Letters to the Editor

Readers write: Letters to the editor, July 21

Nothing hypothetical about permits

I started a floating dock by making a crib of rocks on my lakefront without permits or plans. It was hypothetical. Fish and Game threatened double fines. I removed it. I submitted detailed plans, which were approved. I got permits (approval equals permits). Now I have a floating dock, minus a small platform that Mother Nature (high water, debris, branches, ice and wind) thought was unnecessary. Had I applied for permits for my hypothetical dock without plans, the authorities would've had a great laugh at my expense.

Permitting something that is hypothetical is like saying, "OK, go do what you want. We don't care." But House Rep. Bob Gibbs, R-Ohio, cries "un-American" and our Don Young shouts "disgusting" and wags his finger at the EPA for stepping in on hypothetical Pebble. Thanks to "un-American" Americans, rampant water and land pollution is greatly curtailed today nationwide. Lately, it has become pointlessly fashionable to disregard environmental concerns. That widens the destructive logjam between Republicans and Democrats. That is sad. Who permitted that?

-- Ken Green

Cooper Landing

Grant children due process

I see Sen. Murkowski is down on the southern U.S. border so she can "understand" the current refugee problem. Let's hope Sen. Murkowski will follow U.S. law and allow these children the opportunity for due process in seeking asylum in the United States and work to increase emergency funding for our border patrol.

I hope she isn't wearing her steel-toe boots and kicking these children back over the border.

Perhaps Sen. Murkowski could do something about the real problem with Alaska's border, another generation of Texans flying into Alaska to work the oil jobs up north and then flying back to Texas on rotation.

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-- Michael Albertson

Fairbanks

Gratitude to rescue crews

I am writing to publicly thank the crew from Alpine helicopters and the Girdwood ambulance paramedics for so quickly and professionally rescuing me on the Fourth of July.

I fell and broke both lower left leg bones on a remote trail in Prince William Sound. The Alpine helicopter crew quickly aborted their nearby fishing break and had me in Girdwood within 30 minutes of my fall. The Girdwood paramedics quickly aligned and set my leg while making a fast trip to Anchorage. I am now on the long road to recovery, but am happy to see my toes wiggle and my foot properly in line with my leg.

-- Gail Braten

Anchorage

New oil tax law is good business

ACES is clearly flawed. Both sides of Ballot Measure 1 can agree to that. The sliding tax structure that is ACES was a hostile environment for investment in Alaska. Who wants to produce anything that could potentially be taxed at 75 percent? That is common sense across the board of business. The oil companies aren't making their money through risky investment choices, that's for sure. They're taking the money they make from Alaska's oil and investing it places with a more stable business environment with less risk. To bring investment back to Alaska we must make our tax structure more appealing to good business.

-- Jennifer Henderson

Anchorage

Who are the immigrants?

In rebuttal to Ms. Hatch's letter of July 6: I ask her, are the nonimmigrant Natives she refers to the ones who arrived from Siberia, from those who migrated across from Mongolia, up from China, or lower Asia, who are related to the ones from Persia and Turkey and the ones related to the Sumerians, Hebrews from the land of Goshen and Nod? You mean those immigrants? Or your brethren who moved from the European tier? I say if we "white" non-Natives part out it is with all our infrastructure, closed oil and gas wells, roads, schools, medical and all subsidies. You can revert to sovereignty, and self-sufficiency too. Part Osage but all U.S.A., taxpaying American.

-- Sharon Turner

Anchorage

The views expressed here are the writers' own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a letter for consideration, e-mail letters@adn.com, or click here to submit via any web browser. Submitting a letter constitutes granting permission for it to be edited for clarity, accuracy and brevity.

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