Ketchikan has job potential. Alaska had 21 years of job gains up until 2009. After a year without, Alaska added 1,800 jobs in 2010 and 5,200 in 2011, according to the Alaska Department of Labor.

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Former Ketchikan resident Mike Thomas, 47, died Dec. 20, 2011, in Mohave, Ariz. He was born in Salem, Ore., on Nov. 25, 1964, but was raised in Ketchikan.

If you haven't voted recently but you want to remain a registered voter, this is a good time to contact the state.

Alaska's Division of Elections is reviewing its voter registration records, and will inactivate the records of voters who have not voted or had contact with the division for the past four years. Of course, the state can't purge your registration willy nilly. The division is required to send two notices to voters prior to inactivating their records, and it reported that it recently mailed the second and final notice to 11,888 voters.

Voters who do not respond to the notice by March 4 will be inactivated, and their names will not appear on the list of names at polling places. According to the state, there are numerous cases in which voters move either out of state or elsewhere in Alaska and fail to notify the division.

Voters whose registration records have been inactivated due to list maintenance can still vote for the up to the next four years by using a questioned ballot.

However, with an important City of Ketchikan special election on April 6, and always-important local, state and national elections in the fall, nobody who is eligible to vote should let their registration expire. Even if, for whatever reason, you often choose to not vote, at least you know that you will be able to cast a ballot with no delay or special consideration.