Mountain Point: Otter
Front Page Photo By JIM LEWIS

Alaska: Change Your Clock, Check Your Smoke Alarm - Daylight saving time ends this Sunday, November 6th, at 2 a.m. which means sunset will come an hour earlier next week. Remember to set your clocks back one hour when you go to bed Saturday night

Alaska State Fire Marshal David Tyler reminds Alaskans to check their smoke alarms when they change their clock from Daylight Savings Time on November 6th. For the last two years 59% of fatal fires in Alaska had no working smoke alarms in the structure. In another 21% it could not be determined if smoke alarms were present and operating.

Many homes have smoke alarms with 9-volt batteries that should be replaced at least once annually. Daylight Savings Time serves as a reminder to check smoke alarms and change 9-volt batteries. With the development of long-life lithium battery powered smoke alarms, the batteries have a life span of up to 10 years, so you may not need to replace this type of battery as often. "The key is to take a few minutes to check, test and clean your smoke alarm to make sure it is functioning properly, and what better time to do this than when you change your clock from Daylight Savings Time", Tyler said. - More...
Friday AM - November 04, 2011

Alaska: Fish Harvesting in Alaska - Fish harvesting is a critical component of Alaska’s economy, employing thousands of people across the state and bringing money and workers to parts of Alaska that might otherwise struggle to find steady sources of income. Its economic impact goes beyond the harvesting of fish, and includes seafood processing and all necessary support activities.

Alaska provided almost 53 percent of the fish harvested in the United States last year. More than 4.3 billion pounds of seafood were caught in Alaska, worth $1.6 billion.

This month’s Alaska Economic Trends focuses on the jobs provided by harvesting Alaska’s seafood, which can number as many as 20,000 during the peak summer months. - More...
Friday AM - November 04, 2011

Southeast Alaska: Wrangell Man Sentenced To Three Years Probation For Marijuana Grow On United States Forest Land – United States Attorney Karen L. Loeffler announced that a Wrangell man was sentenced in federal court in Juneau to three years probation and 200 hours of community work service for his felony conviction of manufacturing a controlled substance.

On October 31, 2011, Jeffery R. Cox, 37, a resident of Wrangell, Alaska, was sentenced by United States District Judge Timothy M. Burgess.

According to information presented to the court by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Schmidt, Cox had cultivated 95 marijuana plants on United States Forest Service Property outside of Wrangell, near Rainbow Falls trail. Cox had three separate locations located on Forest Service land where he was growing the marijuana. Cox admitted to federal law enforcement investigators that he was attempting to grow marijuana in order use and sell it. - More...
Friday AM - November 04, 2011

Alaska: Alaska Drug Take-Back Program Total Announced - Just under 1,900 pounds of prescription medication was collected in Alaska during the third Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) National Prescription Drug Take Back event in October 2011. Nationwide (188.5 tons) of drugs came out of homes and turned over for proper destruction. On the Last Take Back Day event in April 2011, Alaskans turned over 1,603.6 pounds of prescription drugs.

In all, there were 34 locations in 27 communities around Alaska who participated in the event during October 2011. Communities participating in the event were Anchorage, Aniak, Bethel, Dillingham, Emmonak, Fairbanks, Girdwood, Glennallen, Hoonah, Juneau, Ketchikan, Klawock, Kodiak, Kotzebue, McGrath, Nome, North Pole, Palmer, Petersburg, Seward, Skagway, Sitka, Soldotna, St. Mary’s, Talkeetna, Valdez and Wasilla.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, enough prescription painkillers were prescribed in 2010 to medicate every American adult around-the-clock for one month. Often, some of these medicines languish in the home and are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high - more Americans currently abuse prescription drugs than the number of those using cocaine, hallucinogens, heroin, and inhalants combined, according to the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Studies show that the majority of teens who abuse prescription drugs obtain them from family and friends for free, including from the home medicine cabinet. Many Americans simply do not know how to properly dispose of their unused or expired medicine, often flushing it down the toilet or throwing it away. These methods can pose both safety and environmental hazards.

More than seven million Americans abuse prescription drugs, according to the 2009 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Each day approximately 2,500 teens use prescription drugs to get high for the first time according to the Partnership for a Drug Free America. Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including the home medicine cabinet. - More...
Friday AM - November 04, 2011

Ketchikan: UAS Ketchikan Honor Society Inducts New Members - The University of Alaska Southeast Ketchikan’s Alpha Rho Beta Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society (PTK) held its Fall 2011 induction ceremony on Saturday, October 15.

PTK serves to recognize and encourage the academic achievement of two-year college students and promote scholarship on campus and in the community. PTK is the largest honor society in American higher education with more than 1.3 million members and 1,200 chapters.  Students must achieve a 3.5 grade point average in order to be invited to join the honor society.

New members Robert Bidwell, Megan Cessnun, Erin Ervin, Tara Miller, Molly Oien and Jason Vonick were inducted into PTK Honor Society during the ceremony on the UAS Ketchikan Campus. - More...
Friday AM - November 04, 2011

Columns - Commentary

DAVE KIFFER: Perfectly Fun Day By DAVE KIFFER - A couple of weeks ago, we were in a local store when Liam ran up to me with a gleeful expression.

“It’s Perfectly Fun Day, Dad,” he shouted. “Mom says I can get a video game!”

At least that’s what it sounded like he said. When I asked him about it later, he claimed not to remember what he actually said. He just remembered his mother told him she’d buy him a video game and that made it a cool day, no matter what the day was called.

Anyway, it was an unusual moment because Liam’s mother almost never tells him she will buy him a video game. She usually suggests that if the game is that “important” he can save up his allowance and buy it himself. That – of course – is not the correct answer when you are 10 years old.

It’s not that she doesn’t approve of video games – although she would prefer he spent more time with a good book – it’s just that she doesn’t want to become one of those “enabler” parents who think child rearing involves plugging them in to a console or IPad and ignoring them. You know who you are.

And I can agree with her. We are not doing our children any favors by only preparing them for careers as Predator Drone operators.

But since I am also a guy, I don’t have a problem with occasionally buying him a new video game, as long as he lets me use it now and then! - More...
Friday AM - November 04, 2011

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