Letters to the editor

Published 2:30 am Friday, May 22, 2026

Alaska must do better to support mental health care

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. One in five Alaskans lives with mental illness, yet too many face silence, stigma, and barriers to care. Our family knows this struggle well.

In 2020, our daughter Angelia was diagnosed with serious mental illness. We battled long waitlists, fragmented services, insurance issues and a crisis-focused system for years. Angelia has been at the Alaska Psychiatric Institute since Oct. 17, 2025. After three exhausting years of trying everything in our power and exhausting all resources, the Department of Health is finally stepping in with the Complex Care General Fund to place her in a complex care assisted living facility. It should not take this long.

Do better, State of Alaska!

This journey led me to become Alaska Policy Director for the National Shattering Silence Coalition in February. Silence is no longer an option. We must shatter it through advocacy and action.

I invite families, loved ones, behavioral health providers and those with serious mental illness across Alaska to join us. Your voices matter. Together we can demand better policies and compassionate care.

Please join our Walk of Hope on the Kenai Peninsula on Friday, May 22 from 12:30-3 p.m., starting in the Walgreens parking lot in Soldotna.

Walk with us, share your story, or stand in solidarity. Every step breaks stigma and brings hope.

Mental health is health. Let’s make Alaska listen.

Krista Schooley, Alaska Director

National Shattering Silence Coalition

Shout out to our community

As a parent of an individual with DS, or commonly what is referred to as Down Syndrome, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to our local community, towards my son and his many friends with special needs. My son has worked at our local Fred Meyers store for going on 12 years. Many may have seen him pushing carts over the years or bagging groceries .

I had the pleasure of working alongside my son yesterday as I observed him doing his job. From the employees to the many customers who said hello to my son as he worked. I can’t express enough gratitude as you acknowledge my son during his shift. Your simple acknowledgment means more than you realize as my son tries so hard to be accepted.

Few understand that individuals with DS, and especially my son, have seen a great change in society over the decades as society’s acceptance of their abilities has increased. Once considered unteachable, the social avoidance of individuals with DS was real back when my son was born 46 years ago.

His ability to be hired by Fred Meyers and to see the respect that his fellow employees grant him makes me proud as a father. To the staff and supervisors of Fred Meyers, thank you, and to each customer that chooses to see the special individual that he is, thank you.

We live in an awesome community here on the Kenai Peninsula.

Kelly Wolf

Soldotna

The people should choose

“We the people.” Not we the rich, not we the political party, not we the white man. Our nation’s Constitution begins with these simple but powerful words: “We the people.”

Alaska’s voters can go to the Aug. 18 primary election knowing that they can choose a candidate of their choice, not the choice of a political party, the choice of the people.

If the ballot initiative that includes ending open primaries wins, we will no longer have that option — our vote will be controlled by who the party chooses. Those not registered for a political party will have to choose between two ballots. The people will no longer choose.

This ballot initiative includes ending ranked choice voting. If it wins, we will no longer be able to make four choices by ranking them in order of our favorites. That gives a voter four chances of their choice winning. The people get four choices! The people can vote for a candidate that truly represents their civic ideals.

With ranked choice voting, a candidate has to win by 50% plus one vote. The winning candidate reflects the majority of the voters, nothing less. There are no longer expensive run-off elections. In 2022, five in 10 voters split their ballot between parties. Choices!

There was little confusion in 2022 — over 99% of ballots were submitted correctly! The people know what they are doing, the party doesn’t have to do it for them.

This ballot initiative not only includes ending open primaries and ending ranked choice voting, it also includes ending campaign finance disclosure.

It will once again establish “dark money,” where the people will never know what special interest mega-wealthy outside source is financing a campaign or how much they are giving. Currently those sources and amounts have to be disclosed. Campaign financing should not be a secret. The people should know.

The signs are already up supporting this ballot initiative but they tell little. Be an informed voter! Dig into why they want to take your choices away. Why they want to control your vote, and why they want to hide the big money that supports their party. Seems rotten to me. Vote NO on repealing open primaries/RCV and ending campaign donor disclosure.

Therese Lewandowski

Homer

Memorial Day remembrance

“But we … shall be remembered: we few, we happy few, we band of brothers; for he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.…” -William Shakespeare

Memorial Day is a sacred day for some of us who have taken the military oath and agreed to stand in harm’s way if need be to defend our way of life. Some of us get to return from our combat tours and sadly some of us do not. We who return celebrate each other, and that we are still alive. We also celebrate the lives of the ones we’ve lost.

On this Memorial Day, some of us will honor those who gave their last full measure of devotion so that our country remains free. Others will take advantage of furniture, automobile or other sales. For some others, it signals the beginning of summer and calls for a good day to barbecue.

Today, we honor our heroes, remember their achievements, their courage and their dedication, and say thank you for their sacrifices. The heroes we honor today came from all walks of life, but they shared several fundamental qualities. They possessed courage, pride, determination, selflessness, dedication to duty and integrity.

They didn’t go to war because they loved fighting, they were called to be part of something bigger than themselves. They were ordinary people who responded in extraordinary ways in extreme times. They rose to our nation’s call because they wanted to protect it, which had given them and us so much.

Whatever their personal motives might have been, they said, “I’ll go.” That is why they are the best of America and that separates them from those who’ve not served in uniform. They showed admirable willingness to risk their lives for people they never met.

As we commemorate Memorial Day 2026, let us never forget the sacrifices of those who gave their lives in service to our country, and let us strive to be worthy of their legacy.

“We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

In Flanders field.”

-John McCrae, “In Flanders Fields,” 1915

Michael A LeMay, Veterans for Peace

Homer