Letters to the editor

Reject the Food Security and Farm Protection Act and Save Our Bacon Act

To the editor:

I operate Dick Allen’s Honeybees in Palmer, Alaska, where I produce honey, beeswax, and bee pollen using practices that support healthy pollinators and thriving ecosystems. As a beekeeper, I see every day how much consumers value transparency, integrity, and responsibility in their food system. People want to know not only what they are eating, but also how it was produced and whether those practices reflect their values.

That is why I oppose the Food Security and Farm Protection Act, the Save Our Bacon Act, and any other federal effort to undo California’s Proposition 12 and similar state laws. These proposals would take away the rights of states to set meaningful standards for how animals are treated, standards supported by voters and consumers who care deeply about food safety, animal welfare, and sustainable agriculture.

Proposition 12 and similar laws reward farmers who invest in higher-welfare systems and prioritize public trust. Overturning them would erase this progress and hand even more power to large industrial operations that profit from low animal welfare and sustainability standards.

Beekeepers may not raise pigs or chickens, but we understand what it means to work in partnership with nature. Short-term exploitation always undermines long-term sustainability. A resilient food system depends on fairness, accountability, and respect for animals, the land, and the communities that depend on responsible producers.

I urge Congress, especially Senators Murkowski and Sullivan and Representative Begich, to stand with small-scale farmers and the people we serve. Protect state rights. Uphold state laws like Proposition 12. Reject the Food Security and Farm Protection Act and Save Our Bacon Act.

Dick Allen,

Anchorage

Voices from around the Mat-Su Borough

To the editor:

Inspired by a group of public library Friends in Idaho who published A Little Book of BIG Stories in 2024, library Friends’ groups in the Mat-Su Borough are planning to make their own book of stories.

This book will be filled with short notes from local library patrons of how they love their library. The testimonials in this book will provide a glimpse into the big work of libraries across our borough, describing the wonder of story times and youth programs, the insight of book clubs and summer reading programs, and the camaraderie found in crafting meetups and food/plant swaps. This will be a story of the Mat-Su Borough, as lived through our well-loved libraries. Thousands of us depend on Mat-Su libraries not only to check out books, but to enrich our lives. Like the great Alaska landscape itself, our libraries are an important part of our love of freedom in our land of promise.

Mat-Su Library Patrons’ Little Book of BIG Stories is modeled after Armed Services Editions, of which millions were distributed to U.S. soldiers serving in WWII. The Armed Services Editions (ASEs) were a series of lightweight paperback books created in 1942 to provide U.S. military personnel with portable recreational reading during World War II. Designed to be compact and easy to carry, they were distributed widely to soldiers, sailors, and airmen in the field, offering both entertainment and comfort in difficult conditions. The program not only boosted morale but also introduced many service members to a wide range of literature. Today, the Library of Congress holds the only complete collection of all 1,324 ASE titles in its Rare Book and Special Collections Division. The ASEs are significant not just as wartime morale boosters but also for their lasting influence on American publishing, as they helped popularize the paperback format in the post-war years while celebrating the right to read freely and the power of stories to expand our humanity, even in trying times.

Funding has already been secured for the printing of this project and we would love to include your story.

You can submit your story (preferably 250 words or less) to AKlittlebook@gmail.com.

Kathy Kysar,

Sutton