The Haines Volunteer Fire Department can help you make your winter a safe one. Vouchers for $30 off the price of ice grippers are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Vouchers for $15 off the price of smoke and carbon monoxide detectors also are available. A total of 40 vouchers each are available for grippers and detectors. Stop by the fire department between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays to pick one up.
Haines ANS Camp 5 held its annual election of officers. Elected for the 2016-17 term are president Marilyn Wilson, vice president Anastasia Wiley, secretary Carol Lawrence, treasurer Georgiana Hotch, and sergeants-at-arms Jackie Mazeikas and Peggy Ormasen. Camp council members are Paulina Phillips, Carol Lawrence, Carol Duis and Georgiana Hotch.
Thom Ely traveled by bike, plane and train on a three-month trip around the northern hemisphere. Staying closely to the 48th parallel, Thom flew to Khabarovsk, Russia, boarding the Trans-Siberian Railway to cycle Lake Baikal, a basin that holds 20 percent of the world’s unfrozen, fresh water. Thom met up with cousin Bill Closs in Mongolia for a fly-fishing trip and then cycled the Mongolian-Manchurian steppe, staying with nomadic herders. In Moscow, Thom saw the ballet of the famous Bolshoi Theatre before heading to Paris to meet Keltie Hollingdale. They cycled through the vineyards of Provence, visiting Jeff Browne and Laurence Thomas-Browne. On the way home, Thom stopped in West Springfield, Mass., to spend Thanksgiving with mother Arline Ely and sister Laura Ely.
Kathy Friedle and John Brower enjoyed two weeks of traveling in the Southwest, stopping in San Diego to visit son Jeremiah Brower, who has started a new job with Scripps Institution of Oceanography as a marine technician. The family joined Jeremiah’s sister Hannah Brower for Thanksgiving in Flagstaff, Ariz. Hannah is working as a program educator at the Lowell Observatory and will be home for Christmas.
Alaska Marine Lines donated freight for 140 Christmas trees for the Haines Booster Club. The club hopes to raise $2,500 to support school activities with tree sales. There are still a few trees available if you didn’t get yours. Call Kim Larson at 766-3885. The Noble firs were grown near Bellingham, Wash.
Jen Reid has returned from a trip visiting daughter Coral Jacobson in Willits, Calif. Coral has just opened a small business boutique that features her original leather work and represents other regional artists.
Linn and Mary Asper spent Thanksgiving with Leif and Erika Asper and their children Leah and Eli in Castro Valley, Calif. Joining the family were Gabe Asper and his son Ace who made the trip from Ketchikan for the holiday.
Lexie DeWitt organized the Chilkat Valley Preschool fundraiser “Sip and Paint” that raised $400 for the school’s new building. Artist Melina Shields led 23 new artists, who each walked away with an original painting. The group looks forward to its next event and will include a family paint night.
Bright lights and screaming fans greeted Kee Heywood in Shenzhen, China at the International New Media Short Film Festival. “The Search for Earth Proxima,” a 10-minute film Kee edited, was chosen among the top 41 of 4,132 films submitted from 23 countries and regions.