Duly Noted

The Chilkat Thunder beat the Haines Packing Co. at the Men’s City League basketball championship Sunday night. The score was 107-75. Two other league teams, Alaska Marine Lines and Harbor Heat, were knocked out of competition in previous rounds. Organizer Kyle Fossman said the league will take a break for the holidays and start up again in January with reshuffled teams.
Jim “Jimbo” Stevens is receiving therapy and regaining mobility at a Petersburg hospital after suffering a stroke on Nov. 1. He’d love to hear from Haines friends. Send cards and letters to Jim Stevens, c/o Petersburg Medical Center, P.O. Box 589, Petersburg, AK 99833. Friends are planning a spaghetti dinner fundraiser at noon on Saturday, Dec. 19, at the Klukwan ANS Hall.
The Uglys of Haines held their most successful “Gifts for Grub” event ever last weekend, said organization president Gary Jacobson. It was the event’s 13th year. About a dozen Uglys served 225-230 meals, including lasagna and 70 pounds of pulled pork. The Salvation Army helped distribute the collected presents to parents of 22 children. Two truckloads of donated toys were also taken to the Salvation Army. Jacobson thanked the community for the outpouring of support, and for the American Legion’s donation of the hall rental.
Gregg Bigsby and Beth MacCready celebrated Gregg’s birthday by attending the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, Nev. Beth’s sister Jan MacCready, of Carbondale, Colo., joined them in Las Vegas for her birthday. Seasonal Haines resident Cadie Buckley and her husband Arjun Raman, who spend winters in Kenai, also went to Las Vegas, as did Juneau residents Colette Costa, Marsie Boario, Lindy Jones and Lena Dickey. During a stop in Seattle, Gregg and Beth visited with former resident Jenny Wren St. Hilaire.
Dave and Valery McCandless recently spent a week in Livermore, Calif., visiting Dave’s 90-year-old mother Elaine McCandless and his younger brother Paul McCandless, wife Jill and their daughters Megan and Colleen. After California, Dave and Valery headed to Kona, Hawaii, to visit their oldest son Ben McCandless, his wife Audrey and their children Leah and Toby. Valery said she enjoyed the heavily perfumed Hawaiian air and snorkeling in the temperate waters.
 Former upper highway resident Sonny Jones has been dividing his time between his home in Kenai and a gold claim north of Fairbanks. He mines with son Mike, wintering in Hilo, Hawaii. Sonny reports that his son Matthew works as a mechanic in Fairbanks, and son Eli works in the maintenance shop for the state Division of Corrections. Daughter Sarah, who also lives in Kenai, has three children and is an adjunct professor of biology, teaching classes online.
Leigh Horner recently returned from a 10-day trip to Anchorage to take care of friend and Haines School art teacher Linnus Danner. Danner recently underwent surgery on her leg after being hit by a car while bicycling in the school parking lot. While in Anchorage, Leigh had Thanksgiving dinner with her husband Greg Horner’s aunt and uncle, Mary Ellen and Bob Mitchell. Leigh and Greg’s daughter Elena Horner also came down from Fairbanks for Thanksgiving. While in Anchorage, Leigh ran into former resident Brenda Wilcox, whose deceased husband Walter Wilcox was a former Haines city manager.
  Danner isn’t the only Haines School teacher on the injured list. Assistant principal Cheryl Stickler is nursing a broken wrist suffered in a fall on a ramp built at her house, ironically to accommodate her dog, Finn, who had a leg splinted. Junior high school teacher Peter Degen is getting over a broken foot suffered while escaping a charging moose. 
 Michael Marks won the Hammer Museum’s annual “Name the Moose” fundraiser drawing with the name “BachWinkle.” The moose head, created by Hammer Museum founder Dave Pahl, features a rack and skull crafted from about 30 hammers. Marks also won the first naming in 2013, dubbing the creation “Bach.”
The 116th Annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count will be held on Jan. 2. People interested in participating can sign up at Alaska Backcountry Outfitter on Second Avenue.  Data sheets and bird lists are available there. For more information, call Pam Randles at 766-3664.
The American Bald Eagle Foundation has revised a former policy of treating only injured raptors found in the wild. Beginning in 2015, the local raptor center also has been taking in corvids, including crows, jays and magpies.
A cadre of Haines residents traveled to Whitehorse last weekend for the Whitehorse Christmas Bridge Tournament at the Golden Age Society. Roger Schnabel, John Schnabel, Gregg Bisgby, Jim Wilson, Henry Wong, and Roy and Brenda Josephson attended.
Haines is featured in several articles and on the front and back covers of the December 2015 edition of Freeskier magazine. One article titled “Alaska Calling” is subtitled “A Comprehensive Guide to Shredding Haines by Food, Sled and Air” and describes the town as “the quintessential bucket list destination for die-hard skiers.” Under a section called, “Haines Tips,” skiers are advised to look the part. “Buy a pair of XtraTuf rubber boots. You’ll only ever see them in Alaska, and everyone has a pair.” Local heli-ski firms Southeast Alaska Backcountry Adventures and Alaska Heliskiing are profiled. Haines photos also are included in a feature on New Zealand skier Sam Smoothy. Smoothy finished fifth in the 2015 Freeride World Tour.