Month: September 2009

Deliveries to Sitka’s recycling program have dropped for the first time since the inception of the program in 2003. The decline in recyclables in the second quarter of this year closely tracks the decline in sales tax revenues the city finance department reported for the same period. Both figures are down about 15-percent from last year.

Mim McConnell is running for a three-year term on the assembly of the City and Borough of Sitka.Candidate statements are a listener service of Raven Radio, and not an endorsement of the candidate. The same opportunity to provide a statement is available to all municipal candidates. The municipal election is Tuesday, October 6, 2009.

Hannah Guggenheim thought her film "Benji and Judah" would be a one-year project for her masters thesis. It turned out to be a five-year journey with an East Bay family seen through the eyes of twin brothers living with spina bifida. Guggenheim will show the film at 6PM September 30th in the Sheetka Kwan Community House in Sitka. Interview with KCAW's Robert Woolsey:

The Alaska Department of Fish & Game has closed the hunting season for female deer over much of northeast Chichagof Island. A closure of the federal subsistence hunt for does – when it is announced -- will mirror the state closure. The department blames two hard winters in a row for the steep decline in deer numbers in the area. Without animals to hunt, the residents of Hoonah are looking ahead at a hard winter of their own, regardless of the weather.

Emergency response agencies Thursday night (9-24-08) called off a massive search for a Sitka man missing since early Monday morning. 60-year old Jerry Kinsey was last seen walking into the woods after failing to meet his wife after a routine workout at the local gym. He has not been seen since.

Sitka voters this October will fill four municipal seats – two on the assembly and two on the school board. The four candidates who have filed for those seats met for the first election forum of the season this week at the Sitka Chamber of Commerce luncheon on Wednesday (9-23-09).

City leaders heard about future plans for Sawmill Cove Industrial Park at last night’s Sitka Assembly meeting. Among the highlights of the strategic plan is a city-owned multi-use dock.

At lunchtime on Monday, a group of about a dozen people unfurled banners in the middle of downtown Sitka, hoping to raise awareness for climate change. And as it turns out, their banners, whistles and shouts were part of a larger effort.

The list of which schools made adequate yearly progress is out. In Sitka, it’s a mixed bag of good news and bad news. And every year, it’s also controversial news, about a system some educators say is patently unfair.

The state Disaster Policy Cabinet has met to discuss the crisis at the Pelican Seafoods Plant. Whether or not the town wins a formal disaster declaration remains up to the governor.