10 Years Ago

Are the bears green with envy? Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day? Trying for a punk rock look?

Two green-splashed bears puzzled Haines locals and tourists along the Chilkoot River last week. 

“It’s really a complete mystery,” said Carl Kock, a wildlife biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. 

So far, no one has figured out what happened. Or admitted to doing the deed. 

Although Haines locals are used to seeing brown bears, black bears and the occasional glacier bear, green bears are a rare sight to behold.

Koch said the green-colored sow and her cub were first seen at 6 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 31 in a Haines resident’s yard. Tom Ganner, photographer and bear monitor at Chilkoot, took photos of the bears near the river later that day. 

Ganner’s photos shared on his photography facebook page, Time & Space, and on the Friends of Chilkoot Facebook page show the cub was solidly covered in green from its face and head and down one front leg. The sow had green on her head, neck and shoulders. “They were so well covered,” Ganner said. “How can there be that much paint in one can?”

20 Years Ago

After a seven-year slide, enrollment at the Haines School appears to have turned around. 

High school principal and superintendent Charlie Jones said 289 students, 19 more than expected, showed up the first week of classes, prompting some last-minute challenges and adjustments. 

The biggest increases are in the elementary school, where the building capacity already was stretched by the addition of Kindergarten, first and second grade classes which moved out of the primary school. 

In sixth grade, student numbers are up 44 percent from last year, to 26. 

A combined 14 percent increase in Kindergarten, first and second grades has caused the district to abandon plans for two mixed-grade classrooms. 

One class would have 28 students, well over the 15 to 20 student maximum recommended for early learners, said elementary school principal Cheryl Stickler. 

As a result, a new second grade class was created just days before the start of school and a writing lab eliminated to make room for the extra students. 

30 Years Ago

Two pickup trucks from the Halsingland Hotel – one company vehicle and the personal vehicle of hotel owner Arne Olsson – were stolen Saturday morning.

The company vehicle turned up at 5:50 a.m., when it crashed into the front of the Outfitter Liquor Store. Olsson’s vehicle was found in a ditch later that morning, said police chief Charlie Fannon. 

How the thieves got a hold of the keys, “no one really seems to know,” Fannon said. “I suspect they had access to the keys. The suspects aren’t necessarily on staff – (it could be) people who know the routine up here.”

Apparently, whoever took the company vehicle was unaware it didn’t have brakes, Fannon said. That’s what caused the accident. 

“It actually pushed part of the wall in,” said Outfitter manager Rob Miller. 

Two double-paned windows were destroyed in the crash, along with up to $200 in bottles of mixes, Miller said.