Duly Noted

Amelia Nash celebrated her birthday last week with a virtual karaoke party. “Sing me a song for my birthday!” she wrote. “I miss public singing. I miss watching people sing.” As an incentive, Amelia Nash offered $5 to the local food bank for each song, with a cap of 20 songs. Participants danced and sang the day away, with a total of 23 videos posted as of press time. “It’s my first home karaoke experience, and it’s going to be even more awkward than every other karaoke experience,” said friend Karyn-Lynn Aloysius Fisette. Fisette lives in Portland and has been Amelia Nash’s friend for over a decade. Andrea Nelson sang “Close To You,” by The Carpenters. Amelia Nash’s nephews, Oliver Nash, aged 3, and Leo Nash, aged 5, stole the show with “We will rock you,” by Queen, “Somebody that I used to know,” by Gotye, and “Black Hole Sun,” by Soundgarden. Parents Dwight and Nancy Nash sang as a duet “Love me tender love me true,” which Dwight Nash traditionally sings at family weddings. Nancy Nash accompanied on the piano. “It was epic,” Nancy Nash said. “It was almost like going out.”
1993 Haines High alum Ian Koenig, who serves as an Alaska State Trooper in Soldotna, was called to assist stranded moose calves at the Soldotna Airport last Sunday. A cow moose was separated from her newborn twin calves by the airport fence. Although an attempt at corralling worked to reunite one twin, the second twin escaped behind the fence. Officer Koenig then lifted the calf onto his shoulders and physically carried the tiny moose back to its mother, successfully reuniting the trio.
Sheri Loomis is back to making cloth masks for Haines residents, and this time she is charging a fee. During a six-week period at the beginning of the COVID-19 shutdown, she led an effort of 32 seamstresses in Haines which made 1,100 masks for Haines residents. 6000 masks were also distributed in other towns in Southeast Alaska. Although the first round of mask-making prioritized recipients according to State mandates, masks are now available for order to the public. “The need is there,” Loomis said. “This time we are selling them.” This week, she has received approximately fifty orders.
Abbey Collins climbed Korohusk Peak in the western Chugach mountains last week. She and her two climbing partners started on the trail at 4:45am and reached the summit after a climb that involved navigating low-quality snow and loose scree. On their descent, the trio ran into a treacherous hailstorm which lasted an hour. “My first 7,000 ft peak was eventful,” Collins said. Collins is a previous Haines resident and KHNS reporter. She moved to Anchorage to take a job as the statewide morning news host for Alaska Public Media.
Raina Rowley, aged 2, and resident Lizi Wirak were the winners of the Haines Borough Library’s Haines Reads A Million gift certificate drawing. The program hit 100,000 pages, triggering the first drawing, and additional winners will be pulled from the hat every 100,000 pages until a million pages is reached. Raina Rowley read sixteen pages from the book Hoot with her mother, Rachel Rowley. “It’s neat for the library to do community events like that, to inspire people to read,” Rachel Rowley said.
Jon Hirsch emerged on Saturday from his Haines quarantine after returning to Alaska from Flagstaff, Arizona. He spent his winter skiing, and he rowed two commercial Grand Canyon trips on the Colorado River. “I went on a bunch of adventures all winter,” Hirsch said. “Then Covid hit.” Although he was initially hesitant to return to Alaska due to the uncertain times, he returned for an exploration job at Lake Clark National Park, located southwest of Anchorage. He said that he is excited to see a different part of Alaska. “I don’t know if this is my future,” he said. “But I’m doing it now!”