Bridget Dowd

In this newscast:

• Eighteen million postage stamps featuring an Alaska Native raven design were released to the public Friday.
• Juneau emergency officials raised the city’s COVID-19 risk level from moderate to high and mandated partial restrictions to limit the disease’s spread. Those changes are effective Friday.
• The Southeast Alaska State Fair kicked off Thursday, with visitors and Haines residents gathering for a weekend of music, food, local wares and many other traditions.
• The state health department reported Friday that three Alaskans died of COVID-19 as the state had its tenth straight day of case counts over 200.

A two-year project honoring Alaska’s veterans is finally complete. On an emotional weekend in Hoonah, service members and their families gathered to celebrate. 

A few hundred people sat for five hours in the rain on Saturday to witness the raising of a totem pole honoring the community’s service men and women. 

There are a lot of veterans in Hoonah. At least 10% of the population has served in the military — one of the highest numbers per capita in the country.  Even before Alaska was a state, many Alaska Natives stepped up to fight for the United States.

Local artist Gordon Greenwald designed and carved the totem pole.

“All you men and women that have stepped forward, we have tried to honor you the best we could with our hands and our tools,” he said.

 He’s not a veteran himself, but he wanted to pay tribute to those who’ve served.

“Gunalchéesh,” Greenwald said. “May our hands do you justice. Thank you.”

The base of the pole honors the fallen soldier. Moving upward, there are carvings of combat boots from Operation Desert Storm, a Vietnam-era M16 rifle and a World War II helmet.

Toward the middle are carved dog tags representing each branch of the service, including the Alaska Territorial Guard, and a Tlingit warrior dressed in armor.

“And on the top are the eagle and raven,” Greenwald said. “Now you notice that the eagle and raven are turned slightly back to back. It’s not the cold shoulder, but all you military veterans know ‘I’ve got your back, buddy.’”

Veteran commanders traveled from Sitka, Juneau and Kake to join those from Hoonah. William “Ozzie” Sheakley was the emcee. 

“I’m the commander for Juneau Vets so they asked me to emcee over here since I’ve been doing it for a while,” Sheakley said. “The carvers finished last summer, but we weren’t ready to put it up because of the COVID. We wanted to put it up when it was mostly all clear.”

When there was a break in the ceremony for lunch, Sheakley caught up with Hoonah Veterans Commander James Lindoff Jr. 

“We were up in Wasilla in ‘98,” Lindoff said. “They got a wall. I told my cousin — he’s passed on — but I told him, ‘We’ll get ours. We’ll get our own.’ Which we are.”

Lindoff was in Vietnam in 1967 and 1968.

He joked as it started to drizzle again.

“Here comes the rain,” he said. I’m gonna lose my curls now.” 

And there was plenty of chanting, singing and dancing to be seen throughout the day; the rain not hindering anyone’s ability to appreciate the weight and joy of the occasion. 

The project is a collaboration between the City of Hoonah, the Huna Heritage Foundation, the Hoonah Veterans Committee and Hoonah clan representatives. 

The land was donated by Korean War veteran Stanley “Steamie” Thompson who passed away in April. His wife Judy Thompson spoke on his behalf.

“Steamie was born and raised in Hoonah and he was very proud to be from Hoonah,” she said. “He was very proud of his heritage. He was very proud of his family and he was very proud to be a veteran and so that’s why he wanted to dedicate this land to the Huna Heritage Foundation.” 

Huna Heritage Foundation Executive Director Amelia Wilson said the totem pole is just the first piece of what will eventually be Huna Veteran’s Memorial Park.

“There will be a memorial wall honoring those Hoonah Veterans who have passed on and that will be behind the totem pole,” Wilson said. “Then there will be some concrete work in the shape of a Tin’aa, which is like a copper shield and it’ll have some brass inlays and then we’ll have some native plants that will be used for landscaping around it to kind of enclose the space in a natural way.” 

Wilson added that it felt good to be able to gather for something positive because the few occasions they’d been able to get together recently were for funerals or the passing of loved ones.

“I think in our community and most other communities too, if you haven’t served yourself, somebody in your family or in your social network has served,” Wilson said. “So it’s really something that can unite us and it really showed at the event.” 

The first large cruise ship to dock in Juneau since 2019 arrived Friday morning. Juneau residents have mixed feelings about the ship’s arrival amid an uptick in COVID-19 cases.

But, for the most part, the feeling at the dock and inside downtown businesses on Friday was one of hope. 

Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas arrived around 7 a.m. carrying less than 650 guests and a little more than 800 crew members. 

In a non-pandemic era, the vessel has room for more than 2,400 passengers, but it’s traveling at a reduced capacity.

Russ and Kacy Radigan walked off the ship around 10 a.m. Traveling from Columbus, Ohio this was their first time in Alaska and a long-awaited trip.

“We planned this Alaska cruise like two years ago before the pandemic happened and it kept on getting canceled and canceled,” Russ said. “This was the first Alaska cruise opportunity that we had [since then], so we decided to take it.”

The Radigans were on their way to see the Mendenhall Glacier and they’ve already been on several whale watches and other wildlife excursions. 

“We saw a number of whales, a number of seals and a number of otters and you know, we thought maybe we’d see one or two,” he said. “I think they were waiting for us.”

Jeremy Schroeder was also aboard the Serenade of the Seas. He said despite the circumstances, he felt very safe aboard the ship and comfortable with the COVID-19 protocols that were in place.

“Most people [aboard the ship] are vaccinated,” Schroeder said. “Obviously the young ones aren’t, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by everybody still wearing their masks, even though we are all vaccinated.”

Schroeder said he and his family were planning to take a helicopter tour out to the glacier if the weather held. Of course, with safety protocols came a much quieter scene at the dock. People were just slowly trickling off the ship and the booths offering whale watching and other tours were less than half full. Greg Pilcher was manning one of the booths for M&M Tours.

“It’s pretty slow,” Pilcher said. “There’s not a whole lot of people on the ship, but I think we did better than expected. We wrote a couple tickets, which was great. I think we just wanted to get out here and like practice and remember how to do everything and it just feels really good that there are people here again because it’s been a long two years for sure.” 

Down the street, the Red Dog Saloon had just opened for the day and the employees weren’t wearing their usual street clothes. Red Dog waitress Emily Lange said the Red Dog is a different restaurant when the cruise ships come to town.

“This is my first day wearing the corset and the fun dress,” she said. “It’s more about the showmanship when the tourists come in. So we put on this getup and we’ll have live music and we’ll all sing along. I’m just excited for being busy all the time.”

Some cruise passengers made their way to the gift shops downtown, like The Bear’s Lair, where employee Kaysa Korpela said she’d already made some sales.

“There’s been a few customers coming through and I really appreciate that they’re mostly masked up,” Korpela said. “I think they got the word on the boat that it was respectful to do that and most of them have been very respectful and if they’re not masked they ask if they should be.”

She said the passengers seemed excited to be there and most were just wandering around before going on tours later in the day. Korpela said she’s glad to see travelers in the store again.

“But I’m glad that it’s starting slowly because I wouldn’t want to see like five boats in the harbor all at once,” she said. “This is a good introduction. I’ve worked in this business for about four or five years now. Sometimes it can be pretty hectic but today has been pretty easy to handle.”

After leaving Juneau, the Serenade of the Seas is scheduled to dock in Ketchikan before stopping in Sitka for a second time on Wednesday. Another ship will also be in port in Sitka that day.

• Juneau city officials are asking for input on recreation in the Montana Creek area.

• First Lady Jill Biden visited Alaska for a few hours on Wednesday.
• Members of the Republican minority caucus in the Alaska House have been at the center of the most contentious arguments in the Legislature this year.

Juneau city officials are asking residents to weigh in on how they use the Montana Creek Recreation Area. They’ll use feedback from a newly released survey to help create a master plan.

Michele Elfers, Deputy Director of the City and Borough of Juneau Parks and Recreation Department, said the plan will include the Montana Creek valley, watershed, Spaulding Meadows and surrounding areas. 

“Starting last fall what we really started to understand was that there’s a lot going on in this area,” Elfers said. “There’s a lot of recreation and a lot of proposals for new things and also recognizing that there’s not enough infrastructure to support what’s going on.”

She said they want to know how people use the area now and what they’d like to see in the future.

“You know, asking adults who are taking the survey, do they have children in their household,” Elfers said. “How are children using the area? If they’re not or there are activities you want to do, but you’re not doing, what kind of barriers are there?”

People use the area for things like fishing, snowmachining, four-wheeling and hiking. Elfers said the city wants to make sure the area is set up to support all that use.

“There’s already conflicts existing in terms of not enough parking,” she said. “So is that important to people that we spend future resources on parking? Should there be new trails? We’ve had different user groups ask for new trails in that area.”

The survey is just the first step in a longer process. Once the data is gathered, they’ll meet with stakeholders and user groups to determine which improvements the city will make. 

The survey will be open to responses until 5 p.m. on Aug. 19 and is available online.

The Fourth of July is this Sunday and many Americans are eager to celebrate after more than a year of social distancing. But Juneau’s city officials still want people to be mindful when attending crowded events and setting off fireworks.

Earlier this year, the city’s assembly passed new measures for how fireworks can be used on holidays like Independence Day and New Year’s Eve. 

This weekend, people can set them off starting Saturday at 10 a.m. until 1 a.m. and then again on Sunday from 10 a.m. to midnight. In addition to the limited hours, there are restrictions based on the types of fireworks you’re using. 

Deputy City Manager Mila Cosgrove said as a rule of thumb, if the fireworks you have are really loud, you’ll want to set them off far away from any neighborhood. 

“Basically, if you have a tube and it’s over three-quarters of an inch, that’s going to be a concussive firework,” Cosgrove said. “You can use those but you need to be outside the roaded service area and outside the fire service area.”

The roaded service area extends a half-mile beyond any existing road and the fire service area extends from the end of Thane to Cohen Drive. If you’re heading out to North Douglas, the end of the fire service area is at the boat launch or beyond the houses up Fish Creek Road. If you’re on the other end of Douglas Island, Cosgrove said you need to go to the end of Sandy Beach. 

“And of course the fire service area is all of Lemon Creek, all of Mendenhall Valley and all of the downtown areas,” she said. “Things like cone fountains and wheels and torches and sparklers, those things are allowed year-round. Holiday fireworks like roman candles, black cats, bottle rockets, etc. can be used on private property during those hours that I talked about.”

It’s also one of the busiest weekends of the year for the Juneau police officers, who will be citing people for violating the fireworks guidelines. The fine is $250 for a first offense and $500 with a mandatory court appearance for doing it again.

Those who have concerns about fireworks over the weekend can call 586-0600 for non-emergencies. City officials are also asking people to remain careful when it comes to the spread of COVID-19. They say people who haven’t been fully vaccinated should still wear a mask while in crowded areas. 

“I hope people have fun,” Cosgrove said. “It’s been a long year, so go out, have fun, be mindful of your neighbors and just be respectful of everybody’s needs while you’re out there.”

There will be a large city-wide fireworks display on July 3 at 11:59 p.m. Smoke Signals on Douglas Island is selling fireworks from noon to 7 p.m. on July 3 while supplies last.

Douglas Fourth of July Committee has pieced together a series of family-friendly events like a soapbox car show, a raffle and the parade at 3 p.m. on Sunday. Devil’s Club Brewing Company will host a Hot Dog Independence Party on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and of course, there will be a parade in Juneau at noon on that day as well.

A previous version of this story said that Smoke Signals is “in Douglas,” but the fireworks stand is located on Douglas Island and not in the town of Douglas. The story has been updated.