Another plea to comment

This is my last chance to ask you, if you haven’t already done so, to please send a written comment to Fish and Game’s Board Support Section and the Board of Fisheries, asking them to hold the next Upper Cook Inlet regulatory meeting in Anchorage or the Valley. Also, ask the board not to accept any agenda change requests affecting Cook Inlet salmon fisheries. These concerns can best be addressed during the regular Cook Inlet meeting cycle coming up in 2017.

The city of Kenai is making a concerted effort to have the next meeting held in Kenai, saying that the board needs to hold its meetings in the areas where folks are affected by their regulations. I’ve been told that sportsfishing anglers and dipnetters from the Anchorage and Valley areas outnumber the Kenai Peninsula 5 to 1.

That alone justifies holding the meeting in Anchorage!

Your comments can be sent through an email or letter. Deadline is October 1 for the October 14-15 meeting. Contact information can be found on the Fish and Game website at www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=fisheriesboard.main.

And, yes, it really is that important that you do this!

Lots of other things are happening in the next few weeks in the Valley. The Big Lake Chamber of Commerce Fall Family Fishing Derby starts tomorrow and runs through Sunday from 8 am to 4 pm both days. Burkeshore Marina is the derby headquarters on Big Lake. To learn costs, derby rules, categories, and other information, go to the derby website at www.biglakechamber.org/fall-fishing-derby-1.html .

The weekend of Oct. 4-5 has a couple of gun-related activities happening. First, the Alaska Gun Collectors Association is holding their fall gun show at the Palmer Fairgrounds. The gun displays and sales part of the show will be held in Raven Hall while “Alaskan” arts and crafts will be displayed and sold in Hoskins Hall. All firearms sales will be restricted to Raven Hall. For more information, costs, and hours, go to www.agca.net/?page_id=131.

Secondly, on the evening of October 4th, the Upper Susitna Friends of the National Rifle Association, or USFNRA, will be holding their 2nd annual fundraising banquet at the Upper Susitna Senior Center in Talkeetna. Doors open at 5 pm and dinner is served at 7 pm. Tickets must be purchased in advance. For more information and where you can purchase tickets, go to www.friendsofnra.org/EventDetails.aspx?eid=50509&sic.

The Alaska Outdoor Council (AOC) is holding its 21st annual Mat-Su banquet and fundraiser at Evangelo’s Restaurant in Wasilla Oct. 18. Doors open and a no-host bar is available at 5 p.m. A prime rib and halibut dinner will be served at 7 p.m. Drawings, raffles, silent and call-out auctions are the main fundraisers. For more information or to buy tickets, go to www.alaskaoutdoorcouncil.org/events/icalrepeat.detail/201.

I’ve written about the Brianna Gregory Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit corporation, several times before, but a little refresher won’t hurt. Neil and Lindy Moss, of Neil’s Lock and Safe in Wasilla, established the foundation in memory of their daughter who died from cystic fibrosis on June 11, 2003, the day before her 13th birthday. The foundation has sponsored a fundraiser weekend shooting event at Grouse Ridge for the past several years and has also sponsored several fundraiser evening dinner-and-show events where the diners are also the characters in the program, complete with costumes.

This year’s dinner and show is themed “Malice in Wonderland,” a “malicious, delicious, murder mystery dinner.” The evening’s festivities will be held at the Best Western at Lake Lucille in Wasilla on October 25. You can call Neil or Lindy at the business number: 373-0961, or go to www.briannashope.org/ for more details and information.

The foundation is currently raising funds to furnish a much-needed teen lounge at Children’s Hospital at Providence in Anchorage. Quoting from the website, “We have raised $35,000 to date, with a goal of $50,000. This room will be equipped with 5 workstations with computers, a printer/fax, real-time interactive access to classrooms, home theater system including theater seating in a young adult, contemporary decor. Some of these patients spend 3 weeks or more as inpatients. This lounge will be a place they can study, visit with friends, or get away from their ‘hospital room’ environment for a bit, but still within reach of the best medical care for youth in the state of Alaska. It is our goal to raise the quality of life and care for the teen patients of Children’s Hospital, providing a much-needed space specifically for them.”

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. You can leave him a message by emailing sports@frontiersman.com.