School district officials are hoping residents will support a three-year school funding bill recently introduced in the Alaska Legislature. A teleconference on the bill will be held 8 to 10 a.m. Monday. To participate, phone toll-free, 855-463-5009. Superintendent Michael Byer said Senate bill 84 would incrementally increase the base student allocation from $5,680 to $6,025, […]
Posted inNews, School Board
Sunday open gym: $3K per year; School board OKs job to increase early reading skills
Opening the Karl Ward Gym each Sunday for two hours would cost the Haines Borough School District $105 per session, or about $3,000 per winter season, superintendent Michael Byer told the school board last week. The school board discussed the Sunday open gym request, approved hire of a half-time reading teacher and dropped a requirement for a performance bond for the […]
Posted inNews
Assembly to revisit dock rates Tuesday
The Haines Borough Assembly on Tuesday is set to have further discussion on proposed exponential rate increases for using Lutak Dock. “I think it’s moving in a very positive direction,” borough manager Mark Earnest said at the assembly’s March 8 meeting. “The whole idea is to secure a stable revenue stream for existing dock operation and maintenance costs, as well as […]
Posted inNews
Woman OK after moose stomping
A Haines woman said she felt lucky she suffered only minor injuries after being stomped by a moose on Rutzebeck Lake Road Sunday night. Jane Pascoe routinely walks one mile to her home on the narrow, unmaintained road south of Mud Bay. She’d made it about half way around 8 p.m. when she came across […]
Posted inNews
Lapp looks back on 33 years at 33 Mile
When Kathi and Jerry Lapp took over 33 Mile Roadhouse in 1977, the place was lit with propane lights, the gasoline pump out front was operated by a hand crank and customers were served water from a spring on the property. “It was pretty self-sufficient,” Jerry, 62, said this week. The owner of a bar and restaurant […]
Posted inNews, Haines Borough
Sales tax revenues hold steady
Reports to the Haines Borough show sales tax revenues held steady in 2010, compared to calendar year 2009. The borough collected $2.60 million in sales tax last year, compared to $2.58 million in 2009, about a 1 percent increase. Although calendar years don’t align neatly with the borough’s fiscal year, the numbers contrast with projections last May […]
Posted inNews
Census: Population grew 5% since 2000; Town bucking trend in Southeast
The Haines Borough’s population has increased nearly 5 percent since 2000, according to 2010 U.S. census figures released Wednesday. “Haines has actually been one of the more stable communities over the last five or six years,” said Robert Venables, former borough manager. “It is a bit of an anomaly for the region, which is still […]
Posted inThank You Letters
Big Brothers grateful for race donations
Thank you Dan and Joanna Egolf and crew at Alaska Backcountry Outfitter for contributing, cross-country ski packages so that “Littles” in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program could participate in the ski event at Chilkoot, free of charge. Thanks also to the board of the Takshanuk Watershed Council for organizing this, very original, ski-paint ball […]
Posted inThank You Letters
Willard thankful for help during illness
I would like to thank the staff at the SEARHC clinic for all the help I got, and Glenda Strong for letting me use her cell phone while I was in the hospital. Thank you to the ambulance crew for the ride out to the medevac plane, and the medevac team for the safe trip […]
Posted inLetters to the Editor
Quake proves nuclear power not safe
In September of 1979, notable, tree-hugging hippie musicians Jackson Brown, Graham Nash, Bonnie Rait and John Hall organized Musicians United for Safe Energy (MUSE). There were concerts at Madison Square Garden and later a movie. Those tree- hugging hippies realized the indescribable destruction that can happen when the worst possible scenario involving a nuclear reactor […]