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King dinner features UAF coach, awards to Dick and Jo Scott, Shellie Brown

By Dermot Cole
Staff Writer
Published January 18, 2008

In the words of one sports writer, “Believe it or not, there was once a time when Philadelphia sports fans found real happiness.”

The Philly Ode to Joy dates from 1983, when the 76ers won the NBA championship on a team led by Julius Erving and Moses Malone. One of the additional ingredients in the winning mix that year was the play of Clemon Johnson, who came off the bench so Malone could rest his knees.

Johnson, the interim coach of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks basketball team, played 10 years in the NBA and appeared in 761 games for four teams.

He will be among those in the spotlight Saturday as the keynote speaker at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship and Community Awards Banquet.

Tickets are $35, and the banquet is to start at 7 p.m. at the Princess Hotel.

Other highlights of the evening are the presentation of community service awards to Dick and Jo Scott, longtime Fairbanks supporters of the arts, and to the Rev. Shellie Brown of the St. James Temple African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.

Earlier in the day, the Martin Luther King Jr. Youth Breakfast is to take place at 10 a.m. at the J.P. Jones Community Development Center. Admission is free for students and $10 for adults.

Youth community service awards are to be presented to Johnathan Kenney, Emily Nosce, Lorraine Knoxson, Jarrett Miller and Robert Kinnard III.

Nosce and Miller are the recipients of $1,000 scholarships from the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Foundation.

The guest speaker at the breakfast is to be Pamm Hubbard, assistant athletic director for compliance at UAF.

For tickets to the banquet or more information, call 479-4798.

FLAGGING: Anchorage Republican Rep. Bob Lynn has followed through on his promise to introduce a bill saying that flags flying at state offices and schools must be made in the U.S.

“American flags should be American-made,” Lynn said in a news release last year.

The flag material has to be grown, processed, dyed, cut and packaged in the U.S., according to his bill. He doesn’t say how much this patriotic burst of protectionism will cost.

Let me suggest that he hasn’t gone far enough to prevent un-American flag activities, however.

If he’s serious, Lynn should insist that the pole on which the flag is raised should be made of materials mined and processed in the U.S. There is no reason why we should accept raw materials for the flag and dyes of foreign origin. The same goes for the rope and the pulleys. The person raising the flag should be required to wear Yankee clothing, drive a car from Detroit and watch an American TV set.

Beyond that, we should make sure that the companies selling American flags have no foreign sewing machines or other imported equipment in their factories and that they don’t burn oil from OPEC.

In this world of free trade, protecting patriotism is no simple matter.

The Flag Manufacturers Association of America, formed four years ago to fight flag imports, is looking out for its member companies — who are worried about losing market share — by finding legislators in various states who care more for symbolism than substance.

Minnesota adopted a law banning the sale of all foreign-made American flags as of Jan. 1, while Arizona, Massachusetts and Tennessee have laws with provisions similar to those in Lynn’s bill.

If only the auto industry had thought of this.

ENFORCEMENT: Our lawmakers should be looking at the inadequate level of trooper staffing in the Fairbanks area, as well as the inadequate level of staffing for city police.

There are usually three to five troopers on patrol duty during each shift, covering an area that extends halfway to Nenana and past Harding Lake. Part of the state budget process should include an analysis of how many troopers should be on duty at once.

PAWNSHOPS: One of the ideas discussed in a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting Thursday was that with the increase in property crimes, electronic reporting by pawn shops of major items that come in the door could become a powerful weapon in combating crime.

ARMY FLIGHTS: The Army helicopters flying over town Wednesday were tracking Army vehicles on the ground in a training exercise. The Army said that in the future it will announce these exercises in advance, which may or may not reassure the black helicopter crowd.

BEHIND BARS: The state’s jails are 101 percent full, state officials told legislators Thursday. That includes 3,746 prisoners in Alaska and 853 in Arizona, the latter at a cost of $62 per day.

About two-thirds of the people convicted in 2007 had prior convictions.

ROAD WORK: Because of the noise from the soil testing equipment, the city did not give the state a variance to operate at night. That’s why the state is doing the soils testing on the Illinois Street bridge during the day. The work is being done in the winter instead of the summer, the Department of Transportation says, because bridge design work is taking place this winter.

LIGHTEN UP: The annual Celebration of Lights for the Samaritan Counseling Center is this evening at the Princess Hotel, with a social hour at 5:30 p.m., followed by dinner at 7 p.m. Call 452-4673 for more information.

THE QUEST: The 25th anniversary of the Yukon Quest this year should be cause for a big celebration. If the late Dr. William R. Wood were here, he’d suggest that we make it a two-year event and extend the festivities to Whitehorse next year.

ANNIVERSARY: On the topic of anniversaries, Andy Wescott dropped by Thursday to pick up some extra copies of the paper containing the story on receiving the Silver Star.

He said one person hasn’t gotten enough credit and he asked that we mention it today on his wedding anniversary.

“Pamela S. Wescott, thanks for all the care and support for the last 39 years. The Silver Star is as much yours as mine. Love for ever and ever. Andy.”

Dermot Cole can be reached at cole@newsminer.com or 459-7530.