Letters to the editor

Does not support Yundt, Tew and Fonev for assembly

To the editor:

Getting big things done takes working together. Our Borough Assembly is one way we work together for our collective good. We can’t have selfish individuals ignoring the will of the people for their own personal benefit.

In that spirit, I propose that we not re-elect Assembly members Yundt, Tew and Fonov because they can’t seem to look beyond their own wallets. District 4 voters will have to write in a candidate. But District 5 and 6 voters can choose Bill Gamble and Jackson Abney, respectively. They put safety, equality, education and infrastructure as their priorities. Sounds better than what we’ve had the last few years.

Sammy Taylor

Big Lake

Disappointed in the Matanuska Valley Moose Range and Jonesville Public Use Area Management Plans

To the editor:

After attending a public meeting on the Matanuska Valley Moose Range and Jonesville Public Use Area Management Plans last night, I was asked what my impressions of the plan are. On the surface, the plan is well written and complies with all the state statutes and mandates that go with a plan of this sort. On a personal level, I am highly disappointed. While the plan does update the Moose Range Plan which is 36 years old and in dire need of revision, it does not lay out any groundwork or implementation for positive change. Combining the Moose Range Plan with the Jonesville Plan while efficient for the State, does not manage any of the current problems which are occurring at Jonesville. The combined “new” plan only creates the need and requirement for more planning which includes land classification, a trail management plan, more legislative approval and implementation plans. The approval of the combined “new” plan will not even occur until the Fall of 2024. Only after that date can more planning begin to implement change in the Jonesville area. Most disappointing to me is the blatant bureaucracy that is apparent and perpetuated by the State of Alaska and the Department of Natural Resources. As the state began their planning process, they knew that a local group had been hard at work on a plan for Jonesville with the help of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. Nowhere in the current “new” document is there any acknowledgement of this effort. The Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly passed the citizen led Jonesville Plan and backed it up with funds to begin the process of implementation. Instead the State of Alaska has moved forward with its own plan - a plan which will take at least 10 more years to see any form of implementation with no funds appropriated for action.

Jonesville is a scenic area and could be a prime recreation spot in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. Waiting for more legislation, reading and commenting on more plans and participating in more public meetings will not change what is happening at Jonesville today. Perhaps the State of Alaska should reconsider combining these two plans. Perhaps they should begin conversations with the Mat-Su Borough to advance real change in the area. My patience after 10 years has worn thin and it angers me to think my children and grandchildren may not see any positive changes to this beautiful area.

Nancy Bertels,

Sutton

Concerned with the campaign rhetoric

To the editor:

This Monday morning, I had the displeasure of seeing a Shibe for School Board District 6 sign vandalized with an obscene message. My “Shibe” yard signs and my neighbors’ as well were stolen.

I’ve also witnessed false public accusations that when Dianne Shibe was president of MSEA, she attempted to restore the job of confessed child molester Lukis Nighswonger. The person posting this—well over 20 times—knows his accusations are false. The newspaper reports at the time make it clear that such an assertion is nonsensical. Nighswonger turned himself in to the police and confessed immediately. It would make no sense to then ask for his job back.

This inflamed rhetoric encourages others to act out; Sydney Zuyus, School Board candidate for District 3, has received death threats. Such behavior is inexcusable. These actions do nothing to bring credibility to Larson’s and McCollum’s campaigns. Quite the opposite.

I’ve been concerned with the campaign rhetoric I’ve already seen, and as it ratchets up into the realm of vandalism, threats, and crime, I am even more disturbed. Tellingly, I am only seeing such bad behavior from one side. I would like to see the campaigns focused on issues such as Larson and McCollum who claim to support parental rights, but are behind the recent interrogations of students who had spoken out at recent Board meetings to have their student representative restored to the Board. These students were questioned—without parental permission or even notification—simply because they spoke out.

There is an election on November 7; make sure you make your voice heard. What values do you support?

Prudence McKenney,

Wasilla

Opposes opinion piece written by Homer area representative

To the editor:

In her opinion piece published in the Frontiersman and Must Read Alaska on October 11, Rep. Sarah Vance exploit the recent, heinous terrorist attack in Israel to promote her Christian-nationalist agenda. The tone-deaf representative from Anchor Point used lurid details about the murder of an innocent Jewish family as stage-dressing for her efforts to push through her pet legislation, the Israel Anti-Discrimination Bill.

This bill has many problems, but the main one is that it is grounded in such transparently bad faith on her part. Her support for the State of Israel—an entity distinct from the Jewish people, and which itself practices systematic discrimination (the mildest possible term for it) against the Palestinians under its control in Gaza and the West Bank—is not motivated by a single gram of concern for the welfare of Jews. Rather, it is motivated by the strange theological obsessions of the Christian-nationalist circles in which Rep. Vance runs. These people “need” Israel to exist in order to serve their fantasies about the End Times and the Second Coming.

We know with certainty that Rep. Vance does not care about Jews, and never has. She does not care about discrimination against Jews, as long as it’s the right kind of people doing the discriminating. If she cared about Jews, she would not have published her essay with Must Read Alaska, an amateur blog that has defended antisemitic conduct and promoted antisemitic content. If she cared about Jews, she would not have invited David Eastman, the most notorious antisemite in Alaska politics, to serve on her Judiciary Committee. If she cared about Jews, she would not have introduced HB 181, a bill whose explicit purpose is to allow non-profit employers to discriminate, in the name of their religion, on the basis of religion. If she cared about Jews, she would not be a member of NACL, a national group of “Christian” lawmakers that seeks to impose (their version of) Christianity on America’s millions of religious minorities, many of whom are Jews.

As an Alaskan and a Jew, I call on all Alaskans and all Jews to recognize Rep. Sarah Vance’s promotion of this bill at a time like this for what it is: An effort to build a Christian-nationalist agenda on top of a pile of dead Jewish bodies.

Ivan Hodes,

Anchorage