Former Sen. Fred Dyson attended his final town hall meeting Jan. 7 after announcing his retirement from the legislature last year. Dyson marked the occasion by giving away his book collection and called his years of service to the Chugiak-Eagle River community a pleasure, with “a minimum of whiners and snifflers.”
Paper masks of the senator, known for his loose tongue and willingness to speak his mind, spread out across a table, along with two cakes.
This, he said, was to be his last official town hall meeting. “In 13 days, I’ll be a has-been,” he said.
Serving the Chugiak-Eagle River area has been a pleasure, he said.“It’s probably the best community to represent,” he said, “with a minimum of whiners and snifflers.”
Then he became more serious. The easy solutions to the state’s budget are gone, he said. “Seventy percent of our state budget is not controllable,” he said. “People talk about they’re being tough on budgets and how they’re going to cut the fat.”
But the only thing they can actually cut, he said, is the remaining 30 percent. And that means slicing into someone else’s pie. And a lot of people will be very, very upset.
“It’s going to take a great deal of courage,” he said. “And my appeal to all of you, when anyone stands up and has the courage to say, ‘We gotta deal with some of this stuff,’ give them all of your support.”
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image credit Cinthia Ritchie Alaska Star
