Mary Folletti gave birth to a 10 pound, 22.5 inch long baby boy with her wife, Roz Cruise, at Juneau’s Bartlett Regional Hospital on Nov. 7, at 3:30am. He joins older sister Enza Shirin Cruise, who just turned 4. Grandparents are Sue Clayton and Fred Folletti of Haines. The family will make a trip to Pennsylvania to meet the extended Folletti family at the end of this month, and are planning to visit Haines in late December or January.
John and Sharon Svenson have just returned from a 60 day, 7,000 mile road trip. Beginning in Jasper, B.C., where the smoke from fires was so thick that there was no sky seen until Yellowstone. Following primarily “blue highways” was the goal. After a stop in Jackson Hole, Wyo. to visit one of the infamous “Goon Squad” climbing team, they hung a right at Moab and settled down at the base of Mt. Whitney in Lone Pine for three weeks. With a climbing friend, John descended thousands of feet into one of many old abandoned mines in the area, including long vertical shafts on dubious wooden ladders that were “… mildly terrifying and not suggested for those with a fear of the dark.” John and Myles Moser also established a new route high above the “Whitney Portals,” involving steep face climbing, they called it “Wandering Goosenecks.” The trip culminated with John officiating the wedding of his second cousin, Emily Chetney, in Joshua Tree Monument. “It’s always fun to have a bunch of mature adults having a great time being watched like hawks by rangers with flak jackets and sidearms.” Overall, state parks were far more well maintained and user friendly than Monuments, but every situation was fun. The trip ended in Anacortes where Sharon spent time with her sister Jennifer Young before hopping on the ferry in Bellingham. “We’ve always maintained, ‘the best thing about leaving Haines is returning to it.’”
With this latest stretch of below freezing temperatures, the Ravens Arena Ice Rink is up and running. In October, Daymond Hoffman, Andy Hedden, Paul Wheeler, Carlos Jimenez, Matt Whitman and Michael Wald helped in the annual project of setting up the boards around the old horse arena. Over the last few weeks, Daymond and Tim Hockin have been steadily cultivating layers of ice to culminate in the first pick-up hockey games of the season this week. The lights are up and working, so evening pick-up games will be happening soon. Daymond is also looking for volunteers to help teach skating to kids this season. Contact Community Youth Development if interested. Look for pick-up hockey on the Haines Hockey Facebook page, and for a rink-side public use schedule to go up in the near future.
The newest season of the reality show “Gold Rush” aired last month, with Parker Schnabel and Todd Hoffman facing new challenges as they mine for gold on the top-rated Discovery Channel program. This current season will follow Parker as he continues to search for the valuable metal, which has already taken him from Porcupine Creek to the original Klondike Gold fields. Last season he trekked along the original path of the miners up the Chilkoot Pass, across Lake Bennett, and down the Yukon River to Dawson. Schnabel is currently filming in an “undisclosed” location.
The Haines Senior Center hosted an early Thanksgiving lunch on Tuesday. Rita Brouillette, Melissa King, and Ben Cherry cooked a full turkey meal for over sixty people. The celebration brought friends and family together for the feast and is an annual event at the center.
Jim Wilson and Henry Wong have recently started hosting bridge lessons at the Haines Senior Center. After playing bridge together regularly, they have decided to pass their skills and passion for the game to the next generation of players and potential bridge club members. They meet after lunch at the center, on a soon to be decided regular weekday.