Letter to the Editor

To the Editor:

When I walked into the Legislative Information Office to testify in support of the ferry system, I was so proud to see many friends and neighbors sitting at the long table, coming up the stairs, filing in to Sarah Merritt’s small office, ready to let the State of Alaska’s Department of Transportation Committee know how important the ferries are to coastal Alaska. Each individual from Unalaska to Ketchikan testified on why the ferry system is critical to Alaskans. The thread that connected each story was the divesting impact of shutting down our road system and the devastating impact it would have on the villages and communities of rural Alaska. The Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) transports cars, trucks, groceries, people to medical care, provides business connections, school athletes to games, and the ability to walk onto a ferry to go see an ailing family member.

This shutdown would erode the very fabric of many communities. I can’t understand why we need a company to do an expensive study to determine ridership and profitability after listening to over one thousand AMHS employees, business owners, and city officials voice their concern for keeping our highway system operating. It is government mismanagement that created this budget nightmare, not the people of Alaska. Is it time for toll booths up north?

Then later that day I signed up to speak and watched thirty people fill the Wrangell Assembly Chamber Tuesday night over a ridiculous sound ordinance. An ordinance that carries a fine and more enforcement rather than allowing neighbors to work it out amiably. Wrangell is facing some serious times as climate change sweeps across the land. Water and transportation off the rock are priority. Let’s focus on what we need as a community rather than allowing neighbors to work out a common-sense solution themselves instead of an Assembly meeting.

Loretto Jones