Day: June 11, 2026

Big thanks to everyone who boogied the night away Saturday during our KHNS Dance Party! Nearly 100 people of all ages — in sequins, bright prints and costumes — danced to awesome music by DJKJ and DJ RadioCaroline, raising about $3,700 for local community public radio. The talent, sponsors and hosts helped make the evening a success, but Juniper Talley deserves a special shoutout for creating this dance party series to support local nonprofits in a fun and positive way!

Dawn Drotos, KHNS Development Director 

The post Haines shows up to get down appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

Sunday, May 24

A caller in the 10 block of Haines Highway reported finding a piece of jewelry on the sidewalk and turned it in. The item was logged in lost and found.

Officers in the 300 block of Haines Highway responded to a report of a protective order violation. One subject was taken into custody.

A caller in Haines reported losing a wallet. An officer found the wallet and returned it.

A caller on Chilkoot State Park Road reported finding a cell phone and turned it in. The phone was returned to its owner.

A caller at Jones Point requested a welfare check on a citizen. An officer performed the check.

Monday, May 25

A caller in the 100 block of Main Street reported lost identification and medication. Item descriptions and contact information were obtained.

An officer in the 100 block of First Avenue assisted another agency.

A caller in the 500 block of FAA Road reported a young brown bear in the area. A Nixle was sent out.

A caller at the Chilkat River reported a campfire near the treeline. The Haines Volunteer Fire Department responded.

Police received an automated alert for a vehicle accident at 13.5 Mile Haines Highway. Haines police, Haines Volunteer Fire Department and Klehini Valley Volunteer Fire Department responded.

Officers in the 100 block of First Avenue responded to a call of assault and theft.

An officer in the 300 block of Lynnview Drive assisted another agency.

Tuesday, May 26

A caller in the 1000 block of Haines Highway reported that a bear had gotten into garbage and scattered it everywhere. Officers responded.

Multiple callers at Chilkoot Lake reported a young moose with many tourists present. A wildlife trooper responded.

Haines Volunteer Fire Department performed a service call on Mud Bay Road.

A caller at 21 Mile Haines Highway reported finding a dry bag and turned it in. The owner was contacted and picked up the bag.

A caller in Haines reported concern for a civil issue. An officer took the call.

A caller on Second Avenue reported a possible impaired driver. Officers responded.

Wednesday, May 27

A caller in the 300 block of Lynnview Drive reported a violation of conditions of release. One person was taken into custody.

A caller in the 300 block of Haines Highway reported lost keys. Item descriptions and contact information were obtained.

A caller in the 300 block of Haines Highway reported a concern of a civil issue. An officer took the call.

Police in the 1000 block of Haines Highway received an arrest warrant.

Friday, May 29

A caller in the 200 block of Sawmill Road reported a problem with loose dogs. Officers responded.

Saturday, May 30

A caller at Jones Point reported a sow and cub in the area. A Nixle was sent out.

A caller in the 800 block of FAA Road reported a customer leaving without paying for services. An officer responded.

A caller at Portage Cove reported a person yelling at their group while on a tour. Officers responded.

A caller in the 30 block of Mission Street reported a hit and run. An officer responded and issued a citation.

Police in the 300 block of Haines Highway assisted another agency.

Officers responded to a report of suspicious behavior in Haines.

There were 35 burn permits issued, 10 EMS calls, two 911 hang-up calls and one canine call during this reporting period.

The post Blotter: May 24 – May 30 appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

10 Years Ago

The Haines Borough School Board will meet at 7 p.m. on July 14 to hear a detailed presentation and ask questions about a proposal by borough consultant Darsie Culbeck to use wood chips to heat public buildings. 

In a brief presentation to the board Tuesday, Culbeck said chip-burning boilers near the swimming pool could save the school district up to $2 million over the next 20 years, at current fuel prices. 

Culbeck told the board the reason he wants to proceed with chips – instead of wood pellets, as previously planned – was that chips could be locally produced. “We can’t make pellets in the community right now, but we can make chips.”

Previous to a borough decision to pursue pellet heat, borough leaders passed over chips as an option. Arguments against chips included that they required handling before burning, including drying, and that they tended to ball together, creating “clinkers” that gummed up chip delivery systems. 

Culbeck told the board that quarter-inch “microchips” would be dried one year, leaving them with the “right moisture content” for boilers the borough recently acquired. 

Chips previously considered – including ones used at a municipal facility in Craig – were “messy” and “hard to work with,” Culbeck said. 

Culbeck said he envisioned the Haines Borough would employ a worker to tend the chip boiler. “There’s more maintenance needed on a chip boiler than an oil boiler. That’s something we do recognize,” he said. 

20 Years Ago

Musicians from around the world will be coming to Haines in August to participate in the first annual CrossSound Institute summer session. 

The five-day course, which will include master classes open to Haines residents, is aimed at honing the skills of singers and piano accompanists, and will be capped by a public concert featuring original works by two visiting composers.

Stewart Emerson, a professor at Berlin’s Hanns Eisler Academy of music, will headline the sessions, offering expertise that has helped train some of Europe;’s most acclaimed operatic singers. “He’s a real specialist in his field,” said Juneau contractor Stefan Hakenberg, who worked with Emerson at Germany’s Cologne Opera in the early 1990s. “A lot of today’s opera singers in big opera houses have worked with him.”

Emerson has taught at the Royal College of Music in London and is an expert in four fields: conducting, singing, piano and vocal coaching, said Nancy Nash, program director for the Haines sessions. 

60 Years Ago

Haines area lumber operators are expanding their activities westward. 

Most recent announcement from the office of Governor Hickel reports that Westward Timber Products, a group formed by John Schnabel of Schnabel Lumber Co. in Haines and James and Gifford Evens, owners of Evans Lumber Co. in Anchorage, will open a mill in Seward to process timber from the Fairbanks area. 

Present plans call for moving a stable mill from Haines to the Seward site, which will employ 15 mill workers plus woods personnel. 

Future plans are for a mill capable of 200,000 board feet of cants a day plus an annual output of 192,000 tons of wood chips per year. 

Mill construction and operation will hinge on successful completion of timber sale arrangements. The operation will employ some 70 workers in the mill and 75 in the field, according to the governor’s office. 

The post This Week in History: Woodchips, musicians and lumber appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

A handful of Haines writers, aspiring writers and readers attended the 16th annual North Words Writers Symposium in Skagway. The keynote author was Willy Vlautin. Attendees included Haines locals Dan Henry, Heather Lende, Mandy Ramsey, Russell Kennedy,  Beau Bradley, and Breanna Walker. The event was organized with help from Jeff Brady and X’unei Lance Twitchell. 

The Raven’s Bowl disc golf tournament was held at the fairgrounds May 30-31.The contest is a two-day, two-round Professional Disk Golf Association sanctioned event. This is the eighth year of the event and third year of being a sanctioned tournament — the only sanctioned tournament in Southeast Alaska. Haines local participants were Colton Baker, Jeremy Reed, Dennis Durr, Mike T. Ward, Luck Dunbar, Tim Ewing, Shaun Cornish and Mike Binkie. The mixed professional open winner was Colton Baker. The female professional open winner was Brie Levia. The mixed professional 40 winner was Luck Dunbar and the mixed amateur winner was Korbyn Gendron. Event organizer Reed said there are divisions for all skill levels and he hopes to encourage more youth participation. Haines hosts seven tournaments a year, including two in the winter. 

Katherine Perry made it back to Haines for construction season. Perry spent the winter in Ohio, missing the mountains, sunshine, sweet Alaskan air and the wonderful people of Haines. She is looking forward to soaking up the sun and waving vehicles through the highway construction again this year. Perry expects to spend a lot of time improving her croquet game in her spare time. Watch for her on the croquet course and on the highway. 

The Haines Little League has some fresh faces on the board this year: Stacie Powlison, Candice Hakki, Joliena Olsen, Summer Lynch, Teolani Baker, Jenn Walsh and Tina Long. Powlison said volunteers spruced up the field and plan to have the concession stand open for all of the Friday night games this season. Chili dogs and pretzels with cheese were wildly popular last season and will be back again this year, she said. About 75 players are signed up in three leagues, including T-ball, majors and seniors. She credits the coaching staff for their hard work at the assessment and gear swap held recently included Larry Sweet Jr., Coleman Stanford, Daniel Stickler, Colton Baker, Michael Reynolds, JD Johnson, and Jordan Baumgartner.

Greg Podsiki has been the prowl for some piglets and piglet movers. He has taken on the task of filling the McPherson barn at the fairgrounds with 4-H animals this year and he hopes to include pig racing as well. This task includes procuring the piglets that must be born around May 1st to qualify. Podsiki discovered that the permitting process to bring them through Canada is not cost effective due to several factors including mandatory USDA vet checks for the piglets.Tahveh Watkins stepped up and shared contact info for Heather Adkins, she raises free-range Kunekune pigs. Kunekune’s are originally from New Zealand and are known for their pleasant disposition towards people. Podsiki says that he will be procuring the piglets and they will be transported by Alaska Seaplanes at no charge arriving in early July. He hopes to train the pigs to race as the first Chilkat Valley 4-H project and eventually rehome them in the area as hobby farm animals and pets before auctioning them off to butcher. The funds raised will be used to start future 4-H projects.

Former Haines resident Ellis Anne Meyers Greene and David Chen were married in a desert-themed ceremony in Sedona, Arizona on May 30, 2026. Ellis is the daughter of Nelle and Larry Jurgeleit of Haines and Thomas Mayer of Longboat Key, Florida. David Chen is the son of Dr. Gary Chen and Ping Zhang of Springfield, Illinois. Haines’ friends and family who attended included Jim and Anna Jurgeleit and Hannah Bochart. Also attending were former Haines cousins Elizabeth Jurgeleit with Sean Rielly and Alec and Monica Jurgeleit. Friends and family came from all corners of the country to attend. 

The post Duly Noted: Writers, disc golfers, little leaguers, and more appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

More than a dozen people gathered in the Chilkat Inlet Retreat Sunday morning to hear from gubernatorial candidate Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins. 

 Patty Brown, Haines local for the past 30 years, said she  “learned a lot about him.” Brown, a retired teacher, said she has known Kreiss-Tomkins since he was in high school because he would come to Drama, Debate and Forensic tournaments. Brown said she wanted to “pass the baton to the next generations.” 

Kreiss-Tomkins, 37,  is from Sitka. He was just 23 years old when he beat out the Chilkat Valley’s Bill Thomas to get elected to the state House of Representatives. He served for a decade and stepped down as the representative for District 35 which includes Hoonah, Sitka, Kake, Craig and others.

The campaign stop came together at the last minute. Reached with just 48 hours to go before the visit, Natalie Dawson, Heather Lende and others invited a few community members to attend. Lende said she supports and endorses Kreiss-Tomkins; Dawson said she helped out as an opportunity for civic engagement, not as an endorsement of any particular candidate. 

Before the meeting, Kreiss-Tomkins sat down with the Chilkat Valley News’ Lizzy Hahn to discuss the policies he is focusing on the most.

This conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity. 

Hahn: What made you decide to run for governor?

Kreiss-Tomkins: (I’m) very concerned about how Alaska is doing under Dunleavy, (I) want to get us back on track. We’re losing population. Schools are closing. It’s harder for people to get by. Alaska’s going (in) the wrong direction. Ideally, we have a governor who’s a part of the solution and not the problem.

If you were to get into office, what would be your first step to move in the “right direction?”

Reinvest in public schools, support our schools, so that, (its) not an issue in Haines, but schools across the state are closing, Anchorage, the MatSu, Kenai, Kodiak, Ketchikan, you name it. Forward fund schools so school districts, like HBSD, don’t have to guess on the education funding that’s gonna come out of the legislature, which they currently do every year. That results in teachers getting fired every spring. Then they wait for the education funding number to come in from the legislature and then they get rehired a couple months later. Forward funding, so you don’t have this incredibly dumb, destructive fire-then-rehire cycle every year. Which, can you design a better way to make somebody leave a profession than firing them every year? Like, that’s just awful. And it’s completely avoidable through a structural change in budgeting. I think getting our fair share from oil is a huge priority. 
The Hilcorp tax loophole, one of our two major oil and gas producers, pays not a dime, not a nickel of corporate income tax, is patently indefensible, and is a major revenue hole for the state of Alaska. So that’s a real high priority in lowering costs, housing, childcare, energy, and electricity. The state doesn’t have, you know, magic-wand level power and control over those costs, but for each of those areas, there are important substantive things the state can do to lead on lowering costs so that people can afford to live here.

A lot of villages are waiting to get their new summer influx of fuel, and everyone’s wondering, what is that cost gonna look like? How would you address the rising costs, whether it’s gas or housing, if you were governor?

In all candor, for price of gas, as much as I would love to say, there’s something the state can do, that is not realistically a cost that the state has any direct control over. I mean, the theoretical answer would be like the state starts subsidizing the cost, subsidizing gasoline, which is not gonna happen. So it’s just we’re at the whim of these global markets. There are consequences every time you start a war in the Middle East.

Do you have any plans for policies that may impact Haines or Southeast? If you are elected, what are some of the first policies that you’re thinking of that would maybe either impact the state as a whole or Southeast?

I want to restore balance in the Board of Fisheries which, right now, from my perspective, and perspective of many, has basically become sort of a wholly owned subsidiary of Kenai River Sportfishing Association, which is a sportfish lobby group in Kenai. I think [it] has little regard, to no regard, of the interests of coastal communities like Haines or Sitka or Southeast, Alaska. I want to fix the ferry system, which is pretty deeply broken at this point, which means bonding for new mainline vessels. We have a new generation of blue canoes. I think the most important change in the ferry system that I would like to see is to get the politics out of management and governance of the system. And right now the ferry system is managed by whoever the [Department of Transportation] commissioner is, which is a function of whoever the governor is. And it’s fundamentally a political governance of the ferry system. So every time you have a new governor, and I saw three governors come and go in my 10 years in the legislature. They often, well intentioned, although not always well intentioned, have a different, often radically different vision for what the ferry system should look like. Zooming out from any one governor, including myself, the goal should be to have a sober and coherent, long-term and sustained management vision, which means ultimately divesting the ferry system from the direct control of the governor, including as I’m governor. 
And that is the best interest, I think, of the ferry system. So similar to the Alaska Railroad, or similar to the University of Alaska, where those boards are not an extension of the governor, but they’re independently appointed and confirmed.

Another contentious issue is logging in the Tongass. This is something that politicians like Trump have been advocating for. Where do you stand on this topic?

I support a sustainable new growth timber industry. I’m generally cautious about old-growth logging. Old-growth logging is basically mining because you never really get to cut those trees again. Most of the old-growth harvest, that happens in Southeast Alaska, just gets exported in the round to Asia, and leaves very little economic benefit for the state. So that’s sort of my perspective.

In recent years, we’ve seen massive storms hitting the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and Western Alaska. What role do you believe the governor serves in either climate change prevention or setting up these communities for future storms?

Halong and Merbok really clarified the stakes for Alaska, suffering property damage and loss of life. Kotzebue has been flooded two of the last three years. I have a friend in Kotzebue whose house she’s still not living in from flooding a couple years ago. So the state has to be ready and prepared to protect its residents from these storms and their impacts. I think it’s most acute in Western Alaska. I think it means working really closely with tribal governments and the federal government, to coordinate response and preparation. The question of adaptation itself is incredibly tricky. By adaptation I mean, like relocation for villages like Kipnuk, which are low lying and, you know, basically devastated from last fall, and it’s like kind of what’s the future, but the state, the resources are not obviously there to finance a multi-hundred million dollar relocation of just one village. So, I mean, I think the question is really important. The answer is tough. I don’t think anybody really has the answer but I’m very motivated to try to find it.

What are some of your goals for your first 100 days in office if elected?

I think the first and most obvious piece is like kind of stopping the bleeding with public schools and building an administration that Alaskans can have confidence in. 
And for me personally, it’s really important that the administration, the cabinet, reflects the breadth of Alaskans as a whole. Similar to the bipartisan coalition in the house, which I was a part of, and I’m a huge believer in, you know, it’s Ds, it’s Is, it’s moderate Rs. I really wanted an administration that looks like that too. 
So like Republicans in the cabinet. I’m running with an Independent, not a Democrat. So, I mean, even our ticket is sort of mirroring that sort of cross partisan Alaskans working together regardless of what the letter next to their name is. I think building that administration, building that team is one of my most important priorities. 

Is there anything else that you would like to mention that I ask? 

We’re really excited about our endorsement from Gov. Tony Knowles from a week and a half ago. I think a big piece of why I’m running is I think our ticket can win and for 10 years I represented and won in a district that voted for Trump. I’m the only Democrat running who can say that. In those 10 years, I ran substantially ahead of top of ticket Democrats. The high water markers, I ran 23 percentage points ahead of Biden. And that was the highest rate of over performance for any legislative Democrat in Alaska, that cycle. Which is just to say, I have a proven record of being able to bring in Independents and Republicans, even though I have a D next to my name, who can get behind the sort of vision I have offered as a legislator, so I’ve done that on a regional level. I’ve done that on a legislative level. And that’s the kind of record you want to look for for a candidate who can win statewide. 

The post A Q&A with Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, candidate for governor appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

Sunday, May 31

Multiple callers at 6.5 Mile Haines Highway reported a moose cow and calves in the roadway. A Nixle was sent out.

Monday, June 1

An officer in the 300 block of Haines Highway met with a citizen to assist with a civil event.

A caller on Small Tracts Road reported a street sign impeding traffic. A construction company was notified and responded.

A Nixle alert was sent out on Small Tracts Road advising citizens of water outages and a boil water notice.

A citizen at Portage Cove was asking questions about the local park.

A caller at Mud Bay and Small Tracts roads reported several vehicles had been speeding through the area since the closures started. Officers patrolled the area.

A caller in the 1000 block of Haines Highway talked with an officer about people lurking on their property.

Tuesday, June 2

A caller on Fourth Avenue reported a bear had gotten into a vehicle that was full of garbage. The vehicle owner received a verbal warning for bear attractant.

A caller in the 200 block of Tower Road reported possible theft of lumber.

Wednesday, June 3

A caller at Tlingit Park reported a person looking in the windows of vehicles and buildings in the area.

Thursday, June 4

A caller in the 300 block of Haines Highway reported a verbal altercation and wanted to file a report for information purposes.

An officer and the Haines Volunteer Fire Department performed a welfare check.

A caller on Muncaster Road reported getting into a verbal and physical altercation with a neighbor.

A police officer in the 300 block of Haines Highway contacted the owner of an abandoned vehicle on the property to have it removed.

Friday, June 5

Haines police received a civil packet to be served in the 200 block of Main Street.

A caller on Lutak Spur Road reported a bear had broken the window on their shed. The bear was gone. Alaska State Troopers were advised.

A caller at 100 Front Street reported a domestic dispute in progress.

Saturday, June 6

A caller in the 500 block of Chilkoot Street reported several vehicles speeding in the area.

An officer in the 1000 block of Haines Highway performed a civil standby.

A caller in the 500 block of FAA Road reported a water outage. The borough’s water department was notified.

There were three 911-hang up calls, two canine calls, four EMS calls and 40 burn permits issued during this reporting period.

The post Blotter: May 31 – June 6 appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

Talia Dixie Hauser has been learning how to manage a whole new set of small-business-owner headaches as she works to open her ice cream shop, Dixie Queen, for the summer. The 16-year-old high school student runs the operation out of Talia’s Treasures. Hauser has been busy working out the details of getting her ice cream machine up and running, while also holding down a second job at Olerud’s.  Hauser got a more powerful machine, a 20 amp. But the shop was only open for slushies during a trial run on May 30 because she was still figuring out how it works. By last Friday, it was up and running and churning out big cups of ice cream, but kept flipping a breaker.  She solved the problem and will soon offer chocolate, vanilla and swirl for the soft serve enthusiast. She said that the popular blue raspberry and cherry flavored slushies will be on the menu again this year, as well as the Royal Slushie, a combination of slushie and ice cream in layers. 

The Haines Visitor’s Center 2026 photo contest is in its third week. The contest involves a weekly drawing for the best photos of Haines, submitted to the Visitor’s Center. This week included a photo titled “Slipping Through my Fingers” by former Haines resident Shelby Woods. Woods will be passing her $50 Rusty Compass gift card to her friend Maggie Martin. Roger and Jacky Gautschi also won this week with the photo “Bear out Lutak.” These two were visiting from Switzerland and plan to be back in August. They opted for the Alaska Sport Shop gift card. Kiara Hylton at the Visitor’s Center said that the 12-week contest will come to an end with all of the photo submissions being entered in the drawing for the grand prize. This year’s theme is Haines in Motion. 

Haines High alumna and Montana State University undergraduate Emma Dohrn has salmon stickers available at the Haines Packing store. She also created this year’s posters for the Kluane to Chilkat International Bike Relay and fisherman’s community barbecue. 

Haines Friends of Recycling spokesman Melissa Aronson reports a strong volunteer force helped with the annual electronic recycling event last weekend. The event brought 126 people with electronics from cell phones and laptops, to microwaves and TVs.  She said on Friday 16 volunteers accepted and sorted electronics waste for four hours and Saturday 14 volunteers sorted for four hours, bringing the total for this weekend’s haul up to 10,380 pounds of electronic waste diverted from the landfill. Aronson said that over the last 20 years, Haines Friends of Recycling has collected 261,389 pounds of electronics. Aronson credits the hard work of the volunteers. 

Doug Olerud and his right-hand man, Gabe Long, announced the weekly winners for the third week of the Dolly Days fishing derby. This is the third week of the event, which runs until June 15. Anglers can submit pictures of their catches to win weekly prizes and a grand prize at the end of the derby. Liam Dewitt and Lyndsey Hura each won a fishing rod. Olerud and Long reported that two sockeye made it through the weir at Chilkoot by Tuesday, meaning Dewitt and Hura could be using their new rods and reels to bring in some salmon next.

The post Duly Noted: Ice cream, fishing season and more appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

Ten years ago

A Jehovah’s Witness representative clarified this week his group isn’t pushing literature or religious discussion on people passing by a sign-and-cart set up weekly on the Haines waterfront.

Sebabi Leballo said it’s the official policy for Jehovah’s Witnesses around the world not to take the initiative to approach people while set up in public. “They have to come up to us, then we speak to them,” he said.

The group recently acquired a sign permit to distribute literature on the waterfront, including at Lookout Park. They set up weekly on Wednesdays, when cruise ships are in town, Leballo said.

“We know there are many people from around the world who may never learn about the Bible in their countries. It’s an opportunity for them to learn more about the Bible,” he said.

Residents have questioned the presence of the Jehovah’s Witnesses at Lookout Park, expressing concerns that they might make visitors uncomfortable.

“I think because it is new and different and people haven’t seen it before, I assume that is why maybe some people were surprised and taken aback by it,” Leballo said.

He also stressed the goal of the literature isn’t so much to “recruit” or “convert” people, or solicit them to come to meetings, but to initiate a conversation about the Bible.

“Some (people) will decide to become Jehovah’s Witnesses, but that’s not the end game,” Leballo said. “It’s your personal decision. We’re just going to give you the information to make your decisions.”

Aside from the weekly presence at the waterfront, the group holds twice weekly public meetings. They primarily focus on one-on-one Bible education, which is usually initiated by the door-to-door visits Jehovah’s Witnesses are known for.

Before Leballo came to town almost two years ago, there was no Jehovah’s Witness presence in Haines. Last year, about three to four people were coming to the public meetings held at Leballo’s home. Now, that number is about 15.

“It’s definitely been increasing,” he said.

Leballo said his group has conducted one-on-one Bible studies with about 50 people.

Those conversations usually stem from a specific question someone might have, such as, “If God exists, why is there wickedness in the world?”

“We don’t believe in telling you what to believe. We show you what the Bible says, and then you decide what to believe based on that,” Leballo said.

25 years ago

An order from the director of state parks made eagle baiting on commercial tours in the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve illegal last week, putting at least a temporary halt to heated local debate about the ethics of the practice.

“The purpose of the order was to maintain the best relationship between people and the preserve, not to make any statement about whether it’s good or bad for the eagles,” said southeast parks area superintendent Bill Garry.

The order amends preserve commercial use permits to prohibit feeding eagles. “While conducting guided tours on the preserve a client or guide may not offer or provide food or a food-like lure of any kind that attracts an eagle, whether or not the eagle actually eats or touches the food or lure,” the amendment reads.

Duck Hess, whose tour company is the only one that baits eagles in the preserve, said he’d likely appeal the decision. He said the move reflects a common theme in state management of resources – interference with business. “It’s typical of what’s been going on,” he said.

Baiting eagles is contrary to the preserve’s purpose, and the move is meant to protect the preserve’s integrity, Garry said.

“Baiting eagles for a thrill can only be perceived as a manipulation of the eagle. Zoos provide those experiences. The preserve is not a zoo, and the purpose is to preserve the natural habitats and human relationship to the eagle. Eagles shall interact naturally with their habitats, other wildlife and humans,” parks director Jim Stratton wrote in the order.

Hess said the ban wouldn’t affect his business. “I get the people anyway. I was just doing it to give them a better look at the eagles,” he said.

Preventing conflict between tour companies also was a factor in the decision. “A commercial tour that baits eagles to its clients will eventually come in contact with another tour or private party that detests this activity. This will lead to verbal and possibly physical conflict. The best way to prevent this conflict is to remove the baiting activity which may be benign for the eagle, but is certainly not benign for humans involved,” Stratton wrote.

According to the order, disposal of hunting and fishing waste that may inadvertently feed eagles is not restricted. “Traditional use of the preserve may from time to time involve disposal of fish and animal remains which could be seen as baiting of eagles. This activity is infrequent, has not led to conflicts and is consistent with a natural subsistence lifestyle with humans and eagles coexisting in their habitats,” the order reads.

The order took effect immediately, but is subject to appeal for 30 days, Garry said. Department of Natural Resources commissioner Pat Pourchot will decide administrative appeals. “My understanding is Pat Pourchot is the last level of administrative appeal,” Gary said. Beyond that, the order could be challenged through the court system, he said.

Garry said the order likely would remain in force during appeals. “I’ve talked to the attorney general about that and they feel it’s still in effect. The appeal process has a 30-day period when we probably won’t prosecute criminal violations,” he said.

Violating the order is punishable by suspension or revocation of commercial use permits and prosecution.

52 years ago

A last-minute move by lawyers for L.A.B. Flying Service of Haines has thrown out the window all plans by Southeast Skyways to begin service to Haines on Monday. 

An Anchorage judge has granted a restraining order on behalf of lawyers for L.A.B. Flying Service, and has set a tentative date for a hearing for July 3 in Anchorage. At this time L.A.B. will formally contest the Alaska Transportation Commission’s decision to give the Lynn Canal route to Southeast Skyways. Layton Bennet was unavailable for comment at press time. 

At this point Alaska Airlines must continue its present schedule until the entire matter is settled. The CAB today granted final approval of Alaska’s abandonment of the Haines-Skagway route – pending the availability of an alternate carrier. Now the ball is back in the Alaska Transportation Commission’s hands. 

This newspaper talked to Jim Vuille at Southeast Skyways in Juneau Friday evening. Vuille was still reeling from the blow, but said that Skyways was going ahead with its plans for a terminal building at the Haines airport. “We’re feeling pretty down at the moment,” he said. “But we still are gearing up to begin service just as soon as this is cleared up.” 

Jim Vuille also said that there is the possibility that the State Attorney General’s office may intervene in the case to have the hearing date moved up, so that this situation can be resolved as soon as possible. 

Jim McGraw, local Alaska Airlines agent, had this to say about the whole affair: “By the time this thing is straightened out, they’ll have to carry me out of here in a straitjacket!” This comment followed weeks of uncertainty as he has been promised a job with Alaska Airlines in Anchorage – and at the same time has not been advised in any coherent manner as to how to finish up his work in Haines. 

The post This Week in History: Bating eagles, flying and more appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

The Chilkat Challenge Triathlon Steering Committee wants to give a big shout-out and thank you to all of the local businesses and organizations that supported this year’s successful race. There are too many to list in one thank you letter! Here’s the first wave, stay tuned for the rest of the race supporters. Thank you to the Chilkat Valley Community Foundation, Sockeye Cycle, Viking Cove Guest Homes, Rainbow Glacier Adventures, Lutak Lumber, Alaska Seaplanes, and Bearstar Communications!

Gershon Cohen for the CCT Steering Committee 

The post Thank you for a successful Chilkat Triathlon appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.