victories (83) than any team in history. Minnesota had 85 regular-season wins when it knocked off St. Louis in the 1987 World Series. - More...
Friday AM - October 27, 2006

High Mountain Clouds can be a challenge even on a mostly sunny day. Scott Yukimura is the pilot of this helicopter transporting workers to High Mountain for repair work recently. Front Page Photo by Steve Sherva

National: Parents showing heightened fears for kids' safety at school By ALISON APROBERTS - According to a national USA Today/Gallup poll conducted this month, parental fear for children's safety at school is at its highest level since early 2001.

More than a third (35 percent) of parents with a child in kindergarten through 12th grade said they feared for the safety of their oldest child at school. In August, 25 percent of parents said the same. In August 2005, a historically low proportion of parents - 21 percent - said they were fearful.

Events such as the attack at an Amish school in Pennsylvania earlier this month create ripples of parental anxiety that spread far and wide, according to Jeffrey M. Jones, managing editor of the Gallup poll.

"You can just see this big spike when you see a prominent incident; we can kind of predict that," Jones said from his office in Princeton, N.J. "If there's nothing happening, it kind of goes back to a normal level."

Parents might avoid riding the roller coaster of worry if they looked at the facts, said Daniel Macallair, executive director of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice in San Francisco. - More...
Friday AM - October 27, 2006

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters Basic Rules Hate, Greed, and Fear By Robert Freedland - Thursday PM Free Money is a distraction for local governement By Michael Spence - Wednesday PM Bridge By Jerilyn Lester - Wednesday PM KGB School Lock-Down By Anne Lucas - Tuesday TIME FOR CHANGE By James C. Eakes - Tuesday RE: Tongass Construction By Cathy Geer - Tuesday Promises, Promises: What Do They Mean at UAS? By Robert D. Warner - Tuesday Getting hosed at the pump? By Wayne Kinunen - Tuesday Metlakatla's Choice: A simple Yes or No By Virginia E. Atkinson - Tuesday Martin and John Bugge By Pam Grender - Tuesday RE: Adults think they know all the answers etc. By Frances C. Natkong - Tuesday Gas Prices By Janelle Hamilton - Tuesday SQUEAKY By BJ Orand - Tuesday Hooray!!! for recovey By Patti Fay Hickox - Tuesday Killer of a Whale By Greg Harris - Tuesday Law enforcement in Ketchikan By Colleen James - Tuesday Lots of Failing Parents By Rob Glenn - Tuesday More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Political Cartoonists Political Cartoons Ketchikan Ketchikan Police Report AK Troopers Daily Dispatch Today's Forecast Satellite Today's Weather Images Marine Forecasts 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

Ann McFeatters: Bush's disconnect - President Bush's remarkable recent press conference was aimed at telling voters to focus front and center on the importance of the war in Iraq even as other GOP leaders were hoping to get voters to think more about their pocketbooks.

What gives?

Vice President Cheney was asked on the Fox TV network if he wishes voters would pay more attention to what the administration argues is a booming economy. Absolutely, the No. 2 White House man said, adding that he devotes half of each campaign speech he makes day after day talking about that very issue.

In an interview with The Concord Monitor (a New Hampshire newspaper to which every wannabe presidential candidate must pay homage), Senate GOP leader Bill Frist said Republicans have to get Americans' attention off Iraq and terror and on "pocketbook issues." - More...
Friday AM - October 27, 2006

John Hall: Plan to partition Iraq may rise after midterms - The period after the election is shaping up as an exceptionally tumultuous one for the capital.

Not only will a lame-duck Congress be butting heads with the White House, but a new set of players from the Congress that takes office next year will be moving in. There could be a Cabinet shakeup. The bipartisan and congressionally created Iraq Study Group, headed by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III and former Rep. Lee Hamilton of Indiana, is expected to recommend direct and immediate policy changes to Bush on the war in Iraq.

All of this motion could just create confusion. But the country could get some clues whether the final two years of Bush's term will bring gridlock and vetoes, or some sort of working arrangement with the loyal opposition. - More...
Friday AM - October 27, 2006

Bonnie Erbe: Sex, women voters and the midterm elections - Are women going forward or backward this political season? Yes.

By that I mean the '06 elections will serve as a marker for progress as well as regression for women candidates and women voters.

In one very positive respect, this year's elections are shaping up as a watershed for women candidates. Rutgers University's Center for American Women and Politics reports a record 2,431 women are running for state legislative seats. The former record of 2,375 was set in 1992, the so-called Year of the Woman, when women's numbers in Congress increased by historic proportions. - More...
Friday AM - October 27, 2006

Betsy Hart: "Why falling marriage rates are bad for the culture - Danger: Watch out for Falling Trend in Married Households," or so should have read the recent headlines announcing a stunning statistic: The American Community Survey, a report from the U.S. Census Bureau, revealed that for the first time in America's history a (ital) minority (end ital) of America's households are now headed by traditionally married couples, with or without children.

While just a few decades ago 75 percent of all households in the Unites States were headed by married couples, that figure has been declining for decades and now stands at just under 50 percent. The rest consist of single heads of households (like yours truly), singles, couples living together without being married, gay couples and so on.

Most adults still want to get married, and most eventually will. Still, the decline in overall marriage rates is important. - More...
Friday AM - October 27, 2006

Dale McFeatters: Wanted reform, got a fence instead - President Bush was asked at his White House press conference what he called "a tricky little question" - in essence, since the Republican-controlled Congress had failed to give him his top second-term priorities, among them comprehensive immigration reform, wouldn't he be better off working with Democrats?

He gamely said no, he wanted the Republicans to stay in control of the House and Senate.

Surely the president must have reflected on that tricky little question the following day when he signed the Secure Fence Act, a name redolent of barnyard and pasture, with a modicum of fanfare to show that the GOP was doing something about illegal immigration. Unfortunately, what it did was not what Bush wanted it to do. - More...
Friday - October 27, 2006