Because, why not? Redoubt Reporter marks 1-year anniversary

By Jenny Neyman

Redoubt Reporter
I have always been one to appreciate the wisdom and witticisms of others.

My refrigerator, desktop, computer monitor and other flat surfaces I spend time around tend to accumulate favorite sayings, poems and quotations. My message T-shirt collection is extensive. In college, my car was held together by bumper stickers. Perhaps that’s why I like being a reporter — it’s an excuse to find out what people think and have to say.

“You can’t depend on your judgment when your imagination is out of focus.”
— Mark Twain

Yet, a little over a year ago, I found myself launching into an endeavor that required me to ignore much of what I was told. I started a newspaper.

Common knowledge, conventional wisdom and the raised eyebrows and held tongues of friends and colleagues — some more successfully restrained than others — were rife with reasons why I shouldn’t do it. And that was even before the economy took a powder.

“If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.
— Frank A. Clark

The prevailing wisdom is that the newspaper industry has one foot in the grave, and the other has a nasty case of gangrene. Newspapers all over the country are downsizing, going belly up and shutting down. Why would anyone, anywhere want to start one? Much less in an area already served by print media?

Because.

Editorial: Shedding light on HEA elections

These are electric times. The Homer Electric Association Board of Directors has always served an important function on the central and southern Kenai Peninsula, but one that hasn’t always garnered much attention from HEA members. Come annual election time, picking names and returning ballots for some voters is fueled more by a desire to qualify for energy credits than it is a concern over the politics and policies of the co-op.

It’s not that who gets elected doesn’t matter, it’s just that voters haven’t had much incentive to take time out of their busy lives to familiarize themselves with the issues facing the HEA board and the views of those seeking seats on it.

Until now. This past year’s dramatic increase in electricity rates has had one positive side effect: It gets people’s attention.

Editorial: Stumbling start to the right path

For someone as image-savvy as Gov. Sarah Palin, it was surprising to see her stuff her foot in her mouth as unnecessarily as she did over federal stimulus spending.

Her announcement March 18 that she would not request a third of the federal stimulus money Alaska was eligible for, about $288 million of $931 million, caused an immediate and vehement response from prospective recipients, most notably, schools and social services agencies.

The announcement created controversy where there ordinarily is none by the governor saying “no thanks” to money that would feed the poor and help educate special-needs and financially disadvantaged kids.

She might as well have kicked a puppy while she was at it.

Editorial: Peninsula scores passing marks for Redoubt round 1

OK, be honest now:

Who went to bed Sunday or woke up Monday thinking: “Gee, I really should have stocked up on water/air filters/flashlights/etc.” by now?

Consider this your warning.

Attention to Mount Redoubt wound down after months of activity without an eruption. Then, within a day, Redoubt decided to no longer be ignored.

The great news for the Kenai Peninsula is the ash plumes spurted out in the series of eruptions have missed us so far, and weather forecasts predict continued favorable wind patterns through Friday.

The good news is it appears as though, even if we had gotten some ash, the peninsula would have been more or less ready for it.

Guest editorial: Pitching in to keep salmon moving

A single road crossing with a bad culvert can prevent fish from reaching miles of habitat.

Small tributaries provide a path to salmon nurseries, and juvenile salmon, particularly coho, migrate up streams.

Studies have shown that juvenile salmon that successfully migrate up and down small streams survive better in the ocean. It is important to keep these migration routes free of barriers.

Damaged, poorly designed or poorly maintained culverts all create a significant impasse to fish migration. Addressing the needs of fish passage is one of the primary focuses of the Kenai Watershed Forum’s efforts on the Kenai Peninsula.

Editorial: Belt tightening good, but don’t squeeze too tight

Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Dave Carey is right in taking a cautious approach to the borough budget this year. Financial storm clouds are on the horizon — with a drop in oil prices affecting state revenue sharing, a decrease in sales taxes from the exemption of nonprepared food and a question mark over how much the borough will feel the deepening national financial crisis. Whether the storm amounts to a drizzle or a hurricane, it’s good fiscal policy to put sandbags in place now, before the rains come.

Carey has asked all departments to submit budgets with no more than a 4 percent increase. He’s looking at service areas and grants for ways to save money and avoid costly obligations down the road. He’s also instituted a zero-based budgeting approach to the nonprofit organizations the borough has funded in the past, meaning the organizations will have to justify why and how much the borough should fund them.

These are all sound financial practices, and Carey’s desire to lower the mill rate to keep more money in taxpayers’ pockets is an idea that’s sure to be popular.

That desire can be carried too far. Government’s role is to provide essential services on behalf of the people funding it. But when “essential” is defined too narrowly, it does a disservice to residents, even if it means they have some extra cash after tax season.

Guest editorial: Transparency, good faith, public participation needed to solve energy dilemma

Recent grass-roots action by Homer Electric Association cooperative members which resulted in the HEA Board’s decision to contract a third-party, fact-based Power Supply Study is a shining example of why public participation is essential in influencing responsible regional energy policy, including study and development of renewable energy projects.

Unfortunately, HEA, doing business as Kenai Hydro LLC, is aggressively pursuing hydroelectric projects proposed for Kenai River headwaters near Moose Pass and Cooper Landing, which do not represent good renewable energy policy or good public policy.

HEA widely and deliberately misrepresented the projects as “low-impact” to obtain public money and to defuse legitimate public criticism.

HEA funding requests mischaracterizing the projects as low-impact resulted in over $1 million in public funding from the Denali Commission, Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority/Alaska Energy Authority, and the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee.

Editorial: Death penalty is not the necessary conversation

Rep. Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, has stated his intention to start a discussion about protecting Alaskans from violent crimes. While that’s a noble aim and would be a valuable conversation, by submitting House Bill 9, which would reinstate the death penalty in Alaska, he takes the discussion in the wrong direction.

The Alaska Territorial Legislature abolished the death penalty in 1957, with good reason. Moral concerns aside, the practicality and common-sense arguments against state executions are too weighty to overcome.

As Chenault himself points out in a post on his blog, http://www.mikechenault.com, death row is expensive. The California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice found in 2008 that confining an inmate to death row, compared to a sentence of life without parole, is $90,000 more per inmate. On the federal level, a 2008 report by the Office of Defender Services found that a federal murder case in which the death penalty is sought costs about $620,932 — eight times more than a murder case not seeking execution.

As Speaker of the House, Chenault displays a disappointingly laissez-faire attitude about state expenses, especially in trying financial times: “Frankly, I don’t believe that cost should get in the way of dispensing true justice. How do you measure the cost of peace of mind? Most of us would sleep better at night knowing a criminal will never have the opportunity to harm another human being.”

While doing what’s right isn’t always synonymous with doing what’s cheapest, in this situation, there is a more cost-effective, as well as overall effective, solution:

Guest editorial: Alaskans vigilant against threats to gun rights

Legislation recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives reminds us that we must remain vigilant in the defense of our Second Amendment rights. Gun owners in Alaska and across the nation have expressed great concern about the introduction of H.R. 45, The Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act.

H.R. 45, introduced by U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., would require any person owning a handgun or semiautomatic firearm to obtain a federal firearms license. To apply for this license, individuals would have to submit to thumb-printing and release their medical records. The bill would even make it a crime for gun owners to change their addresses without notifying the attorney general.

First, let me reassure all Alaskans that I adamantly am opposed to H.R. 45. The bill would be impossible to enact, unacceptably invasive and likely is unconstitutional. The legislation has gained no support and stands zero chance of passage.

But the legislation has served one purpose: It’s a reminder that Americans must remain vigilant in the protection of our constitutional rights. While we must not take actions that would endanger the public, I applaud the many Alaskans who have taken the time to gather in opposition to this legislation. Gun owners absolutely are right to take notice and oppose efforts to erode the Second Amendment, and I stand ready to lend my support.

Despite potential threats, gun owners celebrated a victory last year with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in District of Columbia v. Heller. For the first time, the high court unequivocally upheld an individual’s constitutional right to bear arms. The majority opinion said “there seems to us no doubt, on the basis of both text and history, that the Second Amendment conferred an individual right to keep and bear arms.”

I was pleased to support Dick Heller in his challenge of the D.C. gun ban by joining a group of 55 U.S. senators in a friend-of-the-court brief expressing our belief that the Second Amendment was intended to protect an individual’s right to bear arms. Last month, the Senate passed legislation, which I cosponsored, that would fully realize the promise of the Heller decision by eliminating onerous gun control rules in D.C.

Additionally, in 2007, I supported efforts to bring common sense to firearm rules on public lands. These efforts became successful last year with a new rule requiring federal agencies to defer to state laws regarding concealed firearms in national parks. I am pleased with the new rule and have cosponsored legislation to expand and make the rule permanent. In addition, the 110th Congress passed important legislation to bring fairness to the background check system. I also backed efforts to protect veterans from being improperly stripped of their Second Amendment rights.

The new year has brought a new Congress and a new administration. I am pleased by President Barack Obama’s campaign statements in support of the Second Amendment. However, I remain wary of those in the administration and in Congress who would seek to restrict our rights.

Rest assured that I will keep a watchful eye on attempts to restrict Second Amendment rights and vigorously will oppose them should they come before the U.S. Senate.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has represented Alaska in the U.S. Senate since 2002.

Guest editorial: Alaskans vigilant against threats to gun rights

Legislation recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives reminds us that we must remain vigilant in the defense of our Second Amendment rights. Gun owners in Alaska and across the nation have expressed great concern about the introduction of H.R. 45, The Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act.

H.R. 45, introduced by U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., would require any person owning a handgun or semiautomatic firearm to obtain a federal firearms license. To apply for this license, individuals would have to submit to thumb-printing and release their medical records. The bill would even make it a crime for gun owners to change their addresses without notifying the attorney general.

First, let me reassure all Alaskans that I adamantly am opposed to H.R. 45. The bill would be impossible to enact, unacceptably invasive and likely is unconstitutional. The legislation has gained no support and stands zero chance of passage.

Editorial: Homeless doesn’t have to be hopeless

Growth for some organizations is bittersweet. For Love INC, organizers are happy to finally be able to expand services to include transitional housing for people without homes, even if it’s only on a limited basis so far. It’s a goal the group has been working toward for years, and Love INC is poised establish to a consistent, sustainable program.

It’s coming just in time, as economic woes are putting more people in need of Love INC’s services.

“In December it was so cold, and we said, ‘We’ve got to do something,’” said Ingrid Edgerly, executive director.

The organization worked out an arrangement with a local hotel to rent out rooms to those needing housing for a steeply discounted rate. The money comes from donations from businesses and organizations in the area. It’s a shining example of how a community support net should work — people see a need, they decide to step up and figure out a way to meet it and others jump on board to support those efforts.

But it’s not nearly enough. In 2007 there were already 400 to 500 people who considered themselves homeless on the Kenai Peninsula, according to the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. More recent figures aren’t available yet, but Edgerly can attest to the fact that those numbers are growing, just as their requests for services are.

People don’t have to be standing on street corners or sleeping in boxes to be homeless, and it’s not a situation most people find themselves in by choice. Especially these days, any unexpected cost or unforeseen circumstance can lead someone to eviction.

And neighbors don’t have to make six figures to help. Donating what they can, when they can goes a long way toward helping Love INC extend its reach to housing.

Editorial: Homeless doesn’t have to be hopeless

Growth for some organizations is bittersweet. For Love INC, organizers are happy to finally be able to expand services to include transitional housing for people without homes, even if it’s only on a limited basis so far. It’s a goal the group has been working toward for years, and Love INC is poised establish to a consistent, sustainable program.

It’s coming just in time, as economic woes are putting more people in need of Love INC’s services.

“In December it was so cold, and we said, ‘We’ve got to do something,’” said Ingrid Edgerly, executive director.

The organization worked out an arrangement with a local hotel to rent out rooms to those needing housing for a steeply discounted rate. The money comes from donations from businesses and organizations in the area. It’s a shining example of how a community support net should work — people see a need, they decide to step up and figure out a way to meet it and others jump on board to support those efforts.

But it’s not nearly enough. In 2007 there were already 400 to 500 people who considered themselves homeless on the Kenai Peninsula, according to the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. More recent figures aren’t available yet, but Edgerly can attest to the fact that those numbers are growing, just as their requests for services are.

People don’t have to be standing on street corners or sleeping in boxes to be homeless, and it’s not a situation most people find themselves in by choice. Especially these days, any unexpected cost or unforeseen circumstance can lead someone to eviction.

And neighbors don’t have to make six figures to help. Donating what they can, when they can goes a long way toward helping Love INC extend its reach to housing.