ANCHORAGE — A public memorial was held in Anchorage for late Athabascan elder Katie John, known for her long legal fight for subsistence rights for Alaska Natives.

John died May 31 at age 97.

Yvonne Echohawk led the Wednesday service at the Anchorage Baptist Church. Echohawk, a pastor and an adopted daughter of John, said her mother never bowed to bitterness in her fight for Native rights, KSKA (http://is.gd/RXntUu) reported.

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ANCHORAGE — Alaska Attorney General Michael Geraghty acknowledged Thursday that prosecutors, corrections officials and a sentencing judge made a mistake in assessing the criminal history of murder suspect Jerry Andrew Active before he was sentenced in a 2009 felony case.

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JUNEAU — The U.S. Justice Department is expected to appeal a judge’s ruling that overturned the suspensions of two federal prosecutors over their conduct in Sen. Ted Stevens’ corruption trial.

Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday he did not agree with the judge’s decision and expected the Justice Department would appeal it to the Merit Systems Protection Board.

Holder’s comments were in response to questions from U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, during a subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C.

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Gov. Sean Parnell went before the Juneau World Affairs Council Thursday where he used his recent trip overseas as anecdotal support in signing an overhaul of Alaska’s oil tax structure last month.

Between Alaska, Scotland and Norway, the industries had similar structures.

“Like Alaska, the North Sea is a harsh, unforgiving environment. It’s an off-shore industry with platforms, supply ships, helicopters, sub-sea pipelines,” Parnell said. “They, like us, have relatively mature fields.”

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Gil Morgenstern. (KCAW photo/Erik Neumann)

Between salmon fishing, cruise ships and a little less rain… summer is officially here in Sitka. Another sign: The Sitka Summer Music Festival officially kicks off on Friday.

KCAW’s Erik Neumann caught up with violinist Gil Morgenstern, one of the musicians, to hear about his thoughts on music and his visit to Sitka so far.

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Learn more about the Sitka Summer Music Festival.

ANCHORAGE — Five passengers who survived a fatal plane crash in Alaska are members of a Pennsylvania family who were on a cruise line expedition for alumni of Duke University, an alumni association spokesman said Thursday.

They are the Rev. Frank Allen, 54, rector of St. David’s Episcopal Church in Wayne, Pa.; his wife Amy, 54; and their sons: Will, 24; Rob, 21; and Ben, 19.

Ben Allen is a student at Duke, in Durham, N.C., and the other family members are alumni, according to Michael Penn, a spokesman for the Duke Alumni Association.

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The Greater Chamber of Commerce hosted this panel of community members Wednesday at the Cape Fox Lodge.

The Greater Ketchikan Chamber of Commerce hosted a four-person panel on “Growing Our Own Food” at the weekly lunch meeting Wednesday. The panelists were A&P’s Ben Williams, Bett Jakubek of the Tongass Community Food Alliance, Kalvin Traudt of Black Lab Farms, and Ed Schofield, who plans to grow lettuce in a greenhouse on Carroll Inlet.

Williams spoke of various challenges involved with growing local foods. He acknowledges that grocers would love to support homegrown produce, but says that energy costs restrict area growers from being competitive. Williams explains that consumers have increasing demands for healthy, organic foods, and talked a little about the Juneau farmer’s market.

 “The problem that we ran into Juneau was they tried the Farmer’s Market there. It was very successful for people raising their own stuff – kind of in a co-op type of situation – but they didn’t seem to be able to produce enough – other than the bean sprout operation – to meet the needs of the local groceries stores. I think it was mainly cost, labor, land, everything that was involved… and if a person can solve those problems, there is definitely a market in this community,” said Williams.

Jakubek says she believes those problems can be addressed. The Food Alliance will open a Ketchikan Farmer’s Market on various Saturdays starting June 22nd. The idea for the market came about last June when the Food Alliance began to take shape.

One of Jakubek’s concerns is an imbalance of protein versus produce in a typical Ketchikan diet.

 “We’re protein heavy here. My freezer is full of venison and shrimp and crab and salmon… but not produce,” said Jakubek.

She points out that many other towns in Southeast Alaska have farmer’s markets, while Ketchikan does not.

 “Looking around the state, there are a lot of farmer’s markets. And obviously it’s easier to grow in Wasilla and the Matanuska Valley than it is to grow here, but Prince of Wales has a farmer’s market, Sitka has a farmer’s market, Petersburg has a farmer’s market, Wrangell has a farmer’s market, Juneau has a farmer’s market. You know, we are, like, way behind.”

Local farmer Kalvin Traudt gave some advice on growing food here in Ketchikan. His kale was a big hit at last year’s Blueberry Arts Festival, where the Food Alliance offered an inaugural market. He suggests researching square-foot gardening as a viable means to grow in Ketchikan.

Ed Schofield is another farmer who promotes locally grown produce. He spoke about starting a greenhouse at Carroll Inlet to grow lettuce.

 “I spoke with Mr. Williams and we talked about how do we make a viable business out of this. And one of the things that he said is, you’ve either got to have — like he said earlier — quantity, and it needs to be repeatable,” said Schofield. “So I started focusing on one crop, and again, lettuce makes economic sense. It takes less energy; it needs about a 62 degree average growth; and it makes a turnover about every 32 days. So it starts making sense.”

Schofield believes he has solved the energy problem by building his own hydroelectric plant, and the lettuce will be grown using hydroponics. He hopes to be up and running within two years. Schofield says that while price is important, he believes you cannot beat the quality of locally grown products.

Tongass Community Foods Alliance will be hosting the Ketchikan Farmer’s Market June 22nd, July 6th and 20th, August 10th and 24th, and September 14th. The Market will be from 4 to 7 p.m. on Berth 4. For those interested in being a vendor, contact Bett Jakubek at (907) 247-8716 or Linda at (907) 617-1937.

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Classical guitarist David Leisner began playing in the world of folk and choral music, and embraced classical music later. “It completes me,” he said. Leisner is performing this Friday and Saturday (June 7 & 8, 7:30 PM, Harrigan Centennial Hall, $20/15 Old Harbor Books, online, or at the door) at the Sitka Summer Music Festival. He appeared on the Morning Interview with KCAW’s Robert Woolsey.

Ketchikan’s Emma Scott, fourth from the left, is seen during the state Distinguished Young Women competition. She won the state contest, and will compete in the national competition June 27-29 in Alabama.

Ketchikan’s Emma Scott soon will head to Mobile, Alabama, to represent Alaska in the 56th annual Distinguished Young Women national scholarship competition, which is June 27 through 29.

Scott won the state competition in March, when she and seven other young women from Alaska gathered at Ketchikan High School auditorium to demonstrate their skills in various categories, including interview, talent, fitness and self-expression.

The national competition will include similar categories. Prior to the event, Scott will spend two weeks in Mobile with the 49 other state winners. They will participate in team building activities, community service projects, various events and many hours of rehearsal in preparation for the three night scholarship competition.

If selected as the overall winner, Scott will spend the next year representing Distinguished Young Women across the country through various appearances and promoting the program’s outreach initiative of “Be Your Best Self.”

That program is designed to address issues facing children, including obesity and high school dropout rates.

Scott just graduated from Kayhi, and is the daughter of Shari and James Scott.

To view the live webcast of the Distinguished Young Women National Finals, visit www.distinguishedyw.org on Saturday, June 29 at 7 p.m. central time, which is 5 p.m. Alaska time.

ANCHORAGE — A public memorial was held in Anchorage for late Athabascan elder Katie John, known for her long legal fight for subsistence rights for Alaska Natives.

John died May 31 at age 97.

Yvonne Echohawk led the Wednesday service at the Anchorage Baptist Church. Echohawk, a pastor and an adopted daughter of John, said her mother never bowed to bitterness in her fight for Native rights, KSKA (http://is.gd/RXntUu) reported.

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Alaska State Troopers and other rescuers Wednesday recovered the body of a Santa Fe man killed in Tuesday’s float plane crash near Petersburg.

Troopers have also released photographs of the crash site, showing the wrecked Pacific Wings deHavilland Beaver hanging on a steep hillside about 1000 feet up a mountain on the mainland near LeConte Bay.

Photo courtesy of the Alaska State Troopers

66-year-old Thomas L. Rising of Santa Fe, New Mexico was killed in the crash. He and five others were passengers on the cruise ship Sea Bird, on an Alaska cruise offered by Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic. Those five, along with the pilot, survived the crash and were rescued from the site Tuesday evening.

An article in Duke Today, the online news site for Duke University in Durham, North Carolina reported Wednesday that the flight was part of an optional tour as part of the Duke Alumni Travel program and that a family including four Duke alumni and one current student were the other passengers in the crash. The article names those passengers as Reverend Frank Allen, wife Amy and their three sons Will, Rob and Ben. Amy and Ben Allen were medevaced to Seattle for surgeries following the crash while the other three were treated and released from Petersburg Medical Center. Another 22 Duke alumni were on the cruise. The Duke Today article quotes law professor Thomas Metzloff, also on the trip, saying that it is “simply a miracle that they survived.”

Meanwhile, Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic released a statement Wednesday saying the companies are deeply saddened by this tragedy. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the people involved in this accident and their families,” the statement says.

An investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board is in Petersburg this week compiling a report on the crash.

Photo courtesy of the Alaska State Troopers

Global voyager and arctic adventurer David Scott Cowper Thursday, June 6th will detail changing climate conditions in the arctic and show photos from his travels to an audience in Petersburg. Cowper of Newcastle, England piloted the motor vessel Polar Bound through the normally frozen Northwest Passage last summer, the first pleasure craft to make that crossing through a portion of the passage called the McClure Strait. For his six solo circumnavigations of the globe and five solo transits of the Northwest Passage, Cowper was honored this March by the Cruising Club of America with it’s Blue Water Medal. He made last year’s journey with Jane Maufe and the two have returned to Petersburg to prepare for another adventure through the Northwest Passage.

KFSK file photo

Their vessel, the Polar Bound, spent the winter in Petersburg’s north harbor, where Joe Viechnicki found them back onboard this week.

Cowper will speak about his travels as part of the Petersburg Marine Mammal Center and Alaska Seagrant’s Thursday science series tonight at 7 p.m. at the Lutheran Church’s Holy Cross House.

A six-week trial program for recycling gets underway in Petersburg this week for residents who have Wednesday trash collection. The pilot program will allow Wednesday trash customers to leave a wider array of recyclable materials, unsorted in yellow plastic bags on the curb for pickup by the Petersburg Indian Association. The pilot program will provide information on whether an expanded curbside pickup program could work in the community. Joe Viechnicki spoke with Petersburg’s public works director Karl Hagerman about what’s called the commingled recycling pilot program.


That pilot recycling program starts June 5th and runs though July 10th and it’s for residents with a Wednesday trash pick up only. For other residents, the PIA’s curbside sorted recyclables program continues on normal trash pickup days. For additional recycling bags or more information call the public works department at 772-4430.

A local doctor is bringing an ancient technique to Petersburg Medical Center. On June 6, Jennifer Hyer will start offering acupuncture at the center. The treatment dates back over 2000 years.

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Jennifer Hyer shows off her acupuncture equipment

Hyer is always searching for new or different ways to solve problems. And as a doctor, she says she was never satisfied with just learning the basic methods she was taught in medical school. She wanted to expand and see what other approaches she could learn. That led to her to acupuncture. And Hyer says that as she started researching the procedure more and more, she started seeing real, scientific benefits.

“The modern explanation is that needling these acupuncture points stimulates the nervous system to release chemicals in the muscles, spinal cord and brain,” Hyer says. “And those chemicals change the experience of pain or illness or trigger the release of other chemicals or hormones that influence the body’s own internal regulating system. So the idea is that this improved energy and biochemical balance produced by acupuncture results in stimulating the body’s natural healing abilities in promoting overall physical and emotional well-being.”

Many question whether acupuncture is really effective, but Hyer has always believed in it. She heard patients talk about how acupuncture healed them. She read medical journals, where studies talked about the benefits. And she heard how acupuncture didn’t just affect humans, but dogs and cats, too. So when the chance came up for her to learn the practice, she took advantage.

“So I had intended to do this as part of my 10-year plan. And the opportunity was given to me by Petersburg Medical Center, and I’m very thankful to them for that, about getting this training now and starting to offer it now,” Hyer says. “So I looked at different programs, and the number one program that trains physicians in acupuncture is the Helms Medical institute, so I would go down to Arizona, and in between going down to Arizona for my clinical practicums, I would be coming back here and studying, practicing on my husband and willing friends, and then going back down for further study.”

The process took six months, with 150 hours of study and another 150 spent caring for patients in Arizona. But Hyer says the experience taught her just how much acupuncture could offer. And when she started practicing and working on real, live patients, she was blown away.

“There are some amazing results,” Hyer says. “One example is that I didn’t know that acupuncture could be used for acute conditions. So someone came in with a sprained ankle, and it was very red and swollen. So we did a tendonomuscular meridian on this patient, and when we put in these points, you could actually watch the swelling and redness of the ankle decrease right before your eyes. And the person was able to stand up on walk on their ankle, when they weren’t when they came in.”

Hyer says acupuncture treatments vary based on what needs to be fixed. In almost all cases, doctors apply needles to precise pressure points on the body. But they vary it up, too, adding heat or sometimes even electricity to those points. The treatments can be simple, used to just promote general well-being. But they can also be used for all sorts of ailments, from migraines to bronchitis to chronic back pain. But Hyer says that she won’t just be using acupuncture by itself for those problems – she’ll be mixing it with modern medicine.

“The idea and the way that I intend to practice is that I’m a medical acupuncturist, which means that I’m going to practice integrative medicine, which is blending the best of Eastern and Western medicine traditions. So if you came to see me for sinusitis, if you need antibiotics, I could prescribe those antibiotics. But then we could also do acupuncture to help open up your sinuses, encourage that drainage, and prevent you from getting future episodes of sinusitis. So it’s blending the two.”

Hyer will start practicing acupuncture at Petersburg Medical Center on June 6, and a waitlist has already started for her services. As for paying for the treatments, Hyer says that workers comp. and some private insurers cover acupuncture, but Medicare and Medicaid don’t cover the procedures just yet.

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Redoubt landslide a boon to sockeye? One dead in Petersburg flightseeing crash. Honorary Filipino Consul appointed in Juneau.

Two of Petersburg’s longest-serving police officers retired last week (Friday). Police Chief Jim Agner and Investigator Heidi Agner have been with the department since the couple first came to Petersburg in 1994. Jim Agner has served as chief for the last three-and-a-half years. On the their last day of work, Matt Lichtenstein stopped by the police station and asked the Agners for their parting thoughts about a the need for a new facility as well as some of the other challenges facing the department and the community.
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Jim and Heidi Agner dressed up for their last day on the job,. The leather work they’re wearing was all made by Heidi Agner.

The Agners are leaving Petersburg for Montana where they hope to make a living with Jim’s firearms engraving and Heidi’s leathercraft.

A pistol engraved by Jim Agner

Newly-hired police chief is Kelly Swihart takes over in July. In the meantime, retired police captain Bruce Westre is serving as Petersburg’s acting chief.

Efforts to development a more extensive boat haul-out and marine services facility in Scow Bay moved forward a bit more late last month. The borough assembly approved a draft land patent for 9-and-a-half acres of state tidelands and uplands at the Scow Bay turnaround, which is the site of the planned facility. The patent helps pave the way for borough ownership and development of the land, which was owned by the state. The Petersburg Economic Development Council is spearheading the project. Matt Lichtenstein recently asked PEDC coordinator Liz Cabrera for an update:
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In the meantime, the PEDC recently put out an invitation for contractors to bid for some minor maintenance work to keep the existing boat ramp usable. That work is slated to happen this summer.

KENAI — A dead moose salvage program faces closure by this fall after its funding request was denied by the Alaska Legislature.

The Alaska Moose Federation is trying to solicit private donations after lawmakers didn’t fund its request for $2.2 million, the Peninsula Clarion reported.

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FAIRBANKS — Alaska Airlines plans to replace most of the jets it flies between Fairbanks and Anchorage with three turboprop planes, freeing up the jets to be used for new routes between Anchorage and the Lower 48.

Three Bombardier Q400 planes will mostly replace the Boeing 737 jets that now fly between Alaska’s two biggest cities, beginning next March, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported. Q400s also will replace the 737 that flies to Kodiak from Anchorage twice daily from October through April.

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ANCHORAGE — A foreign cargo ship has been ordered by the Coast Guard to remain in Valdez until it deals with containers leaking oil onto the vessel.

The Anchorage Daily News reports the Coast Guard also wants to determine the chemical composition of oil leaked onto the BBC Arizona.

Coast Guard Lt. Allie Ferko said Tuesday the containers are carrying transformer oil, a highly refined mineral oil, used for cooling and insulating transformers.

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