Lethbridge Herald

A PORT IN THE STORM

Alaska fishing town considers a commitment to inclusion

- Becky Bohrer

The small Alaska fishing community of Homer is no stranger to political activism. In the 1970s, a landmark legal case involving one of its residents found the constituti­onal right to privacy in Alaska extends to the athome use of marijuana.

In 1989, Homer became a “nuclear-free” zone. And just last month, hundreds turned out for a women’s march in the city.

Now, Homer is wading deeper into the national political debate, becoming the latest U.S. city to consider affirming its commitment to inclusion amid concerns about the treatment of immigrants, religious groups, the LGBTQ community and others.

The City Council today is expected to weigh a resolution that states Homer will resist any efforts to profile “vulnerable population­s” and will reject any expression­s of fear and hate.

If it passes, the city will join others such as Boise, Idaho, that have branded themselves as welcoming in recent weeks. It doesn’t go as far as places like Seattle, San Francisco and New York, which offer sanctuary protection­s for people in the country illegally.

Homer’s resolution says the city will co-operate with federal authoritie­s investigat­ing immigratio­n violations.

The proposal has been softened from an early draft that stated President Donald Trump took power without a popular mandate and has made “offensive and harmful” statements.

Hal Spence, a resident who worked on the draft, said he is part of a group composed mostly of progressiv­es that began meeting after Trump’s election, “hands in the air wondering, ‘What do we do now?’” One of the goals with the measure was to generate debate, which has happened, he said.

Even with the softer tone, some residents see the effort as unnecessar­y and a slap in the face.

“Why do you have to legislate something or mention something that we’re already doing just fine?” Homer-area resident Christina Partridge said. She sees the measure as dragging the city of about 5,200 people into the political fights being waged nationally.

“It’s very sad that they’re bringing this up and causing all this strife in the community,” said Partridge, adding she is not affiliated with a political party. She declined to say if she voted for Trump.

In Homer, like the rest of Alaska, independen­ts outnumber registered Republican­s or Democrats. Trump won the state and the district that includes Homer in the November election.

Writer Tom Kizzia was editor of a Homer newspaper in the 1970s, when hippies and “back-to-the landers” were discoverin­g the town.

“That was mixing in with the old homesteade­r community — there was a bit of a culture war that was getting built into the town system,” he said.

Back then, it seemed like every February an issue would jolt the community — fights over oil drilling, a nude sign at a bar — but that seems to have subsided in recent years, Kizzia said.

Today, the city that bills itself as the “Halibut Fishing Capital of the World” has a worldlines­s to it, Kizzia said. He cited its arts community, documentar­y film festival and restaurant­s that are the envy of his friends in Anchorage, about 230 miles to the north.

“Unlike when I got here in the ’70s, you don’t feel like you’re depriving yourself of things to be here,” he said of Homer, which is literally where the road — in this case, the Sterling Highway — ends on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula.

Catriona Reynolds, a Homer City Council member, said residents commonly bring suggested resolution­s to her and her fellow council members for discussion.

Reynolds liked the idea of making a statement on inclusivit­y. But she said the edgier draft, which was posted online, contained a lot of negativity that she worried would “hamper it from being understood for what it was.”

“It doesn’t need to say what it’s standing against,” she said. “It can just say what it’s standing for.”

Reynolds said she and another council member, Donna Aderhold, agreed it was best to try to rework the measure before it was presented to the council. Another community member offered suggestion­s.

Businessma­n and district Republican chairman Jon Faulkner said he agrees with the concepts in the revised resolution but has a hard time divorcing it from the earlier draft. He noted he was speaking for himself and not the district.

 ?? Associated Press photo ?? In this 2016 photo, small boats rest at a harbor in Homer, Alaska. The fishing town is the latest U.S. city to consider affirming its commitment to inclusion amid national concerns about the treatment of immigrants, religious minorities and others.
Associated Press photo In this 2016 photo, small boats rest at a harbor in Homer, Alaska. The fishing town is the latest U.S. city to consider affirming its commitment to inclusion amid national concerns about the treatment of immigrants, religious minorities and others.

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