Letters to the editor

Response to a recent letter to the editor about the Alaska Wildlife Conservation CenterTo the editor:

AWCC is a 501©(3) nonprofit. All revenue from admission tickets, educational programs, and event rentals goes back to the care of our resident wildlife. Even though we have had raised our admissions rates to keep up with inflation, AWCC remains one of the most affordable attractions in Southcentral Alaska.

We have not fed the brown bears from the Bears Boardwalk for many years now. We made this change as it was in the best interest of the brown bears as they are all more comfortable and happier getting fed in a more private setting.

The bear encounter program is a revenue generator for the AWCC and wonderful educational experience for our guests. The participants of the bear encounter absolutely love it. For more information about all our educational programs, including our free daily educational programs, please visit www.alaskawildlife.org.

We apologize if our porta potties were not very clean. Please know that we have two custodians working each day to clean all the restrooms, including the porta potties, as well as pick up trash and empty the garbage cans. We do appreciate it when guests let us know when we have issues so that we can address them quickly.

Our entire staff, volunteers and board members take great pride in the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center and work diligently to make it a better place every single day. We love our animals and are dedicated to preserving Alaska’s wildlife through conservation, education, research and quality animal care.

Respectfully,

The Team at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center

Support All About DanceTo the editor:

To the Mat-Su Borough and Frontiersman Readers, it is not very often that a group from your area is recognized Nationally by organizations for their excellence.

The All About Dance Studio, located in Wasilla, has excelled in the Star Bound virtual competitons, at the America on Stage Regional Competitions in Oregon and Idaho, and Nationally in Utah over the past four years.

I have personally watched these kids grow and compete at these different competitions. They represent the Mat-Su area as great kids, super athletes, and ambassadors for your communities.

All About Dance is a Non-Profit organization and they need the communities in the Mat-Su areas help right now.

These kids are currently running a Raffle for tickets to the Alaskan State Fair, as well as a “Go Fund Me Page”. For more facts please see the information below:

We have a raffle currently for a family 5 pack of tickets to the Alaska State Fair (2 adult, 3 youth), a day parking pass, and 2 “Big Deal” family fun pack for Golden Wheel Amusements (total of 90 ride tickets and 20 game tickets). This is over $250 value. It supports the studio and kids to have a place to dance. It’s been a rough year for many. Please help us not have to close our doors! Tickets will be $10 each and we will issue each family a minimum of 25 tickets. Flyers and tickets will start going out today. Drawing will be held August 16th during Team Fury class hour (5pm).

We are helping raise funds for the Non Profit All About Dance School and the Rock on Cloggers Dance teams. The last 2 years with covid have resulted in a decrease in enrollments. We have partnered with United Way and have programs set up for local youth to attend classes, free of charge. We need community support to keep our doors open for all of our students and to provide quality equipment for them to continue to be successful. These students not only succeed at dance, they are leaders in their community, award winning band members, high school scholars, 4H leaders, and much more. We strive to be able to have a safe place these students can be allowed their creativity and have access to leadership that supports their National endeavors.

Contact All About Dance to Donate or Buy Tickets

Steve McCain,

Meridian, Idaho

Supporting Mary Peltola for U.S. HouseMary Peltola, candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, has said that in approaching a divided Congress she will keep in mind the “Yup’ik teaching that, in order to be productive and successful, you have to come at your challenges from a place of love… Certainly when you’re coming to a very emotionally charged discussion, you can’t show up with a list of demands, looking at everyone around the table as your enemy.” She demonstrated the power of a “place of love” during her five years in the Alaska House when she worked across the aisle with Republicans and Democrats to address needs throughout the state. Her voice in the U.S. House of Representatives and that of others in Congress seeking to legislate for the good of the whole will be critical to the survival of our democracy during these dangerous times.

Mary Peltola’s Yup’ik principle is not new. As a nation we were created from “a place of love”. On July 4, 1776, representatives of the original thirteen states joined together to recognize our unifying humanity when they signed the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

The ability to find just and effective compromise that achieves the public interest is not weakness. Instead, it requires strength and maturity. Like steel, this ability is strong because it bends. Life in a democracy must not be a war between sides, but, rather, a civil and respectful process of give and take between representatives of people with different views. If the United States is to remain a democracy “of the people, by the people and for the people”, today’s leaders must include people like Mary Peltota who can contribute the maturity and strength of a place of love.

Janet McCabe,

Anchorage