Do people want seismic testing at expense of marine life?

Seismic testing, let alone drilling for oil in Cook Inlet — there goes the halibut capital of the world. Did you allow this to happen? Is that what you want?

Lela Ryterski

Doc Fest was great

What a great Doc Fest. All of the folks we talked to said that it was the best collection of documentaries we have ever had, and we agree with you. It is testament to the maturity and the money that now is flowing into the making of true stories by really good story tellers/directors. We sold the most Festival Passes ever, and many of them well after the start, once the word got around. We sold out a couple of performances, something that has never happened before.

So we are writing to say “Thanks”: to the Homer News for being the informative journal and town-glue that you are….holding us all together, and to KBBI, the best and most vital radio station anywhere, and to all of you who came, and told your friends…this remains a word-of-mouth hamlet.

We are part of the leadership of the World Arts Festival, and we are all eager to not overwhelm Homer. We will spread it all out next year and end the live acts before the documentaries start. (We listened to your pleas and advice.)

And certainly Thanks to the staff at the Theatre. They received the loudest and longest applause when introduced at the Gala.

We are taking the Theatre off the market for a spell to do a few up-grades, but we are still taking calls, we anticipate, from a few couples who want to be in the movie business and have as much fun as we have.

We are lining up more docs (one a month) as a number of you have suggested. So …

Thank you, again.

Lynette and Jamie Sutton

Already miss the Homer Tribune

During my recent City Council campaign, one of the traits I celebrated about Homer is that we were a “Two-Newspaper Town”. Personally I sought copy of theTribune for its highly accurate, highly detailed reporting. I also liked the pace ofthe paper, how relaxed I felt when perusing it. Of course I like the Homer Newstoo (and I continue to be amazed at their breadth of coverage – and just how much they fit into a given week’s news). But being a Two-Newspaper Town said a lotabout our Hamlet. It said that we value difference of opinion, we celebratediversity, and we appreciate different perspectives, different artistry, within oursingular Community. And with that I am saddened by the sudden departure of ourbeloved Trib. (Sigh). To all the contributors over all the years, to Tommy Wellshimself, to The Homer Tribune: You will be missed.

Joey Evensen

Arts council has possibilities for future

Over the last four and a half years, I have dedicated my efforts toward Homer Council on the Arts, the local arts agency established by visionary founding artists nearly 45 years ago. From the inaugural immersion production of Pink Martini to the familiar BodyVox, from developing an immersive after school youth arts program to the Body Moves Series for adults, from gallery exhibits to Tiny Dances intimate performances, I have enjoyed the challenges and process of the Executive Director’s role. It is now time for me to step back from HCOA to feed my own artistic muse.

HCOA is at a critical juncture with so many possibilities for the future. A successful capital campaign has accumulated over $130,000 that can be leveraged for facility improvement. With an outstanding mortgage of only $8,000, the building is ripe for renewed purpose. The Board of Directors is shifting and expanding with new energy and an intention to redefine HCOA’s role in the community’s art landscape in the next six months. Now, more than ever is the time to engage and help redefine the mission of this vital organization. I hope you will consider joining the conversation.

What I have enjoyed most about serving this community has been getting to know the overwhelming body of talented and dedicated artists; is there anyone in this town that doesn’t dive deeply into one art form or another? The generosity of large and small philanthropists committed to making so much possible here at the end of the road is astounding. It has been a humbling and deeply rewarding experience.

I write this note on the first leg of a six-month journey immersing myself in far-away cultures of which I have always been curious. Thank you for opening your hearts and minds to this late-in-life transplant to the Last Frontier. I look forward to landing back in Homer in the spring; wishing you all an inspired winter.

Peggy Paver

Power brokers don’t want road access to Cordova

In a letter to the Anchorage Daily News, Mr. Patterson alludes to the three times Cordovans were offered a chance to be tied into the road system. What he does not mention was that each time it was attempted it was shut down for some political reason or another. I worked on the Copper River Highway in the 1970s when the Alaska highway department shut us down due to it being unsafe and damaging to the enviroment. On the last attempt by Gov. Wally Hickel to clean the mess up and at least make it passable, the EPA shut it down cold.

Anyone who believes for a moment that the political power brokers in Anchorage would stand for thousands of tourists with millions of dollars taking a shortcut to Denali Park and Fairbanks via the Copper River Highway should consult the nearest Psychitrist as soon as possible.

John A. Anderson, Kenai