Dear Anchor Point and Homer Communities,

I have been composing this letter in my mind for over a week, trying to calm down and introduce some rationality into what has been feelings of anger and rage. I know there are many good people who call this area home and that is why I wanted to calm down before posting.

My father’s favorite thing to do in the entire world is fish the Anchor River. We were blessed enough to be able to purchase a lot with river frontage that includes his favorite fishing hole. As a culmination of a lifelong dream, he chose to build a very unique cabin on this property. In order to do this, he and my mother and their architect and builder and his family all moved to the Homer area for over 6 months. They worked hard to keep as much work and purchases within your communities as they could — hiring local laborers, craftsmen and artisans, renting houses and cabins from you, and embracing the community. I know that all of the people who worked with or for them will remember it as a good time with kind, thoughtful people. They probably ate pie my dad made especially for them and maybe even sipped whiskey with him in the evenings (if they drank). Regardless, it was a labor of love for them and an investment in the community.

Since the cabin was completed, the investment and enmeshment in the community has continued for my dad — shopping at the Anchor Point Grocery, eating at the Anchor River Inn or the Blue Bus or Ramiros, getting to know the local fisherman. He cares so deeply for your communities — which brings me to my point. … Someone in the community who knows him or knew of him decided to rob the cabin sometime in the last two weeks.

Not only did they break in and steal many treasured items (some of great monetary value, some of even more sentimental value) but also decided to change the locks on the outside of the cabin to ensure access at any time. These disgusting examples of humanity slept in the beds and destroyed any feeling of security we ever had in our cabin.They cleaned out 30 plus years of fly fishing equipment of two men (one of whom is dying of cancer and whose wish was that his fishing gear would be available for anyone who needed it to be able to use at the cabin), they stole my great-grandfather’s mantel clock, they took several 40th wedding anniversary gifts, every power and hand tool they could find and a treasured and unique copper fish lamp (you’ll be seeing it on reward posters in your area soon).

What makes me sick is that people in your community know who did this based both on the timing and the planning and the uniqueness of what was stolen and nobody is coming forth. My father invested countless hours and dollars into your community but more than anything he deeply cares about the people who live there and this is how he has been repaid.

For me, my feelings about Anchor Point and Homer are forever changed. Homer was my favorite place in all of Alaska. My husband and I were married there and now all I can see is betrayal and lies and thieves.

Someone out there knows who did this and helped make it happen. Honestly, we don’t really even care who it was, just that we could have a few of our treasured memories back after being so violated. So, if you see someone with a new to them Thomas &Thomas or Winston fly rod or you visit a home with a Byron Birdsall lithograph of a Crane dancing under a shimmering moon or someone offers you some 18-year Elijah Craig or suddenly has a new bear skull or mantel clock — please tell the troopers, contact me or use the forthcoming reward poster to help us get our stuff back. Don’t let the legacy of your community be one as tarnished as it is right now. Because, no matter how I feel right now, my dad — the man who is suffering most — still cares about and values your community.

Abbie Barker is an Anchorage resident and a visitor to Anchor Point.