Regarding the license exemption for same-sex military spouses, I feel we make too many exceptions and exemptions or whatever for these people as it is. I was told recently that many of these military families who were stationed in Alaska for two years established their residency, then are transferred to other places. Even though many of them have not been in the state, and they certainly do not live here by any means, they retain whatever they need to get their PFDs for themselves and their entire families, and they make an appearance in the summer for a week or two to use their fishing licenses or permits to dipnet, fish, or hunti. I see they finally are prosecuting a woman who had been defrauding the PFD for 20-plus years. There are a lot of people doing that, and also many senior citizens and welfare recipients who are defrauding the state by getting all the benefits and they don’t even live here. Many of them are “snowbirds.” They haven’t lived here all their lives. They find out about all the benefits available, so they come up on a vacation, do whatever they have to in order to qualify, get a mailbox or friend to cover for them, and go back to the state where they came from and wait for the checks to roll in, plus come up here and nail all the fish in the summer.
It’s about time people straightened themselves up and did the right, and legal thing. It’s going to come back and bite them in the behind when they least expect it! When I hear them complaining about the roads or weather or whatever here at home, I tell them if they don’t like it, go back to where they came from.