Letters to the Editor

Community support

We’ve all been missing Gary during these stressful months from the COVID-19 virus, but the generosity of our Homer community can help ease the burden for a few of our organizations. The contributions to the Gary Thomas Memorial Fund reached $5,000 and the money was dispersed to the Homer Foundation, the Homer Rotary Club, Kachemak Heritage Land Trust, Kachemak Emergency Services and the Homer Volunteer Fire Department.

Thank you Homer for keeping each other safe and for your continued generosity and support of our community.

In deep gratitude,

Laura Patty

Schroer grant makes positive impact

I would like to thank the Homer Foundation and the David & Mary Schroer grant for supporting Homer High School’s positive behavior program. With these funds we were able to continue our positive referral program to celebrate students who are doing good. This year we were able to honor over 40 students who went above and beyond when it came to working hard, helping people in need or taking initiative to help make HHS a better place the learn. We have been able to rewards students for volunteering to tutor a struggling student, standing up for a students who was being picked on, volunteering to clean the ceramics room, exhibiting positive leadership in class, cleaning up after someone else’s mess, completing quality work and much more.

Thanks for supporting Homer High School.

Sincerely,

Douglas Waclawski , Principal, Homer High School

Thank you to the Homer Foundation

South Peninsula Haven House would like to thank The Homer Foundation for supporting us with utility and rental assistance, during this challenging COVID time. It was inspiring, relieving, but not surprising, that the Homer Foundation swiftly created a COVID-19 Response Committee. The generosity from this committee helped us continue our mission of assisting the community and connecting them with their most immediate needs.

Like many other small businesses, we are adapting to new social distancing rules, requiring customers and ourselves to wear a mask, having limited hours, and only allowing small numbers of people in the store at a time.

We are so fortunate to live in a community that supports each other and assists where needed, we greatly appreciate the help from The Homer Foundation.

With thanks,

Ronnie Leach, Executive Director, South Peninsula Haven House

Legislators need history lesson

Rep. Ben Carpenter, R-Nikiski, and Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer, need to review some 20th Century history. Their utter illiteracy and obliviousness are both dangerous and insulting.

As reported in the Anchorage Daily News, Carpenter objected to pandemic safety measures at the Alaska Capitol during a recent email exchange between all 40 House members. Those measures will require returning lawmakers to undergo a virus screening and, if cleared, wear a sticker indicating that fact when they enter the Capitol.

Carpenter compared that requirement to the Nazi’s labeling of Jews with Star of David armbands during the Holocaust.

“‘How about an arm band that won’t fall off like a sticker will?’ Rep. Ben Carpenter wrote in a message copied to all 40 members of the Alaska House. ‘If my sticker falls off, do I get a new one or do I get public shaming too? Are the stickers available as a yellow Star of David?’”

There was immediate pushback. Rep. Andy Josephson, D-Anchorage, said being asked to wear a sticker clearing one to enter a building was not like being shipped to a concentration camp. It was, he said, “more akin to needing a boarding pass when you get through TSA.”

Rep. Grier Hopkins, D-Fairbanks, told Carpenter to “keep your Holocaust jokes to yourself.”

Vance rushed to Carpenter’s defense, replying to Hopkins that, “‘We should all be concerned about the implications of being labeled as ‘non-compliant’ or wearing a badge of ‘compliance.’”

The utter ignorance displayed by both Carpenter and Vance should make voters ashamed for having sent either to the august halls of the Alaska House of Representatives. They should be called out for their stupidity and retired in the general election this fall.

Sincerely,

Hal Spence

Jane Little Fund supports Rotary Youth program

The Rotary Club of Homer Downtown would like to thank Jane Little and the Homer Foundation for their generous donation which enabled us to sponsor a local sophomore student to attend RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Academy) earlier this year. RYLA has been called a life-changing experience for many of the young people who are able to attend. They, themselves, acknowledge the value of having shared the experience with students from all over Alaska. The young man we sponsored agrees. Here are a few of his words: “RYLA 2020 was the best experience of my life….”, “I am a better person and a stronger leader because of it.” Again, thanks you Jane Little and the Homer Foundation for making it possible for us to send this young man to RYLA.

Jan O’Meara, Secretary 2019-2020, RotaryClub of Homer Downtown

Legislators made Alaska look foolish

Ben Carpenter supported in his ignorance and arrogance by Sarah Vance has once more made Alaska the butt of Americas jokes, by comparing a health certificate to Jews wearing the Star of David in Nazi Germany.

People I have heard from and articles I have read put us in one of two categories. Alaska is led by the most self-centered, ignorant politicians and since the people elected these two clowns the people of Alaska must be very ignorant indeed. The other view is not so charitable, suggesting that we are a group of selfish self-centered egotists who would rather have our way than protect people from a very nasty disease.

We are neither and I am furious that politicians like Carpenter and Vance continue to tarnish the world image of the thoughtful, hard working people of our state.

It is time that we fire these two freeloaders. Neither has accomplished a single item that they promised in their campaigns. Nor can they point to any other accomplishments during the time they have been slopping at the public trough.

Surely, we can replace them with two competent people.

Roy Wilson

How will quarantine be enforced?

With the inevitable tourist season beginning I am asking how we plan to enforce state mandates. We already have people flying in then coming straight to Homer to start vacationing. What happened to the 14-day quarantine mandate? I was in one of our local shops and heard a man announce he was here from out of town and ready to fish. No mask, no quarantine and no concern for others. Please publish the plans for Homer to combat the virus.

Thank you.

Steve Fogolini

Station Twelve offers safe connection

Wow, do I miss my amazing community. I miss First Fridays, swimming pals, coffee hugs, open mic — the list is endless; and that is the Blessing of Homer. Likewise, Staton Twelve is just not designed to sit empty. She is meant for the ringing of celebration, the buzz of a focused work groups and the whoops of vacationers discovering our Alaska.

To thank my community and gets some energy flowing again at Station Twelve, I would like to invite my fellow Homeroids to come use the grounds for some outside connection time.

From now through Solstice, please feel free to: bring some of Homer’s exceptional take out for a picnic, sit and contemplate life, sing to the bay, nap, do yoga, bang a drum, meet up with friends or do cartwheels — all at a safe social distance.

Outside Quaker Silent Meditation is also open to everyone from 10-11 a.m. Sunday mornings.

As we engage our common sense and incorporate our new tools, it feels like it is time to take aware steps out of our private sanctuaries. Personally, I can’t wait until it is OK to act like a pack of puppies again. ‘Til then, I’ll wave at you from across the yard.

Safety guidelines:

• Station Twelve is flanked by an extreme bluff and the Sterling Highway; children and animals are welcome, but must be monitored constantly.

• It is never safe to park on a highway, especially in the middle of a curve.

• Bathrooms will not be available.

Ginger Bryant, Station Twelve, Baycrest

Thank you CIRCAC

I am sincerely honored to have been selected as the recipient of the 2020 CIRCAC/Captain Barry Eldridge Memorial Scholarship for Maritime Studies.

I want to publicly thank the Cook Inlet Regional Citizens Advisory Council Scholarship Committee, Jerry Rombach, and Carla Stanley for your generosity which will allow me to study marine biology as a college undergraduate.

My ultimate goal is to find scientifically proven strategies to protect and sustain the marine environment and organisms of Alaska. Your support means a great deal to me.

As I plan to begin my education at either the University of Alaska Southeast or the University of Hawaii, Hilo this fall, I am truly appreciative for your kind gift.

Because of this scholarship, I will not have to pay as much out of my own pocket, relieving some of the stress of paying for college, and allowing me to focus on academics and do the best I can.

Thank you again for your thoughtful and generous gift!

Sincerely,

Rio Shemet Pitcher