The Point Hope residents charged in the infamous mass killing of caribou are of course innocent until proven guilty. They are entitled to mount a vigorous defense in court. But it is perplexing to see how the North Slope Borough can justify using public money on lawyers for the Point Hope defendants. Under the Alaska Constitution, public money must be spent for a "public purpose." What is the public purpose in spending public money this way?
The Borough does not routinely pay legal expenses for residents charged with crimes. The defendants were not conducting official business for the borough.
Helping with their legal fees looks suspiciously like special treatment for a favored group of defendants, perhaps driven by political pressure from supporters in their home community.
It's as if Anchorage city government said, "Hey, Ted Stevens has done a lot for our city. Let's reach into the city treasury to help him meet all those huge legal bills."
There would be a public outcry. There would be a lawsuit. And it would be very hard for city lawyers to explain how spending public money on a specially favored criminal defendant qualifies as a "public purpose."
People in the North Slope Borough may feel their fellow citizens in Point Hope are unjustly accused and need financial help to mount an effective case in court. Fair enough. The way for borough residents to supply that help is by reaching into their own personal pockets, not the public treasury.
BOTTOM LINE: Looks like politically favored defendants are getting special financial treatment.
In control
Seward Highway solution is us
These two words of old advice are sound: Drive defensively.
That's because you can't control what the other guy does. You can only anticipate.
These two words of advice are sound, too: Drive unselfishly.
That's because we can control ourselves.
Six deaths since May on the Seward Highway between Turnagain Pass and Potter Marsh have focused state officials and citizens on the dangers of that lovely road. Something will change -- more police and trooper patrols, stiffer fines, maybe a center line divider to prevent head-on collisions.
But the state can't respond overnight. We can.
That means not speeding, passing blind, or riding the bumper of the rig in front of you. That means pulling over to let the guy behind you go on, so you don't build a 10-vehicle stew of anger and frustration behind you while you keep an eye out for belugas.
Most of us have known low-level road rage.
"Jerk!" at the jerk who cuts dangerously close in front of you, or who indulges NASCAR fantasies among families bound for the Peninsula.
"C'mon!" at the truck hauling a camper and tooling along at 45 -- maybe 50 -- along the arm. "Hey tourist, how 'bout if we all get there sometime today?"
Those are sanitized examples.
We're better off to recognize we're not the only ones on the road and that if we look out for another, we stand a much better chance of avoiding what happened Thursday that left two young people dead.
By all means look out for the other gal. But first make sure she doesn't have to look out for you.
BOTTOM LINE: Want to make the Seward Highway safer right now? Drive aware and with care.