About 25 people enjoyed clear skies on the community hike up Mount Ripinsky Sunday. Organized by the Sheldon Museum, the hike was led by veteran mountaineer Paul Swift and Scott Pearce. Swift estimates that he’s done the route more than 300 times in the past 44 years. Nearly everyone in the group reached the summit, including Jon Hirsh, wife Leslie Ross, daughter Rio, and family pug Olive. Hikers spent about an hour at the summit. The round-trip lasted about seven hours. Swift also replaced the register, a notebook kept in a canister at the summit for hikers to sign. He brought the old one to the museum, which houses the signed notebooks from past decades.
Haines High School student Neil Little attended the Sitka Fine Arts Camp, as did middle schoolers Carver Culbeck, Dylan Chapell and Keegan Palmieri. The two-week camps offer intensive arts classes including photography, clay, music, dance, film, theater, and even clowning. During the last week, students put on dance, orchestra, band and choir performances. “It’s pretty inspiring,” Keegan’s mother Anne Marie Palmieri said. She attended the middle school performance, as did Dylan’s parents Sara and Rich Chapell and Carver’s mother Courtney Culbeck and brother Griffin.
Al Badgley returned from a father-son raft trip, guided by son Hunter. Hunter works as a guide for Peak 7 Adventures. Father-son duos filled five rafts that floated along the Grande Ronde River in northeastern Oregon. The five-day trip also included father-son fishing. Al made it back to town in time for Fourth of July festivities.
Jennie Moiso and husband John Etheridge of Columbia, Calif. are hosting at the day use area at Halibut Point State Recreation Site in Sitka. They were campground hosts at Haines’ Chilkat State Park for five years. They were also in Haines for the winter of 2011-2012. This summer’s work includes cleaning outhouses and picnic tables, picking up garbage, and making picnic shelter reservations. They had dinner with Nick True, the park specialist in charge of the state parks in Sitka, and visited Barb Blood, at the park for her granddaughter’s birthday party. Barb and Jennie sang together in the Haines A Capella Women’s Choir. They also visited with Roy Lawrence, who is at the Pioneer Home in Sitka. Nick said that other former residents who visited the site include Carl Blackhurst, Rich and Brenda Calkins, Jeremy Strong, Cody Loomis, Erica Loomis, Janie Hall (Blood), and Andy and Kathy Eggen.
Former resident Judy Schnurstein of Ankeny, Iowa enjoyed a visit with sister-in-law Beverly Jones. During the visit, Judy got together with friends and former Haines teachers who worked at the school with her husband, the late Marlo Schnurstein, in the mid-1960s through early 1970s. Marlo taught music. The group included Char Olerud, Frankie Perry, Bonnie Sharnbroich and Doris Ward. Judy then joined her family, which is traveling through Alaska. The group plans to stop in Haines in about a week.
According to celebrity website starcasm.net, the Discovery Channel’s “Gold Rush” father-son miners Dakota Fred Hurt and son Dustin will be starring in a documentary directed by Kirk Roos titled “All That Glitters!” It will feature the pair as they continue their quest for gold. An undetermined network or streaming service will air the documentary. The Hurts are no longer with “Gold Rush.”
The four Seattle-based producers filming the documentary “Above the Bamboo Room” about Christy Tengs Fowler’s dream to become Dr. Phil McGraw’s personal songwriter have set up a Kickstarter webpage to raise money to cover expenses. Costs will include two more trips to Haines to finish filming as well as editing costs. Kickstarter is a website dedicated to raising funds for creative endeavors. Their goal is to raise $20,000. They’ve raised $5,440 as of Monday. To donate, go to kickstarter.com and search for “Above the Bamboo Room.”
Former resident Arlene Haase died April 9 at Cass County Memorial Hospital in Atlantic, Iowa. She was 75. She lived in Anita, Iowa with her husband Richard. The couple lived in Haines around the 1970s with their three young children. Richard taught junior high and coached at Haines High School. Survivors include Richard, three children, eight grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
Alex Swift spent his break from Anchorage’s Alaska Military Youth Academy enjoying Fourth of July festivities in Haines. In his Class A military-issue uniform, he threw candy from the fire truck during the parade. Other highlights were spending time with mom Jackie Brewington, stepdad Scott Brewington, and grandparents Sherry and Terry Brewington. He also helped friends Tom Morphet and Joe Parnell shovel gravel. Alex expects to graduate from the academy Aug. 29. He started there April 1.
Jordan Piper is swimming with seals this summer at the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward. A marine biology major at Humboldt State University, Jordan is working as a summer intern at the center, where she swims with seals while tending their tanks. She also works with sea lions and birdlife, including puffins, said mom Tammy Piper. Tammy and husband Robert are planning a visit to Seward later in the summer.
Gardeners and fishermen, the Haines Senior Center is interested in your extra harvest. “We definitely need to stock up this summer for the winter,” said lunch program manager Cindy Jackson. The center tries to serve fish weekly. Donations should be fresh or frozen. Contact Jackson or cook Jasmine Taylor at the center at 766-2383 or stop by 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.