Anchorage Daily News

Senator should take own advice

In last weekend's Compass piece Sen. Lisa Murkowski stated that Congress, not the Environmental Protection Agency, should regulate greenhouse gases. We agree that Congress should take the lead. Sen. Murkowski is the ranking Republican on the Energy Committee, which is hearing testimony regarding climate change proposals. Now is the time for Sen. Murkowski to do what she advocates: Declare support for legislation that reduces carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Get a bill to the president's desk. Our state is ground zero for climate change and gets the brunt of pollution generated in the Lower 48 and elsewhere on the globe. Please, Sen. Murkowski, take your own advice. Act now!

-- Deborah Greenberg

Alliance for Fair and Effective Climate Policy

Anchorage

Hockey fans need to grow up

As we start the new hockey season, it is time for Anchorage to grow up. Saying the other team "sucks" is poor sportsmanship. Mutual respect is needed.

My ideas:

1. Welcome the visiting team. When the announcer says, "Let's give a big Alaska welcome to the visitors," we should clap and welcome them; then we trounce them soundly on the ice.

2. When the penalty is over the announcer says, "Victoria is at full strength," and the crowd yells, "And they still suck." These teams travel a long way to be here, they are professionals, and they occasionally beat us, so obviously they do not "suck."

3. Discourage use of the term completely.

4. Come up with some new cheers. This is a great time to start developing a more respectful fan base and give our guys a higher level of fan support and more intelligent cheers. We could have a contest to come up with better cheers.

-- Patrick Ryan

Anchorage

Separate city, school taxes

I would like to propose that the municipality change how it bills for property tax.

I feel that the municipality, and by extension the employees who work hard to provide the services that our city government effectively delivers, are unfairly maligned by the "we are over-taxed" crowd. One hundred percent of the property tax anger seems to be directed toward the municipality but they only utilize 51 percent (2009) of the revenue. The other 49 percent (2009) supports the Anchorage School District budget. I think folks may be more tolerant of both if the bills were sent separately ... one specifically marked for municipal services and the other specifically marked for ASD services, rather than combined with two payment dates as is currently the system.

-- Sarah Wright

Eagle River

Friends of Library, speak up!

On Monday, Oct. 12, your editorial "Keep Lights on in Libraries" dealt with the pending cuts to the library system. The library has two groups that I assumed would advocate on its behalf, namely, Friends of the Library and the Library Board. Yet whenever a library bond issue has come before the voters, these groups were silent -- never a poster, a radio or TV ad to be seen.

The libraries closed part of each week this summer. Did we hear any objections or solutions from these two entities? I don't think so.

Now again the libraries are under the budget knife of our esteemed mayor. Have we heard any objections from Friends of the Library or the Library Board? Nary a peep. Why are they not leading the charge on behalf of our library system?

-- Sara Burkholder

Anchorage

Health care math a bit fuzzy

The Democrats say that the majority of the TRILLION dollars cost of health care reform (fuzzy math) is going to be paid for by hundreds of BILLION dollar cuts in Medicare (more fuzzy math) over the next 10 years.

I find this illogical; we are just now seeing the leading edge of the "baby boom" bubble becoming eligible for Medicare, with the largest portion becoming eligible over the next ten years. So, explain to me how we are going to cut Medicare "costs" when we are going to have millions more Americans qualifying for Medicare (even fuzzier math?).

And the icing on the cake, many Alaska physicians are declining Medicare patients because the reimbursement rates are too low (Senators Murkowski and Stevens worked on this problem a year or two ago). Seems to me that our junior Democratic senator, with his fuzzy math and slight of hand (recent revelations concerning his hiding of the MOA's budget deficit), is fitting in well with his brethren in Washington.

-- Tom Hyatt

Anchorage

Tax evaders are simply thieves

When reading about the IRS's efforts to make deals with the wealthy Americans who illegally sheltered income overseas, I am struck by how so many of wealthy are in this jam, all because they didn't want to feed the machine of the IRS. Are they not the business leaders of America? So what does this illegal activity say about their ethics? Secondly, perhaps this lack of ethics explains more of what is wrong with America and Washington than anything else I could say. I guess what we do not call these tax evaders is what we really should call them: thieves.

-- Susan Lilly

Anchorage

Caribou, drilling can coexist

In the 11 October ADN, there was a front page article about some caribou herds that are declining in Canada and Alaska. It was noted in a side article that caribou in three Alaska herds are increasing, including the Central Arctic herd that doubled from 32,000 in 2002 to 67,000 in 2008. Please note that this is the herd that uses summer ranges in the Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk oil fields. Despite decades of predictions of negative impacts of the oilfields on this herd, it has increased from about 5,000 in the 1970s to 67,000 in 2008. This is the period over which the oil fields were developed and operated. I believe this indicates that oil development can coexist with caribou and other wildlife populations with multiple use management in many areas, including northeast NPRA and ANWR.

-- Matthew A. Cronin, Ph.D

Anchorage

Enstar funds poorly managed

Here we go again with Enstar! The October 4th issue of the Alaska Journal of Commerce had an article outlining a deal made between Enstar and Armstrong Oil and Gas for a future natural gas supply from the Kenai Peninsula. Hopefully, delivery will start in 2011. Enstar agreed to pay between $6.86 per MCF and $9.90 per MCF. The price would be set quarterly based upon the three-month average of the N.Y. Mercantile Exchange natural gas futures.

There's a big disconnect here. The natural gas futures on the N.Y. Mercantile Exchange on Oct. 8th were $4.96 per MCF. On Sept. 3 the futures were $2.50 per MCF, the lowest quote in seven years but yet Enstar is locked into a low price of $6.86 per MCF.

What a way to run a business.

-- Richard Lipinski

Anchorage

Bicyclists, stick to bike paths

I am continually amused by letters from irate/indignant bicyclists who think they have the same, or more rights, than vehicles.

To the biker in the middle of the road on Baxter: You had a bike lane and bike path parallel with the road, why were you in the middle of the road with traffic? When you crossed the intersection with all your oomph, you impeded traffic behind you.

To the rider in the bike lane on Elmore (dark/ rainy morning): Good thing I waited for you to breeze through the intersection, even though I was there first, and had signaled my intent way before passing you.

I thought you were required to walk bikes across intersections.

These bicyclists were dressed in black with no reflective gear on the bikes.

To all bicyclists: Don't challenge a 4,000 or more pound vehicle, because you will lose.

Respect goes both ways.

-- Vera Stepsics

Anchorage

Elected officials should heed lessons of our 'public options'

I have been very disappointed by the partisanship surrounding health care reform, particularly our own Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Here in Anchorage we have three excellent examples of a "public option," the Alaska Native Medical Center, the Veterans Hospital and Medical Center, and the Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center. Yes, they all require public funding, but all deliver efficient and effective services to thousands of local and statewide Alaskans. And none of them purchase full-page newspaper and magazine ads or very expensive television commercials, money that, in my opinion, could be better spent on health services.

These three facilities, providing excellent health services, also provide a model for health care reform. Instead, we have those who, from a position of leadership, prefer to defend the status quo, the profits of insurance companies, drug companies, hospitals and a small but vocal number of physicians.

May our elected officials, as they perform their duties, act, vote and think about the next generation, not the next election.

-- Heather Flynn

Anchorage

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