Thank you to 100+ Women Who Care
The board members of Homer Trails Alliance want to thank and recognize the over 100 Women Who Care in our little, and growing, town of Homer. HTA formed in July 2021 when a group of concerned volunteers saw the need to champion trails and connectivity on the north side of Kachemak Bay. HTA now serves as an advocate for the shared efforts of existing and future trails and walkability for our residents and visitors alike.
The 100 + Women Who Care supported our organization at our presentation in June and now our organization has been able to move forward with important projects and purchases. Volunteers have already built a new boardwalk and new signage has been installed to help make the Homestead Trail an even more wonderful and safe place to hike. HTA will also purchase a brush cutter to keep the trails cleared and managed. We are also now able to develop a website that will include maps of trails and walkways around our neighborhoods.
We so appreciate the 100+ Women Who Care. Your funding is an important launch for an organization that hopes to grow and continue a legacy of accessibility and pathways connecting through the north shores of Kachemak Bay. We also want to urge other women who care in our community to join the 100+ Women Who Care organization, what a fantastic way to support meaningful projects and efforts in our area! We encourage you to get out and walk, hike, and appreciate the beauty of our place and people and join HTA’s efforts to sustain Homer’s natural wonders and accessibility.
Kim Smith, Homer Trails Alliance Board Member
Stop using Jesus
In considering myself a student of Jesus’s way, I reject what appears to me the hijacking of the Christian faith by political bullies and profiteering religious institutions. Think of this: The religion Jesus so deeply loved and grew up with was the religion of ancient Israel. Christ was a Jew, of the poor working-class — he wore a mid-length woven tunic and sandals. His complexion, eyes and hair were likely dark, yes, dark. He spoke Aramaic. In the hey-day of his ministry he rode into the town of Jerusalem on a donkey, a docile animal. He wasn’t carrying weapons, boasting of wealth or power.
The kingdom he spoke of was not one of power and riches; it was one of love and kindness, compassion, mercy and justice — a kingdom where all are welcome to the table, no discrimination, no whites-only. Jesus didn’t bully or boast, he didn’t denigrate others who didn’t think like him, he didn’t tell people to take up arms. He ministered and spoke to the poor and marginalized, the working-class people and the wealthy. He welcomed the powerful and seedy profiteers, and the crooked politicians who really needed his help the most.
According to the Gospel of John, Jesus was the “Word” made flesh. Many expected that “Word” to be realized into a kingdom of wealth and power that would liberate people from oppressors. But that was not Jesus’s way. He worked instead to change the individual, to instill the idea that goodness comes from within, that peace begins with each one of us. Not an easy task, as Jesus teaches: it’s apparently easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the true kingdom.
People have taken the words of Jesus and used it to support a political platform, or to support violence against others who don’t subscribe to their belief or lifestyle, color of skin. That’s not the Jesus Christ of the New Testament. They are missing his most critical teachings found in Matthew 5:3-9. You know – “blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” That’s not color-coded.
Jesus’s teaching is not a government. It’s not a big banner. It is a way of life. He expressly teaches the separation of religion and government as written in three of the gospels: “Give to Ceasar what is Ceasar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
His message survives because it is rooted in humility. Yeah, humility. Using Jesus of Nazareth with guns, violence, bullying and foul denigrating of others to support a political side blasphemes Him and His message. When I see political candidates displaying a cross in their candidate ads and at their gatherings, I see it as a prop, a tool, a lie. And I think – you have the wrong Jesus. Sstop using His Name.
Therese Lewandowski
Another great Highland Games in Homer!
Not huge nor thousands of spectators but my, we do have fun.
The Kachemak Bay Scottish Club was proud to expose folks to another weekend of traditional Highland Games heavy events and some with a bit of Homer flavor. Our games are sanctioned and judged by members of the Scottish American Athletic Association. We can have fun in Homer but our Games follow the rules.
Many thanks to those who provided musical and dramatic entertainment.
Our event would not be possible without the support of our community.
I would like to pass many thanks to the following:
Nomar Canvas products for the halibut that endures massive tosses each year.
The Ocean Shores Motel, The Grog Shop, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers local 1547, Alaska Communications, Grace Ridge Brewery, Coal Point Trading Company, Pier 1 Theater, Captain’s Coffee, The City of Homer Parks Department and all the volunteers who helped set up the field and help with Bairns Games.
A big thank you to Jeni McDaniel and the Alaska Scottish Club who encourage us to keep up the effort to provide a second annual Highland Games in Alaska for athletes and the public to enjoy.
To everyone who came out to enjoy the event, a huge thank you and lets do it again next year.
Slàinte!
Robert Archibald, President, Kachemak Bay Scottish Club
Don’t be that parent
Dear Editor,
Alaska’s chief medical officer, Anne Zink wrote a point of view article in the Homer news last week touting the successes the state has had treating Covid-19. One positive item she cited was the benefits of vaccination for those older than 6 months of age. She didn’t mention that it was only three weeks ago that the FDC authorized the COVID-19 vaccination for infants and young children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years old. While a few misguided parents nationally have rushed to get their young kids vaccinated, the vast majority are not doing so.
Wise parents apparently realize that the current vaccines do little if anything to stop the Omicron variant of Covid and may have real adverse health consequences for young children getting the shot. In other countries, they have admitted that vaccinating kids was a mistake, and are changing policies to eliminate the availability of childhood Covid-19 vaccinations. Even though the Homer News seems to run alarming Covid-19 stories on the front page of every issue, virtually no children in the United States with healthy immune systems have ever died of Covid-19. Why, given the risks of the clot shot, would you ever pump this poison into your babies?
Respectfully,
Greg Sarber
