Go on vacation, in your backyard
With Homer smelling a little sweeter now than it did just a few weeks ago, it’s a sure sign that summer is just around the corner – despite the cold weather, snow flurries, hail and rain.
I think of summer here as if I was on vacation. After all, it lasts about the same length of time – maybe 2-3 weeks. And, while it’s certainly easy to take all Homer has to offer for granted, what if you decided to wake up everyday and think, “I’m on vacation.” You might just find yourself enjoying the Cosmic Hamlet summer to its fullest.
‘Vote by mail’ may increase voter turnout
Sixteen borough residents formed a committee to promote the Better Elections Initiative. The purpose for this initiative is to implement a better voting system for Kenai Peninsula Borough residents that include “Vote by Mail” with a “Ranked Choice Voting” provision. The ballot initiative was filed at the borough clerk’s office on May 10.
“These changes will promote greater voter turnout, provide more opportunity for voters to make an informed decision at each borough election and will save our borough money,” said Fred Sturman, Initiative co-sponsor.
Biking for personal and planetary health
As I bike around town I am thrilled to see indications that momentum is building for Homer to become a healthier community. Many of our local individuals, businesses and organizations are devoting energy and resources through various collaborations and projects which offer opportunities to develop and participate in active, healthy lifestyle choices. There are way too many to list them all here; a partial list of newcomers includes Kachemak Bay Running Club, Alaska Training Room, Seldovia Village Tribe Health Center’s Thriving Thursdays, Homer Playground Project and many successes that originated in MAPP.
Letters – May 15
Spit trail trashed I myself do not normally make a practice of writing letters to the editor, but I feel, that this subject should be addressed. The subject that I am talking about is the constant and never ending abundance of trash on the Homer Spit trail. I go for a daily walk on the [...]
Letters – May 8
Win a Harley For their seventh-annual Harley Davidson motorcycle raffle, the Kachemak Bay Lions members are requesting that communities help raising much-needed funds by buying a raffle ticket. Only 399 tickets will be sold. They can be purchased for $100 during business hours at several locations around town, including Scruggs’s Automotive and Homer Insurance Center. [...]
Our salmon, ourselves proves essential connection
There has been some controversy in our community about riparian buffers, which would extend protection to freshwater salmon habitat. As an Alaskan, I regard salmon to be an iconic embodiment of ourselves. Heroic in their persistence, stamina, and determination – salmon reflect the qualities we value as a people.
Riparian buffers are vegetated areas near a stream, river, or lake that protect water quality and assist with temperature regulation, while mitigating impacts of adjacent land uses. Riparian buffers act to intercept sediment, nutrients, pesticides, and other materials in surface runoff.
Shorebirds, motherhood: What don’t they have in common?
The annual Kachemak Bay Shore Bird Festival arrives along with Mother’s Day, a coincidental pairing of events that somehow ought to go together. Just as winter is walking away – not fast enough this particular spring – in comes a season of the migrations. Our visitors have endured lengthy flights from thousands of miles. Their [...]
The rise and fall of guaranteed income
Imagine this headline: “House of Representatives approves proposal for guaranteed annual income by wide margin.” The passage of that kind of social welfare measure sounds wholly implausible today, but, in fact, the House did pass such a bill in April of 1970 by a vote of 243 to 155. The measure, The New York Times reported, “establishes for the first time the principle that the government should guarantee every family a minimum annual income.”
Alaskans should pay attention to Oregon’s intolerable acts
The Legislative Blitz of 2013 in Salem, Oregon is a grievously under-reported story. Oregon’s state government is moving in a total media blackout to close down all rural producers in mining, logging, agriculture, and ranching.
Beginning in December, 2012, the office of Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber emitted a blizzard of bills to the Oregon legislature. Oregonian mining law researchers Ron Gibson, Art Sappington, Hal Anthony, Guy Michael and Al Hansen are doing a Herculean task, reading and testifying on 2,684 bills to assess impact on natural resources, labor, family farms, small business, county economies, private property, and the foundations of American law.
Life-long ‘trash picker’ shares colorful memories
I’m a trash picker; a collector of litter and self-appointed cleaner of the roadways.
When I was 10, my family moved from the crowded suburbs of Camp Hill Pennsylvania to the majestic mountains of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, fulfilling my father’s dream of living in the wild west. Along with fresh air and an abundance of natural beauty, he discovered that the roadways were littered with soda pop bottles, beer cans, old tires, rotten tarps and a plethora of other discards.
Being a conservationist all his life, he knew something had to be done. It would start with us. My brother was three when my dad decided our small family of four would clean up the roadways. Thus began a family tradition.
