Mayme Nickerson traveled to Klukwan this week from Klawock for the 40-day party for her late husband Donald Nickerson Sr. About 50-60 people attended the gathering at the Klukwan ANS Hall Sunday, bringing favorite dishes to share. Joe Hotch Sr., Smith Katzeek and Ed Warren did much of the speaking. Mayme’s brothers are Marvin, Lawrence and Leonard Willard; her sisters are Arlene Willard and Rachel Hotch.
Editors at the Guardian are apparently under the mistaken impression that Haines is in the Arctic. A photo of Chilkat Inlet taken by Michele Cornelius recently appeared alongside the March 8 article “Barack Obama and Justin Trudeau to join forces on climate change” by Suzanne Goldenberg. The photo’s caption reads “Melting ice on the Chilkat River near Haines, Alaska. Winter temperatures have been 7C above normal in the Arctic this year and the sea ice cover is also dwindling towards a new record low.” Photographer Cornelius lives in Haines with her husband Gene, a videographer.
Deb Vogt recently returned from a three-week trip to Tanzania with several old friends, including Bob Waldrop and Terry Gardiner. Vogt said the group spent the entire time driving around in Jeeps watching wildlife, including lions, giraffes, Cape buffalo, cheetahs and leopards. The group stayed in tent camps along the way, though Vogt said the word “tent” is slightly misleading, as the accommodations included a dining tent with white tablecloths and candlelight dinners.
The Haines men’s and women’s city league basketball seasons ended last weekend, with players from both leagues now gearing up for the Juneau Lions Club’s 70th Gold Medal Basketball Tournament starting Sunday. Haines Packing and Alaska Marine Lines teams played in the men’s league championship, with AML coming out on top. The AML team included Michael Ganey, Jesse McGraw, Coleman Stanford, Ryan Cook, Kevin Thompson, Bryan Combs, Forest Podsiki, Charlie Spud and Josh Stearns. Fox Air and Chilkat Thunder also participated in the men’s city league this season. About 15 residents participated in the women’s league.
Local artist Katie Craney will have one of her paintings included in the “WAYSIDES” exhibit at the Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wis., which runs April 3-Oct. 2. Another of Craney’s paintings was recently featured in the curator’s panel of the international “Smaller Footprints” exhibit at the Museum of Art and History in Lancaster, Calif.
George Figdor recently returned from a trip to Burlington, Vt., via Anchorage. George’s daughter Alison Figdor had invited brother Robin Figdor to Burlington for Robin’s 40th birthday. George found out what flight Robin was on, and flew to Anchorage to surprise him at the gate and fly out with him. In Vermont, George made Robin a cake shaped like a semi truck, as Robin drives truck for a living. The trio drove to Woodstock, Vt., to visit the house the Figdors lived in when Robin was a baby.
Fourteen Juneau girls grades 4-6 came to Haines last weekend to play basketball against 21 local girls grades 5-8 as part of the Community Youth Development basketball program, said coach Lori Giddings. The girls played games Friday through Sunday, with Haines eighth-graders sparring against women from the local city league. The weekend also included dribbling, free throw and other skills competitions, as well as an evening at the pool. Tomi Scovill donated funds to the program, as well as her time with scorekeeping and supervising the students. Parents refereed and provided lunch for players, Giddings said. Nearly 40 CYD basketball players from Haines will head to Juneau March 23-26 for the Mike Jackson Memorial HoopTime tournament.
Students at Haines School enjoyed “Mini Week,” where teachers lead exploratory classes while a large chunk of students is away at the Region V basketball tournament. In the high school, Lily Boron taught cooking, Ryan Harms led fire-spinning and Natalie Benassi ran face-painting. Darwin Feakes and Matt Davis organized a “redneck engineering” course, which involved building a seaworthy vessel from duct tape and cardboard. At the middle school, Lisa Andriesen taught quilting, Pete Degen led rocketry, Rachelle Galinski and Kristen Brumfield taught cooking, Naomi Buck and Ashley Hutton taught silk painting, and Jason Eason and Sean Asquith-Heinz led outdoor adventure trekking. John Hagen, Jessie Morgan and Natalie Benassi also spearheaded a “culture hunt.” Mini Week culminated Tuesday with teachers cooking breakfast for students. A video made by students in Sam McPhetres’ video editing class and photos from Mini Week can be seen at the Haines Glacier Bears Facebook page.

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