On closure of Mount McKinley Meat and Sausage

To the editor:

A member of the Valley legislative delegation submitted House Bill 207 this session, which was intended to correct some issues with the structure of agriculture spending and agriculture board membership. The bill has been amended to propose closure of Mount McKinley Meat and Sausage, which is the only USDA facility in Southcentral Alaska. Closure of the plant would mean the closure of the prisoner job-training program and would mean the end of the local grown meat retail and wholesale industry in the Valley. There has been testimony in Juneau that individuals trained at the program are not being employed in the industry.

I believe that Mike’s Quality Meats in Eagle River, and Mr. Prime Beef and Teddy’s Tasty Meats in Anchorage would disagree. Teddy’s Tasty Meats is presently in the process of hiring a graduate of the program. Is this being proposed because there is a shift in our Valley delegation from rehabilitation to punishment and revenge regarding the treatment of those incarcerated? Could this be the start of the dismantling of all state-funded training programs in Alaska?

The University of Alaska system has many training programs that provide services to the community. I have not heard of the dental community complaining of dental hygiene students practicing dental hygiene on patients at a reduced rate or the aviation industry complaining about UAA training pilots. What is it about training prisoners to process animals for human consumption?

A cynical part of me would think that there is less career advancement for a politician in training individuals than building new prisons. If we train these people then we have eliminated the most likely candidates to be housed at the new prison or provide justification to build another new prison.

Tom Bergey

Palmer