Election coverage abysmal
I want to comment about your newspaper coverage of the mayor's election April 7. It was terrible. I usually do and did go to bed about 11 last night after hearing the finish count would be available at midnight. I figured the count data and decision would be shown in the paper. It was not. I feel I pay good money for up to date and accurate news coverage in the ADN paper. Now I feel you want to concentrate on providing online coverage only. Your paper is a waste of my money as I work for mine and if I must go online for my news source yours will not be my first choice. I will seriously reconsider my next subscription to the ADN paper when it comes due.
— Ken Rocheleau
Anchorage
Editor's note: Alaska Dispatch News managing editor David Hulen wrote an apology and explanation for what happened on Thursday's front page. Because of a production error, some home-delivery subscribers in Anchorage received an early edition of the newspaper without updated election results and the full coverage that appeared in the later edition.
Funding cuts are back
I remember marching in protest with many other students during my junior year at West Anchorage High School regarding potential school funding cuts that would eliminate athletic programs and other important school programs. These were programs that allowed me to gain acceptance at one of the best colleges in the country, and afforded me the opportunity to excel academically and athletically.
Now, with a 4-year-old ready to enter kindergarten in another year, I find myself protesting the exact same funding cuts. It is time for legislators to stop messing with the future of the state of Alaska. I am not talking about oil and gas taxes and pipeline dreams. Cuts to funding that eliminate (in Anchorage alone) 48 elementary school teachers, 13 middle school teachers and 21 high school teachers are unacceptable. Our children deserve better than this. Alaskans need to rally around legislators who are willing to invest in our children — the real future of this state.
There may be all kinds of theories regarding cutting budgets in this day and age. But we cannot afford to sacrifice the future of our children.
— Molly Brown
Anchorage
Shes armed both ways
Bible at her bedside, gun in her car. What could go wrong?
— Richard Hanas
Anchorage
The rich would rejoice
Another state legislator has proposed a state income tax, which we badly need. But this one would cost someone struggling to make it on $200 a week at a rate 10 times higher than someone making a half million dollars a year — and, for those making $1 million, or $2 million or $10 million, no cost at all for anything over a half mill.
Now there's a friend — for every millionaire.
— Hal Post
Anchorage
Article misinformed readers on paying for spill cleanup
The Alaska Dispatch News omitted key facts in its recent article about the proposed refined fuel surcharge, leaving the impression that the oil and gas industry will no longer pay anything for spill prevention and response, when the exact opposite is true.
The reporter, for whatever reason, failed to mention the state's spill response fund is used for preventing and responding to all spills in the state, including non-oil spills, like those caused by commercial fishing, mining, trucks, boats and home heating tanks. He also failed to point out that the state already fully recovers any costs of oil industry spills from the industry — as the Walker administration testified to in March. In fact, Gov. Walker supports this bill, something else that was not mentioned.
Instead, the article created the impression that the Legislature was trying to somehow "shift the cost" of paying for spill cleanup from the industry to citizens. Most importantly, the article leads readers to believe that industry will no longer contribute to the fund, when in fact, oil companies will continue to pay the per barrel tax, as they have for decades. To date, the industry has paid more than $350 million into the cleanup fund, and invests millions more in equipment, training and drills, in addition to funding other prevention and response groups like Alaska Clean Seas.
Instead of informing the public, the Dispatch's article misinformed with its omissions and antagonistic tone. Alaskans deserve the full story, not editorials disguised as reporting.
— Kara Moriarty, president and CEO
Alaska Oil and Gas Association
Anchorage
Be kind to poor billionaires
Kudos to the Legislature for working on a bill to bring us taxes. I agree with the Legislature's motto of "Ask not what the oil companies can do for you, but what you can do for the oil companies." If somebody has to have taxes, it is better that we have the taxes than the millionaires and the billionaires, the owners of the oil companies. The oil companies are having tough times now because they are not making the number of billions in profit that they use to make. Somebody has to pick up the slack on this and it is better that it is us than them. Thank you, Alaska Legislature, for the fine job you are doing for all Alaskans. I can't wait to pay those taxes.
— John Suter
Chugiak
Draconian education cuts will damage our state
I am writing in support of the restoration of state funding for education. I write as a parent of two public school-attending children, and as a pediatrician who sees daily the challenges that students and educators face. Providing a high-quality education is the single most important responsibility of any government, bar none, as a poorly educated populace dooms a state to failure.
Alaska is consistently low-ranking in nationwide education surveys. This portends huge long-term issues for our great state. Businesses look at educational performance closely when relocation or new development is considered, and they struggle to recruit qualified workers (who in turn help sustain healthy communities) when school districts are weak.
School districts statewide are stretched to the limit already, with no margin for further deep cuts. There are no "extras" to cut. Teachers and essential facilities will be lost if these draconian cuts stand. Our state will save nothing by engaging in penny-wise/pound-foolish decision-making.
Our Legislature's responsibility is to ensure the future of Alaska, using our state's constitution as the guidebook. Education is the only constitutionally mandated state responsibility. Our kids personify our future, and educating them is our most important task. I ask that our elected officials do all they can to provide high-quality education to Alaska's children.
— Jennifer McNichol, M.D.
Sitka
Education cuts are shameful
I will make only two points of the many possible regarding the education cuts.
First, the state's only constitutionally nandated role as managers of our affairs is to fund education. For certain when written, this mandate was not intended to provide a gutted, bare-bones, emaciated system. Not a schooling, I would point out, that the progenitors of these cuts enjoyed.
Second, we live in a state that agreed to pay the oil companies millions of dollars if their profits dropped below a certain point, companies already granted the privilege of extracting and selling our oil. Meanwhile, the brunt of the deficit we face in our state finances is being passed along to the easiest targets, the most vulnerable Alaskans.
I am and have always been proud of calling Alaska home.
But there is no escaping it — these cuts to the education of our children are nothing short of shameful.
— Stephen Lawrie
Susan Padilla
Sitka
Repeal oil tax credits
If there is a single priority that needs to be funded even in times of low oil prices, it is education. The solution is to cut last year's extra tax credits to the oil corporations. That will put $750 million into the budget. Currently, oil companies get $1.4 billion in tax credits. $750 million of that is from SB 21 passed last year. These tax credits must be repealed. This will not only protect the BSA but will literally save education in our state. This year oil companies are receiving more in credits than the state of Alaska is receiving in revenue from them, and yet, those oil companies are still making record profits. If there is a single priority that needs to be funded even in times of low oil prices, it is education. Tell legislators to keep the promised funding to the BSA in last year's HB 278. Education in this state cannot survive any further cuts. Our children's future depends on it.
— Debbie Boyle
Kenai
Columnist airs own opinion
Re: Paul Jenkins
Alaska has a population that covers the spectrum of social and political thought. Some of us are pioneers, some came up for work on the pipeline, others trickled in as the opportunity presented itself. As such we are a melting pot of ideas, concerns, biases, perfections and imperfections. It makes us what we are.
It is ADN's task to try and represent this fairly in the production of a statewide newspaper. As individuals we may strongly disagree with what we read but somewhere else in this state there are people who agree with what is being said. As long as the commentary meets the appropriate standards for public discourse it should be accepted for what it is. It is commentary. It is one person's view of a particular issue. We all have the right to ignore anything we wish to.
The commentator in question represents the thoughts of people who live in this state. Sometimes he may misrepresent them if his choice of words gets close to the line. You need not read his columns. The editors try to balance the presentation of news and opinion. It is not an easy task. You do the best you can. Enjoy the diversity of what is presented but don't take it too seriously. After all, it may be only one Alaskan's opinion.
— Brett Delana
Anchorage
Alaska has fictional heroes
I enjoy Michael Carey's reflective columns, most recently his piece on the trip to Dublin, Ireland, where he immersed himself in the history and lore of famous authors such as James Joyce, George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde and others who left behind a rich literary tradition. Carey mentioned that Alaska has no "fictional heroes" comparable to those created by such writers. Perhaps he's right. But on a more parochial level, I think Alaska's Ruben Gaines deserves a mention. As an Alaska radio broadcaster for more than 30 years and Alaska poet laureate from 1973 to 1977, Gaines created two legendary characters — Chilkoot Charlie and Six-Toed Mordecai. He chronicled their entertaining antics for many years on his popular radio program "Conversation Unlimited." Gaines is immortalized at the Spenard nightclub that bears his character's name: Chilkoot Charlie's.
As Carey mentions, those who have passed on still speak to us. The late Ruben Gaines will forever speak to Alaskans through his writings — and his radio program theme song, Claude Debussy's "Clair de Lune."
— Frank Baker
Eagle River
Lawmakers break promise
On April 2, Republican members of the Senate Finance Committee voted to take another $47 million ($200 per student) from Alaska's education budget. Last year many of these Republicans bragged in their newsletters to constituents that they supported education and helped provide $32 million to K-12 funding, and now that's retracted from the budget! Voting parents spent countless hours in Juneau in 2014 fighting for that $32 million and now lawmakers are breaking their promise and making it worse by cutting another $47 million. Shame on them! What will their newsletters say to voters this time?
I know the impact on our schools when teachers and staff are cut. I'm in our schools weekly as a volunteer. When you cut two teachers per school and the student count is the same, then there are more kids in each classroom. Discipline replaces teaching. Kids may lose music, art and languages as well. Is this what you want for your children, grandchildren, nephews, nieces, neighbor kids? Send emails to legislators, leave voice mails for legislators, write a letter to the editor of your local paper. Say something! To remain silent is to agree with them. Our kids' education is their constitutional mandate and should be their No. 1 priority!
— Rachel Faralan-Mingo
Anchorage
Education aids us all
The comprehensive services provided by public education reduce the need for law enforcement, health care and social services. By investing in schools we provide equal opportunities for all children. Even when there is low revenue, our legislators must remember: "The benefits of funding public schools far outweigh its costs!"
— Angie Jensen
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, 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.