After some primary elections, the best we can say is that we feel better if we vote than if we don't vote. But Tuesday's primary election indicates several lessons about Alaska's voters that candidates would do well to remember. Read more...

Lorraine T. Farstad, 78, died Aug. 20, 2008, in Ketchikan.

S. Georgiana Murphy, 80, died Aug. 19, 2008, in Ketchikan.

Tom Douglas Wetzel, 65, died July 20, 2008, in Burien, Wash.

Two changes of command for the U.S. Coast Guard in Ketchikan in the past week remind us of one of Ketchikan's enduring characteristics: Human variety.

While a new base commander comes into Ketchikan - although he has been here before on another assignment - one leaves. A new commander is at the helm of the cutter Anthony Petit and the old goes on to something new.

Elsewhere across the base, we get new neighbors and lose valued neighbors throughout the year as military assignments change. Some go for a while, and then return; many retire here (most not for the weather).

Following Stedman Street into town, the streets are jammed with visitors who are here for only the portion of a single day, but they, too, contribute to Ketchikan's character. They rub elbows (yes, we know, the sidewalks are too narrow at some points) with residents. Some are college kids, here to work in seasonal shops and have an Alaska adventure before they go back to school.

Others are third-generation Alaskans who know who is whose grandson and uncle by their gait and the tilt of their heads. We all run into one another on the trails, in the crosswalks, at the coffee shops.

They all contribute to the electric atmosphere of summer during the season.

You can see visitors in every town across America in July, and you can see old-timers, too. Yet in Ketchikan, this wacky combination of short-timers, no-timers, old-timers and folks here on assignment for a few years coalesces into a unique jumble of humanity.

When those Coasties return here to become judges and public officials and business people and all manner of other community member, they don't choose Ketchikan for the Deer Mountain view or the fishing alone.

They choose to come back - and we who have stayed, to stay - because of this glorious mix of people in a place unlike any other.

Welcome to our new commanders. Farewell to those departing.

As The Season hits its stride, while we still have you all here, you and the seasonal folks, it's time to let you all know that you, too, are an important part of the formula that adds up to Ketchikan.

Thanks for being here, however long your stay. You've made Ketchikan what it is today and this year. If you decide to come back, well, you won't be the first, or the last.

Welcome to Ketchikan.