May 5, 2014 Voice Your Opinions! Letters to the editor make a difference. You can send a 175-word letter to the Anchorage Daily News by e-mail (letters@adn.com); or by fax or mail (call them at 257-4308). Send letters to the Anchorage Press via e-mail editor@anchoragepress.com or by mail to 540 E. Fifth Ave, Anchorage, 99501. Feel free to call us if you need factual information to help you write a letter. Contact the Governor. The Governor can be reached at 269-7450; sean.parnell@alaska.gov; or www.alaska.gov. Contact us. My office can be reached at: 716 W. 4th Ave, Anchorage, AK 99501; by phone: 269-0106; visit my website at http://gara.akdemocrats.org; or email: Rep.Les.Gara@akleg.gov

Dear Friends and Neighbors:

“We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color.” 
Poet and Writer Maya Angelou.

Last Thursday my aide Rose Foley and I spent our morning with 2,000 people.  I know, it's not how most of you start work, or want to start work if you like a quiet cup of coffee in the morning.

Rep. Gara presents legislative citation at East High pep rally

This spring East High was named the most ethnically diverse High School in America by the U.S. Department of Education.  That's right.  East High in Anchorage, Alaska.

My staff Rose and Toby and I decided we should do something to celebrate that.  We decided to ask the Legislature to honor the school's students and staff.  We presented a Legislative Citation, co-sponsored by Rep. Geran Tarr last Thursday.  Seven legislators represent students at East High, but there's only room on Legislative Citations for two of us - so we just left the other five off.  Actually, the whole legislature supported this Citation. 

Principal Sam Spinella graciously invited us to East's quarterly assembly, which, among other things that cause students to celebrate politely yet wildly, involves a Spirit Stick.  Basically, when the Spirit Stick gets pointed at the freshman, sophomore, junior or senior sections, those 500 students cheer their heads off.  Fun.  Here's a bad video I took on my IPhone.

http://youtu.be/NfvmrR3_Oog

East High represents most ethnicities you can think of.  It's what America looks like.  Students at East trace heritage to the Pacific Islands, Asian cultures, Latin American nations, most of Alaska's eleven Native cultures, Europe, Africa, and, well, you get the tapestry.

And I'm happy to say that we're working to get East on par with every other public high school in Anchorage.  Until this year they were the only one without funding for bleachers and a scoreboard for hosting outdoor athletic events.  You can make the case that, in tough fiscal times, Anchorage should have a few centralized stadiums that are shared – but every other school has funding for a stadium and I don't feel East should be the poor stepchild. 

While I fought hard for school funds to reverse the last three years of classroom cuts, I also sponsored an amendment – supported unanimously by the House Finance Committee – for funding to start building bleachers and a scoreboard. We will be looking for trades and contractors to help save costs with volunteer work.  

The school district says we should see the start of a stadium next year or the year after, and we'll keep working with them – as long as the Governor doesn't veto the funds – to move this project along as quickly as possible.  I spent a bit of last week on the phone on this, and will work to help find volunteers once we get the School District green light.  Thanks, also, to Steve Nerland and others at the American Legion for supporting this project.

As always, call if you have any questions or if we can help.

My Best,