Thank you Anchorage, for being leader in healing unity
A great big thank you to all the Anchorage people who marched in acceptance and appreciation of our diversity. I predict this move for unity will grow as we recognize the value in our diversity and go forward in spite of our current tragedies. The people's actions demonstrate true leadership in our evolution and inspire me, and I am sure, others around America.
Thank you ADN for covering this good news.
— Hugh R. Hays
Veteran for Integrity, Equality,
Justice and Peace
Soldotna
Wohlforth gives Gravel short shrift big accomplishments
I have great respect for Charles Wohlforth as a reporter but like all of us, he goes off the rail occasionally.
In his Tuesday ADN column ("Sen. Sullivan lowers himself by accepting Trump's invitation to speak"), it's clear Wohlforth is not familiar with the work of former U.S. Sen. Mike Gravel.
Wohlforth wrote about Alaska's past Sens. Gruening, Stevens and Gravel, and said Gravel "accomplished the least" of the three.
I will never talk down the accomplishments of Stevens and Gruening but Wohlforth's knowledge of Gravel's contributions is clearly limited.
Thanks to Gravel, we have the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. Gravel is now credited for his dogged initiative, extremely controversial at the time, for congressional authorization of the pipeline to cut through a thicket of environmental lawsuits that would have bogged down the project for years.
It was a lone-wolf effort and Gravel was severely criticized in Alaska, and by Stevens, his Senate colleague, who preferred to stick with a more cautious approach that would have left the pipeline at the mercy of the courts.
One by one, however, Gravel secured other votes for the authorization until the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act passed the Senate, by one vote in fact, and later went on to pass the House and become law.
Had the pipeline not been approved in 1973, which allowed construction to start in 1974 and completion in 1977, the world would not have had Alaska oil flowing in 1979. It would also have experienced a severe oil price shock that year when the Iranian revolution cut off supplies to the West.
After he got the votes everyone climbed aboard Gravel's bandwagon including Stevens. Alyeska Pipeline Service Co.'s president at the time, E.L. Patton, later wrote Gravel a letter thanking him for his leadership. I have a copy of the letter.
There are less well-known accomplishments of the former senator, including that he was the first Alaska leader to endorse 40 million acres as an Alaska Native land claims settlement. Until Gravel stepped forward with that, Alaska's leaders were talking about a settlement in the hundreds of thousands or maybe a few million acres at the most.
When Gov. Walter Hickel followed and endorsed 40 million acres, Congress accepted that as the number. The final settlement was 44 million acres.
The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act has been a huge success for Alaska Native people and our state's economy because Native corporations now rank among the top major Alaska employers.
However, most of these accomplishments came in Gravel's first six-year term in the Senate, beginning in 1969. During his second term he became more preoccupied with national events, including his opposition to the Vietnam War, and was not as attentive to Alaska. Gravel faults himself for that now, and recognizes it led to his defeat in 1982.
Interestingly, Ernest Gruening shared that fate. In the late 1960s, Gruening was similarly preoccupied with his opposition to the war and did not pay attention to his state. That led to Gruening's upset defeat in 1968 — ironically by Gravel.
I don't fault Wohlforth's lack of knowledge, however, because few people today remember Gravel or what he accomplished, or for that matter about Gruening and what he did. Stevens is a fast-fading memory too.
That's unfortunate. Alaskans need to know about people who made our state what it is today. They were leaders, and we need people like them today.
— Tim Bradner
Anchorage
ADN put to good use in summer
Thank you ADN! If it wasn't for the Alaska Dispatch News, what would I wrap fish in?
— Arlene Carle
Anchorage
Fish and Game creates more tensions on the Kenai
Saturday was the first weekend for dipnetters on the Kenai. Thousands of people trekked there for the opener Friday. What does the Alaska Department of Fish and Game do? It put commercial nets in the water at 9 a.m. Saturday, virtuously shutting off the fish. Isn't there already enough resentment between these two user groups? Why promote more hard feelings? Leave the prime weekends for the dipnetters who have other jobs. The commercial guys can fish any day of the week there is an opener.
— Greg Svendsen
Anchorage
Bringing new opportunities to farmland across the state
This year marks my 49th anniversary of immigrating to Alaska from Holland. My wife Suus and I came here with very little, but we were fortunate to have the opportunity to be sponsored by Max and Dorothy Sherrod, a Palmer colonist and longtime farming family who took us under their wing and taught us everything they knew about farming in Alaska. They even let us experiment with our own lettuce growing operation on their property. Without their support, guidance and land, we never would have gotten our start.
Our Alaska story began with the generosity and open heart of true Alaskans looking to pass their agricultural knowledge to the next generation. With that in mind, as president of the Alaska Farmland Trust, I'm proud to introduce our new program, Alaska FarmLink, which will help connect beginner farmers with landowners looking to rent or sell their land. With increasing land prices and a lack of available good farmland, this program hopes to tie new agriculturalists with the resource they need the most — land. To learn more, visit www.akfarmland.com/farmlink. I look forward to helping the next generation of farmers and can't wait to see where this program goes.
— Ben VanderWeele
owner, VanderWeele Farms
Palmer
Voter makes ballot resolutions
I will not vote for any incumbent. And I won't vote for anyone else whose strategy is the preservation of the Permanent Fund
dividend as an untouchable entitlement.
— Steve Carlson
Anchorage
The views expressed here are the writers' own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a letter under 200 words for consideration, email letters@alaskadispatch.com, or click here to submit via any web browser. Submitting a letter to the editor constitutes granting permission for it to be edited for clarity, accuracy and brevity. Send longer works of opinion to commentary@alaskadispatch.com.