Letters to the Editor

Readers write: Letters to the editor, July 23, 2015

Trawling too destructive to be ignored

My family moved to Gustavus when I was 15 years old in 1958. I caulked and painted an old rowboat and one day I rowed across the Icy Passage and around the west end of Pleasant Island. A ways on I came across a fish trap anchored near the shore. This was the last summer they existed. Soon we had statehood and the first thing they did was eliminate fish traps and break some of the vise-like grip of the Washington state fishing monopoly. Once again our citizens could fish and make a living.

We are right back to the same thing with the trawling industry. What if we passed laws saying it was legal to deer hunt using a Zeppelin dragging nets across the ground. Sure you would get a couple of deer but you would kill your neighbor's wife, tear out his garden, upset his car and trash his house. Just because you can't see what's going on doesn't make it OK and big money doesn't make it right.

This is what bottom trawling does. It is a barbaric way to fish. Trawling doesn't target species effectively and bottom trawling tears the bottom to hell. It is obscene to suggest that any of our citizens who fish should be expected to relinquish any of their halibut quota in order to free the barbarians from limiting their destruction.

— John Ballard

Fairbanks

Governor proves to be levelheaded one

I'm deeply grateful to Gov. Bill Walker for keeping his campaign promise. Thank God that a compassionate, levelheaded adult intervened and expanded Medicaid, and shame on the leadership of the majority caucus for not allowing Medicaid expansion to come up for a vote by our lawmakers. What a callous, cowardly tactic.

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What can you say about a group of politicians who are so bent on making a juvenile political statement that they'd endanger the lives and financial security of Alaska's low-wage workers — folks who are trying their hardest to take care of themselves and their families? Disgraceful.

— Eric Treider

Soldotna

New ADN is on the right track

First of all, thank you for broadening the scope of what used to be an Anchorage-centered news venue. As one who spent 38 years in the Interior, I appreciate hearing about what is going on outside of the municipality. How different things are down here. Folks couldn't care less about what happens elsewhere in this state. It is extraordinarily egocentric. The best evidence of this is the visibility you inherited from the old ADN for Moore and Jenkins.

You might consider the fact that Alaska has always been a place of rapid change. Change is good. Change is healthy. But, the dinosaurs will die. You have two dinosaurs that grace the pages courtesy of the past. Perhaps it is time to let them meet their just rewards. I think a lot of us would sleep easier if we had less noise from the past, and more news about the future. Keep up the good work!

— Brett Delana

Anchorage

'Fish First' is motto for future

Since moving to Alaska three years ago, it has seemed to me that "Fish First" is Alaska's unofficial state motto. Wherever you go in Alaska: fish, fish everywhere. Salmon in particular are the staple and livelihood of Alaska.

The Chuitna coal mine would put these fish in the crossfire of corporate greed. PacRim is proposing to de-water a fork of the river. Yes, taking 100 percent of the water from a salmon stream, and hoping that those salmon will find a new home. Let's not get into the pollution from coal mining and its effect on a river (it has hazard signs all over it in case you are wondering).

Join me in reminding Gov. Walker "Fish First" and say no on the Chuitna coal mine.

There is a lot more at stake than salmon; there is an entire culture.

— Amber Peterson

Anchorage

Protect us from senior citizens

Mr. Obama seeks to have those Social Security recipients who have someone else handle their checks and accounts put on the FBI's "no-gun-buy" list. The concept seems to be that one who cannot be depended upon to accurately balance a checkbook is unstable, and may lead a charging herd of wheelchairs and walkers in an attempt to overrun our armed forces and take control of the nation.

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The utter stupidity of this is beyond comprehension, but if inability to manage budgets and funding is a sign of instability, it seems obvious that the entire Senate and House of Reprobates must immediately be added to the prohibited list, and guns they own be confiscated.

— Don Neal

Anchorage

Dusenbury case reveals flawed system

I just learned of the "flip-flop defense" in the case of Jeff Dusenbury's death at the hands of Alexandra Ellis. Surely this is a joke, which just compounds the insult of the proposed sentence. How can someone kill someone while under the influence and only get one year? It's just so sad that this deal that has apparently been made by the prosecutor is just adding to this horrible tragedy. There is something wrong. Surely this is not how it is supposed to work.

We need a system that would help Alexandra take responsibility for her actions, make amends such as she can, and help our community grow from this into a better place. To that end, please support the Jeff Dusenbury Sweat Fest on Friday. Be a part of the positive force that Jeff Dusenbury was in this world, and continues to be, even though he's gone.

— Karen Oakley

Anchorage

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Safe Harbor a great start for Berkowitz

Thank you to our new Mayor Ethan Berkowitz.

He is already doing an amazing job.

He shows so much support to us.

I just want him to know that we support him as well.

I look forward to all of the good work to be done at the Safe Harbor Inn.

— Samuel Johns

Anchorage

Transfer site fees adding to problem

Living on an island year-round, one tends to accumulate a bit of household trash. Most we burn, but not this year as it's too dry to even consider it.

We have an old dog kennel made of fencing that we set our trash bags in to keep the loose running dogs out of it. Yeah, we're on an island but … weekenders.

Anyway, I took our boat loaded with trash to the transfer site here in Big Lake. We already have a problem with people leaving truckloads of trash on the four-wheeler trails and dead-end roads and now I was charged $30 for a 4-by-8 truck bed loaded full to the bed rails of the truck. I was informed by our local transfer site employee, "You know the rates went up last month."

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"Yeah, I heard."

Noticing there were four employees there, one of them looking over the fellow's shoulder and at me, I assumed he was a supervisor.

Me being an opportunist to "occasionally" speak my mind, I said, "You know, these high rates are only going to increase the trash people leave on the trails and areas we hunt for moose." The employee agreed with me as we hunt the same areas sometimes and we see this.

He gave me a new rate charge sheet and a contact number of the individual to talk to about this.

Three years ago it was $10 for a truck load, then $20, now $30.

This greed in fees is only going to make matters worse.

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— Ben Kleinenberg

Long Island, Big Lake

Berkowitz hits nail on the head with housing-first approach to homeless

Cheers to Mayor Ethan Berkowitz for using a data-proven method to address Anchorage's chronic homelessness problem. On Tuesday he announced that municipal funding will be used to provide long-term housing for the chronically homeless at Safe Harbor Inn. This model, known as "housing first," follows the idea that the chronically homeless actually need housing to achieve sobriety and stability, not the other way around. There is a large body of data and research to support the effectiveness of this model; in the past nine years, for example, Utah has used it to decrease its homeless population by 72 percent.

Berkowitz's rational, scientific approach to addressing the issue is in sharp contrast with the previous administration. Former Mayor Dan Sullivan had previously sought to send our homeless south to treatment at Schick Shadel in Seattle, a facility he discovered reading an ad in Alaska Airlines magazine. I don't even want to think about the policy proposals that would have surfaced if he'd read SkyMall instead.

— Paul Oliva

Anchorage

Walker still harbors broken promises

Shannyn Moore's commentary (ADN, July 19) "With Medicaid expansion, Walker keeps his word and does what's right for Alaska" disgusted me to the core. In my view, his one "truth" does not invalidate the other promises he made. His reversal on his megaprojects stance seems like a big lie to me. This lie helped him achieve his goal and get elected, though. The high hopes I had for Gov. Walker have been dashed to the ground.

— Della Dempsey

Wasilla

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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