Guest columns: Web-extra

We receive far more guest commentaries (also known as “Compasses”) than we can publish in the newspaper. Some of the extras appear here. Send your commentary, 675 words or less, to compass@adn.com. You’ll receive further information by auto-reply email.

COMPASS

Veterans - defenders of our Constitution

My father, Col. James B. Fisher, a veteran of the Korean and Vietnam wars and a career U.S. Army soldier, passed away in August 2008.

WEB EXTRA: ELECTION COMPASS

Alaska needs protection from tea party agenda

Senator Lisa Murkowski's defeat by the Tea Party candidate Joe Miller came as quite a shock to just about everyone. The problem is Joe Miller's tea party agenda will set Alaska back 50 years, undoing almost everything we have built up since statehood.

WEB EXTRA: ELECTION COMPASS

Don't let anyone tell you how to vote

Voting is an individual privilege, vote your conscience not that of an organized group.Voters need to take a step back and really think about why they are voting for a candidate, is it the influence of a small group of people making a decision for the masses or truly the "gut feeling" of the individual voter. Do not let a few decide your vote, rather research what a candidate has to offer and make your own decision.

WEB EXTRA: ELECTION COMPASS

Health care for all Alaskans is an issue in campaign

Son's close call brings issue of rural health care to the fore for Kotzebue parents.

WEB EXTRA: ELECTION COMPASS

Berkowitz and Walker share vision for Alaska

Ethan Berkowitz strikes a blow for Alaska by naming Bill Walker to head gas line team if he's elected.

GUEST COLUMN: WEB EXTRA

New Americans in Anchorage want to learn English but literacy aid is drying up

These women's stories are typical of the students I have had the privilege of knowing as a volunteer English instructor at the Alaska Literacy Program over the last several years.

GUEST COLUMN: WEB EXTRA

Alaska's Chugach National Forest is a "Children's Forest" - here's why

There is growing concern that in an urbanized world our youth are increasingly disconnected from their natural inheritance,

DELISA RENIDEO

Health care reform needs to start with what we eat and how we live

Imagine a community where house fires were extremely common and everyone knew someone who had burned to death in their home. Imagine, also, that it was common practice for people there to smoke in bed. Would we recommend that everyone buy more smoke detectors? Would we debate how to pay for the increasing costs of the ever-growing fire department? Would it be too radical to educate the people about the dangers of smoking in bed?

SCOTT J. DePAEPE

FedEx has unfair labor law advantages over UPS

FedEx has recently undertaken a lobbying and media campaign to prevent Congress from enacting legislation to bring its drivers under the same laws that govern all other delivery drivers in America.

TOM YEAGER

In a melting world, Alaska glaciers are a big asset

Alaska is well positioned to take center stage in the international scientific community's study of how our planet's glaciers are changing.

ALLISON K. LEE

Federal freeze on home care is wrong way to protect Alaskans

By freezing new services to individuals requiring Home and Community Based Services in Alaska, this moratorium is effectively forcing Alaskans into nursing homes and assisted living facilities. This action is in direct defiance of the Olmstead decision, which made clear that individuals have legal right to receive care in the most integrated setting appropriate to the needs of qualified individuals with disabilities.

SEN. HOLLIS FRENCH

Here's one way Alaska can crack down on our epidemic of sexual abuse

From 1,184 reported rapes, the state is convicting 217 individuals of a sex crime. What happens to the other 967 cases?

BOB WALDROP

Bristol Bay fishing limits are costly, frustrating - and possibly avoidable

When limits or suspensions are imposed, they create severe economic waste and represent a significant challenge to fishery managers and processors.

CLICK BISHOP

Alaska's Economy is Holding Its Own

Alaska's unemployment rate is 8.4 percent in May, up from 7.9 percent in April. I wouldn't normally brag about an unemployment increase, but things don't look so bad when you consider our neighbors to the south. Washington state is sitting at 9.4 percent unemployment. California is at 11 percent. And Oregon's unemployment is stuck at a record high of 12.5 percent.

SEN. GENE THERRIAULT

ExxonMobil and TC Alaska - What Does it Really Mean?

I view the announcement as a positive step forward for the gas pipeline, even though some of Governor Palin's critics do not.

DENBY S. LLOYD

Yukon River closure is painful, but necessary

Recently I had the privilege to visit several villages on the lower Yukon River. I went with John Moller of Governor Palin's staff and knowledgeable employees from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, to discuss this summer's Chinook salmon management and recent action by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to curb bycatch of Chinook by the pollock trawl fleets in the Bering Sea.

BOB POE

Yukon River residents bear brunt of fishery cutbacks

Residents throughout western Alaska hoped the Council would make meaningful reductions in salmon bycatch so that a commercial Chinook fishery would be possible.

PATTI HIGGINS

Obama's on the right track with health care initiative

I've seen people I work with become stricken with cancer and then forced to raise $250,000 because they had minimal health care.

Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell

DC Court Ruling Puts Alaska Jobs & Industry at Risk

Recently, a DC federal appeals court air-dropped a ruling on Alaska that effectively swept away our nation's current five-year offshore energy program, a full two years into its implementation. The court's decision threw into question at least 487 leases in Alaska's Chukchi Sea and 1,854 leases already issued in the Gulf of Mexico. This ruling jeopardizes thousands of Alaska jobs and billions in potential state and federal revenue.

JOHN HAVELOCK

Palin is mishandling this critical state office

The Governor delay's in appointing an Attorney General and her choice for a Department of Law spokesperson pose serious problems for the administration of justice and require prompt action.

JUDITH KLEINFELD

Double bed might save you from divorce

"You have a double bed. That's so cute!" said the woman who used to help me clean my house. "You don't see double beds much any more. Sleeping in a double bed, I bet you have to make up when you have a big fights."

REP. NANCY DAHLSTROM

Alaska shows its respect to those who died protecting the country

Presenting these awards was a very happy yet somber moment for me. These fallen brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, wives, and husbands are loved so very much, we can all be very proud of their accomplishments and sacrifice they made for us. Everyone of these service members died defending the country, and the people, they loved.

DAVID MOORE

Palin right to reject energy stimulus funds

What this amounts to is solely a new regulatory requirement to verify compliance. It does little beyond what we are already doing to save fuel, but does a lot to grow government.

PHIL LANSING

How about price supports for salmon?

So let's apply a lesson from the Great Depression and institute a price floor safety net for salmon now, before we get into trouble.

BY DARRELL KEIFER

Cap-and-trade would end free ride for fossil fuels

Cap-and-trade will not be painless. There are costs in the short run, but it will save so much in the long run.

SEN. KEVIN MEYER

Legislature has put big money into renewable energy

The State Legislature has led the way in the arena of renewable energy, and more importantly, unlike other states, has put money behind its words.

CAROL SALANDRA

Single mom says women need the help that unions offer

Senator Murkowski, please do something for the women who do so much for everybody. Please support the Employee Free Choice Act.

KRISTIN SHOLTON

If you love your local park, help us fix it up

Besides volunteer work projects, we'll have everything from barbecues to bookmobiles to invite neighbors to make their parks vibrant, safe and healthy community centers.

DEREK HSIEH

City police union does its part; politicians should do theirs

With this sizeable concession, the APDEA membership expects the municipality to get its house in order and come up with a long-term financial plan. We are happy to be part of the solution, but we can't be the whole solution.

JOHN ALLEN ADCOX

We're open-minded about benefits Pebble Mine could bring

We remain neutral about the project while intrigued by the opportunity - if done right - that it could present.

KEN OSTERKAMP

Doogan should disavow ageist remark about Wayne Anthony Ross

Doogan wrote, "Add to that the fact that he's reached an age where most men are retiring rather than taking a new job, and you had a recipe for disaster." You don't have to be a professional writer to appreciate the irony in his statement.

LYNN FULLER

Knik River shooting range needs more scrutiny

Sorry, but these are guns and bullets that make a lot of noise, pollute, disturb wildlife, and have enormous safety and aesthetic concerns for the other users of the public use area. I want more information.

JIM LOTTSFELDT

Palin should muzzle her attack dog

As someone who occasionally works in political communication, I am aware that the axiom, “Those who live by sword, die by the sword” rings true for my ilk and me. Maybe that’s why I work more behind the scenes and less and less in political campaigns.

FRANK RIZZO

Anchorage Should Avoid Broadband Over-Stimulation

The recently-signed economic stimulus package contains, among other line-items, some $7 billion in grants to increase the availability and adoption of broadband Internet services. And despite gaping needs of new computer hardware and digital education in many urban cities and rural hamlets, some are throwing their support behind the idea of municipal governments building their own broadband networks.

NATALIE DAWSON

Resource development need not drive Alaska's economy

A recent decision by the DC Court of Appeals to halt offshore drilling may be misconstrued as a detriment to our state’s economy. Instead, we could turn our attention to all the other resources in our state that not only generate revenue, but also generate long-term gains that cannot be attained with short-sighted resource development.

STEVE DURR

Alaska has preserved vestige of the frontier that builds a strong civilization

Nearly 50 years ago, Americans had the wisdom to set aside the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In doing so, we exercised some of the greatest American virtues: restraint, foresight, generosity and compassion. Over the past five decades, the debate over the fate of the Arctic Refuge has degenerated into a spitting contest about barrels of oil and a herd of caribou. An ugly four-letter acronym has been deliberately deployed to obscure the meaning and purpose of this place as refuge. Lost in this fray is any discussion of American values and what we intend for our legacy on Earth.

KARL FRANCIS

Drill onshore, not offshore

Finally, the courts have stopped the Arctic OCS fiasco. Reminds me of my youthful adventures doodlebugging on the Llano Estacado, the borderland between Texas and New Mexico.