Sorted by date Results 501 - 525 of 911
Outliers feel like second class citizens To the Editor: The Pilot must have misquoted the Honorable Councilmember Jeff Meucci. "I just don't think community members should be paying for roads that aren't part of the borough". I cannot think of a more divisive, condescending or astonishingly uninformed comment by a community official. Just extrapolating from that comment; all of us outside service area one are not community members even though we pay taxes to the borough? The roads outside...
This past May was not my first visit to Petersburg as a Senator, but it was my first time attending the Little Norway Festival. And what a weekend it was! Little Norway is giving "Big" Norway a run for its money. I felt right at home from the moment I got off the plane. The Vikings and Valkyries were quick to whisk me away in the Grog Van and get the festivities and fun underway. I was sure to grab a Dale sweater at Lee's before the parade to fit right in (and avoid a second visit to Viking jail...
Maybe the answer is fish. No, not the answer to what’s for dinner tonight. The answer to solving the increasingly acrimonious debate over the amount of this year’s Alaska Permanent Fund dividend. Figuring out how to share the investment earnings of the Permanent Fund between community services, such as schools and the university system and state troopers, and with individual Alaskans through the fall dividend payment is a lot like sharing salmon between multiple competing interests. The commercial fishing industry, sportfishing ent...
Senator is wrong To the Editor: Last fall the USFS held public meetings on the repeal of the Roadless Rule. The consensus was overwhelming public support in favor of the Roadless Rule as it now stands, from Alaskans who live, work and play here. Since the last 10 years the Roadless Rule was formalized for Alaska, many local guiding tours and a new a line of smaller, more personal cruise ships now rely on Roadless Rule lands, besides the mega ships that bring over a million passengers a year to...
Ban on fireworks unenforceable To the Editor: I support allowing fireworks inside of Service Area 1. I believe that they are part of American tradition and should be allowed to be set off on/near the 4th of July as originally included in the first reading of the ordinance before it was amended. I think a ban on fireworks is unenforceable under the current staffing of our police force. Richard S. Burke Truth difficult to find To the Editor: Humans love to hunt. We hunt fish and game. We hunt for...
MDT recital thank you To the Editor: Thank you to the wonderful teachers, generous donors, gracious parents, dedicated volunteers, supportive businesses and community members, and most of all, the talented dancers, for participating in an entertaining and successful spring recital. The Mitkof Dance Troupe Board Scouts made a difference To the Editor: During the Blessing of the Fleet, from the posting of the colors to the Scout honor guard launching the floating memorial wreath, to the clean up when the last tables and chairs were cleared and...
Regarding ferry service To the Editor: Demand destruction is a phenomenon that is often referred to when oil prices rise high enough to harm the economy and reduce its ability to purchase fuel. I have another example of demand destruction; getting rid of ferry service to Alaskan communities because the State budget has been mismanaged, which will result in a self inflicted wound to the economy. These small towns have ferry docks, how much was spent to build these docking facilities? Should that...
Redirect $32 million to "legitimate" transportation need To the Editor: Only 15 seconds into my April 12, one minute public testimony for the state operating budget, my microphone was abruptly muted by finance committee co-chair Senator Stedman. His justification explained afterward was, "We are talking about the operating budget." If freeing up $32 million dollars to put toward genuine transportation needs is an invalid suggestion toward relieving our state's fiscal crisis, then Alaska resident...
Gov. Mike Dunleavy is right. The Legislature and governor the past three years appropriated money for individual Permanent Fund dividends contrary to the 1982 formula in state statute. So what? They did it for good reason. They did their job. The Legislature voted to pass a responsible budget based on Alaska's fiscal reality, balancing the needs and wants of individuals vs. the needs and services of the entire state. Despite what the new governor promised voters last fall, communities do not...
Daily, it becomes increasingly clear Gov. Mike Dunleavy's staff is the gang that can't count, talk or think straight. Most everything the administration says is misleading, half-true or false, a perfect 10 on the truthlessness scale. They seemingly can't do simple math, read the Alaska Constitution or perform factual analysis of a smoke-and-mirrors budget plan. Fortunately, majorities in both houses of the Legislature are showing leadership lacking in the executive. If not so tragic, the...
So disgusted To the Editor: I am so disgusted with the arrogant attitude to "balance the budget in one year" going on. We have all worked for years together to make Alaska a better place for our families. Yes, we have all worked together and no one expected to not pay taxes. We have not worked for PF Dividend, other than to live in Alaska (believe me, that is abused too) I firmly believe we need to reintroduce Income Tax and have "Skin In The Game" as the saying goes. Many of us campaigned to...
In last week’s police report Jasmine Jones was shown as being arrested on March 14 at 4:01 p.m. on a charge of DUI. The arrest report provided to us by the Petersburg Police Department showed a March arrest date, a new booking number and new arrest number that differed from the arrest report given on Feb. 23. The Pilot printed the arrest information as a second arrest. When contacted by Jones this week this newspaper was accused of printing the second March arrest maliciously. We explained to Jones that the March incident was indeed a part o...
Many of the strongest and best memories from my childhood growing up in Juneau revolve around riding Alaska's ferries to swim meets to communities like Petersburg, Sitka, and Ketchikan. And later, as an adult, I have traveled across Southeast on ferries dozens of times for family trips, to deliver orthopedic clinics and surgery to remote communities, for hunting, and for basketball games. Those trips opened my eyes to the astounding beauty and breadth of our state, and they introduced me to...
Despite numerous meetings, public discussions and staff explanations the new development code and zoning map seem to have caught area residents and land owners by surprise. Dave Kensinger says it best, “People weren’t paying attention to this process,” which was two years in the making. Given the long-term ramifications of zoning, it’s important to get it right. It will be decades before any future large scale zoning proposals are taken under consideration, so it’s important that citizens understand exactly how their property is zoned and...
Get rid of the frills To the Editor: It’s nice that the people of town are willing to give more of their PFD to bail out the government's deficit. In the last 2 years, we’ve been deprived of over one-half of our PFD. Has that balanced the budget? No. The new Governor wants to do it in one clean sweep? Nope. It will take some years to rebalance the budget. What I want to see is the government itself to cut spending. Here’s a list; 1. All state employees take a 10% cut on gross income, 2. Stop limousine service, 3. 20% cut in per diem and expen...
Budget cuts corrected To the Editor: A possible objective look at our new governor’s budget to me looks as follows: 1. The governor only needs 16 votes to keep any of his budget cuts the legislators want to overturn. The legislature needs 46 to overturn a veto. 2. In the legislative public forum on Tuesday, March 5, over 50% of the respondents supported the governor’s cuts and wanted their $3,000. 3. The majority of Alaskans probably do not need libraries, pools, rec. centers, schools, ferries, medical facilities, senior services, Med...
Why a free pass? To the Editor: How is this fair? The Borough Assembly just voted to put a proposed ordinance on the ballot this fall to change the way Borough Assembly Member seats are elected. This issue was brought forward by Don Koenigs, a concerned citizen who went to a few assembly meetings and talked to a few people about his idea. How is it fair that he gets his idea on the ballot with such a minimal amount of effort? The Borough Assembly refused to help the proponents of the ATV and...
Education is too critical a part of our state's future to allow for reduced funding of that line item at the expense of a super-sized Permanent Fund check. K-12 funding should be left intact as was agreed to at the close of the legislative session last year. This week, 130 Alaskans were evenly split on the super-sized PFD as outlined in Gov. Mike Dunleavy's Senate Bills 23 and 24. In testimony last week, two-thirds of the public comments were against the super-sized PFD. From 2016 to 2018, the...
Best defense - good offense To the Editor: I hope the Assembly would look at setting up a committee now to look at plan A,B,C&D. for July, our next fiscal budget. Also publish all borough expenses so people know our costs. I would suggest having a couple of Assembly members, Steve, Jodi, Karl, the Alaska Air/airport manager, Rich Patterson from the ferry terminal, Erika, Tom Abbott, Phil Hofstetter and ? to plan for the upcoming cuts and related borough reorganization. Southeast does not have...
Okay Governor Dunleavy, you have our attention; our full and undivided attention. Like you, we're in favor of eliminating unnecessary spending by the state. We're in favor of a balanced budget. But the proposed budget simply ignores the impacts that will be spread across communities, families and individuals statewide. No one can undo years of deficit spending in a single budget, with little to no consideration of the hardship it will place on citizens, schools, state transportation and other go...
Zoning carry over To the Editor: Last week I complained about surprise multiple and problematic zoning districts for a single lot that showed on the most recent draft zoning map from the Planning Commission and staff. I wrongly assumed it was a proposed zoning change by the Commission. It was not. Although the Planning staff is still researching the history, it appears to be a carryover from zoning maps many years back, unrelated to the current rezoning. As property owner, it was my...
Climate Change is now part of all our lives To the Editor: The age of oil is over, or we are? Human kind has made use of the miracle power of oil for over one hundred years. The power of oil and petroleum products moved mankind out of the darkness and the muck of the earth. Like mice who stuffed themselves on a cake that was left unattended, little did they dream there was a price to be paid for such high living. So it is with ourselves. Oil's price tag has finally come due. Now it threatens...
Pastor Eric Olsen from the Petersburg Lutheran Church preached at the First Baptist Church this week. He is one of many who have delivered messages before the congregation as the search continues for a permanent pastor for the Baptist church. He posed the question, “Have you ever left anyone behind?” The question pertained to Jesus parents leaving him behind in the temple at Jerusalem after they departed for Nazareth (Luke 2:41-50). For me, the answer was yes. It happened in 1982, shortly after the birth of our eldest daughter Jennifer. I, the...
Grateful for Secret Santa To the Editor: I have recently arrived in Petersburg, in town visiting family when I ended up with an abscessed tooth. I had just recently started working and I have no money. I wish to express my sincere gratitude to the Secret Santa that enabled me to receive the dental care I desperately needed at Dr Lister’s DDS office. Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year. Dustin Creek Good on our promise To the Editor: Thank you for putting in our letter about the dog poop on our playground at Stedman Elementary. We have come u...
