Restroom risk not exclusive
Marcelle McDannel in her commentary "Friendships kill the myth of 'potty predators' " (ADN, March 14) writes, "Any woman — whether she appears transgender or not — forced to use the man's bathroom is in danger not only of psychological cruelty but physical injury." I agree with her.
I hope that McDannel would in return agree with my statement: Any man — whether he is appears transgender or not — forced to use the woman's bathroom is in danger not only of psychological cruelty but physical injury.
— Rudy J. Budesky
Anchorage
Utilities merger a good deal
I came to Anchorage in 1997 to be general manager of Municipal Light and Power, following on the heels of longtime manager Tom Stahr. I had been an electric cooperative leader for 18 years but the municipal system was a little mysterious to me. I had to learn to navigate within the labyrinths of municipal government — and labyrinthine it definitely was! It also became clear that the cooperative governance and operational systems were vastly superior and less expensive to boot.
I have heard "Chugach is paying too much" and "Chugach is paying too little" and that "process has been lacking." Chugach is paying book value for the system and is also covering the "lost subsidies" to the city for the remaining life of the plant. With attrition in both organizations, the appropriate employee base will be achieved in a few years and Anchorage rate payers will reap tens of millions of dollars annually in operational cost savings. We can achieve true "economic dispatch" in Anchorage immediately as generation will be dispatched under a single system without regard for which engines "must run" due to their loaded capital cost.
I am excited about this merger and will be voting yes on Proposition 10. I hope you will join me — this is one of the most exciting opportunities we have had in years!
— Meera Kohler
Anchorage
How about school walk-up day?
What can students do?
1. Walk UP to the kid who sits alone, and ask him to join your group.
2. Walk UP to the kid who never has a voluntary partner and offer to be his.
3. Walk UP to teachers and thank them.
4. Walk UP to someone and just be nice.
#WalkUPNotOut
— Brian Webb
Anchorage
Alaska fisheries mismanaged
I have been providing professional fishing guide services since 1978 on the Kenai River. I've seen plenty of people come and go over the years. I have watched the mismanagement of Alaska's fisheries over the decades. Greed and incompetence have plagued the Cook Inlet fisheries.
Today we have the federal and state fisheries managers telling us that our present halibut and king salmon stocks are at critically low levels. The biologists blame the ocean for not providing enough food; they then restrict sport fishing to "solve" the low fish stocks problem. Yes, fish stocks can be cyclical with lows and highs — similar to weather cycles. But our government fishery managers have been allowing overharvesting by commercial fisheries for decades.
The pollock industry has been allowed to have an excessive bycatch on king salmon and halibut stocks. Millions of pounds of the above species are killed, and cannot be legally sold. Cook Inlet's Central District East-side setnet fishery has been allowed to overharvest king, coho and sockeye salmon over the decades. If you check the records you can see how Cook Inlet salmon stocks were overharvested prior to their collapse in the early 1960s.
I believe the best way to address the above management problems is to hire private fishery managers. You must make them independent of pressure groups. They must be accountable to Alaskans, and removed if they don't produce healthy fisheries. At present, we have federal and state fishery managers who are not really accountable for their actions. We must address the corruption, greed and incompetence that is involved with our Alaska fisheries.
— J.K. Johnson
Soldotna
The views expressed here are the writers' own and are not necessarily endorsed by the Anchorage Daily News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a letter under 200 words for consideration, email letters@adn.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@adn.com.