Trump too weak for neo-Nazis
Donald's too weak to oppose radical white supremacist terrorism. What's next? Will he honor "the history and culture of our great country" with statues of Benedict Arnold, Dylann Roof and Timothy McVeigh?
Sad.
— Geoff Kennedy
Anchorage
No matter how city spins it, taxpayers fund exec raises
First, thank you ADN for providing the opportunity to express my views and opinions through your "Letters to the Editor" section. I hope that ADN continues as a viable newspaper. Now to my comments:
In our current economic situation, at both the state and municipal level, I find it interesting and more than a little disturbing that our mayor finds the funds to increase a large number of his department executives' pay a percentage adjustment beyond the level of any commonly found in the private sector. In fact, many of those in the private sector have actually lost their jobs, or had their hours and pay reduced. I suspect all of the mayor's appointees, new or from the previous administration, knew what the pay and benefits were when they took the positions — and yet they took the jobs. If they didn't like the rate of pay, they should not have taken the job — and just see how many other highly qualified applicants would have lined up for the $100K-plus opportunities, Now the mayor and city manager "justify" the raises as needing to be on par with other municipalities.
Supposedly, all of the increases were made in the budgets without affecting services, so the money for the increases came from some hidden "slush fund"? If not, then the monies were taken from nonessential services that should not exist in the first place. The money came from one source — the property taxpayers of the municipality, so no matter how the administration spins it, taxpayers will foot the bill.
— David M. Schauer
Anchorage
Recovering sex offenders need villages to 'break the silence'
Charles Wohlforth's column on sex offenders in the Aug. 16 ADN raised some excellent points. However, I fear he may also have instilled a false sense of security in communities and individuals who already struggle with the issues around child sexual abuse. In over 30 years experience of working in the field of child sexual abuse in Alaska, I have seen it is more common for child victims to be ostracized from their communities than for offenders to be ostracized. Acknowledging the child molester in their midst can be very difficult for some families and communities. Brave Alaska Native youth have begun to speak out and are begging their villages to acknowledge the abuse in their midst — to "break the silence."
A little more information in the column would have been very helpful — those sex offender treatment programs with the highest success rates include community awareness of the dynamics of sexual abuse and support for both the victim and the offender. Offender support includes understanding that children are to be protected and offenders are not to be put in a position to recreate their previous offenses. Years ago, while assisting with a sex offender treatment group, an offender was allowed to go to his home village for the holidays. It was horrifying to hear him relate upon his return that members of his community brought him children to baby-sit believing he was "cured," because he was in therapy. He knew it was not true and it was heartbreaking to watch him come to the conclusion that he could not go back home due to the denial and minimization by this village. He did not want to hurt another child and he did not want to return to jail.
Measuring recidivism is an elusive endeavor. How many child molesters released from jail who reoffend immediately confess? We know the research on disclosure — very few people disclose sexual abuse as a child. We also know that very few offenders are convicted — child sexual abuse cases are challenging to investigate and prosecute. It takes special skills and training to understand and appropriately intervene in child sexual abuse cases.
I agree with Wohlforth that even sex offenders should get a chance to rejoin society. But society needs to be ready to acknowledge the offense, support and protect children, and assist offenders in their efforts to not reoffend.
— Pam Karalunas
Anchorage
Do-over is what voters want
The ballot format for the most recent presidential election was lacking an important option for voters. There needed to be an additional option for voters to choose: "None of the above," so let's start over.
It seems a number of voters felt they had to choose what they considered to be the lesser of two bad options, unwittingly electing an unschooled novice — and look what we got.
— Don McDermott
Anchorage
The views expressed here are the writers' own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a letter under 200 words for consideration, email letters@alaskadispatch.com, or click here to submit via any web browser. Submitting a letter to the editor constitutes granting permission for it to be edited for clarity, accuracy and brevity. Send longer works of opinion to commentary@alaskadispatch.com.