About midday on Friday, an Alaska Marine Lines employee called the Haines harbormaster to let him know a new sinkhole had formed on the Lutak dock. Borough staff spent the weekend repairing the hole that harbormaster Henry Pollan said was at cell 12, near the center of the dock, about 20 feet from the guardrail. […]
Posted inLocal News
Friends of Eileen Wafer again seek memorial for her near the cruise ship dock
Friends of a teenage murder victim whose case has remained unsolved in Haines for decades are again asking for a memorial to be placed where her body was found. Midge McClellan Clark sent a letter to Mayor Tom Morphet in August, asking him to help find a memorial spot for Eileen Wafer, a 14-year-old who […]
Posted inSports, Local News
Lone Haines runner ‘ran her best race of the season’ at state in Palmer
Sophia Hedden was the lone racer for Haines High School at the Alaska School Activities Association Cross Country Division I State Championships in Palmer on Saturday. She landed a 15th-place finish by completing the five-kilometer run in 23 minutes and 3.13 seconds. The race, held at the Mike Janecek Trails at Palmer High School, was […]
Posted inElections, Local News
Municipal election Oct. 7; early voting closes Oct. 6
The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday at the ANB/ANS Hall in Haines, and the Klehini Valley Fire Department on Mosquito Lake, for voters to select two assembly members, two planning commission members, two school board members and whether the town should have a seasonal sales tax. Early, or […]
Posted inLocal News, Environment & Natural Resources
State reports a strong run of Chilkat Kings, some concern remains
The Chilkat river king salmon run returned in high-numbers to spawn this summer — the first season after the run was removed from the state-designated stock of concern list. For much of the last decade and a half, king salmon, or chinook, arrived to spawning streams up the Chilkat in numbers below what state biologists […]
Posted inDuly Noted
Duly Noted: Apple pressing, catching a ride, an anniversary, and Haines’ hair routines
Nelle Jurgeleit-Greene is pretty good apple-press operator and trainer of apple pressers. She was on site to teach the finer points of smashing apples into cider at Saturday’s farmers market. She says the cider press was donated to the market by Doug Evenden and DeLise Keim. The press came with the purchase of their house. […]
Posted inLocal News
Borough considers 3 prospective federal lobbyists
The borough assembly is considering three candidates to serve as federal lobbyists for the borough in Washington D.C. A federal lobbyist would primarily be charged with speaking to federal agencies and lawmakers, particularly Alaska’s congressional delegation, in the hopes of securing more funding for borough projects. The current priorities, according to assembly members and borough […]
Posted inLocal News, Elections
Chilkat Valley voters, businesses consider seasonal sales tax again
Voters will decide whether to adopt a seasonal sales tax and cash in on the tourists who visit Haines each summer. Currently, the borough’s sales tax rate stands at 5.5 percent in town. It would jump up to 7% from April 1 through Sept. 30. In the rest of the borough, the 4% sales tax […]
Posted inLocal News
For the first time in 3 years, bald eagle preserve advisory council to meet
There are still two vacant seats, but the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve Advisory Council is scheduled to convene in mid-October. At minimum, the 12-member council is supposed to meet quarterly, but it hasn’t had a meeting since 2022 according to a state meetings database. The governor appoints people to the council, which is made […]