Intermittent rain didn’t seem to hinder the 20th Great Alaska Craft Beer and Home Brew Festival. The fair, which organizes the event, increased the number of tickets sold this year more than 25 percent, to 1,300. “I’d say it went very well,” said Jessica Edwards, assistant fair director. Pre-selling tickets and advertising the event would […]

Haines Borough officials say they want to meet with state road engineers before the Department of Transportation starts working on a Y-shaped intersection at Old Haines Highway and Front Street. Road improvements there include realignment to create a “T,” but borough police chief Gary Lowe told the assembly May 8 that similar efforts at two other intersections […]

Residents John Brower, Gary Lowe and Debra Schnabel and former Haines Borough Manager Tom Bolen are among 18 applicants for the borough’s top job. Applications were due May 10. Borough manager Mark Earnest has resigned effective June 15. Brower is the tribal administrator at Chilkat Indian Village, Lowe is Haines Police chief, and the self-employed Schnabel serves on the Haines Borough Assembly. Bolen was dismissed as […]

Haines Borough Police Chief Gary Lowe said he’s pursuing local hire in the wake of resignations from the department. Recent departures have reduced the force to Lowe and officers Simon Ford and Jason Rettinger, who both lived in Haines before starting careers in law enforcement. Lowe moved from Illinois to become Haines Police chief in June 2008 but said […]

The Haines Borough is seeking a federal grant to purchase and install a new dispatch console that would improve response to 911 calls. “Thank goodness I do not have to call 911 very often, and the one instance where I did have to call it, it was very frustrating, because the equipment is so old, and on […]

After considerable discussion, the Haines Borough Assembly has dropped the idea of making its harbormaster a “peace officer.” That puts the local job on similar footing with the harbor chief in Skagway, but with less authority than the same job in Juneau. Skagway harbormaster Matt O’Boyle said municipal code does not designate him as a peace officer, […]

Leona Santiago, who grew up in Front Street’s Raven House, recounted her experience of abuse from a partner in Seattle during last week’s “Choose Respect” rally in Haines. “I was a little mouse. I had no self-esteem. My son was being abused. I knew I had to get out of that relationship, but I didn’t […]

Besides a march Friday on Main Street, the Domestic Violence Task Force in Haines is creating a moving display to bring attention to the issue and lobbying the state to ramp up prosecution in abuse cases. The march starts 11:30 a.m. Friday, March 16 at the Haines bank and ends at the library with speeches […]

Haines Borough police chief Gary Lowe this week placed officer Cassandra McEwen on paid, administrative leave, beginning March 10. McEwen is the subject of an Alaska State Troopers investigation into care of three horses she owned. Lowe said he expected McEwen’s leave would be at least for two weeks. State trooper Josh Bentz said he had resumed […]