Author: Robert Woolsey

Bicyclists in Sitka may find the going a bit easier in the near future, at least during daylight hours. Community cycling advocates have capitalized on their recent success in making Sitka bike-friendly, and soon hope to make it bike-exclusive. KCAW’s Robert Woolsey talked with Bike-Friendly Community Coalition member Doug Osbourne about his organization’s efforts to curb automotive traffic in Sitka -- and statewide -- by next April 1st.

Sitkans celebrated the annual Blessing of the Herring Rock Sunday (3/30) afternoon. Tlingit clan leaders gathered outside the Sheet’ka Kwaan Naa Kahidi to welcome in the herring and celebrate the Tribe’s long cultural history. According to Tlingit tradition, each year herring return to the Rock to spawn. The event marks the beginning of spring and the community’s annual harvest of traditional foods. Blessing the Rock ensures that this cycle will continue. This year, the ceremony represented more than just seasonal renewal. Five days previous, a young man brutally murdered four people in Sitka, three of whom were family members. The homicide shocked the community. The Herring Rock Blessing served as an opportunity for Sitkans, both Native and non-Native, to come together and seek healing from that trauma.

The cruise industry says Alaska's new wastewater discharge permit sets standards that are unattainable. In a news release, the Alaska Cruise Association claims that the DEC's first Large Commercial Passenger Vessel Wastewater General Permit imposes limits on some trace metals so stringent that not even Alaska's land-based wastewater facilities can meet them. An excerpt from an address to the Sitka Chamber of Commerce (on 3-26-08) by Don Habeger, vice president of Royal Carribean Cruises

Alaska Cruise Initiative co-sponsor Gershon Cohen says major polluters must be compelled to clean up their acts. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has given the industry two years to meet discharge permit standards. Cohen says Alaska voters recognized in 2006 that major industry rarely develops cleaner technologies without regulatory pressure.

Close to 100 Sitkans gathered Sunday afternoon for the annual Blessing of the Fleet. The spring ritual honors those who earn their living upon the seas and pays tribute to mariners who have died over the past year.

After lengthy testimony and deliberation Thursday night (3-27-08), the Sitka assembly granted Dove Island lodge a conditional use permit for 8 guests, possibly bringing an end to a multi-year dispute over the lodge’s reportedly unregulated growth. The lodge – and its legal counsel – did not take the restriction lying down.

Eighteen-year-old Jason Abbot was arraigned in Sitka Superior Court Wednesday morning, March 26, on four counts of first-degree murder, and one count of attempted murder in the first degree, following a homicidal rampage in his family's home on Tuesday.

Sitka wilderness manager Mary Emerick chairs the Forest Service's national Wilderness Advisory Group. She speaks with KCAW's Robert Woolsey about how forest users can help ensure that wilderness continues to serve the purposes it is intended for.

The city of Sitka is dropping its objections to proposed Sealaska land selections – for now. The Sitka assembly last night (Tue 3-25-08) failed to pass a resolution opposing three of the regional Native corporation’s selections on the grounds that Sealaska has made a good faith effort to choose less controversial sites.