Help improve the lives of foster youth
This month we are launching our second annual “Laptops for Foster Youth Drive.” Since last year, we have matched roughly 70 youth with good, late-model used and new laptops. Youth have used these laptops for school, to transport pictures of their families and friends, and to lead a life that more closely resembles those of their peers outside of foster care. We are looking for laptops in good working order, that connect to the Internet, and that have a word processing program.
In a world where roughly 40 percent of our foster youth end up homeless at some point after leaving care, and don’t perform as well as their peers on average in school, we, as a community, can step in to make a difference. We should especially have compassion for youth whom – through no fault of their own – don’t have parents responsible enough to raise them and put them on the path to success.
What will 2012 bring?
“An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.” – Bill Vaughn It sure seems that the year 2011 will be remembered for odd storm surges. If there were any necessary proof of a changing climate, one only need point out [...]
Events Calendar – Dec. 28
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Bay Weld Boats ride crest of recognition
Agencies like the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the Alaska State Troopers face special tasks in Kachemak Bay and Cook Inlet waters. Buying a vessel that helps them get the job done isn’t as easy as going to a showroom floor and picking out a boat.
No, the ability to tailor vessels to agencies’ unique roles is the distinction at Bay Weld Boats, a Homer-grown company that recently passed a milestone in ever-wider spreading recognition. The custom aluminum boat builder and repair shop that was started by Allen Engebretsen in 1974 has been busy meeting new contracts that have employed a dozen Homer specialists.
This winter, Bay Welding Service-Bay Weld Boats is at work on three custom patrol vessels for the Alaska State Troopers, Alaska Department of Fish and Game and U.S. Department of Agriculture-Forest Service.
For the Record – Dec. 28
The following records are cases and records filed in court. Individuals are innocent until proven guilty, and copies of the records are publicly available. Misdemeanor Magdalene Kameroff, 30, driving under the influence, refusal to submit to a chemical test and endangering the welfare of a child in the first-degree. James M. Mumey, 48, assault in [...]
Police Report – Dec 28
Homer Volunteer Fire Department responded to 10 Emergency Medical calls and three fire calls for the week of Dec. 19- 25. On Dec. 19 crews responded to the Homer Middle School for fire alarm activation. Also on that day, crews responded to a residence on Tamara for a chimney fire. On Dec. 23 crews responded [...]
Time for New Year’s financial resolutions
Once again, it’s time to make some New Year’s resolutions. This year, in addition to hitting the gym, learning that second language and getting better organized, why not also consider a few financial resolutions?
What types of resolutions might you consider? Here are a few suggestions:
Plane crashes at Nanwalek
Four people swam in icy waters about 100 feet from the beach at Nanwalek after their plane crashed into the bay in a failed take off from what has been called “Alaska’s most dangerous runway.”
All four people on board survived but were treated for various injuries, including hypothermia. They pulled one another atop the plane’s wings and swam to shore in waters that were about 40-48 degrees Fahrenheit.
The crash is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board. Air safety investigator Chris Shaver says three passengers, and the pilot were taking off in the Cessna 206, which crashed into English Bay on takeoff at about 10:30 a.m. The flight was operated by Smokey Bay Air.
“We’re definitely going to look very hard at that airport, and see how that played a factor,” Shaver said Monday. “We want to see if there is anything we can do. Planning is done (for the new airport) but there are some hurdles remaining. From everything I’ve heard, it really is a challenging airport and it is not maintained very well.”
Gasline left off capital budget
The Homer-Seward House District 35 sets to gain $17 million in funding through the governor’s 2013 Capital Budget Plan, including money for Cook Inlet Aquaculture and a road fix from Baycrest to Anchor Point.
Gov. Sean Parnell’s 2013 community capital budget lists projects he’s on the bandwagon for, town by town or borough by borough.
But Homer’s name isn’t on the list.
What’s conspicuously absent is any mention of the Homer Area Natural Gasline. Local and Kenai Peninsula officials are making concerted efforts to gain help with construction funding. The project is already begun, with natural gas flowing and nine miles of gasline laid from North Fork Road to Anchor Point.
Christmas counters find birds on stormy, dim day
Birders counted 12,395 individuals during the 112th Annual Audubon Bird Count Saturday, a blustery day around Kachemak Bay that ushered in yet another storm and dim visibility.
A surprise guest is generally among the tally, and this year brought forth the rough-legged hawk, a migratory bird who lives in the Alaska and Brooks Range, and hadn’t been seen in Homer before. Another new sighting was the chestnut-backed chickadee who showed up at a feeder on West Hill Road.
“They occur on the south side of the bay in dense forest. But we virtually never see them up here except for this year,” said Dave Erikson, Homer’s foremost birding authority studying species and compiling numbers in the annual count for the past 35 years.
