The problem with spring cleaning in April is that it is difficult to work up a good cleaning head of steam when it's hailing outside. Read more...

Colin Lee Edenso, 63, died Friday, May 2, 2008, in Anchorage, following a brief illness. He was born June 13,1944, in Ketchikan, and lived all his life in Alaska.

Rebecca Helen Stokes, 40, died May 3, 2008, in Kiowa, Okla. Born Rebecca Helen Searle in Kelso, Wash., on Jan. 14, 1968, she attended Stella Mayfield school in Elgin, Ore., and Schoenbar Middle School in Ketchikan, where she lived from 1981 to 1986.

Marguerite C. "Peg" Jacobson, 89, died April 17, 2008, in Ketchikan.

Clifford "Chegan" John Durgan, 82, died April 20, 2008, in Sitka.

There is no way to grapple with what our neighbor is dealing with these days: The violent deaths of four residents, serious injury to another, and a young man in jail on $1 million bail, accused of the horrific crimes. But for the arrival of police, according to reports, he might have killed himself as well.

Murder has more victims that those who died; the ripple effects into the community seem endless. Ketchikan has had more than its share of such ripples; we wish that as a result we had learned wonderful things to share with our grieving neighbors, but "wonderful" isn't a word to go with such events.

We can say we have learned useful things, though: that communities such as both of ours do indeed draw together in a strength that almost takes the breath away, for those who are left to deal with the after effects of such crimes. We have learned that we all are stronger than we thought we were; that we get through what we must, even though we thought we couldn't. The secret, of course, is that there is no choice. We must get through them.

Sitka will get through this time, too, as will the remaining family members, both of those who died, and of Jason Abbott.

For now, the societal business of getting through the next days, making plans for funerals, figuring out what happens next, will keep people focused. Then will come the living with Tuesday's events. Time will help, we know, though that's of little comfort in these earliest days.

For what little solace it offers, we can only say we are with you, Sitka. Those who pray are keeping you in their prayers, and all have you in our hearts.