Friends and family members will hold a memorial service for Bobby Douglas “Uncle Doug” Satterwhite, 4 p.m. Saturday at the Salvation Army. All are invited to share this time of remembering. Finger food and light refreshment will follow.
If you missed Alaska State Trooper Josh Bentz in his premiere of the National Geographic Channel show, “Alaska State Troopers,” last summer, he might be on again. A camera crew with the show came to town aboard the ferry Monday and filmed another segment with Bentz. The show that features “one of the toughest law enforcement agencies in the nation” filmed Bentz last year investigating a hit and run and patrolling the Chilkoot River. “It was the only time I’ve ever gone out there and not seen bears,” Bentz quipped this week. After getting a ribbing from family members for the show’s mispronunciation of his name (they said “Bent”), Bentz said he made sure they got it right Monday.
Della Brouillette said she’s still healing from a beating she took when she was run over by a cow moose about a month ago at her home near the Haines airport. Brouillette said she let her dog out at 6 a.m., just to have it come scurrying back with a yearling moose and cow charging behind. When she bent over to scoop up her dog, the calf jumped over her, but the cow came down on top. Brouillette was hit on her shoulder, left foot and knee. “I was bent over in a lot of pain.” In retrospect, bending over was probably a good thing, Brouillette said. “Instead of being hit head on, she knocked me into a snowbank.”
Heather Lende is back from a week in Ocala, Fla., where she spoke at the 25th annual conference of the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Society. Heather presented a paper on the Pulitzer-Prize-winning-author, which was her thesis essay for her master’s degree and recently published in the Journal of Florida Literature. Following the conference, Heather stayed in Ocala to visit mother-in-law Joanne Lende, sister-in-law Karen O’Connor and her husband David O’Connor.
The Sheldon Museum hosted a going-away party for education coordinator Susannah Dowds, who is headed to Maine for an internship at the Rufus Porter Museum in Bridgton. Susannah moved to Haines in 2009 for a summer internship at the Hammer Museum. She also worked at the Haines Library and KHNS. Museum director Jerrie Clarke says “she did an amazing job at the museum. We’re sad to see her go but excited to see what she’s doing with her future.” Nancy Nash wrote a song for the party, sung by the museum staff and guest to the tune of “Oh, Susannah!” Susannah will return to Alaska in the fall to begin a masters program in museum education at University of Alaska Fairbanks.
The Haines Bridge Club hosted a three-day sectional tournament at the American Bald Eagle Foundation during the weekend. There were 60 players, including 17 from Haines and others from Juneau and Whitehorse. The club sponsored a Saturday dinner of fresh barbecued salmon and baked halibut provided by Gregg Bigsby. Jim Studley worked the grill and Jim Wilson contributed his famous Caesar salad. Tournament Chair Sally Lix said, “The food was fabulous, and the bridge was good too.” She was assisted by Ardy Miller over the weekend, who Sally said helped make the weekend “fun and easy.” Local players did well in the tournament. Sally and Bob Lix took third and fourth for overall points in the tournament. On Friday, Roy Josephson and Henry Wong took first, Stan Jones and Jim Wilson placed second and Ardy and Rob Miller placed fifth. Bob and Sally placed first on Saturday morning. The afternoon double session saw Roger Schnabel, Fred Shields, Sally and Bob tie for second and third. Sunday morning John Schnabel and Gregg Bigsby placed third.
The Hospice of Haines annual rummage sale was bigger than ever this year. The unofficial tally of donations is $15,000, a 50 percent increase from last year’s $10,000 take. Organizer Mardell Gunn credits the sizable increase to more big-ticket donations like furniture and a truck canopy, but notes that most items sold for less than $25. It was the sale’s 15th year.
The snow is melted and golfers are hitting the links at the Valley of the Eagles golf course. Golfer Joe Parnell says the course is dry and “off to a great start with good conditions and nice weather.” He says two large driftwood logs that floated up over the winter “add to the décor.”
A seven-day training for prospective bird banders was held in Haines last week. Ten trainees worked through intensive exercises and worked together to band local birds under the guidance of a trainer from the Institute of Bird Population in California. The group set nets to trap birds at the head of Mud Bay and banded ruby-crowned kinglets, robins, golden-crowned sparrows and juncos. They also banded a snipe and a sharp-shinned hawk. Data on birds banded during the training will be included in a national database and used to monitor avian populations. Organizer Pam Randles hopes to have a second training later in the summer to target breeding populations and gather experience for local banders. Local participants were Pam, Kelly Mitchell, Julia Scott, Mario Benassi, Eric Kocher, Sandy Barclay and Jedediah Blum- Evitts. Fundraising efforts for the local bird observatory, a project of Takshanuk Watershed Council, are ongoing. The Tim Shields painting, “Chilkat Calendar,” will be available for sale as an art poster in the coming weeks, according to Pam. The group is also encouraging participants in the upcoming bird-a-thon, which runs April 29- May 5, to gather per-bird sponsorships to benefit the project.