We’re Number One! Rape, domestic violence, suicide, child abuse, fetal brain damage from alcohol, alcohol consumption and alcoholism: for more than 40 years Alaska has the highest rates in the nation. A recent survey of Alaskan women found one in three had been raped.* How long must we endure this?

Given our wealth and small population, Alaskans should be the happiest and healthiest bunch of people in the United States. We very much are not.

Alaskans have about $40 billion invested in our Permanent Fund. Dollars invested in businesses and nations throughout the world. Most believe dollars are wealth. In the end, dollars are only a tool used to help the people, prosper. Our dollars, created by the private Federal Reserve Bank are accepted around the globe. They are backed, by nothing more than the “good faith and credit” of the American people.

Congratulations to the Juneau Empire on 100 years of service to Juneau, Southeast and Alaska. Though I was unable to attend your celebration in Juneau, I took the opportunity to applaud your milestone with an entry in the Congressional Record.

I’m writing this letter to the community of Juneau at large. As a former resident of the Gastineau Apartments, these past ten days have been some of the longest I’ve known. When a tragedy strikes, they’re generally followed closely by a sudden sense of helplessness while simultaneously being completely overwhelmed. Fortunately for me, I have been fighting these overwhelming feelings on two fronts: First, the idea of knowing that I have to start from scratch as an adult due to something I could neither prevent nor stop.