To My Family

Hi to my Family,

I am back in Juneau, AK. I watched the rain pour down last week in the middle of January, This is Alaska. I came here for the snow of the winter - it is not here. I usually have been out to Mendenhall Glacier at least 4 or 5 times by skiing over frozen Mendenhall Lake. Mendenhall Lake is not frozen so I wait for winter to come. I just spoke to a gal in Utah who said they have had virtually no snow there yet either. I believe the crazy weather is caused by GLOBAL WARMING OR CLIMATE CHANGE. I feel I am watching the destruction of a Glacier as well as the permafrost in Alaska and I have had family members tell me that Climate Change is not real Then they said, pray. I went to church as a little guy and I got to watch the Indians fish in the Puyallup River.
I am still watching Salmon being pulled out of areas in Alaska and the fish are smaller. We need to make our waters and world a place where fish can continue to prosper for my Grandchildren and their Grandchildren to see them.

Here in Alaska, we have Bristol Bay. It is the most productive Salmon Fishing in the world. We also have a thing called Pebble Mine which they are trying to build - I oppose it. My brother and others of his ilk are all for projects like this as well as burning coal for generating energy. Again, I want an environment that will allow my children to live a reasonable life. The Pebble Mine would hire a lot of people and 'we need the jobs' mantra is strong. Let me explain a little about Pebble Mine. It would rip open a pristine area where salmon now spawn. There will be two 700 foot earthen dams built to take the toxic wastes of mining and hold them to keep them out of Bristol Bay. We have earthquakes in Alaska. If one or both of those dams burst - the salmon, animals and natives in and around Bristol Bay will be changed forever. I went to church with the Puyallup Indians and I lived in a Eskimo Village in Alaska. I can tell you that the people of the remote villages live and die according to the animals which they have caught and or hunted - for thousands of years. Salmon, moose, halibut, white fish, and caribou allow them to live during the winter when it is 30 below zero and there is no food to be hunted.

I love my family present and past. I feel a major obligation as a father and a grandfather to see that my children are decent people and making a good life for my Grandchildren. I have a lot less say on those who are nieces and nephews. I have relatives who watch FOX exclusively for News and I want no part of that or those who feel they are getting a true picture of the world with those idiots who lie and distort continually. My brother is mad at me because I disagree with his simple, "Glenn Beck said it so it is true" type of mentality. I will have no part of it. I read a lot, current and historical. I will listen to FOX but generally shake my head because they tell a distorted story about the world that I know and see. I feel sorry for those who use FOX as a major source of information.

MY SISTER JULIE'S PASSING: I did not attend her memorial. I am a teacher in Alaska. I chatted with Julie about this many times.
I happen to have students who have major behavioral issues. This year, I got 4 new students who had been thrown out of other schools. I was told Good Luck and we have faith in you for turning these kids around. Every day at school, is/was a potential day for those kids to be thrown out of my school. I have people around me who feel these kids cannot be changed. I also had to work with a lot of substitutes while we found the right people to hire. My job was and is hard, it could fall to pieces quickly and it did at times. I was the ring leader in piecing things back together again and getting that child back on track, even after a major incident. I COULD NOT TAKE TIME OFF OF MY PROGRAM FOR JULIE'S SERVICE. THE DAY BEFORE I WAS TO LEAVE, I had just hired a gal to deal with some super intense kids. Had I left, I would have left this great but inexperienced person in a situation with a student who will unravel multiple times in a day. Sadly, I am the go to person in a crisis for the children in my program. Knowing my students, knowing my sister and knowing my job would be made many times more difficult by leaving - I made the decision to stay and teach. I could have had 5 days of funeral leave and just had to pay a thousand dollars for air fare. I stayed in Juneau and I feel it was the right decision. I took a few extra days after the New Years. It worked out. Those who I had hired and trained, as well as a substitute that I trained, did well. it took the extra time of working together to get my program at a place where I could take a day off.

I apologize to those who were and are upset that I did not attend Julie's service. In hindsight. it is becoming more and more clear for the good of my students, that I made the right decision.

This past week, I had a student who was calling me every name in the book, throwing things and trying to run around the school. I prevented it. Later that day, when we talked about why he was acting so crazy, he asked if I was going to be at my job next year I told him I was thinking of retiring. He begged me to stay. He has never been successful in a regular school and he has been successful at Gastineau. He said he needs my support next year. I told him I would stay next year just to get him out of my office. he was successful the rest of the day in a regular class setting. This third grade boy had never even been in a regular class until I forced him in one the week that Julie passed away.

This post is just me venting. I made a decision to teach in Alaska and I am. It takes me away from my family, especially my kids and grandkids and I miss them. I am not one who desires to argue for the sake of arguing. If you want to say something dumb like God wants the world to warm and we should DRILL, BABY DRILL. You can think that, we are all Americans. Your vote will probably cancel out mine when we vote. If you insist upon a 30 bullet clip for your gun - I think you are crazy and you can brag all you want, I will walk away and not return. My life is not like that. I have lived with people who had 4 guns at the door to hunt moose, caribou and bear to survive. They did not need 30 bullets to take down the animal.

Wishing all well.
Happy New Year, I have been kind of quiet since the New Year started.