Services were held Saturday for lifelong resident Fred Strong, who died at his Klukwan home Dec. 28. He was 62. Strong worked as a truck driver and construction worker. An obituary will be printed in next week’s CVN.
Falconer Mario Benassi flies his goshawk every day. The bird has attacked everything from milk jugs to Gatorade bottles,apparently mistaking them for prey. Last week, the hawk dove on a patch of snow. When Mario went to investigate, he found a cell phone his wife Natalie had lost a week before. “We weren’t even really looking for it anymore,” he said. It was under about three inches of snow.
Ozzy Remington Hickman was born to Rita Brouillette and Frank Hickman at 7:32 a.m. Dec. 22 at University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle. He weighed 9 lbs., 3 ozs., and measured 20 inches. Grandmom Della Brouillette was on hand for the delivery.
Tracy Cui’s parents, Jingjie Wang and Geling Cui of Siping, China, were here last month for their first visit to the United States. Siping has over 3 million inhabitants. Tracy’s mother is a retired high school physics teacher who taught classes larger than the entire population of Haines, Tracy said. The family cooked dumplings with wild meat fillings for Tracy’s friends here. On a trip south they spent four days in Las Vegas, where Tracy said she shared a gambling table with famous Chinese musician Xiaoou Zhou. They also visited Florida, where Tracy had attended college, and visited Key West, Disney World and Epcot Center.
Chevy Fowler and Kai Sato-Franks led their basketball team “Hoops, I Did It Again,” to victory in the men’s intramural basketball championship at University of Alaska Fairbanks. Chevy organized and captained the team as a freshman, said mom Christy Tengs Fowler. Chevy and Kai are student managers of the UAF Division II basketball team, the Nanooks.
Bud Barber and Alexandra Feit will be living in Port Townsend, Wash. for the next few months while Alexandra is treated for cancer. They would appreciate mail from Haines, and can be reached at P.O. Box 1426, Port Townsend, Wash., 98368.
The ski track at 25 Mile Haines Highway is open for business. “It’s in, groomed, and awesome,” said Jim Stanford, who maintains this trail and others for his dog team. Until recently, Jim has been mushing dogs behind an ATV because of poor snow conditions. Clear nights and cold temperatures make for great moonlight skiing, he said, and it’s not as windy up the valley.
It’s January, but at least one bear is still awake. Melina Shields saw a “long, brown thing through the trees,” while walking dogs near Mud Bay. She called the dogs and turned around while the bear held its ground.
The 46th annual Alcan 200 will begin Jan. 16 with a Calcutta auction at the Fogcutter bar. Race organizer Kathi Lapp encourages people to come out to bid on the contestants. Previous winners have completed the 150-mile loop from the border to Dezadeash Lodge site in less than an hour and a half, averaging well over 100 mph. The race begins 10 a.m. Jan. 17 at 42 Mile. The Chilkat Snowburners will host a drag race event Sunday morning.
Former resident Lon Garrison recently won two awards for his service as president of the Sitka school board. Garrison won the Carl Rose Governance Award and the MacKinnon Educational Excellence and Human Recognition Award. The awards were from the Association of Alaska School Boards and the Alaska Superintendents Association, respectively. Garrison has served on the board for eight years.
Mary Crann, the new Haines Health Center clinic administrator, arrived in town at the end of November. She moved here from Glenwood Springs, Colo., with an Australian shepherd named Chrome and her cat, Nayla.