Thanks for the reminder

I read both of William Fredericks letters on Sunday. One was to The Frontiersman and the other was to a local Anchorage paper. I found myself amused by both his letters.

I find it interesting that Mr. Fredericks complains that our “brand of leadership” is not appreciated or wanted down there, yet in the next breath he complains that they don’t have the resources in the Lower 48 that Alaskans have. Whose fault is it that he lives in a concrete jungle? Not mine or anyone else’s in Alaska.

He sounds very bitter and jealous by the fact that our state has allowed Alaskan residents to receive a PFD every year since 1980 and were very blessed in extra abundance to have been able to receive an extra $1,200 this year, while in the Lower 48’s the economy is in the toilet with “pink slips” and “ruined retirements.”

It wasn’t Alaskans that made the banks get greedy and give loans to people who could not afford it. He wants Alaska to secede from the union and for us leave them alone? Sounds to me like some of the Lower 48 COULD afford to take a few lessons from our state and “brand of Leaders.”

What is it exactly that Mr. Fredericks is complaining about? He implies he doesn’t care for our lifestyles, yet we seem to do all right up here. He states hockey moms don’t stand a chance against unemployed moms with screaming kids in the Lower 48s. There have been moms up here that have come across some hard times but the difference is TRUE Alaskans are proud and appreciative of what we have, we don’t sit around on welfare complaining about all the “unfairness.”

When I was reading Mr. Fredericks letter I was chuckling to myself, “Silly Lower 48 man,” until I came across his comment about Alaskans not having the mindset to “run” the Lower 48 and if Alaskans tried, “It would be like trying to turn a Muslim into a Christian in Iraq …”

What? So am I to understand that some communities of the Lower 48 believe Alaskans are the Christians and the people of the Lower 48 are the Muslims of Iraq? Yikes!

Thank you, Mr. Fredericks, for reminding me of the reasons why I moved up to a state as diverse and as great as Alaska. I have an even greater respect for this state that I have called home for the last 18 years.

Julia Hamilton

Wasilla