Registered voters will get a chance to decide next year whether to legalize private use of marijuana for Alaskans 21 and older. Lt. Gov. Loren Leman notified initiative sponsors in late November that the petition has the 28,782 signatures necessary to get the question on the 2004 ballot. Sponsors must collect signatures equal to 10 percent of those who voted in the most recent general election. Since the marijuana initiative was filed prior to the 2002 election, it is based on 10 percent of the voters in the 2000 general election. [continues 157 words]
One day in October my friend Yancey talked me into driving down to Anchor Point to score some pot. I hadn't known Yancey for that long, maybe a month, but he seemed all right to me. He likes being outside, kayaking, hunting, hiking. He has a couple of dogs, a Ph.D. in linguistics, and he's a writer. He yells at the top of his lungs when he's excited, which is pretty much all the time. He needed to go to Homer to register his truck, he said, because it couldn't pass Anchorage's emission test, and he had a buddy, John, in Anchor Point who would put us up and get weed for us in the morning. [continues 2753 words]
Referring to "Student faces drug charge" (Nov. 21), about a student facing felony charges for pot being in her car: Let's get this straight. The Anchorage Police Department has the time to track down a 1.75-liter bottle of Jim Beam whisky (leading to the pot find) and the district attorney has the money to send a kid to prison for five years for possession of a "small amount" of pot, but we have no resources to investigate rape charges and must rely on volunteers to protect people from violent crimes on the bike trails? As a city and a state, we have clearly lost our way when it comes to appropriate crime laws and enforcement focus. The district attorney's office and APD should be very ashamed of themselves. Dan Frank Anchorage [end]
A West High School senior is facing a felony drug charge after a very small amount of marijuana was found by police in her car on school grounds, according to documents filed in court this week. Police spokeswoman Anita Shell did not know exactly how much pot was discovered, but said that it was a small enough amount that if it wasn't found in a school zone, the charge would have been a misdemeanor. [continues 453 words]
Marijuana: Decision Shoots Down State; Earlier Personal Use Ruling Stands. JUNEAU -- The Alaska Court of Appeals has refused to reconsider a case in which it ruled that adults have the right to have marijuana in their homes for personal use. The state appeals court on Friday afternoon denied Alaska Attorney General Gregg Renkes' petition for a rehearing in the case of David Noy, a North Pole man who was arrested in 2001 after he was found with marijuana in his home. Renkes said that the next step is to ask the Alaska Supreme Court take up the case. [continues 546 words]
The Alaska Court of Appeals will not reconsider its August decision allowing adults to possess as much as a quarter-pound of marijuana in their home. In an opinion released Friday, the court denied the Alaska attorney general's petition to rehear the case, which invalidated a 1990 voter initiative criminalizing all amounts of marijuana by calling the resulting ban on personal pot use in the home unconstitutional. The court rejected all the assertions the attorney general's office made in arguing that the decision was flawed in the case of Noy v. State, which resulted in Attorney General Gregg Renkes instructing all state law enforcement agencies not to arrest or cite adults for personal marijuana use in their home. [continues 765 words]
Plenty of ideas to curb use of illegal drugs in schools came out of last week's meeting between Fairbanks school board members and representatives of local law enforcement agencies. But one was notably absent from an account of the session. Parental inquiry. How can it be that drugs such as marijuana and cocaine are, as one Alaska State Trooper told board members, easy for students to get? Marijuana is what youngsters want, he said. More alarming is the comment that cocaine, a drug that can ruin a life with great rapidity, is gaining favor among school-age children. Illegal drugs, as difficult as it may seem, have already found their way into elementary schools. [continues 296 words]
What local law enforcement officers had to say during a Tuesday night school board work session on drugs in local schools was enough to generate a host of ideas to combat the problem. Eliminate the open-campus policy at high schools. Shorten passing periods. Mandate drug tests for participants in extracurricular activities. Stop suspending kids who are caught with drugs at school. Expand in-school suspension instead and take away privileges like driving to school and having a lock on their locker. [continues 519 words]
Petition: State Won't Fight Order To Count 200 Booklets An initiative to decriminalize marijuana in Alaska may end up on the 2004 ballot after all. The state will not appeal a court order to reconsider nearly 200 petition booklets that state elections officials had invalidated, Lt. Gov. Loren Leman said Monday. The state weighed the cost of appealing the court order against the risk of losing. "The risk wasn't worth the cost," said Leman, who oversees the state Division of Elections. [continues 361 words]
ANCHORAGE - An initiative to decriminalize marijuana in Alaska may end up on the 2004 ballot after all. The state will not appeal a court order to reconsider nearly 200 petition booklets that were invalidated by state elections officials, Lt. Gov. Loren Leman said Monday. The state's decision was influenced by weighing the cost of appealing the court order against the risk of losing. "The risk wasn't worth the cost," said Leman, a former state senator who sponsored a bill in 1999 to restrict the state's medical marijuana laws. [continues 513 words]
Pot vs. Privacy Oct. 14 - David Noy doesn't deny he had a few ounces of marijuana in his house. He doesn't even deny he had some plants growing in his basement. He just doesn't think he should go to jail over it. And the second-highest court in Alaska has agreed with him. The state Court of Appeals cited the right to privacy as the reason for its decision, and the ruling has thrown drug enforcement officials into confusion. [continues 1029 words]
The citizen initiative is an important part of Alaska's political system. It allows people to write and approve certain laws without going through the Legislature. As lieutenant governor, it is my responsibility to oversee the processing of initiatives from the time applications are filed until they appear, if qualified, on the ballot. I believe it is very important that Alaskans understand the process, especially because of charges that have recently been made. I forward initiative applications to the De-partment of Law for a legal review of their form and subject. An application in "proper form" is one that meets the requirements of the law. If the subject is consistent with our Constitution, the Department of Law will recommend that I approve the application. The legal analysis of the proposed law may be fairly simple or lengthy and complex, depending on the subject. [continues 525 words]
I'm having zero tolerance for cannabis (marijuana) prohibitionists and their terrorizing ignorance, so I was pleased to read "Pot Prop May Go On '04 Ballot" (Sept. 26, 2003). Anchorage Superior Court Judge John Suddock ordered Lt. Gov. Loren Leman to accept almost 200 initiative signature booklets previously rejected. This is similar to an occurrence in Colorado, where in 1998 a medical marijuana amendment was on the Colorado ballot but Secretary of State Vicky Buckley did not count the votes because she said there were not enough valid signatures on the petitions. After her death, boxes of petition sheets were found in her office and a recount of all the signatures initiated by proponents proved the state made a mistake. A judge then ordered the medical marijuana question be placed on the ballot again on Nov. 7. [continues 93 words]
Judge Says Division Of Elections Erred In Rejecting Initiative Booklets. A Superior Court ruling makes it more likely that voters will be asked next fall to legalize marijuana in Alaska. Anchorage Judge John Suddock ruled Tuesday that the Division of Elections was wrong to reject, on technical reasons, nearly 200 initiative petition booklets filled with thousands of signatures. Those booklets can't be disqualified based on reporting glitches if it doesn't affect the validity of the signatures, he said. "Violence would be done to the right to initiative precisely if that regulatory scheme were here strictly enforced," Suddock wrote. [continues 435 words]
JUNEAU -- Proponents of an initiative to decriminalize marijuana will get another chance to put the measure on the 2004 ballot, a Superior Court judge ruled. Anchorage Superior Judge John Suddock ordered Lt. Gov. Loren Leman and the state Division of Elections to reconsider nearly 200 petition booklets that were rejected earlier. Suddock said in a lengthy and, at times, scathing ruling issued Tuesday that state elections officials did not do enough to help the marijuana proponents work through the complicated initiative process. The Division of Elections received the ruling Thursday. [continues 458 words]
State Court Reverses Decision To Reject Pot Initiative Signatures Pro-marijuana advocates got a boost this week when Anchorage Superior Court Judge John Suddock ordered Lt. Gov. Loren Leman to accept almost 200 initiative signature booklets rejected in January on "trivial rule violations." The initiative, which would decriminalize private use of marijuana for those 21 and older, could make it on the ballot for the 2004 general election, if certified by the Division of Elections. Initiative sponsors submitted nearly 50,000 signatures for certification on Nov. 14, 2002. But the following January, Leman rejected 194 of the 484 signature booklets submitted by the initiative sponsors. [continues 509 words]
MARIJUANA: Attorney General Wants Police To Investigate Cases Regardless Of Amount Of Drug. JUNEAU -- State troopers and local police should work to build federal cases out of marijuana use that a state appeals court has declared to be legal under state law, Alaska Attorney General Gregg Renkes said Tuesday. In a memo to state prosecutors and the head of the Alaska State Troopers, Renkes said that law enforcement agencies should not make arrests or cite people for possessing modest amounts of marijuana for personal use at home. [continues 807 words]
JUNEAU, Alaska - The state attorney general told Alaska law officers Tuesday to continue to confiscate all marijuana, even though a state appeals court made it legal for people to possess up to four ounces in their homes. Officers should investigate the cases in a manner that would allow for federal prosecution, Attorney General Gregg Renkes wrote to the public safety commissioner. Possession of marijuana remains a federal crime. "This includes seizing and treating as evidence all marijuana found, even if under four ounces in the home, and writing reports documenting the investigation," Renkes wrote. [continues 150 words]
Attorney General Gregg Renkes instructed state law enforcement Tuesday not to arrest or cite adults for personal marijuana possession in their home. Renkes' announcement came in light of a recent Alaska Court of Appeals decision that called a portion of the state's marijuana laws unconstitutional. "I am advising the Alaska State Troopers and directing that the district attorneys advise their local law enforcement not to arrest or cite any adult for a violation of state law under the circumstances protected by the Court of Appeals," Renkes wrote in a memo to the Department of Public Safety and the state's district attorneys. [continues 903 words]
In Mr. Barton's letter "Appeals Court ruling on marijuana places police agencies at odds" (Sept. 9) he exemplifies part of the problem in police forces today. Surely Mr. Barton, being a law enforcement officer, knows something about constitutional and legal processes. Therefore I assume he also knows a constitutional right cannot be voted in or out with a simple voter initiative. The Ravin decision has been the supreme law in Alaska concerning adult possession of small amounts of cannabis in the home since 1975. [continues 154 words]
State Attorney General Gregg Renkes should quickly appeal a state appellate court ruling that can only worsen Alaska's already monumental and growing substance abuse problems. The state Appeals Court has unanimously reversed the 2001 conviction of David S. Noy, a North Pole man who was found with five marijuana plants in his home. In accepting Noy's argument that a privacy provision in the Alaska Constitution allows possession of marijuana, the appellate panel tossed cold water on a 1990 initiative that made pot possession, in any amount, illegal. The court found that Alaska citizens have a right to possess up to 4 ounces of marijuana in their homes for personal use. [continues 326 words]
Literally and figuratively, it's a burning question: Can Alaskans have marijuana or not? The state Court of Appeals recently said yes, ruling that adult Alaskans can legally possess up to a quarter pound of marijuana in their homes for personal use. But the ruling, based on the two-year-old case of a North Pole man found with marijuana in his home, has met with varying responses from local and statewide law enforcement agencies and state prosecutors. Police Director Paul Harris said it would be "business as usual" at the Fairbanks Police Department. [continues 694 words]
I'm sure Gov. Frank Murkowski and Attorney General Gregg Renkes are very much against substance abuse, as indicated in "Court affirms right to possess pot" (Aug. 30). I am as well. Of course they must know that alcohol is a substance that is abused far more than marijuana in any environment, rural or otherwise. However, the fellow growing a plant or two in the basement donates little to political campaigns. It is easier to squash the little guy, rather than those with real money. Image is everything to our politicians; thinking is not. - -- Robert E. Archer, Gig Harbor, Wash. [end]
MAT-SU -- A recent ruling by the state Court of Appeals regarding possession of small amounts of marijuana has prompted at least one drug case to be dropped in the Valley. Wasilla attorney Verne Rupright said one of his clients will avoid pleading to a charge of misconduct involving a controlled substance for possessing marijuana. Rupright said the court ruling prompted the Palmer District Attorney's office to drop prosecution for the misdemeanor offense involving a couple of ounces. "We were just about to negotiate a settlement for a client who had the requisite amount to trigger the very bottom end of the statute," he said. "She clearly falls into the criteria. [continues 422 words]
No surprise: 1990 ban is invalid Surprise: APD will ignore ruling The state Court of Appeals made headlines last week with its ruling in a marijuana case. The justices said the right of privacy in Alaska's Constitution gives adult Alaskans the right to possess a small amount of marijuana for personal use in their own homes. The ruling shouldn't be a surprise. The Alaska Supreme Court has never reversed its ruling in Ravin v. State, a 1975 case that established a constitutional right to possess up to four ounces of marijuana in the privacy of one's own home. [continues 565 words]
A couple years ago David Noy was smoking some fish at his house in North Pole. Or rather he was grilling some salmon and smoking some herb in a recipe that was detectable if not delectable to the local police, and he got busted. Not for the barbecue -- for the pot. David Noy was convicted of sixth degree misconduct involving a controlled substance -- a misdemeanor -- possessing an amount of marijuana that is statutorily defined as for personal use. He had pot plants in his house and the things to make them grow and the stuff to smoke 'em when they did. [continues 611 words]
Law enforcement authorities on the Kenai Peninsula are in a holding pattern right now with regard to a recent appellate court ruling involving the state's marijuana possession law. In an opinion overturning a jury's verdict in a Fairbanks case, the Alaska Court of Appeals ruled Alaskans may possess less than 4 ounces of marijuana in their homes for personal use. Essentially the decision changes the state possession law back to the way it was before Alaska voters took a zero tolerance stance on pot in 1990. [continues 526 words]
Law Enforcement Dazed and Confused, Suffering Denial "Alaska citizens have the right to possess less than four ounces of marijuana in their home for personal use." - Alaska Court of Appeals, Noy v. State, August 29, 2003 The Alaska Court of Appeals ruled August 29 that Alaska residents may possess up to four ounces of marijuana in their own homes without any criminal or civil penalty. The ruling, which cites a 1975 Alaska Supreme Court finding that the Alaska constitution's privacy provisions protect the personal possession and use of marijuana in the home, once again makes Alaska the only state in the country with legal marijuana in the home. (After the 1975 Ravin v. Alaska decision, the Alaska legislature eventually removed criminal penalties for possession of less than four ounces, but a 1990 voter initiative cheerlead by then drug czar William Bennett recriminalized simple pot possession. It has taken until now for the appeals courts to rule on a case that challenged the constitutionality of the 1990 vote.) [continues 967 words]
The recent decision of the state appellate court to finally recognize the constitution of Alaska, instead of political pressure in the case of State v. Noy is admirable. Whether you agree with the de-criminalization of marijuana in Alaska or not, the court should be applauded for not ignoring our constitutional rights to privacy, which was very clearly laid out in the state constitution. This is a huge victory for right-to-privacy as well as state's rights. The debate over the morality of the law will go on, I suspect, for some time. We are no doubt going to start to hear about how the federal government is going to hold the mythical "highway money" over our heads if we don't go walk the federal line. [continues 189 words]
BUSTS: Anchorage police to enforce ban on marijuana in home, but troopers will not. JUNEAU -- So, is pot legal in Alaska now? Alaska law enforcement agencies are split in their reaction to last week's state appeals court decision that adult Alaskans have the right to possess a modest amount of marijuana in their homes for personal use. Anchorage police will continue to enforce a pot ban. But the Alaska State Troopers will not, according to Public Safety Commissioner Bill Tandeske. [continues 858 words]
JUNEAU (AP) A state appellate court has affirmed the right of Alaskans to possess a small amount of marijuana in their home in a ruling handed down Friday. The state Court of Appeals, in a unanimous ruling, reversed a 2001 conviction of a North Pole man found with marijuana in his home and ordered a new trial. In striking down the conviction of David S. Noy, the court called into question a 1990 voter initiative that criminalized possession of any amount of marijuana. [continues 265 words]
Governor Frank H. Murkowski reacted to today's decision of the Alaska court of appeals re-legalizing the use of marijuana in private homes by directing the Attorney General to review the case and make recommendations on how the state should proceed. "I am very concerned about this, as are many Alaskans," Murkowski said. "Substance abuse continues to have a devastating impact on the people of Alaska and on our communities," Murkowski said. "It is regrettable that the court of appeals has, in essence, rejected the will of the people of Alaska who re-criminalized the use of marijuana in a 1990 initiative. [continues 103 words]
Juneau, Alaska A law banning Alaskans from possessing any amount of marijuana in their homes has been ruled unconstitutional by a state appeals court Friday. Friday's decision by the Alaska Court of Appeals reversed the 2001 drug conviction of a North Pole man and ordered a new trial. The ruling affirms a 1975 Alaska Supreme Court decision that found it legal to possess less than 113 grams of marijuana in one's home. That ruling found the state constitution's strong privacy law superseded legislative attempts to ban marijuana. [continues 62 words]
AG Says State Will Take Issue To The Alaska Supreme Court JUNEAU (AP) -- A state appellate court has affirmed the right of Alaskans to possess a small amount of marijuana in their home in a ruling handed down Friday. The state Court of Appeals, in a unanimous ruling, reversed a 2001 conviction of a North Pole man found with marijuana in his home, and ordered a new trial. The state will petition the Alaska Supreme Court for review, Attorney General Gregg Renkes said in a statement Friday. [continues 325 words]
AG Says State Will Take Issue To The Alaska Supreme Court A state appellate court has affirmed the right of Alaskans to possess a small amount of marijuana in their home in a ruling handed down Friday. The state Court of Appeals, in a unanimous ruling, reversed a 2001 conviction of a North Pole man found with marijuana in his home, and ordered a new trial. The state will petition the Alaska Supreme Court for review, Attorney General Gregg Renkes said in a statement Friday. [continues 326 words]
RULING: Alaskans Can Have A Small Amount Of Marijuana In Their Homes; State Vows High Court Review JUNEAU -- In a ruling handed down Friday, a state appellate court has affirmed the right of Alaskans to possess a small amount of marijuana in their homes. The state Court of Appeals, in a unanimous ruling, reversed a 2001 conviction of a North Pole man found with marijuana in his home and ordered a new trial. In striking down the conviction of David S. Noy, the court called into question a 1990 voter initiative that criminalized possession of any amount of marijuana. [continues 265 words]
Adults can legally possess as much as a quarter pound of marijuana in their home, the Alaska Court of Appeals declared in an opinion released Friday. The opinion, which stemmed from an appeal in a Fairbanks case, called personal marijuana use in the home by an adult a right guaranteed by the state constitution. "With regard to possession of marijuana by adults in their home for personal use, (the law) must be interpreted to prohibit only the possession of 4 ounces or more of marijuana," wrote Court of Appeals Judge David Stewart in the conclusion of the unanimous decision. [continues 1170 words]
JUNEAU, Alaska - A law banning Alaskans from possessing any amount of marijuana in their homes has been ruled unconstitutional by a state appeals court Friday. Friday's decision by the Alaska Court of Appeals reversed the 2001 drug conviction of a North Pole man and ordered a new trial. The ruling affirms a 1975 Alaska Supreme Court decision that found it legal to possess less than four ounces of marijuana in one's home. That ruling found that the state constitution's strong privacy law superseded legislative attempts to ban marijuana. [continues 90 words]
ANCHORAGE (AP) A Wasilla man contends U.S. border agents are responsible for thousands of dollars of damage done to his trailer and a disassembled log home after he was stopped for a search at the Alaska-Canada border. "They act like, I don't know how to say it, like heathens," Waymon Price said. U.S. Customs officials said the Aug. 19 incident occurred when a drug-sniffing German shepherd got a whiff of marijuana. On that day, Price hauled half of a disassembled custom log home to the Alaska border from Vancouver, British Columbia. Price, 45, and his fiancee, Vicki Miller, 54, planned to assemble the log home in the Butte, south of Palmer, before winter. [continues 376 words]
The first-offense penalty for middle and high school students caught using or having drugs or alcohol at school just doubled. The school board at its Tuesday meeting passed an emergency revision to the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District's drug and alcohol policy. The change means first time offenders would face a 10-day suspension rather than the current five. Superintendent Ann Shortt said she talked to principals about the increase. "They really felt that five days was not enough," she said. "I thought that was a very slight punishment, five days." [continues 280 words]
A lawsuit filed late last month is spurring a proposal to change the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District's policy on drugs and alcohol in the schools. The school board is slated to take vote on an emergency policy change at tonight's meeting. The new policy would increase the penalty for students who are caught for the first time using or possessing alcohol or drugs at school. Those students would face a 10-day suspension rather than the current five. [continues 476 words]
FAIRBANKS--A North Pole High School student and his father are suing school staff and the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District Board over a drug-testing policy they say violates U.S. Constitutional rights. The school gave Anthony Frey an ultimatum the last day of school in May: Take a drug test or face a 90-day expulsion. In the suit filed Thursday in Fairbanks state court, attorneys for Frey and his father Martin Frey allege that school staff ordered Anthony to submit to a nurse's eye exam after he displayed red eyes on the last day of school. [continues 295 words]
Supreme Court Ruling Trumps 1990 Ban, He Argues. FAIRBANKS (AP) -- The Alaska Court of Appeals is considering a case that could set precedent in the 1975 Alaska Supreme Court ruling protecting marijuana possession for personal use in the home. A lawyer for a North Pole man convicted in 2001 of possessing marijuana in his home has appealed the conviction based on a claim that a nearly three-decade-old Alaska Supreme Court decision declaring personal pot possession a state constitutional right is still the law. [continues 295 words]
When a Fairbanks judge last month dismissed a local man's conviction for marijuana possession based on a claim that he has a state constitutional right to possess small amounts of pot in his home, the man's argument was far from original. Ever since voters in 1990 passed an initiative to criminalize possession of any amount of marijuana in any location, attorneys, defendants and privacy advocates have asserted that the law is unconstitutional as determined by the 1975 state Supreme Court decision made in Ravin v. State. [continues 566 words]
The fate of an argument that the Alaska Constitution gives adults the right to possess small amounts of marijuana in their homes could be decided by a local case being considered by the Alaska Court of Appeals. A lawyer for a North Pole man convicted in 2001 of possessing marijuana in his home has appealed the conviction based on a claim that a nearly three-decade-old Alaska Supreme Court decision declaring personal pot possession a state constitutional right is still the law. [continues 1067 words]
Judicial Day of Reckoning Coming An Alaska Superior Court judge in Fairbanks has dismissed a man's conviction for marijuana possession on the grounds that the Alaska state constitution's privacy provisions guarantee the right to possess marijuana for personal use. Judge Richard Savell dismissed the conviction against Scott A. Thomas on June 25. He had been charged with three counts of felony fourth-degree misconduct for growing pot plants in his home last summer, but a jury found him guilty of only one count of misdemeanor marijuana possession, and now that has been thrown out. [continues 600 words]
MARIJUANA: Judge Rules State Constitution Allows Possession If There's No Intent to Sell. FAIRBANKS -- A Superior Court judge dismissed a man's marijuana conviction, ruling that the Alaska Constitution guarantees the right to possess marijuana for personal use in the home. Judge Richard Savell of Fairbanks dismissed Scott A. Thomas' conviction. Thomas was charged with three counts of felony fourth-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance for allegedly growing pot plants in his home last summer. A jury found him guilty of one count of a misdemeanor charge of sixth-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance for possessing 2.6 ounces of marijuana. [continues 266 words]
A Fairbanks judge ruled the Alaska Constitution guarantees a local man the right to possess marijuana for personal use in his home. In a decision rendered last week, Superior Court Judge Richard Savell dismissed the Fairbanks man's conviction for pot possession, ruling that a 1975 Alaska Supreme Court decision legalizing personal marijuana use by an adult in their home is still the law. Savell agreed with arguments made by an attorney for Scott A. Thomas, 42, who was charged with three counts of felony fourth-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance for allegedly growing pot plants in a Tonsina Drive residence last summer. [continues 536 words]
JUNEAU - Alaska voters going to the polls in 2004 may get their say on taxes, bear baiting, cruise-ship fees, the draft and decriminalizing marijuana. But they won't get to vote on seceding from the United States. The lieutenant governor's office turned down that proposal last week. Lt. Gov. Loren Leman has certified two other proposals - one to ban bear baiting and one to set up a task force to study exempting Alaska from the draft - but has yet to decide on three other initiative applications filed this year. [continues 538 words]
It is becoming increasingly difficult to become filthy rich in America. Slavery was abolished in 1865, although with the proposed elimination of the state minimum wage for anyone under 20, maybe that won't matter as much in the future - we'll just need to switch back to children's sweatshops. Of course, one could always "employ" our vast prison population, a $9 billion/year industry. No unemployment insurance to pay, no health benefits, no sick pay and no holidays - what's there not to like? War profiteering, a once a lucrative enterprise open to even poor poets like Arthur Rimbaud, is turning into a high stakes game. If you don't have a couple of million to open an account with the Carlyle Group, along with the Bushes and bin Ladens, you're pretty much priced right out of the market. One could always become a captain of industry, although I must warn you the names Capt. Hook and Capt. Harlock have already been taken. [continues 189 words]
Inside Alaska
