Anchorage Daily News

Blood center needs donations

When I read the Anchorage Daily News, I often experience a tinge of anxiety. With every tragedy -- bear attacks, car accidents, emergency medical care -- the question arises: Will we have the blood Alaskans need?

Like most holidays, the Fourth of July strained Alaska's available blood levels statewide.

Blood Bank of Alaska heartily thanks the patriotic blood donors who gave before the weekend. Their donations bolstered the state's supply, allowing us to get through the holiday without seeking help from blood centers in the Lower 48.

But Alaska's blood levels are, once again, low.

We have a saying at Blood Bank of Alaska: The most precious blood type is the type that isn't on the shelf when you or your loved ones need it.

Nobody ever plans on needing blood. Nobody plans on developing heart disease, being in a car accident or undergoing cancer treatment, yet 95 percent of us will need blood at some point in our lives. In contrast, only 4 percent of eligible Alaskans are blood donors.

As Blood Bank of Alaska faces the rest of the summer, it is my hope that donors will rally to boost our state's dwindling inventory. It is also my hope that good fortune and good health will prevent Alaskans from needing that blood, though we will, as always, prepare for the worst.

-- Jessica Golden

public relations manager, Blood Bank of Alaska

Anchorage

Cyclist plays chicken with truck

On July 8, I was hauling an oversized excavator into the UAA campus at Providence and Alumni drives with a pilot car securing the intersection when a bicycle rider rode down the middle of Alumni, blocked the middle of the road and asked me what the ---- I was doing. I had all the oversize signs and beacon lights and legal pilot car so it should have been obvious what I was doing. It was a legally hauled, oversized load (permit 17806) hauled after 6 p.m. The bike rider stopped us midhaul because we were in HIS way.

This is a construction site right now, and oversized loads are going to come in and out. Trying to play chicken with a truck while biking isn't going to stop the machinery from coming and going. We were well within our rights to haul a heavy load at the time it happened.

-- Mike Kaneski

Anchorage

Bus-riding tryout raises doubts

One day recently, I decided that I was going to try riding the bus instead of driving. I walk down to the bus stop and arrive 10 minutes early; the bus is 20 minutes late. I'm standing there waiting when two men in a beater car drive by asking where I'm going and if they can call me later. I lie and tell them I'm married, and after making a few inappropriate comments they drive away. I then realize I forgot my Mace at home, but a girl next to me reassures me that she has a knife in her pocket.

Once on the bus, I am greeted by other bus riders who are slovenly, drunk and disorderly. When I am at my destination, I need to take the pedestrian stairs from 15th Avenue and A Street. Halfway down the stairwell, there is a couple actively engaged in drugs, with their half-empty booze bottles littering the ground. I quietly move past them as fast as I can while looking for people who might hear me if I yell for help.

Altogether, my bus riding experience was pretty good compared to previous ones, but maybe everyone would ride the bus more often if we actually felt safe.

-- Suzy Clark

Anchorage

We can learn to live with pike

After reading the July 7 Daily News article "Alien Invasion," this lifelong Alaskan is perplexed. Twenty years ago, a group of four sportfisherman could catch and release 100 pike by noon in Alexander Lake. Pike are no longer a new invasive species in the Alexander system. How were several generations of king salmon able to survive while only recently the sole source of their decimation is the pike?

Granted, the Alexander system is ideal for rearing pike, and pike are a contributing factor. However, I contend pike are a convenient scapegoat for the disappearance of the kings and silvers. The first time the kings faced decimation in this system, there were no pike. A closure of the commercial and sport fishery solved the problem. Fish and Game should consider revamping their grossly mismanaged commercial and sport fisheries for these affected species. I found it strange that the Board of Fisheries decided last winter to close Alexander Creek to sportfishing for kings and the commercial fishery had extra openers.

Eradicating the pike is a futile process in a system like Alexander. However, keeping them in check may be an option. Try releasing some tagged pike worth $10,000 to the angler and see how many pike will disappear from the lake. Does the soup kitchen have a recipe for pike?

-- Oliver Tovsen

Anchorage

Step up control of clueless people

One can only find humor in the letters to the editor about people wanting to control the bears on the Hillside. Eugene T. Yonkin's letter ("Bears don't belong in the city," July 8) had me rolling on the floor.

Eugene is right -- let's take the control to a new level. Any two-legged Homo sapiens found in the park between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. will be darted and painted bright orange.

Should these Homo sapiens be found in the same location again, they should be darted and transported 250 miles away from Anchorage so they would not be a threat to our society.

-- Mickey Sexton

Anchorage

Construction safety improved

We would like to thank Cassie Thomas for her letter pointing out a few deficiencies in the temporary pathways around construction on Sixth Avenue, F Street and Seventh Avenue related to the construction of the new Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center, Linny Pacillo Parking Garage and F Street Connectivity Project. While we have worked diligently with downtown businesses, the municipality and the Alaska Department of Transportation to maintain pedestrian access through an extremely busy and complicated set of construction projects, we recognize that further enhancements can be made with input from the public.

As soon as we learned of these concerns for handicapped accessibility, we performed a review with our contractors and the municipality's Project Management and Engineering team. We identified changes to create a more easily accessible pathway and believe these corrective actions have addressed this concern. The corrections were immediately implemented, and we have received several positive comments.

We appreciate the public's patience and our contractors' priority of safety while we complete these projects. Once they are completed in September, we strongly believe the municipality and state of Alaska's commitment to creating a downtown winter environment will show through. The improvements prioritize pedestrian safety, with ice-free sidewalks, drop-off zones and other safety features.

-- Bob O'Neill

construction manager,

Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center, Linny Pacillo Parking Garage, F Street Connectivity Projects

Anchorage

Access problems deter park use

Russian Jack Springs Park could be much more inviting to the communities that surround it and the underserved youth who need it. Instead of the dangerous "suicide lane" access off DeBarr Road, there should be convenient, safe and handicapped access from Pine Street (which has a stoplight) on the west side, up the hill to the old chalet.

Parking accommodations are horrible. Those who have ever tried to get to the chalet when there are more than 50 cars in the lot and had to park at the greenhouses can understand! The limited parking makes it a "special users" park because when there is a special event, no one else can find a parking spot.

A bus stop and parking lot off Pine Street would go a long way toward encouraging casual park use. Without public transportation or adequate accommodations for automobiles, even able-bodied users from Muldoon, Fairview, Mountain View, City View and Nunaka Valley will continue to be deterred from using this outdated and underused park

Anchorage residents should ask why this park remains as it is, particularly since it is adjacent to concentrations of underserved youth.

-- Mick Brogan

Anchorage

Base IM testing decision on facts

I am confused on the position of Harriet Drummond vis-a-vis emissions testing. Things have changed since 1976 in terms of engine design, gas mileage, fuel components, etc. Air quality in Anchorage bears this out. How many cars fail the emissions test yearly, and is it worth the $8.7 million spent? Let's base our decisions on evidence, not our feelings. She also mentions high gas prices as somehow being involved in the need for emissions testing. What does the cost of gas have to do with air quality other than to improve it as people conserve more and drive less? Let's make smart, evidence-based and analytic decisions, not ones based on 32-year-old feelings.

-- Paul Engibous

Anchorage

Consumers must use their power

I hear a lot from people wanting the government to step in on high energy prices, mostly gasoline. People in this country seem to forget how powerful the consumer can be. We are the market, and as long as we bear these prices, they will continue to raise them.

I started to ride my bike around as much as I could and am now saving $120 a month. That may not seem like much, but if 50 million people did the same, well that's $6 billon a month. I think Big Oil would pay attention to that.

This same principle applies to almost all areas. If something is too expensive, use less or don't buy it. Suppliers will have to take notice if enough people do it.

That is the biggest problem in America: People cry out for change but are unwilling to be inconvenienced to force that change to happen, so we beg the government to do it for us -- no fuss, no muss.

We all know the government won't bite the hand that feeds it.

-- Marc Yerks

Anchorage

Fix the potholds, cut the grass

With all the billions of dollars we have, can someone tell me why we still have potholes in the roads? Why isn't the grass along the roads cut? Why do we build more when we don't maintain what we have?

-- Dick Smith

Anchorage

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