An appreciation dinner for Pete Lapham will be held 3 p.m. Sunday at the Elks Lodge. Donations for the dinner will be accepted at the door.
A dinner and auction fund-raiser for Merrick Bochart is slated for 5:30 p.m. on Sunday at the Haines School cafeteria. Merrick, 24, was diagnosed this fall with B-cell, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and is undergoing chemotherapy treatment in Juneau.
Dinner costs $15 for adults and $7 for children and includes seafood bisque, bread, salad and dessert. “People have donated beautiful artwork and knitted items for the auction,” said organizer Renee Hoffman. To donate auction items or a dessert, contact Hoffman at 766-3980 or Sarah Cohen at 314-0229. Bochart’s friends gathered for a fundraising dance at the Pioneer Bar Saturday, including music by Kris and Lindy Jones and the Pimentos.
The Haines Emblem Club raised about $6,500 for youth activities, scholarships and club programs at its annual Community Service Auction and Dinner Saturday. The dinner also raised about $500 for the Haines boys’ varsity basketball team, including $240 in tips. Players served as waiters. “We use different school groups for as many functions as we can,” said club president Michelle Stigen.
Doris Ward is home after a month-long trip to the Lower 48. She took a sightseeing bus trip with sister-in-law Janie Owen and family near sunny Tulsa, Okla., and went to a “very loud” concert performance by Christian pop music superstar Amy Grant. “It was a memorable experience,” Doris said. She had second-row seats. Doris also had lunch with Delta Butler in Claremore, Okla. Delta and husband Sharil Butler were interim pastors at the Haines Presbyterian Church before the arrival of Pastor Ron Horn. On her return north, after taking care of doctor’s visits in Seattle, Doris visited the home of Jan and Steve McPhetres in Poulsbo, Wash., where she toured the countryside and enjoyed carving a pumpkin.
Layton and Lou Bennett’s grandson Bryce Bennett, a University of Washington student and president of Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity, helped nab a serial burglar on campus last week. Items had gone missing from the fraternity house for months, and several people had noted a suspicious person nosing around the house. According to a Seattle Times story, Bryce and his fraternity brothers set up a surveillance camera and waited up at night until they apprehended and detained a 44-year-old man breaking into the house. Police learned the man had five previous convictions for breaking into UW fraternity houses.
Chris and Deb Kemp journeyed to the campus of The Pennsylvania State University last month to watch son Chandler Kemp, a junior at Cornell University, qualify for the Ivy League championship cross-country meet. “It went great. (Chandler) did the best placement in his team he ever had,” Deb said. Jim and Randa Szymanski met the Kemps to watch Chandler run the 5.2-mile course in 26:44.
Prior to the meet, the Kemps met Chandler’s aunt and uncle Valda and Scott Matson of Seattle in Ithaca, N.Y. The group toured Cornell’s campus, rented bicycles to see the sights, and took a trip to Niagara Falls.
Local heli-ski operator Southeast Alaska Backcountry Adventures is featured in the Eddie Bauer clothing company’s winter outwear catalogue. A caption on pages 34 and 35 reads, “Reggie Crist and Sunny Sundberg make first descent of Rainbow Peak in Haines, Alaska,” accompanying a picture of silhouetted skiers climbing a steep ridge near Haines. Two pieces of high-tech gear sport the local company’s name: The SEABA Heli Guide jacket ($399) and the SEABA Heli Guide Bib ($349).
The Haines Venturer Scouts are raising money for a March mountaineering trip in Ecuador with Alaska Mountain Guides. Scout leader Greg Podsiki said students Brennan Whitermore and Kai Sato-Franks hatched the Ecuador idea during an AMG mountaineering excursion to Flower Mountain more than a year ago. “They were really gung-ho, and rallied support for the trip.”
About 20 Haines School students at a September Scout meeting expressed interest in the 14-day trip. The itinerary includes eight days of sightseeing and hiking to acclimatize to elevation before the group attempts climbs of three glaciated peaks. “We’re hoping people will donate both money and air miles,” Podsiki said. Fundraisers so far include a car wash and working at community events.
Krystal Norberg and Gabe Long were on the way home after a quick trip to Portland, Ore., when their Seattle to Juneau flight was cancelled due to strong winds. An airline employee suggested they catch the new light rail train, which has an airport terminal, to downtown Seattle to pass the time. Krystal was impressed. She recommends the 40-minute light rail trip as a great way to visit the heart of the Emerald City. “It was only $2.50 to get from SeaTac (Airport) to Pike Street Market. We had lunch and played tourist for a day. It was even sunny.” Gabe and Krystal leave this week to winter in Kauai, Hawaii, and will return to Haines in April.