Letters to the Turnagain Times

The Bear Lake American Legion Baseball team gives heartfelt thanks to the “Girdwood Crew”

The amount of appreciation can not be described in words, but let it be known that the lives of so few were changed by so many. Our Small American Legion Baseball Team from Bear Lake County, Idaho, that never made it past district Competition, let alone State Champions could have ever hoped to win the Northwest Regionals in Anchorage this August. The trip was awesome but could not have been close to as memorable if it was not for some very incredible people (which Girdwood has a lot of!) who at the last minute made some dreams come true for 40 or so team members and family.
Whether it was fishing expeditions offered (Tim Baker) or houses offering rooms to whoever (Dan and Sue Shantz, or Jay and Diane Bell) your kindness was truly heartfelt. The Trip to the Russian River and other places for fishing were some of the best memories, a lot of personal gear was lent out to make this happen for the boys! (Much thanks to my brothers Steven and Marcus Matthews love you guys!). The personal attention to details for the lodging, your cabins were outstanding. To Quote Senior Kieth Cook, “in all the traveling we’ve ever done this is by far the nicest place ever.” Thanks to Alyeska Accommodations, Sue Prince and Cassie with your help the team was able to have a true Alaskan Experience instead of staying in old town Anchorage, as well as saving the team a lot of dollars. Others who also made some of our time there great were: The Hotel Alyeska, Tysen Gregerson, Dawn at the ticket office, Jay Bell, the front desk for a last minute room in a beautiful hotel, and the tram operators; as well as many countless others who took time out for a great cause. Thanks again. Your Kindness changed the lives of some great kids.
But the most thanks needs to go to the friends that came into Anchorage in the rain and cheered for the team—John Leary, you’re awesome, you made some great friends. Matt and Becca Parisin, Heather and Sage, Dan, Tad, and Ben. Steven and Marcus, Ty and Dawn, Paul and Braydon, Ken and Sonnie, Curtis and Adam, as well as others. The Coach of the team during the local Awards ceremony thanked the “Girdwood Crew” for all the support, and that it was truly nice to have fans. All of the team wishes to return to your beautiful state for all kinds of reasons, but one thing for sure is that without the great people in Girdwood, the teams lives could not have been changed forever!

Robert Matthews, Coach Craig Culver, and
The Bear Lake American Legion Baseball team
Lake County, Idaho

Opinion:
Coal is a viable and usable short-term energy choice

By Andrew Hettinger
Special to the Turnagain Times

While coal may not be the best energy choice for some folks as expressed in an opinion piece “Coal will take Alaska backwards” by Bob Shavelson of Cook Inlet Keeper in the last issue of the Turnagain Times; it is a viable and usable choice until new energy systems are developed. In the 19th century, coal fired most of the industrial world leading to the advances that we all enjoy today, things such as reliable home electricity which only a hypocrite could pretend to be able to live with out, let alone be able to sit down and write the multiple un-asked for and unsolicited paper fliers we receive touting the questionable Global Warming theories.
Growing up in a coal producing area and living right next to a large coal fired electrical generation plant, I was able to fish the abundant rainbow trout, hunt the deer, antelope and elk and amazingly enough I show no elevated mercury in my system, nor have any of my compatriots, so sleep well fellow Alaskan, coal is not going to sneak up in the middle of the night and warm the planet to where the outcome is equal to the landscape of “Land of the Lost”.
Let’s talk about alternate energy; it’s laughable that a representative of the Cook Inlet Keeper touts natural gas as a clean energy while opposing new development not only in the Cook Inlet, but across Alaska as well. We need to be realistic; we need to use the massive gas potential that Alaska, specifically the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in which only 2000 acres have been picked to develop, offers. The Canadians have been doing just that for over 20 years, successfully and without incident, yet those that protest new oil and gas development maintain that in America we are not capable of developing these finds just the same as they have blocked drilling off California, Washington and Oregon in favor of new and emerging technologies. Wind energy is our best chance of decreasing the dependence of fossil fuels, but the drawback is the landmass needed along with the actual wind itself seems to be a source of contention with the very same people that claim to champion alternative energy, just ask Cape Wind Energy, after Robert Kennedy Jr. flew to Alaska on a private leer jet to attend the Oceans Festival, he returned to Massachusetts to aid his uncles fight against developing the potential. W
We hear a lot about Tidal Energy, which on paper is a good idea, the problem with it, right now, is that the return of electrical generation for the size of the facility required is not commercially viable, in other words, if it takes $100 million dollars to produce enough electricity to run a grid serving less then 1,000 people not only are you not going to find investors for such a project who would be willing to pay the outrageous bill to microwave their popcorn?
Coal provides 52 percent of the United States electrical needs because of the cost, not only in development but to the consumer as well. Today’s coal powered plants are cleaner—the scrubbers pull off chemicals that used to be burnt off, a practice that has not been employed in American production for over 20 years. Once a coalfield has been reclaimed you would be hard pressed to find any difference to pre-development. There is no magic fix available right now for our energy needs; patience will be required of all of us in order to allow engineers to come up with new, workable ideas.
We need to educate ourselves and not continue in a knee-jerk reaction based on misconstrued information put out by dubious characters bent on a social agenda that although may be noble in cause, not possible in reality, unless you are willing to move out of the nice, warm home you enjoy, and generally revert back to a time that humans were included in the food chain.

Andrew Hettinger lives in Girdwood