Anchorage Daily News

Last month the Anchorage Assembly voted to kill Assemblyman Paul Bauer's ordinance that would have had Anchorage police routinely check on the citizenship status of people stopped for traffic violations and other causes.

Last week Assemblyman Dan Sullivan found a way to bring the issue back from the dead.

He led the conservative Assembly majority in a 7-4 vote to rescind a 2003 resolution that Bauer claimed made Anchorage a "sanctuary city" for illegal immigrants. The resolution declared the Assembly's opposition to elements of the USA Patriot Act that violated any provisions of the U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights or the Alaska Constitution.

That resolution was a reasoned response to the excesses of the Patriot Act.

Even Rep. Don Young, a staunch supporter of President Bush, called the Patriot Act one of the worst pieces of legislation he ever voted for, a rush job passed in the fury after 9/11.

Mr. Sullivan's purpose in rescinding the resolution was to lift the "sanctuary city" label from Anchorage. The 2003 resolution included a section that said the city could not use its resources to enforce federal immigration laws, unless necessary to protect public safety.

Those lines did not make Anchorage a sanctuary city. It has never been the policy of Anchorage to protect illegal immigrants. It has been the policy of Anchorage police to cooperate with immigration officials when requested, while at the same time not becoming an arm of Homeland Security. Immigration law is not APD's job. Anchorage public safety is.

Assembly members shouldn't fret over a bogus sanctuary city tag. But if they felt oppressed by a false label, they could have simply stricken the resolution's immigration references.

They used a cleaver instead of a paring knife, and left a good resolution on the chopping block.

BOTTOM LINE: Rescinding the Patriot Act resolution was a clumsy way to resurrect an issue better left for dead.

UAA gifts

University lands big donations

Christmas came early to the University of Alaska, thanks to two generous local donors. Famed local gardener Lenore Hedla bequeathed $1 million to UAA. Her gift will support faculty and students in the College of Business and Public Policy.

The Rasmuson Foundation has pledged $2 million to UAA's Native science and engineering program. This challenge grant, requiring a 50-50 match, will ultimately produce $4 million for the hugely successful program to recruit and train more Alaska Natives for careers in highly skilled, technical fields.

The two donations are great examples of the community support UAA needs to become the great university that Anchorage needs.

A Christmas story

We were sitting down over beers, nursing the psychological and physical wounds of our latest whipping on the geezer league basketball court, when a teammate brought up the subject of Christmas.

The commercial exploitation, the pressure to buy gifts, the hectic rush of preparations -- all of it bothered him. He wondered if the rest of us felt the same way.

Ken, the grayest of our gray-haired bunch, offered a different perspective.

Until a couple of years ago, each Christmas he organized a traveling busload of carolers They'd go to each of the city's three hospitals and make the rounds, singing to patients to lift their spirits.

One time the singers came across a brand new father who was beaming with pride. "I want you to come sing to my wife and new baby," he urged them.

Ken and the singers crowded into their room and began singing. Mom and dad showed off the new baby, who got passed around for admiring snuggles and coochie-coos. All the singers wanted their pictures taken with the happy family. Though the parents and their baby were a long way from their home in a distant village, they felt the warmth of some big city folks who wanted to brighten their holiday.

Another time, Ken's carolers encountered an almost heartbreaking case. A mother and daughter had been in a car accident. Mom didn't make it, and the daughter was in a coma. The nurse asked the group to sing to the girl, in hopes she'd respond to the presence of well-wishers.

In the middle of a song, Ken noticed the girl squeeze the nurse's hand.

Ken told us his voice broke and he almost lost it. Their lead singer wondered what the heck was wrong with Ken, until he saw the girl squeezing the nurse's hand. He stumbled on a few notes himself as tears welled in his eyes.

When my teammate asked us about the over-commercialization of Christmas, I wasn't much in the Christmas mood. The best I could do was mumble something about how the holiday is more fun when you still have kids at home. Hearing Ken's answer, I left for home that night with a renewed appreciation of what it means to give unto others at Christmas.

-- Matt Zencey

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