Rosemarie Alexander

Governor Sean Parnell and First Lady Sandy Parnell will be serving up hotdogs Thursday at the Third Annual Governor’s Picnic in Juneau.

Serving hotdogs are the Parnell’s choice, leaving the fresh salmon to the fishermen who cook it, says Chamber of Commerce Director Cathie Roemmich. It’s an impressive list of commercial fishermen and processing companies that give the salmon and prepare it there:

“Icy Strait Seafood, Taku Smokeries, Alaska Glacier Seafood, United Fishermen of Alaska, United Southeast Alaska Gillnetters Association and Fishing Vessel Mikiah Bay,” Roemmich says. “And these guys plan ahead. We ask them ahead of time; we’re always afraid they’re not going to be able to do it again and they do. They pull it off every year. It’s a great recipe and I don’t think they’ve ever divulged it.”

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game will be giving lessons on making lures. There’s a horseshoe toss, face painting, balloon animals and other activities for kids. Spike the Whale and McGruff the Crime Dog will be on hand for pictures.

Roemmich says the entire governor’s cabinet is expected to be serving food at the picnic, which is coordinated by the Juneau Chamber of Commerce. A number of local and statewide businesses contribute.

Juneau’s is the last of a series of governor’s picnics this summer. The Parnell’s held picnics last month in Anchorage, Fairbanks and the MatSu.

The picnic runs from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Sandy Beach Shelters.

The CBJ Parks and Recreation Advisory Board says the Alaska Commercial Fishermen’s Memorial should stay where it is, while a city Assembly member says it’s not the memorial that should move, but the proposed cruise ship docks.

The PRAC was asked by the Docks and Harbors Board to weigh in on a possible location for the memorial, now that the city plans to build two new floating berths near it.

Memorial Board members say the granite wall with names of deceased fishermen should remain in its current location, but not if a dock will be in front of it. They suggest moving it to Marine Park.

Parks and Recreation Director Brent Fisher told the advisory board last night (Tuesday) he does not support the idea. He quoted from the CBJ waterfront plan, which calls Marine Park the front porch, village green, or town square for Juneau. The plan recommends redesigning the park to draw people to its core.

Fisher says the Fishermen’s Memorial was designed for its present location — a working waterfront near a fish processing company and away from downtown.

“Marine Park has been and will continue to be a venue for a wide variety of programs, many of which are not compatible with a memorial,” he says. “Examples of this include festivals, heavy metal concerts, flash mobs and parades.”

Fisher recommends a proposed CBJ park near the Douglas Bridge be designed around the Fishermen’s Memorial, but board member Melissa Museth says Gastineau Channel currents under the bridge are often too strong to safely conduct the annual Blessing of the Fleet.

Even with the proposed floating berth there’s enough room for fishing vessels to pass in front of the memorial at its present location, says CBJ Port Engineer Gary Gillette. Museth believes it could be too congested. She says the board has dismissed all other locations except Marine Park, mainly based on the needs of the ceremony held each May.

“We need to find a place where it is safe for our commercial fishermen to come in and participate with the Blessing of the Fleet like they have been doing all these years,” Museth says.

Linda Mancuso works on the waterfront as a CBJ Harbor Technician. One of her jobs is to pick up trash between Marine Park and the end of the seawalk, past the memorial. She says the two sites couldn’t be more different.

“When I walk through the memorial, people don’t throw trash there for some reason,” Mancuso told the PRAC. “There’s flowers down there right now, there’s always flowers there. There was a letter last week from a mom to her son. There’s a baby picture right now of somebody who lost their life. There’s all kinds of mementoes in there, people leave that stuff alone.”

She contrasts that with Marine Park:

“Marine Park doesn’t really belong to us anymore. It’s a drunk magnet,” Mancuso says. “I want you folks to be aware that if you move it (the memorial) down there what you’re going to have is drunks, you’re going to have people urinating, you’re going to have defecation, you’re going to have all kinds of stuff. I’m going to be picking up more empty 40s and Northern Light Canadian Blended Whiskey empty bottles than ever before.”

The Juneau Assembly will ultimately decide whether the Fishermen’s Memorial stays where it is near Taku Smokeries, or moves to another location.

Two Assembly members attended last night’s meeting. Peter Freer told the PRAC that wherever the memorial is located, the Assembly believes it must have both visibility and accessibility during the Blessing of the Fleet.

The plan for the city’s floating berth system, dubbed 16-B, states the memorial must be accommodated, though that is not defined. Assembly member Ruth Danner would shift everything up the channel toward Gold Creek.

“Can we move all of 16-B up, as far as possible, to make room for the Blessing of the Fleet to still happen there?” Danner asked.

The Docks and Harbors Board will hold another public hearing on locations for the memorial next week then make a recommendation to the Assembly.

Port Engineer Gillette says construction would begin on the first floating dock in 2013, and the second in 2014. He says the entire system would be in place at least a year before the memorial could be moved.

School board president Sally Saddler is a shoe-in for re-election. Saddler is the only candidate for two school board seats.

Randy Wanamaker is also unopposed for the District Two Assembly seat.

The filing period for municipal office has closed with few candidates. Both the school board and three Assembly seats are for three-year terms. Only two of the four races in the October 4th election are contested.

Three candidates are running for the Areawide Assembly seat: Loren Jones, Geny Del Rosario, and Carlton Smith.

Bradley Fluetsch and Jesse Kiehl will vie for the District One Assembly seat.

Wanamaker served on the Assembly for three terms ending in 2010, also representing District Two. Under city law, a candidate must sit out just one year before running again for municipal office.

With only one candidate for two school board seats, the board will have to appoint someone to fill the other seat. State law requires the board make the appointment within 30 days of the vacancy, which would be the October 4th election. The person selected will serve until next year’s regular election.

City Clerk Laurie Sica says it’s unusual to have so few school board candidates. A search of election records since the year 2000 shows at least one candidate running for each vacant seat.

In sports over the weekend, the Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears trounced the Thunder Mountain Falcons by a score of 68 to zero in what was dubbed the first annual Glacier Bowl.

The two schools started their football season Saturday.

(Photos by Gail Fenumiai)

The Juneau Chamber of Commerce and 13 other Southeast businesses and organizations will join in the state’s lawsuit against a federal rule that prevents road construction in certain areas of the Tongass National Forest.

The Parnell administration in June appealed a federal district court decision setting aside an eight-year-old policy that exempted the Tongass from the so-called Roadless Rule. The organizations plan to file as interveners in the case next week in federal district court in Washington, D.C.

The conservation policy was implemented in 2001, as President Clinton was leaving office. Then Gov. Tony Knowles sued the federal government. The state argued that the 1980 Alaska National Interest Land Conservation Act – which preserved 115-million acres – also decreed that no more land could be protected in the state.

Two years later, the Murkowski administration negotiated an out-of-court settlement.

Jim Clark was Gov. Frank Murkowski’s chief of staff. He says under the settlement the Tongass was exempt from application of the roadless policy via a 2003 interim rule, with a final rule to come at some point after that.

Clark is now the attorney for the group that will file as interveners in the Parnell lawsuit.

He told the Juneau Chamber of Commerce yesterday (Thursday) the rule could prevent development of hydroelectric and other renewable energy projects, as well as mining and timber in Southeast Alaska, and even the proposed Lynn Canal Highway out of Juneau.

A number of utility companies have joined the case, including Alaska Electric Light and Power, Alaska Power and Telephone and Inside Passage Electric Cooperative.

“There’s no mention in the Tongass portion of the Roadless Rule about the impact that prohibiting road or reconstruction in the inventoried roadless areas would have on hydro power construction, transmission line construction from hydro sites to communities, or the maintenance of either one,” Clark says.  “All that’s said is existing authorized uses would be allowed to maintain and operate within the parameters of their current authorization, including any provisions regarding access.”

Federal District Court Judge John Sedwick in May approved a list of energy and mining projects already underway as not subject to the Roadless Rule. Clark says all the projects are important, but he can find no authority in the rule that exempts them.

Environmental attorneys read the law differently. Buck Lindekugel of the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council says the rule does not prevent other projects from going forward. SEACC and the U.S. Forest Service helped negotiate the list with the Justice Department. Lindekugel says it doesn’t need to be comprehensive.

“If you read the rule, the rule does not prohibit mining in roadless areas,” Lindekugel says. “It does not prohibit renewable energy development. And the court made that very clear when it issued its proposed order. And the reason we listed the projects in that proposed order was to clarify the flexibility of the rule.

Lindekugel calls the interveners’ argument “a lot of scare tactics.”

But First Things First Alaska Foundation President Neil MacKinnon says organizations that join the lawsuit are “trying to right the roadless wrong.”

“We see this Roadless Rule as probably the biggest economic impediment to the future of Southeast and it’s got to change or we don’t have a future,” MacKinnon says.

The foundation donated $5,000 to the litigation fund and is asking for other contributions. First Things First is a non-profit formed in 2009 to support resource development in Alaska.

Other companies joining the state’s case include Alaska Marine Lines, Southeast Stevedoring, Alaska Miners and Northwest Miners associations.

Clark, the interveners’ attorney, expects it will take 12 to 18 months before a decision comes from the federal court.

Two more candidates say they’ll run for Juneau Assembly.

Financial Investment Advisor Bradley Fluetsch says he’s running for the District One seat being vacated by Merrill Sanford. Realtor Carlton Smith plans to run for the Areawide seat held until recently by Bob Doll.

Fluetsch ran for mayor and lost to Bruce Botelho.  He says he’s been eyeing an Assembly race since then.

Fluetsch says his main concern is diversifying Juneau.  He calls the Capital City a one-horse town.

“We have one water system, we have one power company with one power line, we have one airline, we have one marine transportation system, we have no road option. We have one basic employer, government. You lose a horse, Juneau loses bad,”  Fluetsch says.  “You know, just working with the community trying to find that modest growth.  How are  we going to do it, where are we going to put the people, what are they going to do for work? Those are the issues the Assembly can address.”

Fleutsch says extending water and sewer throughout the borough, affordable housing, and job creation are all major issues.

Most of the candidates this year cite similar issues as reasons to run for the Assembly.

Carlton Smith says he’s filing his candidate application on Friday morning.  He says his record as a business owner as well as his long involvement with private, non-profit, and charitable organizations are good training for the Assembly.

He says the Assembly has a full plate of issues right now.

“For starters, the issue of the mine since we’re part owner of the AJ,” Smith says.  “The harbor improvements, water and sewer improvements are right there in front of us, coupled with the sales tax issue; the question of recycling, how we can get going on that.

“Probably most of all is how we can secure the employment levels we have right now.  And quite frankly we have to have a new focused effort on creating jobs,” Smith says.

He is a former chief executive officer of Kootznoowoo and a Sealaska officer.

Fluetsch is a former president of Juneau’s Alaska Native Brotherhood Grand Camp.

The municipal filing deadline is August 15.  Others running for Assembly are Jesse Kiehl, Loren Jones, Randy Wanamaker and Geny DelRosario.

So far, only Sally Saddler has filed to run for School Board.