Last Dance
Sitka Fine Arts Camp elementary age campers dance with instructor Brendan Jones in their final day of camp today at the Sheldon Jackson College Campus. Middle School Camp, for grades seven thru nine, begins Monday. Registration is still open at 907-747-3085. (Sentinel Photo by Klas Stolpe)
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Simply Three trio promises an evening of original [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Assembly received a piece of good news Tuesday wi [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
The U.S. House of Representatives gave unanimous approval today to a bill sp [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
Volunteers turned out in force June 1 to repair damage [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
The search for a woman reported missing near Ketchikan is focused on Ward La [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
This March, the Monroe Catholic Rams were among the four best lar [ ... ]
By NATHANIEL HERZ
Northern Journal
In May, the Alaska Legislature narrowly rejected a conservat [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
Federal officials have indicted two men for allegedly attempting [ ... ]
Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
June 13
At 1:33 a.m. a woman [ ... ]
Climate Connection: Electric Panels
Electrifying our lives prompts questions about whether our home e [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
After extensive recruiting efforts and no prospects i [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
An oil slick that appeared on the surface of the water [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Thirteen years ago Raph Shapiro spent the summer in S [ ... ]
By YERETH ROSEN
Alaska Beacon
A state oil and gas auction that offered royalty-free leases in t [ ... ]
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
June 12
An incident of drunkenness was repo [ ... ]
Soil Core May
Offer Portal to
Sitka’s Past
A soil core sample will be taken from Swan Lake Saturday [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Assembly members discussed possible future paths for [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
A decades-old record for Sitka’s highest temperature [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
A search was under way today for a 48-year-old Ketchikan woman reported miss [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
A wave of retirements on the Alaska Supreme Court is nearing its [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
An Anchorage Superior Court judge has ruled in favor of a propose [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
Federal prosecutors have accused a Fairbanks woman of stealing fr [ ... ]
Elder Coffee Time
On Summer Break
Sitka Tribe of Alaska’s community elders coffee time is on summer [ ... ]
Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
June 11
At 3:25 a.m. a driver [ ... ]
Daily Sitka Sentinel
Book Ban Vote Rocks Band
ANCHORAGE (AP) — Members of the Grammy-winning rock band Portugal. The Man are stepping into a banned book controversy in their Alaska home town.
After the school board at the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District in Palmer voted 5-2 last week to remove five classics used for high school English elective courses including F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby,” “Joseph Heller’s Catch-22” and Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” the band announced it would buy the books for any student or parent who wanted them.
The other two books are “Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison and “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien.
The books are controversial because of sexual references and descriptions of rape and incest, “things that are pretty serious problems, especially in our teenage world,” said board member Jeff Taylor, a Wasilla business owner who voted in favor of the ban.
Zachary Scott Carothers performs with his rock band “Portugal. The Man” during a campaign event for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders in Tacoma, Washington, in February. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Portugal. The Man guitarist Eric Howk was surprised to learn of the decision in the district north of Anchorage where the band members attended school, he KTVA-TV reported.
“We were all students of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough school district and we have a lot of teachers there that we love,” Howk said.
“I think when it comes to stories and to books, we’re storytellers. You know, we’re songwriters and we’re storytellers and we take the situations and the experiences and the people that we meet and we kind of turn those into the stories that we carry on with us to the next place and to the next town. Storytelling is just kind of sacred to us and it just hits really close to home.”
District spokeswoman Jillian Morrissey declined to comment on the offer by Portugal. The Man. The books remain in district libraries, she told The Associated Press.
The National Coalition Against Censorship has asked the school board to reverse its decision.
In a letter to the board’s president, coalition officials said removing from the curriculum “every book that some member of the community might find controversial would leave education in shreds and students at a disadvantage.”
The Anchorage Daily News reported the agenda for the school board’s next meeting Wednesday includes a proposal to rescind the vote.
Sarah Welton, one of two board members who voted no last week, told the newspaper she requested the motion to rescind and wanted to give members of the public an opportunity to comment.
Login Form
20 YEARS AGO
June 2004
Advertisement: Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital Caring Employee of the month! Franklin Thomas Hospital Nutrition Services.
50 YEARS AGO
June 1974
Edna Revard is enjoying a much-deserved vacation: she and youngest son Joe are in Italy visiting her older son, Jack, his wife and child. Jack is with the military, stationed in Italy. Edna will be gone a month, the crew at Revard’s Restaurant says.