Letters to the Editor

Readers write: Letters to the editor, March 4, 2015

Men omitted from Victimization Survey

I just looked at the Alaska Victimization Survey. No men were included. Why not? If you're going to use a survey to determine political and legal policy then at least be fair and balanced about it.

Leon Kitagawa

Palmer

Candidates for president must answer

tough questions about extremists

In response to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's comparison of union protesters to ISIS last week, Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace was criticized Sunday for asking Walker a softball question ("Aren't union protesters a lot different than ISIS?").

This is what Wallace should have asked:

"What would a President Walker do in the following scenario?"

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A collection of 19 mostly Saudi Wahhabi jihadists affiliated with a terrorist organization is motivated by the presence of foreign forces on "sacred" lands. They attack multiple targets in the U.S. using airliners as missiles that kill thousands of Americans. Your VP wants to attack and depose Saddam Hussein, a ruthless though secular Sunni dictator who the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence found "was distrustful of al-Qaida, and viewed Islamic extremists as a threat to his regime, and he refused all requests from al-Qaida for material or operational support."

Do you a) attack Mexico, b) attack Iraq and overthrow Hussein even if you know Islamic extremists would threaten his successor's regime as Hussein feared, and that the removal of Hussein would embolden Iran to seek nuclear weapons, or c) attack the terrorist organization responsible for the attack and any nation that harbors it?

Ron Wielkopolski

Anchorage

Hold Walker accountable for DA firing

I'm reading with alarm the piece by Donald Craig Mitchell about the unsubstantiated firing of Bethel District Attorney June Stein. I would like to see the Dispatch, or members of the Legislature, or whichever entity is responsible for ensuring proper protocol is followed by the governor to ask for accountability from Gov. Bill Walker as to the reasons for his actions. I'd like him held accountable if he has blatantly appeased a political campaign contributor and member of his transition team. Could James Valcarce have orchestrated this, as indicated in the opinion piece? What would be the reasons why? Let's bring those reasons to light. This smacks at the very least of naive inexperience, and at the worst of corruption.

Karen Rey

Anchorage

Clear, fair reporting?

With a sigh again, I was hoping the Alaska Dispatch News would be a newspaper that was not biased as the Anchorage Daily News. It's been clear in articles' slants and cartoons since this paper took over that it is more liberal than the previous editions of the Anchorage Daily News. For example, "Republican race starts in lavish haunts of rich donors," like that is unique only to Republicans. I could go on and on of the biased reporting. Seriously, you must really have a low opinion of your readers' knowledge. I want to read a daily newspaper that reports the news without slants; please clean it up.

— LeAnn Buhler

Wasilla

Veteran who tends to Kasilof Cemetery currently convalescing in Homer

Have you ever walked through the Kasilof Cemetery — perhaps to visit a loved one's grave or attend a graveside service? One veteran, who gained a Purple Heart while serving in Korea, poured out his own heart in tending said cemetery, for nearly 50 years. An invisible force against natural entropy, Lyle Cole kept pathways cleared, tree limbs removed, headstones aright, tranquility apparent.

In the same way that this quiet man tended the graves of your and my loved ones, from the shadows, he fights against the forces of nature against his own body. Due to this natural entropy, Lyle is convalescing in Homer with friends. He is in a town where he is not known, where his decades of community service is not noted, where a visit from a friend constitutes an entire day's outing!

If you have ever entertained a fleeting thought of gratitude toward the unseen force that maintained the cemetery, or for a wounded veteran who became a tireless community servant, perhaps now is the appropriate — yea needful — time to express it.

Lyle Cole, P.O. Box 900, Homer AK 99603 can be your portal to infuse strength and love to a man — in obscurity.

Grateful for your heartfelt response, a friend.

Leah Handley

Homer

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Split Alaska and see who’s still whining

I have been reading all the incredible whining from urban-suburban Alaskans about the costs of state services provided to Alaskans living off the urban-serving road systems (not that any Alaskans pay any taxes for these services, regardless of where they live).

Then there is the outrage of the road-system people with no kids, or grown kids, about property tax contributions to local education. (I wonder who paid for their K-12 education?)

I have a plan: Let's divide Alaska into two states — road-system Alaska, and non-road-system Alaska. Each Alaska could keep and tax all the revenues they generate within their borders as they see fit. For road-system Alaska, those would largely be service-generated and tourism revenues. For non-road-system Alaska, their revenues would come largely from natural resource extraction: oil, mining, commercial fishing — with some from tourism as well. Perhaps this legal division would please both sides. I'm pretty certain it would please the new "non-road" state.

Clay McDowall

Anchorage

Send away dealers selling drugs to kids

Dealers selling drugs to kids. They should be sent away for life. If one of the kids dies, they should get death themselves.

James Christenson

Willow

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Stop political posturing; expanding Medicaid is a moral imperative

I fully support the expansion of Medicaid in Alaska. The reason is quite simple; 40,000 of my fellow Alaskans will receive health care coverage. How can this be a bad thing? I have heard so many excuses from legislators. One of my favorites is "we don't trust the federal government to uphold its end of the deal." Really? Legislators certainly don't feel that way when the feds offer 90 percent of the funding for highways in Alaska! So why the hand-wringing over expanding Medicaid? Most of it is political posturing; however, when it comes to the health and well-being of 40,000 Alaskan citizens, this is not the time or place for nonsense. It's time to act.

As a person of faith and an advocate for equality and justice, I firmly believe expanding Medicaid is not only the right thing to do, but a moral imperative. I could write about the cost savings to hospital budgets and state coffers, but that is a given. Every member of the Legislature should stand with Gov. Bill Walker so that 40,000 of our fellow Alaskans can gain access to Medicaid coverage. By supporting expansion, thousands of Alaskans will have their own doctor for routine and preventive health care and no longer worry that an illness or accident could result in insurmountable medical bills.

This is America; nobody should ever have to live in fear of getting sick or being in an accident because he or she doesn't have medical insurance. Every legislator who claims to be pro-life, here's your chance to prove it. Expand Medicaid now.

Michele Vasquez

Soldotna

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, email letters@alaskadispatch.com, or click here to submit via any web browser. Submitting a letter to the editor constitutes granting permission for it to be edited for clarity, accuracy and brevity. Send longer works of opinion to commentary@alaskadispatch.com.

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