Three students from Haines attended the Alaska Association of Student Governments in Delta Junction recently. Selby Long, Maddox Rogers, and Aimee Lahr headed first to Fairbanks with their adviser Alex Van Wyhe and chaperone Pam Long. There they did a campus tour of UAF with Selby’s brother, Haines graduate Jackson Long. Then the group traveled […]
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Election: Assembly outcomes could shift, but not likely for planning commission and school board
Updated at 6:30 p.m. Results rolled in for the boroughwide regular election Tuesday showing voters favoring a shift on the Haines assembly, though the results could flip before the counting is over. Currently in the lead on the assembly is Cheryl Stickler, with an 81 votes over the candidate with the second highest total, Mark […]
Your questions answered: Borough Assembly
Earlier this month we asked you to help shape the Chilkat Valley News’ local election reporting by submitting questions for the candidates. We collected those questions, tossed out a few that were clearly spam, and took nine total directly to the assembly and planning commission candidates. Assembly candidates answered questions about the Lutak Dock, the […]
After a break, Stickler seeks to return to the Assembly
In the late 1960s, Cheryl Stickler’s family moved to the Chilkat Valley. She attended kindergarten through the third grade in town. She was young, but Stickler remembers a different landscape in Haines at the time. “I remember walking to school by the big, scary woods,” she said. “ I remember there were so many children […]
After a stint on the planning commission, Clement sets his sights on the assembly
Richard Clement was born into a large family between Seattle and Tacoma. “I’m one of nine kids,” he said. “My parents didn’t have any money. But, I mean, they raised me really well – and I just kind of found my way and I found what interests me. I went to college when I could, […]
After one year on the Assembly, Dawson says she has more to accomplish
Natalie Dawson was born and raised in a suburb of Detroit. She first started coming to the Chilkat Valley more than two decades ago doing fieldwork as a wildlife biologist. She spent some time in the Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park and trapping along the Chilkat corridor while also studying essentially the retreat of ice sheets and […]
Longtime Haines resident and local politician Schnabel seeks re-election
Debra Schnabel has lived in Haines since she was 11 days old. She left for a period of time to go to college and then to pursue a career in broadcasting – but she got caught up in the family business. Her father, John Schnabel, was involved in timber, and mining, and a lot of […]
Political newcomer Zimmerly wants younger generations to help shape the future of the Chilkat Valley
Nora Zimmerly first came to Haines in 2017. It was a stop-off during a journey to Skagway to work for Sockeye Cycle. “I really enjoy it,” she said. “I feel like a lot of the things that brought me here in the first place, or a lot of things that I was drawn to, about […]
Smith aims to bring professional military, medical experience to the assembly
Assembly candidate Mark Smith was born and raised in Alabama, where he went to college and then onto a military career spanning more than three decades. Smith, who retired a colonel and doctor in the army, did not start out to be a doctor. “I started off as a combat officer, he said. “I was […]
Citizens for Haines flyer sets a low standard, doesn’t leave room for cooperation
The flyer in last week’s paper by “Citizens for Haines” is a perfect example of how divisive political rhetoric corrodes complex issues into an exhausting and fruitless blame game. Accusations about the current assembly being responsible for property tax hikes, for example, are simply untrue. In fact, this assembly saw through a complete property tax […]

