Letters to the Editor

To the Editor:

Recently I went on a steelhead fishing trip to a nearby stream. The day was partly sunny and the watershed was in good shape to fish. In short time I was into a beautiful fish that put on a great show, shortly after that I was playing another fish. This is one of Southeast Alaska’s great treasures. It was a perfect day until it was time to leave, while crossing the stream my feet went out from underneath me and I fell hard into the water. I sustained minor injury but the point is this would not have happened had I been wearing my felt sole boots. The moss covered rocks in Southeast watersheds are extremely slippery and present a danger to fishermen. The whole purpose of felt sole boots is to prevent or lessen the chance of a fall. This is a public safety concern or should be. How many people will sustain injury before the State realizes this felt sole ban is bad policy? Ducks, geese and shorebirds bring in more invasive organisms than any felt sole boots will. This is a bad policy and should be revoked or somehow modified to put safety above all else.

William Donovan

To the Editor:

Thanks to those Wrangellites who shared their appreciative words of my letter-to-the-editor that was in last week’s paper. Here are some websites for those of you who are curious about my discussion about “root causes” and health (and lies). I sincerely hope that you are able to find the information you desire to turn your health around for the better. http://www.chriskresser.com, http://www.westonaprice.orgm, http://www.bulletproofexec.com/, http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/, http://www.drgundry.com/, http://www.losethewheatlosetheweight.com, http://garytaubes.com/

James Edens

To the Editor:

I was raised during the Great Depression of the 1930s and 1940s.

My father was a logger and my mother was a housewife. We lived in logging camps and Native villages. I had 3 younger sisters and an older brother. We seldom had electricity or running water, I remember kerosene lamps and having to pack water. We had a wood heater, and our kitchen stove was also wood. On bath night, we had a large round galvanized tub that sat in front of our kitchen stove, with the oven door open for heat (the cleanest one got the first bath). The water in the tub was saved for mom to do the laundry the following day. She used a scrub-board, and hung the clothes on a clothes-line outside. Our playground was the beaches and the woods of Washington State. Mom bought each of us a whistle, which we hung around our necks, and one for her. If we got lost or hurt we were to all blow our whistles and stay together, and if she should blow her whistle we were to head for home.

We never had much money but I don’t remember ever being cold or hungry or unloved. We always had a birthday cake with candles and Santa and the Easter Bunny always found us.

Mothers during those days had a hard life but I never heard them complain.

I married and moved to Alaska and raised my family here.

Several years ago I was in bush country, many miles from any store, so I wrote the following poem for my mom to honor her and I would like to share it with other mothers on this Mother’s Day as it seems to relate to all mothers.

“Our house was always full of friends…She welcomed one and all…An old school chum was one of them…I met him late last fall… How’s your mother, he said to me…My friend from childhood time…I know she is your mother but I thought of her as mine…she always made me feel at home, be sure to tell her hi…I will, I replied, as we said goodbye, she’s one of the greatest of mothers…”

Jeannie Lindley