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As if befitting the nature of the "Deadliest Catch" heroes, in all their toughness and bravery, Sig Hansen, perhaps the most famous of the Catch Captains, as been ordered to pay a fine and serve 10 days in jail for the charge of "assault in the fourth degree" up in Dutch Harbor, Alaska. I'm not surprised it happened. These men are pushed to the edge and sometimes they might just have to go over it.

Since Deadliest Catch started airing on The Discovery Channel, my interest in Alaska and its inhabitants has renewed tenfold. I first experienced Alaska over 15 years ago while visiting some childhood friends. I fell in love with the place. The wildlife, seas, mountains and people. And the isolation. The Aleutians are magnificent and I am a blessed person for having seen them first hand. Perhaps Alaska's remoteness appeals to me because one is truly on one's own, answerable only to one's self.

Alaska is the new "wild, wild west". The story of its people, as they struggle to survive and thrive in that frozen land do indeed echo those of our long ago settlers as they moved towards the Pacific Ocean. While growing up in rural Wisconsin I developed an interest in the 'old west' as an indirect result of having actually played "Cowboys and Indians". Eventually, my father took me and my three rambunctious brothers for a tour of the old haunts (Dodge City, Deadwood, New Mexico, OK Corral etc.). It was during that three week long trip in the camper of a bright orange Ford truck that I got to know Wild Bill Hancock, Annie Oakley, Billy The Kid, Jesse James, Calamity Jane. It's the people that lassoed and tamed the Old West, and the same is happening in Alaska right now.

And wild it is. Have you ever seen an actual all out bar fight? I did in AK. Men walk around with loaded shotguns, in case a wolf or bear attacks while they take their garbage out. I watched pods of whales, moose, and a small den of bears. Witnessed wind surfing on Cook Inlet and fished for halibut, camped under the midnight sun. We had drinks in a bar in the middle of nowhere, yet it was packed! We drove Glenn Highway all the way to the endor at least it felt like. And I got to see Mt. McKinley from its foot and then from the airplane as I was leaving Anchorage at 30,000 feet.

So when I read about Sig's sentencing, I wondered, what did he do? Was he defending someone's honor? Was he protecting his ship? Fighting off wranglers? Was he saving 'the town from the evil sheriff"? Wish I knew. But also glad I don't. And it wouldn't change my mind anyway. Knowing the Catch guys are human isn't something I want to face just yet. Let some of the people tame Alaska with a little bit of law and order. But let's not 'pen it up' or 'break it in' completely. Let's leave some wilderness out there and let the cowboys fight it outDeadliest Catch style.

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