Gutless Voice of the Miner

NGNG...No Guts, No Glory. Why is it that the Fairbanks' Daily News-Miner - the Voice of Interior Alaska - is so afraid to inform the public on issues of importance, with the “guts” of the matter at issue? As if the word hot off the press and “extra, extra, read all about it” is controlled by the political scene, wherein the latter is controlled by what appears to be a local Mafioso. Can't voice a “negative” against a Native Corporation? Why not, especially when the latter may be utilized for “namesake” only and thus taken advantage upon by unscrupulous and unethical businessmen. Case in point. Just recently the “Miner” was obliged to inform that there's money “in them thar hills”! Publishing an article akin to a Don Young bridge, nowhere near the definition of newsworthiness. Just wasting print listing the identity of a few so named to receive rebates, from College Heart Utilities and Golden Heart Utilities - both subsidiaries of Fairbanks Sewer & Water. But nothing was mentioned as to why this “rebate” was giving some hard earned workingmen and workingwomen back a piece of their confiscated wage, back to its rightful owner, some of that hard earned loot taken away not through taxation but taken away by crookedness. Because FS&W got caught with its hand in the cookie jar. Said with some legalese attached, well it's called “Mail Fraud”. Those monthly bills for water and wastewater, tainted with crookedness. Now I am sure that in the past the “Miner” has broadcast the reason as too why FS&W and CEO Dan Gavora were in hot-water, but when the “People” get ripped off, the reason the indictment and rebate “fine” must be drilled in, so we know who the crooks are so as to be on the lookout for future abuse. We are victims, and if abuse is not trumped, we become victims once again. When one looks through the history on record with the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, FS&W should not be allowed to perform as a consumer utility here in Alaska. But with competition limited, we have not many other choices. Look, when you see known crooks or a rapist on the street corner, you avoid and take your wife and kids and find another safe way! Same should be true for these unscrupulous businessmen, bent on tipping the scale when it comes to any ethical business dealings. It's just another chapter in “American Greed”, yes a scam! So, now with that news front and center, to recap that a local business run by the “Fairbanks' Businessman of the Year” was unsuccessful in ripping off the consumers, hey is that award from the University of Alaska School of Business Buffoons retrievable? Well with that said, I am inclined to speak openly on other matters of importance, a very touchy business situation involving the same crookedness, and if you are a U.S. Taxpayer, heed this warning. FS&W was a privately held company, owned by 10-local Fairbanks wannabe entrapment entrepreneurs – which takes money and lots of it yours to begin with. To name the 10 that own the entire Fairbanks' utility system, Dan Gavora along with Andrew S. Warwick  George E. Gordon, William J. Gordon, Lance Parrish, James A. Parrish, O. Nelson Parrish, Albert G. Parrish, Daniel B. Parrish and Gary Wilken. It is a team with wealth and legal experience, a deadly combination. Now though, this entity is getting what is due, and the U.S. ARMY is bringing in the big guns. See, FS&W is 50% owner of Doyon Utilities, an entity that has a monopoly with respect to the “utility privatization” taking place at Ft. Greely, Ft. Wainwright and Ft. Richardosn. So when you hear the brass dishing out words of record that frustrates the concept behind “utility privatization”, basically providing to the ARMY a mandate of reasonableness, but when that mandate is reneged upon by “Greed” it finds once again “unscrupulous unreasonableness”. Get the drift, as something smells rotten in Fairbanks, and it ain't rotting salmon. Bottom-line, the owners of FS&W now think they have found another vulnerable victim, the U.S. Army. Gavora and company is trying to get the ARMY – through the U.S. Taxpayers – to cough up another $25-Million for the next 47-years on top of the $70-Million plus already paid yearly, accounting for a 65% increase in fees. That's NOT 6 dot 5, but a whopping mega-increase, requested by Doyon Utilities for no apparent reason then “but for” the fact that FS&W shareholders want their millions in “preferred stock” to enjoy heftier returns, courtesy the U.S. Taxpayers. According to the “Businessman of the Year” through his legal mouthpiece, “Existing rates are confiscatorily low. The utility(Doyon) will suffer irreparable harm in the event interim relief is not granted.” I think he meant “shareholders” will suffer, including himself, not “utility”! And Gavora complains that the fee rates are not keeping up with the required investment interest payments? The ARMY made it clear and convincing that this “contract” required $81-Million in capital. So Doyon can't pay the bills! Maybe that is what happens when instead of engaging the American banking system in this venture - down-home institutions bent on making this type of venture work for America's best interest - you run off to a Canadian bank. Made in America? The brass have come unglued and sent in their legal team to squash this crookedness, with words to the effect, “significant contract dispute issues, unreasonable and unfounded allegations by Doyon Utilities based on erroneous information, mischaracterization and DOD receiving misleading information or no information from Doyon Utilities“. In fact, in a letter to the “Commission”, the ARMY requested its relationship with Gavora be NOT regulated any longer, as “regulation” was being used as a scam, by Doyon Utilities, as if it provided the ARMY a comfort factor that it would see some semblance of achieving the “Government Should Cost Estimate” goals, the cost to the government to perform the same work. If the latter cannot be achieved, the U.S. Taxpayers loose, and that is herein the case today - as Doyon Utilities wants blood out of the turnip. It smells of fraud, once again! When one looks through the records on file with the “Commission”, why these crooks behind this “privatization” are still not incarcerated or at least denied any business dealings when consumers are at risk, including the U.S. Army as a victim, something is definitely wrong with the business model “regulation”. This is U.S. Taxpayer money they are gambling with, our money. And the ARMY has asked you to get involved, by telling the RCA “NO” with any rate increases upon our military families. Look, these dedicated troop families struggle day in and day out with the fact their loved ones are engaged in the theater of war, why should they have to worry about finding enough money from income for electricity, or water, or for that matter water to flush? So it is every resident of Fairbanks, it is a duty to speak up for the troops. Something the “Miner” appears to be scared away from. Maybe its true motto is the “Silent Voice of Interior Alaska”! Concerned? Write the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, voice your concern. Write and or call Senator Begich and Murkowski. Even try to voice your concern to Don Young. If we let this slide by and Gavora and company gets its way, with $25-Million in refunds plus that same amount in addition for the duration of the contract, be assured that the brass will chalk this up as a loss, and military men don't like to loose, and this may be something that is looked upon with scorn when more military infrastructure hits come to a base near you – due defense budget constraints. If Doyon Utilities gets its way with these highway robbery increases, Ft. Wainwright will be but a BRAC death-wish candidate. Ft. Wainwright will get the AX! But the local Mafioso, the 10 shareholder “Dons” will make and rake in their millions and in the end the Fairbanks' consumers will realize that mortgage is worthless and the stench of sewer gas from FS&W will linger for eternity, as downtown will become but a “ghost town”, wherein a “one” lousy newspaper town will be but a sad memory, that it could have done more to protect the citizens!