First off I want to thank Tad Lindley for all the verses he be writing down, once again thank you. I want to share Romans 8: 1, 2. Can you please read Mark 11:25, 25 – forgiveness and prayer. I just want to ask forgiveness from my family, the Kalskag community, and three individuals (names have been omitted but God knows). Please forgive me, thank you and may God bless everyone.
Kenneth Reed
YK Correctional Center
Bethel, AK
Hello out there
One of the reasons I haven’t been writing, I messed up my thumb end of last year. Another, I get so disappointed/disgusted/despondent when I feel like I try to help out the people by writing ideas and other things I think they should take into consideration, and feeling like I’m not being heard.
Oh it’s just Karen ranting again… and so I have even missed important meetings because I’m afraid of what I might say. To say the least – disappointed about a few things.
They have asked since I was young – if you could blow up one thing, what would it be? My answer was always alcohol. It has destroyed so many lives. Yet, when there’s an accident or death, even though alcohol might be the cause of it, people will still turn to alcohol. Why not turn to family and friends instead? That’s what God made other people for – to help each other out.
Now, a close second is the darn technology they have nowadays. People don’t interact with each other anymore – such a shame. Your family or friends take the time to be around you, and you ignore them. So you can destroy other people on the games or what? You can play card/board/dice games or go out for a walk or a picnic, maybe berry picking or fishing. Instead you’re ignoring people and being on your stupid phone/computer. Kudos to you.
Wow, you legislators are so money hungry. You are letting the trawlers deplete our fish. Shame on you. Your ancestors fought for your rights to have fish for their future generations and what do you do? You let people bribe you so they can fish. Then instead of donating the fish to communities who would really appreciate them, they throw them back in the ocean. So, thank you very much guys. What are you going to do when there are no fish left to feed our people?
Please take care of yourself. Remember you do matter. If you think you are alone – people are there who do love and care about you. You are only human and need to talk to someone sometimes. So, find someone you trust to talk to.
Don’t forget to tell someone where you’re going. Take extra clothes and food, you can always take off clothes but you can’t put them on if you didn’t bring them. If you get stuck somewhere, change the message on your phone to where they can find you. Take care.
Karen Nanouk
Unalakleet, AK
No New Taxes!
The common refrain in Juneau this session is “We need a fiscal plan”.
Unfortunately, to many, that translates into a much longer lyric that asks, “How do we impose more than $1 billion in new taxes on residents and Alaskan businesses to turn a marginally sustainable $1,300 dividend into an attempt to fund an unsustainable $2,700 dividend. All this, on the heels of the Permanent Funds losses of nearly $3 billion in the market over the past year?” Wouldn’t it be great if our legislators thought about a sustainable long-term fiscal plan for Alaska, rather than just thinking about their next re-election?
Alaska does not have a “fiscal crisis.” Thanks to the Permanent Fund earnings and general fund receipts from oil production, we have enough revenue to pay for reasonable state services, a good capital budget and still have enough left over for a fair and sustainable dividend for all Alaskans.
The only “crisis” is that we are currently unable to afford dividends twice that large without raiding the Permanent Fund or drawing our savings to a dangerously low level.
Proposals are now pending in the Legislature for a state sales tax, state income tax and a higher oil tax. Any or all of them would be a major blow to the state’s economy—not a stimulus as some want you to believe.
None of those proposals are necessary at present to pay for essential state services or even additional desirable state services like better education, roads, airports, health care, day care and public safety.
If in the future, if a national recession and/or sustained low oil prices were to occur and we need new taxes to pay for essential services, then I am sure most Alaskans will agree that those taxes are needed and will only argue about which combination to implement.
But in the meantime, implementing new taxes to pay for a higher dividend that is already taxable? I don’t believe that is what most Alaskans really want.
Carl Marrs, CEO
Old Harbor Native Corporation
Former President & CEO of CIRI
