Where is Ketron Island? Who lives there?

By Kenny Ocker

kocker@thenewstribune.com

LinkedIn

Google+

Pinterest

Reddit

Print

Order Reprint of this Story

August 10, 2018 10:06 PM

Updated August 11, 2018 08:32 AM

Ketron Island, the site of a crash of a hijacked Alaska Airlines plane taken from Sea-Tac Airport sits in the South Puget Sound.

The privately owned island is reachable only by ferry and is served by the Anderson Island-Steilacoom ferry run by Pierce County. The population listed in the 2010 U.S. Census was all of 17 people.

The 221-acre island was supposed to be named for William Kittson of the Hudson’s Bay Company, who supervised the construction of Fort Nisqually in 1833, according to the book Washington State Place Names. The name was bungled while transcribed to a map, giving the island its name.

The island has no gas station, store, mail delivery or garbage pickup, and the Pierce County ferry only comes four times a day. Many of the residents use their own boats to reach the mainland in Steilacoom.

Anchorage-based entrepreneur J.C. Morris bought the entire island in 1946 and planned to build 200 homes on the island with a retail center, churches and a school. His plan was thwarted by the prohibitive cost of installing sewer lines.

Morris’ mansion was sold in 2015, a 5,300-square-foot mansion platted on 5 acres of land. The Thurston County residents who bought the home paid $1.1 million for it.

https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/article216506005.html

Human Trafficking Widespread in Global Fishing Industry

The U.S. Department of State has released its 2018 Trafficking in Persons Report, an annual publication that provides a global overview of the nature and scope of trafficking in persons and various efforts underway to confront it. The report’s theme of “local solutions to a global problem” highlights the critical role of communities in recognizing and combating slavery.

The report highlights many countries where human trafficking in the fishing industry is evident. As one example, the report cites two boys in Ghana: Emmanuel and Isaac’s mother struggled to care for them and keep them safe. When she could no longer afford to feed her boys, she sold them to a man who put them to work on a fishing boat. This man was abusive, often hitting Emmanuel and Isaac with the boat paddle. Emmanuel and Isaac would often split one meal a day between them. The brothers were able to escape when their trafficker heard authorities were arresting people who had children working on the boats. Emmanuel and Isaac now live with a neighbor who sends them to school.

The report is the U.S. Government’s principal diplomatic tool to engage foreign governments on human trafficking. The Department of State places each country onto one of three tiers based on the extent of their governments’ efforts to comply with the “minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking” found in Section 108 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. While Tier 1 is the highest ranking, it does not mean that a country has no human trafficking problem. On the contrary, a Tier 1 ranking indicates that a government has acknowledged the existence of human trafficking, made efforts to address the problem and complies with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s minimum standards. Each year, governments need to demonstrate appreciable progress in combating trafficking to maintain a Tier 1 ranking.

This year’s report focuses on effective ways local communities can address human trafficking proactively and on how national governments can support and empower them. “Local communities are the most affected by this abhorrent crime and are also the first line of defense against human trafficking,” said Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo. “By engaging and training law enforcement, religious leaders, teachers, tribal elders, business executives and communities, we become more vigilant and learn to identify and address vulnerabilities swiftly. Proactive community-driven measures strengthen our ability to protect our most vulnerable and weaken a criminal’s ability to infiltrate, recruit, and exploit.

More:

https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/human-trafficking-widespread-in-global-fishing-industry#gs.iM34IuY

>>2601234