Protecting the Kenai River dip net fishery?
Responding to a letter by David Giaimo from the Nov. 21 Peninsula Clarion, I have more questions than answers. The dip net fishery began as a means to prevent over-escapement during the robust sockeye returns of the 1980s. The Alaska Board of Fish, rather than addressing an emerging fishery, chose to encumber the City of Kenai with the expense of this unlimited fishery. Putting an extra three million reds in the river, aside from taking $40 million out of the local economy, begs the question of where do the king salmon spawn? Another question — so does the essence of protecting the dip net fishery mean the city provides more dumpsters and clean up? Finally, unlimited guides, unlimited dipnetters, unlimited traffic on the spawning beds, equal D, all of the above, all unsustainable! Auto traffic and enforcement went unmentioned. Exit the Kenai king salmon!
John McCombs
Ninilchik
Lack of funding puts a heavy strain on our schools
The foundation of the Kenai Peninsula, our entire workforce, and the intellectual heart of our communities is under a severe threat. Across this region, from our elementary schools in the borough to the community colleges that are training our next generation of professionals, we are facing a great problem when it comes to educational funding. A constant lack of money is forcing cuts to essential programs, increasing class sizes in schools, and putting a heavy strain on our teachers and staff. We are repeatedly told over and over again to wait for state and federal solutions to this problem. But the impact of these shortfalls is being felt everyday in our community, right here, right now.
It is clear that we can no longer rely on outside help to protect our children’s education and our community’s long term health. The time has come for us as a community, for those in local businesses on the Kenai Peninsula, to make our own smart financial plans that will directly connect the success of our local jobs to the strength of our own local schools. Our current way of funding schools is just a cycle of putting out fires. In the end we are just back to where we started.
The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District recently faced some massive financial problems, which then led to the cutting of student counselors and reduced teacher work days. The consistent money trouble is making it increasingly difficult to keep good teachers. This is creating stress for our students, teachers, and staff. At the same time, our local colleges are dealing with federal cuts and raising tuition to cover just basic costs. For example, the University of Alaska Board of Regents just recently approved a 4% tuition increase for the next school year. These are not just small issues in our community; they are signs of a broken financial system that needs a local fix.
There are many wonderful ideas that we could explore to create a steady income of money for our schools. These ideas could involve working together between local businesses and schools, community fundraising events, or looking into new ways for local tax money to go straight to education. For example, a local business “Impact Voucher” program could help create a steady flow of donations. We do this by linking community spending at local shops to school funding. We need to find approaches that fit the unique job market of the Kenai Peninsula and encourage everyone to share the job of securing our children’s future. In the end, putting money into our local schools through new, community-led ideas is an investment in our shared future.
As a community, we have the smarts, the hard work and the creativity to fix this problem. Let’s stop waiting for distant aid and start building a strong, dependable school system that makes our peninsula a great example of how a community can help itself. Our children, local jobs and our future depends on it.
Abigail White
Soldotna
