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Bristol Bay and Beyond, January 9

Annexation, varsity basketball, a glut of reds on the world market, and (even) more ways to find a good read in Dillingham.

Credit Connor Ito, KDLG
Elementary exhibition gets top billing Friday night after varsity games were weathered out.

Do you have ideas or feedback for us? Maybe you've written a poem, song, essay, taken a photo, or have someone in mind we should interview for Bristol Bay and Beyond.

Send an email with your comments and suggestions to news@kdlg.org, or reach the host at dave@kdlg.org

The KDLG News line # is 907.842.2200.

Dillingham’s varsity teams open their season tonight, with the girls at home and the boys away. The Bristol Bay teams have already had a few games. Host of KDLG's Bristol Bay Sports Roundup Mike Larsen stopped in to give us a preview of the season ahead.

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Listen here ...

Credit Connor Ito, KDLG
South shore of Lake Aleknagik. The lake, and the rest of us, patiently wait for winter. Do you have a photo from the week we can feature on our website? Send it to news@kdlg.org

Credit Connor Ito, KDLG
Trouble finding a good book in town? Pretty sure there's an Ito around who will gladly point you to one.

Last week on this program we told you about an effort to put some "little free library" drop boxes around town, places to get a book, give a book, at much convenience to the reader. As we soon learned, these were  just one of many efforts to promote literacy and more reading in general in town. Connor Ito has more:

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Listen here ...

Credit Dewey Hemilright
Reds waiting for space on a tender in the Wood River, 2014.

In the fish world this week, it was reported that there was something of a glut of red salmon on the world markets, which was may be shaking the nerves of processors and buyers who are now looking at another potentially huge Bristol Bay run in 2015. Here to help us unravel it is our friend Gabe Dunham, who is the Bristol Bay Marine Advisory Program Agent and keeps an eye on industry news for us.

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listen here ...

Map of the annexation borders, reproposed by the City of Dillingham after a judge overturned the early annexation in the spring of 2014.

Next week, the Dillingham City Council will take up, again, the issue of whether or not to proceed with an annexation of the Nushagak Commercial Fishing District. (Read here, here, here, and here) If the council votes yes, an annexation petition will be sent to the Local Boundary Commission, which may take up to a year to review it, before giving it to state lawmakers to approve, or disapprove before the annexation would go into effect.  (Confused yet? You're not alone.) The city believes the soonest it may resume collecting the 2.5 percent raw fish tax from the Nushagak harvest is 2016, though many are skeptical it could be that soon.

Robert Heyano has been a staunch critic of annexation. He battled it before Dillingham voters adopted the measure in a 2012 vote, then led a lawsuit which successfully overturned it last spring. Heyano has continued to lobby for the city to not move forward, and we asked him to come share why. Heyano spoke with KDLG Thursday.

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Host Dave Bendinger speaks with Robert Heyano about why he thinks annexation is not the right path forward, and whether or not a borough is practical, and perhaps the better option.

Dillingham, Denver, or Dublin?

Finally this week, you might from time to time hear complaints of the "homogenization" of the U.S. … that feeling that no matter how far you drive in any direction, you’ll still find a Walmart, a cheap gallon of gas, and a Big Mac. Of course we know that doesn’t hold true for us … but, when one Dillingham man enjoyed his first sandwich at Dillingham's new Subway, he found the comfort of the familiar can be a cause for some small appreciation. Clark Fair submitted this essay for Bristol Bay and Beyond:

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Can you do something like this? Let us know ... send an email to news@kdlg.org or dave@kdlg.org. We'd love to have your essay on this show.

Credit Connor Ito, KDLG

That's it for this week's Bristol Bay and Beyond, our weekly newsmagazine on KDLG. We hope you join us each Friday at 12pm and 6:30pm on AM670.

Send comments, suggestions, and other fun feedback to news@kdlg.org or dave@kdlg.org.

Have you taken a stellar photo this week that be our cover photo? Send it to us! We'll credit you, and then hound you for more photos thereafter.