Author: alaskaadmin

Sunday, June 28
A caller at CIA Dock reported seeing a skinny bear on the beach. An officer was advised and a Nixle alert issued.
A person turned in an insurance card on Haines Highway.
Police received an advisory from another law enforcement agency.
A caller in Port Chilkoot reported a damaged stop sign.

Monday, June 29
An officer assisted another agency with a welfare check.
An officer on Main Street provided a citizen assist.
A caller in the 100 block of Third Avenue reported finding a bicycle. The bike owner picked it up.
A caller reported a skinny bear at the downtown harbor. An officer was advised, a Nixle alert was sent and the Department of Fish & Game was advised.

Tuesday, June 30
A caller on Haines Highway reported almost being hit by another vehicle.
An officer in the 200 block of First Avenue provided a citizen assist.
A citizen in the 300 block of Lynnview Drive requested information on security camera placement.
A caller on Small Tracts Road reported a bear in their camping area. The caller was advised of guidelines for food storage in bear country.
A caller in the 40 block of Skyline Drive reported an ATV driving without a license plate.

Wednesday, July 1
A caller requested a welfare check on a citizen.
An officer on Oslund Drive assisted a business owner.

Thursday, July 2
An officer performed a welfare check.
A caller requested a safety check for a person who had fallen.
An officer on Mud Bay Road cited a driver for speeding.

Friday, July 3
A caller in the 300 block of Lynnview Drive requested assistance locating a family member.
A caller in the 1000 block of Haines Highway reported a neighbor was leaving property in the yard.

Saturday, July 4
Haines Volunteer Fire Department crews provided support for holiday events.
An officer performed a welfare check at Tlingit Park.
A caller in the 1000 block of Haines Highway reported possible illegal burning.
Haines Volunteer Fire Department crews stood by during the fireworks display at Picture Point.
A caller requested a welfare check on a family member.

There were six 911 hang-up calls, 15 EMS calls and 39 burn permits issued during this reporting period.

The post Blotter: June 28 – July 4 appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

10 Years Ago

A fundraiser July 21-22 at the Hammer Museum will give residents a chance to brighten their toolboxes. 

“Art and Hammer” is patterned after “Wine and Canvas” fundraisers in the Lower 48, said Kate Dickson, museum assistant. Participants will get a claw hammer, plus art supplies to decorate it, including acrylic paints. Finger foods and alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages also will be served. 

Experienced art instructor Kelleen Adams, who will help participants create their designs, said participants should show up with a design in mind. Sessions start at 7 p.m. each night and participation is limited to 15 people per session. 

30 Years Ago

Roger Schnabel’s proposal for an aggregate transfer facility on city tidelands near the Small Boat Harbor will be discussed by the city council’s Ports and Harbors Committee at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. 

City council members asked Schnabel last week if he would consider going back to his original location, on Beach Road. 

Schnabel said he switched locations on the advice of city planning commission chair Dave Nanney.

“I’m really here to try and work things out,” he said. “Ideally, I’m over at Beach Road.”

Kathy Pardee-Jones, a nearby resident who opposes the Front Street development, said perhaps the city could offer Schnabel a break on its rates at the Lutak Dock. That way, it would be more economical for him to put the transfer facility away from the Harbor, she said. 

Schnabel cautioned that he can consider only a limited number of proposals. He already spent money assessing the situation on Beach Road, he said. “I can only be in the ring so far before I’m laid out flat.”

40 Years Ago

Twenty thousand Sitka spruce trees are being planted this week by nine Klukwan youths working with the Department of Natural Resources. Tlingit and Haida Community Council received a state grant from the Department of Community and Regional Affairs to hire the planters for six weeks. The youths are provided with transportation and Klukwan Inc. provides breakfasts and lunches. 

Forester Roy Josephson that the seedlings are planted in cleared areas to “replenish where nature didn’t do it.” So far the teenagers have planted in the Little Salmon area across the 26-mile bridge on Sunshine Mountain and in the Kelsall. They also planted trees between the high school track and the highway for the Women’s Club. 

About once a week, the teenagers do a little trail-clearing to break up the monotony of planting trees. So far they’ve cleared the Seven-Mile Saddle and Mt. Ripinski trails.

The post This Week in History: Tidelands, trees and more appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

Haines Friends of Recycling would like to extend a  big “thank you” to the Chilkat Valley Community Foundation for their ongoing support.  Attendees of the large community events, such as Fishermen’s barbecue, Fireman’s barbecue, July 4th picnic, Southeast Alaska State Fair and others, have seen our recycling and composting collection areas.  The Community Foundation gave us a grant many years ago and enabled us to provide support for zero-waste events around our community.  

Most recently in 2025, the Foundation gave us a grant to support our general operations and that has been most helpful to us as we prepare for our move to our new location on Third Avenue. We anticipate moving in the late summer or early fall. Stay tuned for more details.

Melissa Aronson, Haines Friends of Recycling

The post A thank you for ongoing community foundation support appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

The bloomers flew over 228 feet! Haines local Ryan Irvin signed up for the free distance guess and was the lucky recipient of two round-trip tickets donated by Alaska Seaplanes. Thank you!  The marching band would also like to thank the community for their past generosity, as we were able to debut both a snare drum and a banner. We love delighting our Main Street audience in our “Slightly Used Uniforms Without Uniformity” and are now raising funds for a mace (retiring our very old used baton) and a marching xylophone. We welcome future contributions via the Haines Arts Council. 

Suzy Waterhouse

The post The marching band’s Bloomer Blast was a blast, eventually  appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

I am writing this letter to the editor to bring attention to the community. Do you appreciate that there are people putting junk at the end of their driveways for people to stop by and get what they might want, like the one alongside the driveway just north of town along the Haines Highway? Is this what you want when visitors enter our beautiful little town? I prefer not! This starts with one, then two and now three are lying alongside the roads or driveways. Rain, wind, dirt, etc. on all of these piles. Please, if you have put your piles alongside the roads, remove them. These are very ugly and to my knowledge, nobody I have talked to enjoys it. Everyone says they don’t like it but won’t make their opinion public. This is why I am voicing mine. 

Karen Hess 

The post Free piles along the highway are unsightly and should be removed appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.

Long-time maintenance employee Gary Stigen retired from the Haines Borough School District after 17 years. Stigen helped get the new school built and helped demolish the old high school. Prior to working at the school, Stigen served six years on the school board.

Colleague and former teacher Sam McPhetres said Stigen would walk completely around and inside the school, checking for anything that needed to be fixed that particular day.

When Stigen started working, he said they had just moved out of the old school. His first year consisted of a lot of organizing. 

Stigen witnessed the roof repair completed a few years back. 

The roof repairs were done in sections, starting with the high school gym. Stigen said he advocated fixing the roof of the gym first because “if the water comes through, it ruins a nice $50,000 floor that we just got replaced.” 

He said getting the roof improvements done was “a big deal” and was done without the state’s help. Talking about the roof, Stigen was very adamant that people should “never go on the roof” because it might compromise it.

Before the repairs, superintendent Lilly Boron said, “there were 13 five-gallon buckets of water that we dumped every single day and that was just in the gym, not counting the big trash can we had in the music room.” Boron was the high school principal at the time, and remembered having to dump out the collected water daily.

Stigen said that it’s almost impossible to completely waterproof the roof of the school, but “we’ve done a lot of it.”

Stigen also slowly replaced fluorescent lights with LEDs. 

“I think the story of my life is light bulbs,” Stigen said. “You’re always doing light bulbs.” He said that the parking lot, music room and locker rooms all now have LED bulbs.

Water leaks and clogs made up some of Stigen’s most memorable fixes — including what he calls his worst day at work.

“I came in one morning and there was water pouring everywhere when I did my walk-through,” Stigen said. He explained that an area on the roof with parapets on all four sides collects water. An area drain was clogged with leaves that day. Stigen said the area could hold roughly 6,000 gallons of water so he donned his rubber boots and pulled the leaves out.

Inside the building, the school has three boilers which are getting to the point of wearing out. Sometimes, as Stigen said, “you do have surprises,” like one morning when he walked into the boiler room and there was water all over the floor. One boiler is always actively running, one is a back-up and one is there “You take care of the things you need to take care of,” Stigen said. Stigen’s replacement has been hired while other positions, two special education instructors and a kindergarten teacher, remain open.

The post Years of repairs: lone school district maintenance employee retires appeared first on Chilkat Valley News.