From: john grigg (starman125@hotmail.com)
Date: Tue Sep 28 1999 - 15:08:21 MDT
Hello Everyone,
I have enjoyed reading the various comments posted about my state. Just so
you know Spike...we Alaskans don't say "eh" like Canadians do!! Except when
we are making fun of Canadians(which we should stop)!
The one major city newspaper we have here(the Anchorage Daily News/the Times
after years of being around failed) has had a number of extensive articles
about the rocket launching center here. I have heard the University of
Alaska, Fairbanks and not where I attend, the University of Alaska,
Anchorage will have much more involvement in what is going on there. They
are somewhat bigger and much better funded then us. They have a superior
sciences and engineering department especially. Anchorage started out as a
small commuter college while most of the UAF students live in the dorms.
Alaska has a number of far flung campuses and so state monies are not that
concentrated.
I was very interested in the post by James Rogers. I thought he made some
very thoughtful observations on the nature of state governments here. But I
chuckled to myself when he wrote about people being "left to themselves with
no outside law imposed on them." We Alaskans see ourselves as victims of a
federal government that wants to control us!! All the public lands which at
least some of us would like to see used by industry to raise state revenue
are bottled up by the feds.
The Alaskan native peoples see themselves as being abused by a federal gov't
that felt independant native "nations" were not necessary in Alaska because
they had already been given various benefits such as their corporations.
Alaska has one of the highest state employee to common citizen ratios. We
view ourselves as wrapped up in a tangle of state and federal regulation.
It does not help that our state capital is Juneau which is not exactly near
the population centers! Our politicians constantly fly back and forth from
there. A movement failed to move the capital to a town between Anchorage
and Fairbanks.
The Alaska State Troopers keep very busy flying and driving around the state
trying to enforce the law. They are very looked up to here generally sort
of in the way of Canadian mounties. Often what they wind up doing is simply
picking up suspects who have been apprehended by the local village law
enforcement who are usually called specifically public safety officers (not
trooper, sheriff or police) and have general training in not just law
enforcement but fire fighting and paramedicine. They must be a jack of all
trades because help can be awhile in coming.
The F.B.I. a few years ago greatly increased their presence here with the
building of an "architecturally friendly bunker" in the middle of downtown
Anchorage. They are presently in the midst of a major expansion of the
facility. I personally respect the F.B.I. and wish them well in keeping an
eye on white collar crime and the local police department!
Alaskans love to complain how behind every bush in Alaska is a state or
federal agent ready to arrest you for some violation!! To the Alaskan
mindset we are anything but generally free of government interventions.
Then again were I to visit California or New York I might think I was in
something created by Kafka and Orwell.
There are certainly a variety of local ways of governing here. I can
remember all the debate with several native villages deciding to either
become "damp" or totally "dry". There were of course whites who were under
the influence of these laws. They did not take kindly to not having a glass
of wine with their evening meal! But native leaders had gotten sick of the
damage alcohol abuse had done in their communities and education programs
and stiff penalties for abuse had not had the hoped for effect. I have
witnessed firsthand the damage alcohol and bad choices have done to some of
the native alaskan people.
The Alaskan nickname for Alaska happens to be "Los Anchorage"!! Think of
Anchorage as a small city(pop. 200,000) that has been transplanted from the
lower 48 to Alaska. And yes...we even have Wal-Mart up here!
When I read "The First Immortal" I was blown away by the newsflash in the
book that states Alaska has a population of over seventy million(or in the
millions anyway)!! This was made possible it said because of weather
control technology. I tend to think the Alaska you gentleman know and love
in terms of governing uniqueness would be long gone should this vision ever
become a reality.
Sincerely,
John Grigg
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