Anchorage Daily News

Alaska officials don't measure up

Alaskans like to portray themselves as rugged individualists living on the Last Frontier. More appropriately you are Welfare Kings and Queens who receive 18 times as much federal money per capita than the average of those people living states of the lower 48 largely to the Appropriations Committee hardball played by Senator Stevens. I was distressed to see the comments of interviewed Alaskans who were all in sympathy with Stevens rather than outraged that he had broken a cardinal rule of law dealing with integrity of government.

Those of us who live here in this 400 year old First Capitol of America, home of three signators of the Declaration of Independence, thought the first function of congressional representatives was to govern with thought and integrity, not to scheme ways of sucking money from the treasury.

The troubles with Uncle Ted, now getting his just reward, and son, Don Young, several legislators, the Murkowskis and VECO make many of us to believe that Alaska may be a nice place to see glaciers and go fishing but we wouldn't want to live there and be governed by those who seem to dominate the Alaskan political process.

-- Walter Zadan

Williamsburg, Va.

Energy help should be long-term

Concerning the House / Senate debate on the proposed energy rebate, I propose the following equitable solution.

Alaskans who pay rent for their housing should receive a cash rebate attached to their PFD. I'm realistic about this; in our free state, renters could use this money to offset high fuel or beer prices.

Homeowners or owners of rental property should receive an equal dollar amount of conservation credit. If homeowners are willing to get the work done by installing a couple of triple-pane windows, adding insulation, upgrading the efficiency of their heat source, they can turn in their receipts for reimbursement from the state. A couple of clerks and a supervisor could easily administer this simple program.

Value-added efficiency means homeowners will pay less each month for their energy for as long as they own their home; it will also help drive down local demand, take pressure off the grid, and may help stabilize prices. Homeowners will "win" twice, because the value of their homes will rise.

If our government has convinced itself that it must hand out money to the people, it might as well do it right and positively influence future consumption behavior.

-- Peter Hauschka

Cantwell

Poll Alaskans on energy rebates

While our legislators give lip service to a genuine, long-term, sustainable energy policy; those of us who live in a state flush with both resources and cash see our quality of life decline as the price of everything skyrockets. The "energy rebate" seems to be a logical short-term solution to utilize until such time as the partisan and geographical bickering stops and real solutions that help Alaskans are implemented.

I suggest a poll of Alaskans that asks them to choose which energy rebate they want. They can choose A: $1200 (Governors Plan), B: $1000 (House Plan), C: $250 (Senate Plan), or D (all of the above). Perhaps if legislators are so aghast at giving Alaskans "entitlements," option D will get them motivated to launch some creative solutions to help all Alaskans.

Option D will also give Alaska families some real purchasing power towards energy efficient vehicles, heating appliances, and other energy saving measures, as opposed to some chump change to merely further line the pockets of oil companies.This "energy rebate" can be sunsetted to expire when long-term solutions come on line.

-- Karl Kircher

Kasilof

Stop the madness; stop the bears

Enough is enough, when will this madness end!

Gov. Palin, Mayor Begich, ADF&G or who ever will listen, you need to start now to develop a plan to lower the amount of bears (or their food source moose calves) in the Municiplity of Anchorage. More frequent day to day sightings, coupled with the latest maulings will only lead us to the inevitable. This means from Eklutna to Girdwood, bears both brown and blacks need to be immediately thinned or you are going to be dealing with a fatal bear mauling under your watch.

At no time shall the health, safety or welfare of a human being be compromised by an animal. I charge you with developing a plan now to control these predators before they cause an innocent Anchorage resident to be killed. Do not wait until this happens to react, take action now!

Simply put, it is time to thin the herd.

-- Bob Barndt

Eagle River

Shooting moose won't thin bears

I have a question for everyone writing letters about solving the bear problem in Anchorage: How does shooting and reducing the moose populations have anything to do with the recent bear attacks in Anchorage?!?!

If you're going write a letter entitled "Bear numbers must be reduced" or "Kill or relocate urban bears" don't bring in another species that you don't like that has done nothing remotely like the bears that you are so enraged with.

Killing or reducing moose populations is not in any way going to solve the supposed "bear problem." All it is going to accomplish is the killing of moose.

So take your gun and your ammo, go to a shooting range, pin up a picture of a bear or moose, and shoot at that. Maybe that will solve the city's problem of having too many people with guns wanting to shoot at anything that they don't like or understand.

-- Joe Casey

Anchorage

Charge elders with obstruction

Regarding the heinous, despicable crime of gross wanton waste and needless killing of 140 caribou near Point Hope recently, shouldn't our criminal justice system charge the elders of Point Hope with obstruction of justice and aiding and abetting the perpetrators of these terrible acts by withholding evidence? Law enforcement should do a thorough job: No one should be exempt from the law; equal justice for all.

-- Mary A. Vavrik

Anchorage

Republicans stuck to business

Sure enough, the politics of the liberal ADN showed its face once again in the Nation & World section of Tuesday's paper. In the printed story "McCain says crisis needs Congress now" relating how McCain has urged Obama to join him in his call to Congress to return from its 5-week vacation, it mentions nothing about the facts of Friday's adjournment. The ADN ignored the fact that over incredible protest from the House Republicans, Nancy Pelosi adjourned the House before allowing an up or down vote on an energy bill that included increased drilling among other conservation measures. Pelosi adjourned the House, had the cameras, microphones and lights turned off.

Republicans stayed, continuing the energy debate despite no lights, cameras or microphones. As of noon Monday, 24 Republicans remained on the floor of the House with reinforcements on the way. Quoting Mike Pence, R-Ind., "Republicans are dedicated to continuing to fight on the House floor because it's not a Democratic House, it's not a Republican House, it's the people's House, and the people deserve to know Republicans are fighting for energy independence."

The adjournment of the House over objections by the Republicans would seem to be a very important fact that should have been addressed in the ADN story.

-- Eric Olenick

Anchorage

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