Readers write: Letters to the editor, Oct. 20, 2015

Appalled by rural dogs article

Editors' note: The following letter has been revised since first publication at the request of its authors.

I have been a longtime reader of Alaska Dispatch News. I always appreciate staying up to date on current and factual news stories in ADN. This is why I am appalled by the recent sensationalist story titled "Troubling conditions for Bush Alaska dogs prompt call for solutions."

My husband and I have been teaching in Scammon Bay for four years. We have never witnessed a dog being dragged by an ATV nor have we witnessed a dog being shot. I am also very disappointed that Alaska Dispatch News claimed, "Conflict over dogs recently erupted in Scammon Bay, but teachers and village leaders have very different views of the situation." It is absolutely false to claim that all teachers are involved in this conflict, however that is what this article is doing with this statement. I am very disappointed that I, simply by my affiliation as a teacher, am being dragged into a situation that I want nothing to do with. I have never seen a problem with the way that the City of Scammon Bay handles the dog population. I am also very saddened that the good name of my home of Scammon Bay is being dragged down.

-- Brianna Jackley Coulon and Jeffrey Coulon

school teachers

Scammon Bay

Wandering students corralled

The closing-off of the pedestrian crossing of UAA Drive from east campus to west was brilliant! Formally it allowed wandering students at wandering times, which created many pockets of vehicles backed up so much their back end was out onto Northern Lights Blvd. and/or 36th Avenue/Providence Drive. Shuttling those folks up into the already-existing overhead crossway was correct! Good show UAA!

-- Steve Williams

Anchorage

Only God can heal root causes of suicide in Alaska

The past few weeks have been tragic and trying for Alaska Natives. Four suicides in Hooper Bay are too many for one community, let alone a state with such a sparse population as Alaska. And now to intensify an already out of control problem, a Native man committed suicide at the end of the very conference that works so hard in vain to put an end to suicides among Natives.

Let this be a wake-up call to the Alaska Federation of Natives, the state and the federal government -- your programs are not working. We are seeing more suicides than ever in Alaska and we have to ask the question: Why? Why is this?

The reason why is because God has been taken out of every aspect of our lives that make us a community. The government can't fix the problem, AFN can't fix the problem, every secularized program in the world can't fix the problem -- only God can. Allow those who have been saved from suicide by the power of the almighty God to reach Alaska Natives with the saving grace and love of the Gospel and put your stamp of approval on it. What do you have to lose? More lives? Seems like the programs in place are already doing a good job of that.

-- Pastor Stephen Duplantis

Anchorage

Tired of being pelted with gravel

I'm tired of having my car/windshield pelted with rocks from commercial gravel hauling vehicles. If the common person has to cover their loads, why don't commercial trucks? Last Monday evening while driving down Minnesota Drive toward AS&G, my vehicle was pelted by small stones falling off the belly dump driving ahead of me. These were not a few bumps, but a continuous rain of rocks. My windshield took several hard hits.

As I passed the driver of the white cab truck, I noticed small piles of gravel all over the rails of the truck (he was empty and heading back for more material). Obviously, the driver could not take a few minutes to clean off his rig before he headed out to the very important project some place in West Anchorage. How long do we have to put up with gravel littered streets and broken windshields? How long do we have to keep shelling out $500 for new glass?

-- Gerry Guay

Anchorage

We have blueprint for building a state free from suicide

We are all reeling. We all grieve the losses of our families, our neighbors and our communities to suicide. We are all tempted to feel that the situation is hopeless. It is not.

Suicidal ideation (thoughts of suicide) affects many people who experience depression or other mental health disorders. Yet, not everyone who has a mental health condition feels suicidal. For some, thoughts of suicide are like a sudden squall. For some, they come and go like the tide, stronger at some times than others. And for some, thoughts of suicide are a crashing flood. For those of us on the shore, safe on solid ground, it is not enough that we scan the waters for someone in need of rescue. We must stay connected with the people beside us, so we can identify when a neighbor is at risk and help keep them from being washed away. And keep from being washed away ourselves.

How do we do that? Alaska has one of the most comprehensive and inclusive suicide prevention plans in the nation. Based on evidence and research -- but more importantly, on the wisdom and experience of Alaskans statewide -- Casting the Net Upstream provides a blueprint for building a more resilient and healthy state free from suicide. There are clear strategies for individuals, communities and policymakers to use to prevent suicide. Individuals who get involved and act when someone is hurting and at risk of suicide help save lives. Communities that have put these strategies into action -- like Kotzebue and the Northwest Arctic School District with the Teck John Baker Youth Leaders Program and Juneau with the Sources of Strength program -- see results.

Alaskans know how to prevent suicide. We know that we need safe and inclusive communities in which our children can thrive. We know that we need timely access to mental health and substance abuse treatment in all our communities so that people get the care they need when they need it. We know that we need to address the root causes -- racism, poverty, childhood trauma, isolation, inequality -- to address the hopelessness and despair that contributes to suicide.

We know what to do. What we need is to do it consistently and in every home and heart in Alaska. And we need to do it now.

Go to www.stopsuicidealaska.org and http://dhss.alaska.gov/SuicidePrevention/Pages/default.aspx for ways you can get involved.

ADN survey would send message

Editor: I suggest the ADN survey its subscribers using the same survey that was sent to our legislators. Conduct it before the next session begins. Pop a big orange colored survey in with all the inserts that fall out of my daily paper. I'll send it back. Only 12 legislators out of 60 had the political courage to respond within the parameters of the survey. Unbelievable. Alaskans have only their economic future at stake as opposed to our legislators who are selfishly concerned about their own political futures.

Furthermore, various legislators have stated that they want to do what the people want. Well, here's our chance to tell them in a very big, public way. The ADN survey gives us this platform. The Rasmuson survey covered only 1,206 respondents and was more complicated. The ADN survey would involve more respondents, and cuts to the heart of the issue in an easy, simple, yes/no format. If manpower to do the job is a concern, involve local senior journalism classes from area high schools to compile and tabulate responses.

-- Theresa Philbrick

Anchorage

We Alaskans can do anything we set our minds to, Sally Jewell

This Sally Jewell is anything but. Everybody stateside still wants our oil for nothing, so they can whiz around in their BMWs, and take environmental junkets on the taxpayers' money, but God forbid we try to supply them with that oil from the Arctic, which is where the oil is.

Jewell is destroying our economic base without offering alternatives, and as we can see, humans are not her priority (witness her nixing the road to King Cove). I'll bet if one of her relatives lived in King Cove, that road would be built so fast, we'd have whiplash trying to keep up with how fast that road got laid down.

Well, let's get that gas line Gov. Walker.

This is the time we need advancement in solar, wind and tidal power. If Jewell won't let us develop our oil base, then we need to search for new bioenergies and hydrogen fuel cells. I know it can be done; my brother Sandy ran his truck on a massive hydrogen fuel cell.

I believe Walker (and the Obama administration) has put grant monies available to innovative energy solutions. Let's add to that, bringing funds from the AFN, large oil companies and part of our PFDs to sweeten the kitty.

Future bioengineers, chemists and engineering students should get a break in the cost of education.

Let's not stop there. Let's figure out how to recycle our junk for future uses.

Clearly, Jewell, doesn't think much of us Alaskans. But I do. I think we Alaskans can do anything we set our minds to.

-- Lillian K. Staats

Wasilla

Van Gogh exhibit is a disgrace

In her review of the "Van Gogh Alive" exhibit, Tracey Pilch wrote that the show is a success. In making a great deal of money for the museum, this is no doubt true. It is obscene to charge an admission of $20 for an exhibit that is hardly more than a light show.

Does "technological distraction and overconsumption" provide the viewer with a better understanding of the artist, of what he sought to do, of why, during his lifetime, his work was greeted with contempt? Perhaps more effort should have gone toward enabling viewers to better understand the context in which he worked.

Pilch quotes Van Gogh as having written, "Art is to console those who are broken by life." It is also to challenge complacency. By showing projections of Van Gogh's "greatest hits," the exhibit reinforces that complacency. When exhibits are dumbed down to the level of preschoolers, then a preschooler should write the review: "Oooooh, pretty colors!" The place for such an exhibit is the Imaginarium.

-- Kenneth Baitsholts

Anchorage

Preventive approach to potential pedophiles makes sense

Alaskans have been struck another blow -- yet another story about yet another pedophile accused of sexually abusing a student (this time at Birchwood Christian School in Anchorage). Reading through the story, heartsick for the victim, I was also struck by how many people in the comments section were arguing for the death penalty or castration for a convicted pedophile.

Most people agree that pedophilia is a deviant sexual disorder, and the American Psychiatric Association has classed pedophilia as a mental disorder since 1968. It was not that long ago in the U.S. that the seriously mentally ill were executed or lobotomized. Instead of following in those footsteps and calling for castration or death, we should try for prevention first.

I'd like to see our justice system follow Germany's Prevention Network Dunkelfeld. Offer free, noncriminalized, confidential psychiatric help for people who have pedophilic tendencies, so that they can get the help they need before offending -- and be guided away from positions where the temptation to offend would be too much for them. Kids keep their innocence, offending pedophiles are greatly reduced, and the ones remaining are deserving of scorn rather than mentally ill and deserving of compassion and treatment.

To be clear, I am not advocating for releasing pedophiles or reducing the sentences for those who molest children as the Birchwood teacher stands accused of doing. I am advocating that we refocus on prevention. We should reach out to people who have not raped anyone, but do know that they have a desire to do so. I do think most people with a sexual desire for children realize they are mentally ill, and given the opportunity to seek treatment without ruining their lives, will do so.

Isn't it worth a try?

-- Grace Amundsen

Douglas

The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints.