Hurl of the Paper Tiger (AKA - The Constitution Roars)

Contributed by Katherine Baker

They said the tiger was a vapor, before their fronts, would fall like paper,
prideful tiger had no common sense, for any purpose, it was past tense,
a piece of paper and nothing more, sleeping giants cast no fear of war,
so, they spun and spun us and deplored, but lacked to know paper tiger hurled,
they stalked covert, staying out of sight, re-routed and blurred rays from spotlights,
then they peppered trails, and covered tracks, and planted breadcrumbs of yak attacks,
while paper tiger constantly hurled, they noticed not, their thumbs on scales, curled,
could they be so unaware, unfazed, all witnessed their coup being coup-ed craze,
dazed, and lost on their scripted same page, performing naked on the world stage,
we saw the vast horror of ages-tiger sounded freedom’s outrages,
-this cannot end well is hell’s earned wage-
circles of madness, who slayed through years, premature gloats, cold sadism clear,
long, they’d whispered, beyond tiger’s ears, more evolved, unseen predator here,
as they spun words to alter our real, psycho-warfare, on our soil, appeared,
to fell paper tiger, slandered as mere, hurled paper tiger-mind control smear,
will-to-power, their one, true love goal, their game is their identity role,
projected onto innocent souls, to assume all power and control,
people, groups, nations cowered, usurped, then spun, angered, confused, and berserked,
free speech ostracized to lone towers, legal to speak here, yet, this hour,
will Mao’s psychopathic pending, savage fairy tale happy ending,
happen here, where all are free to sing, and will our cracked liberty bell ring?

Matthew Beck: A Good Person & Good for the Mat-Su

Contributed by Harry Moore, Palmer AK

My name is Harry Moore. I, along with my wife, Jane, are strong supporters of Matthew Beck to be our next mayor in the Matanuska Susitna Borough. I hope to communicate, in the next few paragraphs, why he is the best and clearest choice to help lead and form our Borough into the wonderful place to raise a family and call home.

Matthew is one of those few and unique individuals who care deeply about the community he is part of and has worked tirelessly in making a positive impact wherever he may find himself. I met Matthew and his wife, Teresa, over 20 years ago when he came as the youth minister at our local Catholic parish of St. Michael in Palmer. He quickly made an immediate impact in the lives of our children and the community. He imparted his love of community, faith and neighbor into the youth and quickly energized our parish community to action and service, organizing several out of state and in state opportunities for those who were interested in responding to the call to action in their hearts.

Matthew and Teresa started and built two businesses in Palmer with their business partners, North Star Animal Hospital and the North Star Pet Resort. Teresa was raised in the Palmer area and having the opportunity to build her veterinary practice in her hometown was a wonderful opportunity. It has afforded the Beck’s an opportunity to employ others in and around Palmer by hiring additional veterinarians, business managers, and even those who are first time employees. They are helping to build and strengthen our local economy. You can tell a lot about a business and those that own them by how you are greeted and served by employees of the business, and we along with our pets, have always been treated well and have been well taken care of.

Matthew served for two terms on the Mat-Su Borough Assembly and was the Deputy Mayor for four years. While serving on the Assembly, he worked tirelessly to ensure the future of farming in the area by helping to form the Agriculture Advisory Board which is designed to give those who carry on the tradition of farming in the Mat-Su a unified voice in bringing awareness of issues impacting agriculture to the attention of the Borough Assembly and Staff. He helped to build support in the cutting of the boroughs financial losses and selling of the M/V Susitna, which was quickly becoming a financial burden upon the borough. He is a very strong supporter of Mat-Su public schools, and his children are either currently enrolled in the local schools or have graduated and have begun their college carriers. He was proud to support the partnership of the Borough in collaboration with the Great Land Trust to protect the trails leading up the Butte trail system, so that this wonderful family hike can be enjoyed by generations to come.

Matthew and Teresa are committed to their local community, and they have literally put their money where their hearts are. The Mat-Su has many challenges facing it in the coming years and it is important and critical that we choose wisely in who will lead and represent the diverse residents and communities of the borough, meeting the challenges ahead. Matthew has the proven commitment, knowledge, and experience to take this task on. Mathew Beck is my friend and if you do not know him yet, please look for the opportunity to meet him – you won’t be disappointed.

“Fight the Fall” Health Quest Therapy, Inc. Offers Complimentary Fall-Risk Screenings

Physical therapy practice offers free screenings throughout September.

Contributed by Kirsten Kendrick, Health Quest Therapy, Inc. 

Health Quest Therapy, Inc. is offering complimentary fall-risk screenings during September’s “Fight the Fall,” a month-long initiative to help our community members understand if they are at risk for falling. 

According to the National Council on Aging, 1 in 4 seniors fall each year, with many incidents leading to hospitalization. Falls are the leading cause of fatal injury and the most common cause of nonfatal, trauma-related hospital admissions among older adults. COVID-19 has created a heightened risk for balance related problems. Studies show that there has been a 30 percent increase in falls due to inactivity and isolation. (APA)

“Falls do not have to be a fact of life as we age,” said Shain Zumbrunnen OTR/ CHT, practicing therapist and owner of Health Quest Therapy, Inc. “Most falls are entirely preventable, but it is important that our community understands their individual risks for falling and to know what steps to take to minimize risks.”

Fall-risk screenings include a questionnaire followed by various balance activities. During the exam, our therapists will monitor a patient’s balance, as well as functional limitations caused by poor posture and weakness in hips and ankles. Chronic conditions such as arthritis, poor vision, challenged hearing, orthopedic conditions and neurological disorders can be contributing factors to falls. Additionally, certain prescription medications have potential side affects such as dizziness, headaches, nausea and sleepiness which can increase the risk of falling. 

At Health Quest Therapy, Inc., we believe that balance is the core to your wellness. A national leader in falls prevention, Health Quest’s balance therapy program has helped a large part of our community retrain their balance and regain confidence to successfully navigate through challenges of their daily lives. How does it work? Our therapists use a safety support system that consists of an over-head track and a movable trolley. Strong and quiet, the system allows for ease of movement while secured in a simple, comfortable body harness. The system enables our patient’s the ability to perform functional activities with minimal risk of injury.

Health Quest Therapy, Inc. is launching our, “Fight the Fall,” initiative to support the National Council on Aging’s Falls Prevention Awareness Week – September 20-24, a nationwide effort to raise awareness that falls truly are preventable. “A fall-risk screening is a great opportunity for a balance checkup of sorts, a way to learn each individual’s unique strengths and weaknesses,” Shain comments. “The goal for “Fight the Fall” is to educate members of our community and provide personalized solutions to keep us all safe, healthy and loving our lives!”

We look forward to your call to schedule a complimentary fall-risk screening.
Wasilla (907) 376-6363 Eagle River (907) 622-6363

Media Contact:
Kirsten Kendrick
(907) 315-9174
Kirsten.Kendrick@Fyzical.com
Health Quest Therapy, Inc.
650 North Shorline Drive Wasilla 99654
11432 Business Blvd #18 Eagle River 99577

What You Invite

Contributed by Robert Lyons

My plan was to go to class that day. I felt ruined, unprepared, and humiliated. I knew it was the day to do the presentation, requiring my time on stage, and I had not worked a minute on it! Forty-seven souls in that class, forty-seven plus a professor about to hold divine humor at my expense. So, I ignored the duty but showed up for the meeting? Well, we do go to class to prepare our futures, maybe I am management material. After the events following, I have serious doubts as to my ability to responsibly follow through on anything, much less plans I've set into motion. My mere presence attests to that.

It all began when I stepped out my front door. I already, as previously mentioned, felt ruined. The night before I “tied one on” as the expression goes. Personally, I never understood that expression. What am I tying? I believe it's one drunken night into another, obviously, swirling the dark amber in my short cold glass, but the visual does not meet the meaning. I never liked the old sayings like that, I'm more partial to the grandmother's snippets of logical practicality, things like, “If you keep making that face, it'll get stuck that way.” Back to the story at hand, my vehicle, parked slanted across the driveway, was about a dozen feet back from the garage. Noting my attention to safety, I clapped myself on my back for not driving into the garage door when I returned to my abode yesterday evening.

I turned the key, nothing. A look over to the left at the light selector. Yes, I did leave them on. I chuckle with thoughts of my pile, my old junkyard sitting crooked in my drive, lights illuminating the garage and shining through the neighbor’s windows for hours on end. What a night! Other swirling half memories spring in and out of last night's fog, a girl twirling around on the dance floor, pelvic thrusting and buttocks jiggling as the bass boomed across the establishment. A fellow minded fellow, high-fiving me as we maneuvered among the throng of twisting and rolling feminine curvature. “Ya man, yeahh!”. What a night! Another memory as closing time commenced, a drunkard pissing behind a dumpster, barely holding himself up. I let nature go and laughing ran over next to this stranger, who didn't even notice my presence. In my inebriation I whip my member out and relieve myself next to him at the dumpster. Luckily my timing proved excellent, and while I finished and zipped, my neighbor's pants fell to his knees, and he stumbled over leaning into the dumpster. That's when the sirens alarmed, a quick “whoop, whoop”, the sound of the police. I actually remember telling the officer I was “pretending to pee” to make fun of the other drunk guy, I mean, “Look at him, boss.” The cop who of course watched me urinate the whole time, told me to get out of here, so I did. I made it home obviously.

That is when I got out, to go to my garage and get my battery charger. One of those all-in-one set-ups you plug in the wall to charge. Walking by the front of my car, I slip. I crash to the ground in a twist, slamming my head, spraining my wrist. I roll over and look at the blood on the asphalt. The puddle from this view looks massive. I reach up and touch my head expecting my hand to be covered, but no. I am not flowing blood, seemingly more bruised. I stand, slowly, letting the blood not rush to or from my head, the fog increasing, now a deep ache pounding in waves. Okay, not going to be good, I picture the Ty-3 pills I have in the top of my toolbox, in that bottle are vicodins. That is the ticket right now, massive hangover has got me stumbling around and falling, I am in no shape to go to any class and wing a presentation! Alright, I focus on my new mission and step to the garage door, reaching down and pulling the handle and lifting. A flurry of commotion as I swing the door up and the morning light infiltrates the dark interior. Dozens of stacked boxes fling across the floor as shelves explode from the rear of the garage near the interior door, the door into the house space, it explodes inward as if rammed, and whatever bursts through, whatever was unleashed can be heard banging though my home. In shock and fear I cross my footing and crash this time onto the concrete floor just inside. I roll onto my stomach, and rise to look towards my entry hall as cans of stored beans and mixed vegetables roll clanging across the deck. Boxes are scattered spreading old papers and keepsakes, seemingly whatever had busted through the door was on, or behind the shelving near the house door. Behind the shelf is only an inch of space, and to be on a shelf? What creature so small could break through the metal door. Confusion and darkness swell into my mind as the ever-increasing pulse beat dominates temporarily. I go and get the medication, shaking my head, but keeping my eye on the doorway. I open the toolbox and grab the bottle, twisting it open and dumping the pills into my palm. Hell with it, down the hatch, circumstantial.

I enter my home. The hallway is lit by morning sunshine from the kitchen windows, the shadows falling along the angle of the walls. I hear nothing, I yell out, “HEY!, HEY!” No movement, no noise. I go around the dining alcove and into the living room. Looking around at clothes strewn about, my idolatry to techno wizardry displayed accordingly, giant tv, play consoles, a plate on a stool in front of the worn couch. Some late night meal? I don't remember. “HEY, HEY, WHAT THE F@%^! WHO IS HERE!” I yell out, the effort causing the pounding in my mind to increase exponentially. The response freezes me cold.

The voice echoing from my bedroom, “Death.”

A slamming explosive reverberation knocks me back onto my couch, scattering the stool and the dish to the floor. What I witness next will never leave my mind. An unforced insanity, ever present. The beast exits from my bedroom, standing about seven feet tall, a sloped forehead angling down into its horrific sharp snout. The creature had fangs protruding from its maw, huge and sharp, the size of thumbs. Covered in blood, and with a slimy slithering approach the thing confronts me, towers over me, dominates me. Madness, I tell you. I hear shrieking, a piercing wail bouncing off my walls, I realize it is my own voice, my own screams of anguish. The abomination reaches down and encircles my neck with his clapping clawed and hooked digits, the immense power I feel as he pulls me first to my feet, then lifts me feet into the air! The smell is the worst, wading into my nostrils, rotten, defecation. Disgust.

It says, “Death, DEATH I sentence you.” and sweet death arrived. I only could wish, for I digress. For the truth is, I sat there to await the police, I unlocked the door, sure I would drift away before their arrival. Already dead, my soul usurped, drinking the last of the whiskey I had access to. All apologies for having led this confession into fantasy. It is hard to admit the truth in anguish. I slipped on a puddle of blood in my driveway, having exited my car to get the battery charger. When I stood, the damage to the front of my vehicle was apparent, the blood and hair stuck to the grill. In shock, I went to my garage and opened the door, then collapsed in defeat and horror. The young child, no more than ten, her body heaped in a twist on the concrete, crushed and mutilated. A pile of bloody rags, a claw hammer and a pry bar, bits of flesh on them, lay next to the corpse. Confronted with this, even in my stooper brought about by a hangover, I decided, opening the Ty 3 bottle where I keep my vicodin collected over years of dealings and trades and “accidental injuries”. I poured its contents onto my dining table, somehow I had made it there into the house, 47 pills I counted, I turned and puked all over my linoleum, and forced another gag to be sure, then I swallowed the handful of narcotics whole, I'm done. I turned and noticed the havoc I've caused, the door I kicked in, in panic. The litter of my things and food items crashed across the garage floor, the child laying dead and shattered. I go to my cabinet and get my whiskey bottle, I open my freezer where I keep some glasses chilled. I go to my couch and have a seat. I poured.

Currently

Contributed by Dylan Manderlink

My friends ask what I’ve been up to recently,

Where I’ve been living as of late.

They can’t keep track and I don’t make it easy, I tell them.

I’ve been around, here and there.

Montana maybe, Seattle with my sister, a quarter-life crisis in the boundary waters, isolation at 7,000 feet in Wyoming, sinking my heels into warm sand in the desert of Utah, pretending I’m an adult in Arkansas, forgetting my roots in New England.

But currently?

Currently,

Alaska.

Clutching my heart as soon as my eyes hit the mountains.

Wondering how I got here and if I’ll ever leave.

Currently,

Swimming in doubt but basking in anticipation.

Currently,

Wondering what my next steps could be.

While trying to stay present and prepare for the future

Like society tells us to do.

And currently,

In a state of awe. At the life I’ve

Created, have always wanted, and chased after.

I’m currently here.

Just here.

And maybe one day,

I’ll figure out my there.

Afghan Refugees Must Be Vetted Before They’re Admitted to the U.S.

Contributed by Kelly Tshibaka

While the United States’ involvement in Afghanistan needed to end at some point, President Biden’s reckless withdrawal plan was an epic failure of leadership for which he must be held to account. The service members we have lost, and the countless American civilians he has abandoned to an uncertain fate, deserve nothing less. 

Biden has argued that we could not continue to incur the enormous expense of a long-term military engagement in Afghanistan. In response, he pursued a plan that was executed at an incalculable cost – namely the lives of thirteen service members killed by a suicide bomber, innocent American civilians abandoned behind enemy lines, the betrayal of our Afghan allies, a global questioning of American might and resolve, the emboldening of our terrorist adversaries, and the surrender of billions of dollars in military equipment and technology to the Taliban.   

The repercussions of Biden’s blunders have reverberated throughout the world and may destabilize the existing global order in ways even our most able political prognosticators cannot anticipate. Yet, Biden remains resolute in his defense of the indefensible, attributing these losses to the unfortunate consequences of an unavoidably chaotic withdrawal. In the meantime, our nation grieves; our veterans’ crisis hotline experienced an exponential increase in calls this August compared to the same period last year, which the Department of Veterans Affairs attributes in part to Biden’s bungling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan.  

Interestingly, Sen. Lisa Murkowski has expressed surprise and dismay at Biden’s calamitous withdrawal, even though she initially believed that “this Administration had a viable plan in place.”

We are not surprised by Murkowski or her hindsight-criticism of the Biden Administration. She consistently has enabled Biden’s radical policies, including those that target Alaska. Nor are we surprised by Biden. We hoped for better, but he has proven, yet again, that he is the person we have always known him to be – the same person who helped lead President Obama’s hasty withdrawal from Iraq in 2011, which led to the rise of ISIS.

While Biden cannot undo the results of his appallingly poor judgment, he still can prevent further damage and danger to our homeland by properly vetting all Afghans who are seeking to resettle in America under our refugee program. The United States has always been a welcoming nation. We should open our arms to Afghans seeking freedom and protection from persecution, beginning with those who risked their lives to support our troops. But we also should have a clear understanding of whom we are admitting and screen out any who may present a risk to our security.

I spent part of my career serving in the national security community. I am aware of the methods jihadists employ to gain entry to our country, as well as the methods we use to identify them. Verifying the background of potential refugees is challenging even under the most ideal conditions; conducting a thorough and responsible vetting process for thousands of people rapidly fleeing a collapsed country is almost impossible. Nevertheless, Biden must take every remaining precaution available to prevent Islamic extremists from gaining entry to our country. He simply cannot afford to compound one entirely avoidable calamity with another, nor can the American people afford to suffer the consequences of yet another Biden Bungle.

Thus far, President Biden has offered only a vague commitment that refugees will be “screened,” but that provides no assurance.  Remember it was Joe Biden who laid out the “welcome mat” at our southern border with Mexico, effectively inviting hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants to enter our country with virtually no scrutiny and intentionally reversing many of the successful border protection policies President Trump instituted. President Biden must explain precisely how his Administration will verify that Afghan refugees pose no security danger to the United States; otherwise, we risk importing terrorism.

At this point, there is little Biden can do to repair what he broke in Afghanistan, including his complete dismantling of the advancement of women’s rights that Afghan women and girls had only just begun to experience. But he still can prevent terrorists from exploiting our compassion by using our refugee program in order to move their battlefield to our backyards. We can only hope.

Kelly Tshibaka is a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Alaska.

Vote Jubilee Underwood for School Board!

Contributed by Jubilee Underwood 

Hello, everyone! My name is Jubilee Underwood and I am a lifelong Mat-Su Valley resident! You can find me and my family on a bleacher the majority of the year, cheering on my Varsity kids at multiple sporting events!

I am a strong advocate for parents being empowered with the freedom to make the best educational and health choices for their own children. My goal is that all Mat-Su schools continue to partner with those same choices.

I will fight to keep schools open and in-person! I believe schools should focus on continuing to improve educational outcomes that give Mat-Su children the greatest opportunities for lifelong success. 

Finally, I am AGAINST mask mandates for students! If you’d like to learn more about me, please visit www.jubileeunderwoodforschoolboard.com or visit my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/alaskansforjubileeunderwood  

Your Child, Your Choice, Your Voice Matters

Jubilee Underwood for School Board

Contributed by Joseph Lurtsema

Jubilee Underwood is a lifelong Mat-Su Valley Resident. You can find Jubilee and her family on a bleacher the majority of the year, cheering on their Varsity athlete at multiple sporting events. She is a strong advocate for parents being empowered with the freedom to make the best educational and health choices for their own children.

Her goal is that all Mat-Su schools continue to partner with those same choices. She will fight to keep schools open and in person. Jubilee believes schools should focus on continuing to improve educational outcomes that give Mat-Su children the greatest opportunities for lifelong success.

Finally, Jubilee is AGAINST Mask Mandates for students!

Your Child, Your Choice, Your Voice Matters

Hijabs, Burqas & COVID Masks

Contributed by Huhnkie Lee

Greetings Friends, this is Huhnkie Lee running for 2022 US Senate as an independent Alaskan.

As a student of history, I couldn’t help noticing the similarity between Afghanistan and America. Taliban mandates Afghanistan male and female citizens to wear long skirts to hide their leg contour lines. Democratic Party regime mandates Americans to wear masks to cover up their mouths. I guess they want to be stoic and emphasize disciplines and discretion. 

Remember the Petticoat Affair in 1829, once upon a time in America? Even in America 200 years ago, people were heavily clothed to hide their skins. Such shyness of nudity traces back to the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve hid their reproductive organs with fig tree leaves. If you look at European paintings of centuries ago, both male and female Westerners were heavily clothed. Easterners used to be heavily clothed too: both male and female Asians wore long skirts centuries ago.

So, we did some time traveling to visit our ancestors in history books. Now let’s do space traveling to Afghanistan by watching TV. We are not being judgmental here. Rather, we’re not being too politically correct. Historians know that every country is at different stage of human evolution. When we look at heavily clothed Middle Easterners, we find their fashion similar to our Eastern or Western ancestors of centuries ago.

For instance, gender equality came to America only 101 years ago, when 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920 to recognize women’s voting rights. Will it take a century for Afghanistan to recognize women’s voting rights? I doubt it. Why? The speed of human evolution is accelerating, thanks to the ever-accelerating speed of information propagation. We have internet on our cellphones, social medias, and Afghanistan people, including Talibans, have those. I think it will take less than a couple decades before Afghanistan allow women to vote.

I’m optimistic about Afghanistan. I was deployed to Afghanistan as a US Army junior enlisted soldier for a year in 2011-2012. We interacted with Afghanistan citizens, and I learned that they are smart, strong, beautiful, and highly honorable people. Afghanistanis tasted the democracy and modern freedom, so there is no turning back. I’m not worried about Taliban regime either. I think Taliban has evolved considerably. Talibans are smart people and they’re very keenly aware of the fact that the entire world is watching Afghanistan these days. Talibans are more than smart to know the importance of international cooperation in this day and age. I bet they’ll behave.

Now let’s get back to America and talk about mandatory masking and vaccine. I’m kinda conservative in this issue of personal liberty and individual freedom and I don’t mandatory stuffs. But, having said that, I’m a pragmatic politician rather, as opposed to having been an idealistic activist back in the days. So, when Walmart mandated mask wearing, I wore it. When my job required me, I got twice Pfizer vaccines. My attitude was, “I may die from side-effects from masks and vaccines, or I die from starvation. Heck with it, I’ll just do it. Whatever burger.”

I got into politics by pure accident. Three years ago, back in 2018 spring time, I was reading Google news. To my surprise, the City of Wasilla, my present hometown, made a national headline when it banned plastic bags in groceries. To voice my objection, I went to Wasilla City Council meeting and used my three minutes to say, “Plastic bags are light, durable and cheap. Plastics are one of the greatest modern technological inventions. I love plastic bags.” From then on, I became a regular in public city and borough meetings and the rest is history.

So, I did the political activist activities for about two years ,and I learned many good things from local politics and politicians. Last year, I ran for Alaska State Senate Republican Primary in August 2020. As we all know, I didn’t get elected and my campaign was over. Not knowing what else to do in my spare time, I hunkered down and started to write it all down and published some academic papers in freely-accessible online databases. I did submit to peer-reviewed journals, but they all turned me down. Oh well.

Some of the dozen papers I wrote over the one-year period were about physics. We briefly talked about the inter-relationship between space travel and time travel. But that was not to endorse Mr. Einstein’s famed space-time continuum hypothesis. To quite the contrary, I believe I disproved both Special and General Relativity theories of one Mr. Einstein. If interested, please see: https://vixra.org/abs/2009.0211 and https://vixra.org/abs/2010.0192.  

Now, let’s talk about my campaign. These days, on Monday - Thursday evenings after work, I do a modernized version of “front porch campaign”. Something good came out of COVID: the Zoom-Zoom meetings of local governmental agencies all over Alaska. I attend them and use my three minutes for campaign pitch, in the style of a daytime gameshow host or a used-car salesman.

My campaign promise? I shall annually adjust my US senatorial salary to average Alaskan salary level and donate the rest to Alaska Government.

Thank you!

Art Show at Vagabond Blues: October 8th – November 12th

Contributed by Glenda Field

Glenda Field, a local Mat-Su artist, will present her paintings from October 8th to November 12th at Vagabond Blues Coffee Shop in Palmer. Glenda works mainly with acrylic and watercolor, and also paints on glass and porcelain.

 This last year during the pandemic, she created her watercolor paintings on wooden panels, boards and canvases after preparing the canvases and panels with an assortment of absorbent grounds, gesso and pastes. She is excited about how watercolor paints work differently on surfaces other than paper and will have a selection of these new watercolors on display during the autumn exhibition. One of her experimental watercolors was selected to be in 2021 Alaska Watercolor Society 47th Annual Juried Exhibition in Anchorage in June.

Glenda moved to Wasilla from Fairbanks eight years ago and is amazed at the beauty this area has to offer. Lately, she is painting less florals and painting more watercolor landscapes on prepared wooden panels. The joy of this method she says , is that there is no need for mats, glass or heavy frames. The watercolor paintings are varnished and quite durable. This also makes them less expensive for the buyer. 

Glenda’s work can be seen at the Aurora Fine Art Gallery on 5th Avenue in Anchorage and at the Wagon Wheel Store in the Carrs Mall in Wasilla. Her glass and cards can be purchased at the Cobb Market in Palmer.

Please stop by to see a sample of her work at Vagabond Blues. She will be displaying an assortment of acrylic and watercolor paintings on various surfaces during this month-long show.

My Child, My Choice

Contributed by Jackie Ivie

To my beloved son and daughter-in-law: 

You are both super busy people.

Successful.
Outgoing.
Popular.

I get that.

I can’t find any time to actually talk with either of you. It feels like you are so busy living your lives and every second is so packed with plans and things that I only get a portion of your attention.

It’s poetic justice.

I was there, too.

Twenty-five years ago, I’d have followed the publicized information without questioning anything, too.

But I’m older.

And have the time to research.

And now that I have been kicked out of kindergarten for refusing to allow them to curtail my ability to breathe, it occurs to me that maybe parents haven’t considered how dangerous oxygen deprivation can be.

Do you know it’s used as a torture tactic in Western civilized countries like Switzerland?

It is.

I can send the links to the proof... But will either of you open them? (1)

No.

Why do they use oxygen deprivation on prisoners?

Control.

At minimum, oxygen deprivation causes listlessness, disorientation, apathy, headaches and mental confusion. And bonus! It doesn’t leave a trauma mark on the body for forensic study afterwards.

Don’t a lot of movies featuring space or submarine/underwater or cave movies portray how dangerous oxygen deprivation is?

Yet, we are doing that to our babies?

Isn’t that the first miracle you perceived at your baby’s birth?

GETTING TO WATCH THEM BREATHE?

I don’t know about you, but it did something to my heart. I spent hours over the incubators sobbing in joy as I watched my newborn breathe.

I still remember it.

Vividly.

Yet now we allow others to restrict that?

Well.

Count this grandma out of that program.

Once again, I will be publicly challenging the abuse of forcing kids to mask all day in school.

And it gets worse.

At your daughter’s school the principal announced that they would really like the children to mask OUTSIDE on the playground, too.

Under whose authority? The school district?

ANY forced masking is a clear violation of the Nuremberg Code of 1947 as well as the UNESCO Declaration of Bioethics and Human Rights of 2005, Article 6.

If I send links, will either of you open them? (2) (3)

No.

How about if I bring up science? You do realize that masking defies the scientific evidence. MASKS DON’T STOP COVID VIRUS PARTICLES. The mask box even says so. In plain English.

I’d send a picture, but you’d probably insta-delete it after a glance.

TONS OF STUDIES HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED SHOWING THE HARM IN MASKING CHILDREN.

If I send the links, will either of you open them? (4) (5) (6)

No.

Did you know a comprehensive study was done last year in Wuhan China? It followed 9,988,828 (almost 10 million!) cases of COVID to see how many were spread asymptomatically.

They published the study. The answer was ZERO.

ZERO.

If I send the link, will either of you open it? (7)

No.

How do we even know that a person is testing positive for COVID? The PCR inventor and patent owner specifically stated that the test is to be run to a maximum of 20 cycles. Anything beyond that is not medically sound.

If I send the links to where I got that information, and the actual patent will either of you look at them? (8) (9)

No.

Several European studies have found that there have been ZERO instances of kids spreading COVID if they don’t have symptoms. Some of them are:

Germany

Ireland

Iceland

Denmark... the country, which - just recenty - came out and cancelled any and all restrictions due to the “pandemic” called COVID-19.

If I send the links to those news items, will either of you open them? (10) (11) (12) (13)

No.

Why would Denmark do that? Maybe because the facts are hard to refute. Nov. 13, 2020, an Economics Professor at John Hopkins University named Genevieve Briand posted the information that there were no more deaths in 2020 that 2019. Her data was drawn from the CDC site itself. You see, they post weekly data (by state) on total deaths from all causes. They also showed how many were in each category. Professor Briand pulled the CDC data for the 44 weeks available, extrapolated the remaining weeks and found that there was NO difference in 2020.

NO spike in deaths.

NO huge increase.

She went further.

She also showed that every single cause of death had gone down the exact number needed to create a COVID figure.

She was ridiculed. Cancelled. Fact checkers stated her analysis of the data was faulty.  She wasn’t taking other factors into account. She didn’t know how to read medical data. All of which doesn’t change the FACT THAT THE NUMBERS WERE ACCURATE.

I’ll send the link. Maybe you’ll open it. (14)

She wasn’t the only one with this news.

Dr. David Samadi posted this tweet:

“Deaths in the USA over the years:

2010: 2.5M
2011: 2.5M

2012: 2.5M

2013: 2.6M

2014: 2.6M

2015: 2.7M

2016: 2.7M

2017: 2.8M

2018: 2.8M

2019: 2.9M

2020: 2.5M (as of November)

Where is the massive spike”

Dr. David B. Samadi is a Board Certified urologist, a Newsmax contributor, former Chairman of Urology and Chief of Robotic Surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital.

For posting the above information, Dr. Samadi had his Twitter account suspended. That’s probably why you weren’t aware of this information. So. Here it is.

Maybe you’ll glance at it.

Furthermore, the government – OUR GOVERNMENT – incentivized COVID deaths. Every finding of COVID on a death certificate equals payment from the government. (I am not in the medical profession as both of you are aware, but I know how to research and comprehend. I debated a doctor at Colony Days in Palmer about this. He finally acknowledged that COVID deaths were incentivized. I was correct).

I can send links to this information too. Would either of you open it? (15) (16)

I don’t know. You tell me.

But think. If you were a hospital administrator with no patients in your hospital - since elective surgeries had been suspended - and five automobile accident victims just came into your emergency room, you have a decision. Reporting them as blunt force trauma equals NO MONEY. Report them as COVID deaths and the hospital gets a lot of money.

I also have a video of the Illinois Secretary of Health, Dr. Ezike. She is speaking about HOW to count even people in hospice who die of something else as a COVID death.

Do you want to watch it? It’s 43 seconds. (17)

Your call.

... Meanwhile, over here in “FREEDOM-VILLE” (also known as the Mat-Su Valley), nobody has to mask. Why do you think so many Anchorage residents are moving out here?

Don’t believe me, ask a realtor. You both know one.

So.

I’m wordy, but maybe you’re still here. Or maybe you’ve already closed my text because you’re too busy or someone else called and you’ll get to it later.

I understand.

I do.

But I have to reiterate: I am VERY concerned about the physical and psychological impacts to your daughter if you keep her at a public school where she has to wear a mask ALL DAY.

I heard your friend’s daughter is in a private school. Ask him if his daughter is forced to mask. (I’d like the answer for my public appearances, too)

Oh.

There’s more.

Did you know that wearing a mask can cause staph infections on your face? It’s commonly called “maskne”. Is this what you want on your beautiful baby’s face?

Acne?
Lesions?
Pitting?
Scarring?

I can send the links to the articles about that but – once again – will either of you open them? (18) (19) (20)

No.

I can send thousands of links. Will either of you open any of them?

You tell me.

Did you know there was a study published in 1956 by Harvard University called MASKS AS AGENTS OF SOCIAL CONTROL IN NORTHEAST LIBERIA? I bought it last year. (21)

Social control?

Hmm...

Did you know that every single medical study done on masks show that they do not stop the virus particles? Even the NIH says they don’t block all virus particles even if fully sealed.

If I send links ,will you open them? (22) (23)

(Sigh.)

Your daughter needs someone to protect her.

You do realize that the first thing a perpetrator does is cover your mouth. Right?

It’s a subjugation technique.

I use it in my books. Every thriller writer does. Grab the victim with your left arm while you slap your right hand to their mouth.

To silence them.

Please. I’m begging here.

Take a few moments to think.

... Or we can all watch to see if your daughter grows listless, nervous, apathetic, tired, cries all the time, gets headaches, or – God forbid – she could come down with bacterial pneumonia which is another risk associated with mask wearing.

Did you know that most of the casualties of the 1917/18 Spanish Flu were from bacterial pneumonia from wearing masks?

Would you like the links to those historical documents, or should I even bother asking? (24) (25)

I love you all.

I will be sending this one-sided conversation in for publication. Maybe some parents somewhere would like to know where to find and open the links to see what is going on. And just maybe they will do what they did in Independence Missouri. 

Looks like these men are serious.

Mom

(1)  Zurich Files - White Torture In Swiss Torture Prison by openallstations - issuu

(2)  The Nuremberg Code (cirp.org)

(3)  Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights: UNESCO

(4)  Mandatory Masking of School Children is a Bad Idea – USC Schaeffer

(5)  Masking Children: Tragic, Unscientific, and Damaging – AIER

(6)  AMA Journal: Masks Are Bad For Kids. Quit Forcing Them To Mask Up (thefederalist.com)

(7)  Covid-19: Asymptomatic cases may not be infectious, Wuhan study indicates | The BMJ

(8)  pdf of EVENT 2021 Presentation | Fleming-Method (flemingmethod.com)

(9)  US7850975B2 - Chemically programmable immunity - Google Patents

(10) German study: No evidence coronavirus spreads in schools | Washington Examiner

(11) Eurosurveillance | No evidence of secondary transmission of COVID-19 from children attending school in Ireland, 2020

(12) Iceland Children & Coronavirus Study: No Cases of Children Infecting Parents | National Review

(13) Denmark will lift all COVID restrictions by September | TheMayor.EU

(14) Johns Hopkins: COVID Has Had No Effect On US Death Rate | Libertarian News

(15) CDC director acknowledges hospitals have a monetary incentive to overcount coronavirus deaths | Washington Examiner

(16) Physicians Say Hospitals Are Pressuring ER Docs to List COVID-19 on Death Certificates. Here’s Why - Foundation for Economic Education (fee.org)

(17) Dr. Ngozi Ezike | How COVID Deaths are Classified - YouTube

(18)  Full-time mask-wearing brings its own set of problems - The Crimson White (ua.edu)

(19)  How to Treat "Maskne" (Mask Acne) | U.S. Dermatology Partners | Blog (usdermatologypartners.com)

(20) Skin Health When Wearing a Mask | U.S. News (usnews.com)

(21) Masks as agents of social control in northeast Liberia : Harley, George Way : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

(22) Effectiveness of Face Masks in Preventing Airborne Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 - PubMed (nih.gov)

(23) Masks Don’t Work: A Review of Science Relevant to COVID-19 Social Policy | River Cities' Reader (rcreader.com)

(24) Bacterial Pneumonia Caused Most Deaths in 1918 Influenza Pandemic, August 19, 2008 News Release - National Institutes of Health (NIH)

(25) The Truth Revealed About the Deadly 1918 Spanish Flu: It Was Actually Bacterial Pneumonia | Winter Watch

Think Before You Vaccinate

Contributed by Vlastic Marek

I have read article Vaccinate and Live by Bill Brokaw asking his nursing home
staff to vaccinate in order for his wife to feel safe.

Me thinks if the vaccinated are in danger of catching from un-vaccinated, the disease
the vaccinated are vaccinated against, then why in the world would it make sense
to get vaccinated?

My Advice: Turn off your TV and the pandemic goes away.

Enable vs. Help

Contributed by Marilyn Bennett

Is it helpful to give money to someone asking for it on the street?

Perhaps.

It depends on what the individual plans to do with the money. Generally speaking, anything that is received with nothing required of the recipient could be harmful.

I remember my mother telling me about being on the farm during the depression. Men would come down to the farm and ask to chop wood or do anything to earn a meal and a place to sleep. What she passed on to me was that it would be shameful to ask for a hand-out without giving anything in return. That used to be a pretty universal attitude.

We are sure a long way from that!

Feeling good about doing good. Is the effectiveness of our giving based on that good feeling rather than the outcome? We should not ignore the negative side effects of giving without expectations. We often evaluate our charity by the rewards we receive through feeling good about ourselves, without knowing whether we helped or enabled the recipient.

Resources provided without any commitment or expectation from the recipient can foster resentment in both the giver and the recipient. Charity can have the effect of creating dependence.

Helping is doing something for anyone who is unable to do it for themselves. Enabling is doing something for an individual who could and should be doing for it for their self. The primary goal of charity should be to improve the lives of the recipient. Creating a cycle of dependency looks like something other than compassion.

According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness in January 2020, there were 580,466 people experiencing homelessness in America; of those, 161,569 lived in California. That is more than 25% of the total. A few years ago, I was visiting my brother in Sacramento and saw a huge crowd of people walking down the street. I asked my brother if a sporting event had just gotten out. No, he said that crowd is the homeless going for their noon meal at the city homeless shelter. In my many visits since, I have seen the homeless encampments growing by quantum leaps. I have noticed that the “good people” in California are feeding the homeless, providing them with state-of- the-art tents and putting up sanitary stations along, what used to be a bike trail.

Just imagine how difficult it would be to look for a job while living in a tent, trying to keep clean or have enough to eat. I do not judge a person who is down on their luck as I definitely experienced being broke as the result of my bad choices in the past. However, I changed my situation by working two or even three jobs to pull myself back up. Later in life, I became a landlord and have delayed collecting the rent many times when someone renting from me was experiencing a hard time. Most of the time, I was paid back when they got back on their feet.

Helping someone to get a job, providing a temporary place to sleep and a meal is one thing. Helping them to exist on the lowest level of our society is cruel. Simply giving, without requiring accountability, is irresponsible. We need to develop discernment to help us know the difference between helping and enabling. When you intervene by not allowing someone to suffer the consequences of their actions, you are limiting that person's ability to help themselves.

For a long time, we, as a society, have thought that it's a good idea when you see a homeless person to give them a little money. Dignity has become a buzzword in the world of services to the homeless and it’s easy to feel good about the idea of restoring dignity to people in need. But no one can give someone else dignity. The caregiver who says, “We will treat you with respect because of your inherent dignity,” is not helping, as every other day in the life of a homeless person is devoid of dignity. Such sentiments are equivalent to saying that I give you dignity by my gifts to you. Instead of facilitating empowerment, the message comes across as paternalistic

Remember: Comfortable people have zero motivation to change their behavior. Who are these homeless people? Some are young addicts who got kicked out of the house by Mom and Dad, others are lifelong hobos living off the land. Some are just recently down on their luck or out of a job with no place to live.

We must try to help those who are interested in rejoining our society and not enable those who are intent on continuing to live on the streets. I know many don't share my views, but my concern is to keep Palmer a safe place to live and enabling people to live on the streets is not healthy for them nor for our city.

The Goddess Aurora

Contributed by Charles Dean Walker

Sea of color above the northern skies.
The feather bed of Aurora goddess of animals.
She is one with the feather bed, this place within is a heaven.
The spirits here are at rest until she calls upon them.
Yet, still, some are mischievous.
They don’t fear her punishments. 
Humiliation does not faze the foolish, until they are the victim of such.
Beautiful Aurora bless us with your lights.
You’re our heaven, within you we eternally live.
We serve you, our gift is the land and rivers within you.
Without you we are many souls separated on earth.
We the wronged, slain, and lied too!
We see the worlds from the combined waterfall of the River of Time, and River Of
Realities.
Thank you oh, Goddess Aurora.
Even your face can be seen anywhere here.
To hear your voice is honey smooth.

NAR Good Neighbor Award Finalists Honored for Strengthening Their Communities

Contributed by Paula Nance, Valley Board of Realtors

For the 22nd consecutive year, the National Association of Realtors® is honoring 10 finalists for its 2021 Good Neighbor Awards Program. This award honors Realtors® who have made significant, tangible volunteer contributions in their communities to improve the lives of their neighbors in need.

“Despite the many challenges navigating COVID-19 restrictions and running a non-profit during the pandemic, these Realtors® were there to help their communities at a time their contributions were needed most,” said NAR President Charlie Oppler. “I am so proud to honor this year’s Good Neighbor Award finalists for continuing the Realtor® tradition of giving back and making a difference.”

Beginning now, the public can vote for their favorite of the 10 Good Neighbor finalists. The top three finalists will be recognized as Web Choice Favorites and take home an additional donation of $2,500, $1,250 and $1,250, respectively. Cast your vote at www.realtor.com/goodneighbor between September 2nd and October 1st. 

Both the winners, as determined by judges, and the Web Choice Favorites will be announced on October 6th. The five winners will receive a $10,000 grant and national media exposure for their charity, including a feature in the fall issue of REALTOR® Magazine. The winners will be honored during the 2021 REALTORS® Conference & Expo in San Diego, Calif. Five honorable mentions will receive $2,500 grants:

The 10 REALTOR Magazine Good Neighbor Awards finalists are as follows:

1.     Dawn M. Adams, The Palmetto Real Estate Company, Aiken, South Carolina

Since 2011, Adams has been helping to rescue and rehabilitate victims of human trafficking both in the U.S. and internationally. As a board member with Abolish Slavery Coalition (www.AbolishSlavery.org), Adams organizes multi-agency task forces that help locate those who were kidnapped, while helping rescued victims begin the process of restoring normalcy in their lives.

2.     Bob Bell, Mile Hi Property, Denver, Colorado

Every Friday, Bell and hundreds of volunteers meet to pack and deliver weekend meals for 10,000 at-risk children scattered across 72 Denver-area schools. By eliminating overhead and relying on his dedicated volunteers, Bell has turned Food for Thought into a powerhouse, with 497,205 backpacks of food delivered to date, the equivalent of almost 4 million meals.

3.     Sharon Chambers-Gordon, Windermere Professional Partners, Tacoma, Washington

Founder of Raising Girls, a non-profit that helps low-income young women boost their confidence and self-esteem, Chambers-Gordon and her volunteer team donate menstrual hygiene products to tweens and teens who might otherwise skip school and sports because of embarrassment or financial constraints.

4.     Chris Cockerham, F.C. Tucker/Bloomington REALTOR®, Bloomington, Indiana

Cockerham helps combat homelessness by taking advantage of his expertise and contacts in the real estate industry. He has spent more than a year helping New Hope for Families find a new permanent location, which doubled its shelter capacity and raised $1.2 million, in large part from local REALTORS®.

5.     Sydney Ealy, Brooks & Davis Real Estate, Houston, Texas

In 2014, Ealy founded TWST4Girls, a non-profit organization that offers a variety of educational programs and one-on-one mentoring for low-income girls. The opportunities are designed to help girls aged 11-17 boost self-esteem, learn important life skills, and start on a path toward higher education.

6.     Brent Gieseke, Exit Realty Professionals, Kansas City, Montana

Gieseke wears many hats as a volunteer serving the needs of refugee families. Since 2018, he’s helped acquire and renovate homes, called “Blessing Houses,” while teens from refugee families work at his side to learn job and life skills designed to help in their acclimation to life in America.

7.     Kibe Lucas, KW The Kibe Lucas Team, Wasilla, Alaska
For 20 years, Lucas has been a passionate board member for the Children’s Place, a no-nprofit that offers hope to families impacted by child abuse and neglect. He has leveraged his real estate experience to secure land for a new headquarters, raise half a million dollars, and recruit countless supporters to promote the well-being of more than 4,000 American children.

8.     Denny and Linda Ellsworth-Moore, Coldwell Banker Hubbell BriarWood-Delta, Lansing, Michigan
Since 2004, Denny Moore and Linda Ellsworth-Moore have volunteered with Child and Family Charities, a nonprofit that supports children in need. The couple has raised $345,000 and collects donations of bikes, school supplies, clothing, and holiday gifts, with special emphasis on bikes for foster children.

9.     Christina Sauger, Charles Rutenberg Realty Inc., Clearwater, Florida
Sauger founded The Harbor Dish, a nonprofit that provides healthy meals and companionship to anyone regardless of their ability to pay. The mobile program includes hosting large-scale community dinners on a pay-what-you-can model, and delivers hot meals to seniors, foster children, domestic violence survivors and others in need.

10.  Raymond Siddell, Keller Williams Legacy Group, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Siddell mobilized his community’s emergency response after a violent derecho damaged 90% of the homes and buildings in his hometown. During his efforts he discovered an underlying food insecurity in the region, leading him to create Together We Achieve. This now permanent food pantry has distributed 1.2 million pounds of food to local residents in one year.

NAR’s Good Neighbor Awards is supported by primary sponsor realtor.com®, plus Chase and The Center for REALTOR® Development.

“Volunteers help bring and hold communities together, especially during challenging times like those we continue to face today,” said realtor.com® CMO Mickey Neuberger. “The Good Neighbor Awards finalists exemplify that spirit of volunteerism, and we are proud to celebrate and recognize the impact these changemakers have had and the lives they’ve touched.”

Nominees were judged on their personal contribution of time as well as financial and material contributions to benefit their cause.

The National Association of Realtors® is America’s largest trade association, representing more than 1.5 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

Matthew Beck for Mayor

Contributed by Dan Gallagher, Palmer

On November 2nd, the Mat-Su Borough elect a new mayor. In these times of political divisiveness, we need a strong leader with a willingness to extend a hand across the aisle to members of all parties. I have known Matthew Beck as a friend for over twenty years. He has always been faithful, honest, trustworthy and reliable. Matthew is the type of person who will go out of his way at a moment’s notice to help a friend in need. As a nonpartisan, he will make the tough decisions and step up to lead when others are held back by ties to political interest groups.

As a recent six-year Mat Su Borough assemblyman, Matthew brings a wealth of local knowledge and political experience to the table. He will work hard to preserve farmlands and keep our schools strong. A family man and valley business owner, Matthew will focus on the best interest of our community. Matthew understands the importance of families as the building blocks of society. He along with his wife Teresa raised their daughters right here in Palmer.

A fiscal conservative, Matthew will advocate for limited taxation, responsible economic growth and development. He will support public safety and 2nd amendment rights. Matthew knows that the Mat Su Borough is a great place to live, and he will work to keep it that way. A vote for Matthew Beck on November 2nd is a solid choice for our future.

Look in the Mirror

Contributed by Natasha Tolbert

“Look in the mirror,” a voice says.

What is there to see?

The voice says it sees a perfect and beautiful girl,

A girl it loves, a girl who deserves the world

“I couldn’t hate you,” the voice says

I know who could

“Look in the mirror,” the voice says again.

“See that person?” It asks

All I see is a broken girl

A girl no one really loves

Not even herself

She wants to love herself the way others do,

But all she can do is add more,

More scars to this already broken body.

A body that just screams,

“Please let this end,

Why won’t the pain end?”

Why?

Why what?

The only pain there is, is that of those who spew words of hate

Words hurt more than people think.

“Look in the mirror”

NO! I don’t want to

There is nothing in that mirror that screams,

I am loved.

There is no LOVE in that body,

There is no HAPPINESS in that smile,

There is no HOPE in those eyes.

Her eyes,

Those dead, dull eyes,

They used to be so blue,

Brighter than the sky

Yet softer than that of baby blue.

The eyes that have seen more hatred and pain,

More death and destruction than they should

“LOOK in the MIRROR”

Why?!

There’s nothing there!

Absolutely nothing

“LOOK IN THE MIRROR”

No, I won’t

“LOOK IN THE MIRROR”

I can’t!

“LOOK IN THE MIRROR”

Don’t make me do it!

LOOK.

IN.

THE.

MIRROR!

But she can’t,

Instead she just smashes it

Now, like her,

The mirror was broken in pieces

Only then does the girl look

Only then does she see,

The mirror was never perfect to begin with

Just like her,

Scratches and cloudy smudges

While this obscured her view before

She now sees what the voice was saying

She isn’t perfect,

But it doesn’t matter

Scared or bruised,

She’s still loved.

LIGHT or DARK skinned

She is BEAUTIFUL

She is HUMAN

“Look in the mirror”

You’ll see,

You’ll see the girl the others love

They don’t care about your scars and bruises,

They don’t care if you’re white or black,

Asian, African, or American,

It doesn’t matter who you are

Or where you come from,

You are LOVED

You are BEAUTIFUL

YOU ARE PERFECT.

Join Us for the Mat-Su Republican Women’s Club’s “All Aboard Extravanganza”!

Contributed by Evelyn Bunch, Mat-Su Republican Women

All Aboard Extravanganza
10/2/2021 – 5PM
Mat-Su Republican Women’s Club
Evangelo’s Restaurant
2530 E Parks Hwy, Wasilla
Tickets: $75 Individual, $600 VIP Table of 8

Join us for an exciting evening of fun and enjoy a wonderful prime rib and halibut dinner. Bid on wonderful auction items, wall of guns, and listen to renown speaker, Brigadier General Mike Bridges. Your support helps elections of more conservative Republican candidates.  

Purchase tickets online, $75 each, or VIP seating tables of 8 for $600 on our website, www.matsurepublicanwomensclub.org or Facebook. Ladies and gentlemen, everyone is welcome, membership not needed!

Beck Joins Race for Mat-Su Mayor

Contributed by Matthew J. Beck

Having been asked by people from across the Borough to run for Mat-Su Mayor, it’s official, I’m in the race! The election is November 2nd, and I look forward to hearing from those that live in the Mat-Su about your hopes and dreams for our diverse communities. 

Most of you know of my work while serving on the Borough Assembly between 2013 and 2019 and as Deputy Mayor for four years. Those years gave me the prospective on every corner of the Borough and how each community contributes to the Borough as a whole. Most importantly, my time on the Borough Assembly gave me the experience to lead the Borough like no other candidate. My knowledge is current. I know the budget. I know the projects. I’m ready to hit the ground running, dealing with the challenges we face, and seeking practical solutions.

Teresa and I, with our partners, have two successful businesses in Mat-Su that we have built together from the ground up, North Star Animal Hospital and Pet Resort. Today, I spend quite a bit of my time working at the pet resort. My mom says that I am a professional dog poop scooper. Previously, I worked fulltime for the Catholic Church for 26 years in a variety of different parish and archdiocesan settings as Youth Ministry Coordinator, Parish Life Director, and other ministerial roles.

Our family lives on a hobby farm and raises turkeys, chickens, sheep and an occasional calf. Many of our closest friends and neighbors are the surrounding farmers. I have worked with farmers to protect and grow agriculture in Alaska. Our three daughters have attended Mat-Su public schools, and I enjoyed volunteering in their classrooms and chaperoning field trips when they were younger. Our children have participated in a variety of sporting activities and much of our time has been spent on the sidelines and in the bleachers alongside many of you, cheering for our kids.

The volunteer experiences, spending time with other parents in the bleachers, our family’s participation in 4-H activities, and my professional work in a variety of settings have helped me develop a broad prospective of the Mat-Su. The people and geography are beautifully diverse. Our needs and desires are also unique.

My goal is to make our Borough a welcoming place and involve rural and urban communities in the political process. I will work hard to represent everyone, including those that live inside and outside of the city limits. As I did when I served on the Assembly, I will travel throughout the Mat-Su to meet face-to-face with people and listen to your questions and ideas.

I invite all to visit www.matthewjbeck.com and discover how we make a difference together. I look forward to serving you as the Mat-Su Borough Mayor. 

Paid for by Beck for Mat-Su Mayor 1150 S Colony Way Ste. 3 Pmb. 133 Palme,r AK 99645 907-355-3223

Talkeetna, Together.

Talkeetna, Together.

Contributed by Lauren Kane
Frontier Gifts, Talkeetna Chamber of Commerce

“Talkeetna Together” is our new saying for Talkeetna… Keeping Talkeetna safe and fun at the same time.

Talkeetna is known for making use of the tourist industry, bustling with locally-owned businesses that thrive through-out the summer…  But we encourage ALL local Alaskans, not just out of state tourists, to stop on by and visit us here in Talkeetna.  Whether it’s spring, summer, fall, or during the winter months!

We have several stores that will be open all winter. There’s even a new year-round Christmas store, The Magic of Christmas, that opened up September 1st!

Talkeetna offers a variety of excursions to do on your visits. You can stay in Talkeetna a week and always have things to do.

Campgrounds, viewings, flights to the Great Denali, bike rides, ATV Tours, zip lines, fishing trips, dogsled rides, jet boat trips, shopping and dining, and wildlife viewing.

Take tons of photos of the beautiful fireweed, lupine, wild roses, forget me nots, and iris as well as the Moose, Bears, Swans, Fox, Lynx, and Birds. Walk down the river and railroad tussle to catch a view of the salmon running the rivers. Many gift shops offer Alaska-made products. Some products include fireweed jellies and syrup, birch syrups and candy, handmade jewelry and native art, soaps, and tanned furs like caribou, wolverine, lynx, fox, beavers, as well as many more!

Shipping is available at most locations. Alaskan made knives and Ulus are a must see and make perfect gifts for back home! Thu Ulu makes a great pizza cutter and veggie chopper, as well as cleaning a fish or skinning a bear.

Visit the photography shops for wonderful photos of Alaskan landscapes, wildlife, and history. 

The Burger Barn serves wonderful food as well as Latitude 62, The Brew Pub, Twister Creek and The Flying Squirrel to name a few. B&B’s offer great overnight stays as well as Swiss Inn and Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge.

We even have a climbing school for the adventurous ones planning on climbing our beautiful mountains!

 Talkeetna is a very friendly village of unique craftsmen, authors, songwriters, trappers, photographers, artists, all who are happy to share their knowledge of this unique little town. There are still several original buildings still here. Visit our local museum to learn more about our quaint little village.

Visit the Talkeetna Chamber of Commerce for a list of events and activities.

We invite people to send in their photos of Talkeetna to The People’s Paper for a chance to win a gift certificate! You can send them to contact@thepeoplespaper.news

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