KHNS - Haines

A fully loaded state ferry bringing travelers to the upper Lynn Canal was forced to turn around on Friday. Heavy freight combined with turbulent seas and freezing spray to make conditions unsafe for the LeConte to continue north to Haines and Skagway. It’s another wintertime hiccup in travel plans for upper Lynn Canal residents.

Passengers aboard the LeConte reported the marine highway vessel was tilting to the port side during an aborted Friday morning trip from Juneau to Haines. The ship made an abrupt U-turn near Sentinel Island Lighthouse and headed back to Juneau at around 10 a.m.

DOT spokesperson Sam Dapcevich says it was a combination of factors including a full freight deck, heavy seas and freezing spray that forced the ship to turn around.

“They’ve got a full load on board. And the buildup of ice on the hull can cause stability issues. So the captain made the call to bring the ship back to port,” Dapcevich said.

Dapcevich said Friday afternoon the ship would offload some freight in Juneau and attempt another trip north later in the day.

Skagway resident Andrea Payne was on the ferry on Friday morning. She says it was anything but smooth sailing.

“The waves are something. I’ve never been on such a rocky ferry ride. You can’t walk. It’s like you’re drunk. You go to the bathroom, you’re falling over,” Payne said.

Another Skagway passenger, Sierra O’Daniel was heading home from Juneau after seeing her doctor. She’s pregnant with twins. She says as soon as the announcement was made that they were turning around, her husband Jason booked a hotel room in Juneau and tickets on Sunday’s ferry to Skagway. An hour and a half later, she says she heard an announcement over the loudspeaker that there would be another sailing that same day. But she’s staying in Juneau.

“If I wasn’t so pregnant and uncomfortable, we’d probably just try to stay. But it’s really hard for me to, like, sit down for an extended period of time without being able to like recline or lay down. And so, Jason and I just decided, well, we’ll just stay [in Juneau] for the couple of nights and come back on Sunday,” O’Daniel said.

Other Skagway residents have already been stuck in the capital city for multiple days, including Danielle Arnold. She had surgery in Juneau earlier in the week and tried to fly home to Skagway on Wednesday, only to be turned around.

“Our flight was leaving late because of weather. And he went ahead and tried and we got like right outside of Skagway. If there was no fog we could have seen Skagway. And he told us that if it got too bad, he was gonna turn around,” Arnold said.

When the pilot did make the call to turn back to Juneau, things got dicey.

“When he turned sideways, the plane hit a bunch of air and started shaking really hard. And then it hit a pothole and dropped while we’re still sideways in the air. It was scary,” Arnold said.

So she booked a safe bet on the LeConte, only to get turned around once again. With a volleyball tournament in Haines this weekend, seats on the boat were full, with some passengers sitting on the floor.

“It’s one of the more crowded ferries I think I’ve ever been on and there’s not enough seating for everybody. So you really do have bodies everywhere,” said Skagway Assembly person Deb Potter who’s been traveling for several days, trying to get home from a series of conferences in Anchorage.

“There are people sitting in stairwells and laying on the floors, not just in the lounges, but on the floors everywhere,” Potter said.

As of  Friday afternoon, the LeConte was once again headed northbound and expected to call in both Skagway and Haines.

Skagway will offer unemployment benefits to those who stay in town this winter. It’s an effort to keep people from moving away even after two straight summers with very little tourism.

Skagway’s assembly unanimously voted to make additional unemployment benefits available to anyone living in Skagway that qualifies for either state or federal unemployment benefits. It also will cover anyone who can document underemployment due to a COVID-19 related absence.

The Skagway-based benefits will be in addition to any benefits already being received through state or federal programs, and it’ll be paid for as part of the $2 million donation made by Norwegian Cruise Lines Holdings earlier this year.

Assembly member Deb Potter said that one of the lessons learned during the pandemic is that Skagway’s livelihood is based on a cruise ship economy.

“We’re really a seasonal based, or a seasonal workforce. We’ve got to find a way to get our seasonal workforce through the winter until those jobs start up again, in the spring, hopefully when we see cruise ships coming back,” Potter said.

The program will begin paying out checks in December, but the criteria for being accepted into the program will be based on November’s employment history. In order to make sure only people living in Skagway are receiving the funds, each check will have to be picked up in person at city hall.

The first draft of the resolution didn’t include provisions for work stoppages due to COVID-19 or for small business owners who don’t qualify for state unemployment benefits. Those changes were added later. Skagway tour company owner and operator Sherry Corrington said she wouldn’t have qualified without the changes.

“As a self-employed individual, I was not eligible for unemployment through the State of Alaska. That’s where the pandemic unemployment insurance came into play. That was basically the life ring for all the gig workers or self-employed individuals, and people that were working under their own social security number,” Corrington said.

But she said she did qualify for federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and federal grants helped her business stay afloat this year. But she wouldn’t be eligible for assistance with her household expenses this winter. That’s where the Skagway unemployment assistance program comes in.

“It will go to my home mortgage, it’ll help me pay off my utilities, my heating expenses, fuel, the things that aren’t covered by anything. And you know, I’m racking up credit card bills and I’m shifting money around and trying to get clever, but it means I won’t run myself into the ground financially throughout the winter,” Corrington said.

The program will offer up to $150,000 in December and up to $100,000 for each month of January, February and March.

The overall monthly budget will be split equally amongst the applicants, but individual payments are capped at $2,400 per month for unemployment benefits and $120 per day for up to two weeks for COVID-19 relief benefits. Any remaining funds will be reallocated by the assembly.

Skagway’s municipality hasn’t announced when it will begin processing applications.

The U.S. border has reopened to non-essential travel for Canadians for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. In Haines, a Monday morning welcome party was thrown for the first Canadians to visit since March, 2020.

The Haines community marching band was at the ready to play “O Canada,” welcoming the first car — a black Dodge — pulling into the visitors center in downtown Haines.

It was the only car to arrive before noon. Bruce Funk of Whitehorse had a police escort from Haines Police Chief Heath Scott from the border crossing, about 40 miles north of Haines.

Funk had tears in his eyes as he shook hands with Haines Mayor Douglas Olerud.

“Welcome back to Haines,” Olerud said. “We’ve missed everybody in the Yukon, and being able to have you guys back here means a lot.”

Funk is a familiar face. He’s been visiting Haines for over 45 years.

“It’s been a long time,” he said with a laugh. “Ah, just happy to be back.”

He said he plans to check on property he owns, do some sport fishing and visit with friends in town. His last visit was in February 2020, right before the pandemic hit.

“Nothing better than to spend a few weeks down here,” Funk said.

Haines Tourism Director Steven Auch had gift bags on hand for the first seven Canadian visitors. They included a gift certificate for breakfast at the Bamboo Room, coffee, salmon, and other items from local businesses, which have been off-limits since both countries instituted travel restrictions as a precaution against spreading COVID-19.

“It would’ve been nice to see a line of cars at the border at the opening and they call came, but you know, this is great,” Auch said. “Great to see someone that’s been coming here for awhile come back on the day of the opening, so we’re excited for that.”

Auch said that regardless, Haines is ready to welcome back Canadians after a 19 month break.

“We’ve waited patiently. I’m glad that it happened and glad that we’re, you know, glad to welcome our friends and family from Canada back to Haines,” he said.

Mayor Olerud echoed that excitement, saying it feels like a step toward normalcy.

“There’s been so many baby steps since the pandemic first hit. And then each one you get a little bit closer to normal, a little closer to normal. I think having that, where now we can go there, they can come here. Yes, it’s a little bit harder than it normally is, but we’re one step closer to that normal,” he said. “Having our Canadian neighbors be able to come back to Haines is a big step.”

Canadian visitors are required to show proof of vaccination and have a negative COVID-19 test for re-entry.

The reception wrapped up with coffee and snacks. Bruce Funk even got an invitation for dinner while he’s in town.

The Haines community marching band packed up but was ready for the next fanfare.

Canadians can get a COVID-19 test for re-entry from the Haines SEARHC clinic, which costs $145. It’s by appointment only on weekdays. In Skagway, tests are offered at the Dahl Memorial Clinic for $30 — also, by appointment.

Children under age 18 do not need proof of vaccination if traveling with a vaccinated adult but do need a negative COVID-19 test for re-entry.

The U.S. land border will open on Monday at 12:01 a.m. to fully vaccinated, nonessential travelers from Canada.

Some Yukoners like Andrew Cook of Whitehorse are excited about coming to visit some of his favorite spots in Skagway.

“I’m going to go into the Eagles Lodge, make sure everyone remembers me. Looking forward to catching up and getting all the news from the last couple of years,” Cook said. “Definitely looking forward to taking a little walk over to the grocery store. Seeing what fine delicacies that we Yukoners appreciate so much that you folks have down there. See if I can pick up maybe some cheese.”

At this point, no one seems sure how many Canadians will make the trek to Haines and Skagway after the border reopens. There are still stringent testing requirements for those travelers to get back into Canada.

“The only problem I have is this corona test they want us to get in Canada. You know, we’ve taken all the shots, we’ve done everything they wanted us to do, now they want us to get tested. It’s gonna cost us two or 300 bucks every time we want to go down there,” said Neil Runions, who owns an auto repair business in Whitehorse but keeps his boat in Skagway.

Runions said there’s only one clinic in Whitehorse that’s offering the tests that the Canadian border will accept, and they cost over $200 per person.

That could be putting some travelers off. Chelsey Stone from The White House Inn in Skagway said she has plenty of vacancies.

“We’ve had some inquiries. They’re excited. But, you know, they don’t know exactly when they’ll be allowed. So they’re just kind of holding off a little bit,” Stone said.

On Friday, the Dahl Memorial Clinic in Skagway told KHNS that they have travel-approved tests available for everyone by appointment for only $30. The Skagway Traditional Council is offering tests on Tuesday and Thursday evenings for no charge, and the SEARHC clinic in Haines is offering tests for just under $150 by appointment.

But that news hasn’t necessarily traveled north of the border. Sergeant Preston’s Lodge in Skagway said they’ve had inquiries, but no bookings as of Friday.

The Skagway Brewing Company, however, is making an effort to expand their hours with the expectation that the Canadians will soon be arriving. General Manager Claire Barrett says they’ll start opening on Saturday nights starting next weekend.

“We don’t really have any entertainment booked yet. But we are hosting the holiday bazaar. That is on Saturday, Dec. 4 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.,” said Barrett.

The U.S. border will allow fully vaccinated travelers to enter without a recent COVID test, though they will have to provide proof of vaccination. The Canadian border requires a negative COVID test within 72 hours of arriving at the border for entry into Canada. That means Canadians will need to test before entering the U.S. and return within three days, or they will need to get a test in the U.S.

Molecular tests such as PCR, NAT, NAAT and RT-LAMP tests are all accepted at the Canadian border. In Skagway the Dahl Memorial Clinic offers NAAT, at the Skagway Traditional Council they offer PCR, and in Haines, the SEARHC clinic offers NAAT tests.

If a Canadian traveler arrives at the Canadian border for re-entry without an approved test, they could face heavy fines and may have to quarantine at a designated quarantine facility.

Those who have recently contracted coronavirus but have recovered can present a positive test at the border after symptoms have abated and be allowed into the country without a quarantine restriction. Children under 18 do not need proof of vaccination if traveling with a vaccinated adult.

A Skagway resident has found a message in a bottle washed up on a beach with no indication of who sent it — or from where. Now she’s looking for help to find its sender.

The beach at the Dyea Flats sits at the northernmost tip of the Inside Passage. Once a Gold Rush boomtown, Dyea is now home to a few dozen residents and a recreational area managed by the Skagway Borough.

On the beach, among a pile of washed-up logs, branches and general flotsam, Dyea resident Pam Joy stumbled across one of those special finds that beachcombers always hope to discover. A message in a bottle.

“I was walking along the flats, like I always do. Picking up trash, like I always do. And I saw this bottle peeking out, and I picked it up and was just about ready to chuck it in my bag. And I saw there was a piece of paper in it,” Joy said. “It said Happy New Year 1987!”

The tides had been over 20 feet a couple of days before, with winds gusting 40 mph. Joy thinks it was the combination of the two that may have dislodged the bottle from wherever it had been resting.

“I’m amazed that it had been in the water this long and not been broken,” Joy said. “Maybe it really hasn’t traveled very far. Or maybe it came from Australia. Who knows? Who knows?”

The bottle is clear glass with a beige plastic screw-on top. The safety seal is still attached.

“The only other clue I have is that there’s a Rite in the Rain logo at the bottom of the piece of paper. And it’s in a liquor bottle. So, you know, New Year’s Eve, I’m sure there was alcohol involved in this event,” Joy said.

Rite in the Rain paper has been around for over a century. This piece has been ripped out of a small spiral notebook with the spiral at the top of the page. The message was written in black ink.

“It definitely looks like an adult. It’s kind of like cursive writing,” Joy said.

But the sender of this message in a bottle didn’t include any other information.

“I really wish that I had some way to identify who it was or how far it’s come and where it came from. I would like to be able to let the person know who wrote this that I found it where I found it,” Joy said.

She posted a photo of the bottle on social media and asked friends to share, but she hasn’t had any luck tracking down the sender.

“I grew up in Maine and spent lots of time on the beach. And I even worked on a fishing boat in Maine, hauling traps and hauling up things out of the bottom of the ocean,” Joy said. “Many, many years on the beach. And this is the first message in the bottle I’ve ever found, so I’m very excited.”

Joy says that unless she miraculously figures out who sent the message, she’ll add it to her collection in her home in Dyea.

If you have information about this message in a bottle, please email news@khns.org.

Klukwan families and community members are urging the Chatham School District to address the causes of its low enrollment ahead of a possible November vote on whether to close the school.

They talked with board representatives at an emotional community meeting last week via Zoom. Recommendations for saving the school included hiring a permanent head teacher, repairing the school bus and creating stability for the school community to draw students and families back.

Nicholas Szatkowski, a parent and member of the Klukwan advisory school board, addressed Chatham School Board representatives via Zoom.

“There are students available right now, if we had the school to offer to them,” he said.

Parents and community members of the Chilkat Indian Village of Klukwan agreed with Szatkowski that past district decisions have led to the instability, causing low enrollment.

“The solution is, we need an end to the bad decisions that are hurting the enrollment. And how do you tell if it’s a bad decision or not? Listen to the local community. Our advisory school board is here for the purpose of giving advice to the district for exactly these issues,” Szatkowski said.

They said the first steps in re-stabilizing the school is hiring back a head teacher.

Klukwan school secretary Frances Leak said students transferred to the Haines school because of a lack of stability and a head teacher. As of this month, five elementary school-age children were attending the Klukwan school.

“At the beginning of the year, we had 10, and there was another family that was considering enrolling their kids if we could get a teacher. But because we were so delayed, of course they decided to enroll in town school,” she said.

The two board representatives for Klukwan — who are based in Angoon — held the meeting ahead of an all-board working session Oct. 26 to discuss enrollment, which dropped below 10 students, the threshold for state funding.

“When we talk about solutions, or ideas, we really need to be able to have stability,” said Justina Hotch, an educator and grants manager for the STEPS program for Klukwan. “We need to know that we’re at least going to have a teaching position through this school year. So we can make plans. And we can work towards finding a long-term teacher so that teachers know that at least for this year, they are going to have a job at this school.”

The Klukwan school had a head teacher last year, but the district eliminated the position due to budget cuts this year — and families expressed frustration. They say the district hired someone but at a reduced salary, and that person declined the job citing extra responsibilities and lack of pay. This year, substitutes teach students month-to-month.

Principal Bradley King, who is based in Gustavus, told community members that for the immediate term, he is working on hiring a new substitute teacher.

“We’ve been working to get another substitute teacher to cover for the end of October through November. Thus far we have been unsuccessful,” King said. “As of today, I actually sent out emails to 27 teachers who are listed through the Alaska teacher placement program as potential substitute teachers to fill in at the school.”

King said he was looking for a substitute with a special education certification. There had been some concerns about who was overseeing special education services, as the district office is based in Angoon.

Catherine Hotch says she used to be the special education aide. Her job was eliminated, but she continues to volunteer her time for the students.

“I still see the need for being there,” Hotch said. “So I stayed up here and for two years, I did over 100 hours of free volunteer work. And there’s three of us that have 100 hours-plus, every year. I’m just staying up here because the kids mean that much to us.”

Hotch’s daughter graduated from high school at the Klukwan school, and she’s deeply committed to supporting children continuing there.

“The kids are the most important thing here. I grew up with grandparents that told us ‘It’s for the kids, it’s for the kids’ and I grew up hearing that.”

Parent Nicholas Szatkowski was one of many who said Klukwan offers an incredible learning opportunity.

“It’s very rare in the world today, actually. My son is learning to speak Tlingit language, he’s learning traditional Tlingit art, formline and other things like that. He gets amazing attention, because of the small school size. He has interaction with multiple age kids that you don’t have in a conventional school where everybody’s segregated by age. And there’s a lot of cognitive development that’s really enhanced and social developments, by interacting with multiple age kids. There are a lot of really cool, great things happening in the Klukwan school,” Szatkowski said.

He says school bus repairs are also an immediate priority. Last year a school bus driver hit a moose.

“They could easily have fixed it there (in Haines) and had it back in action, but instead it was taken to Juneau. It’s been in Juneau for 11 months. I don’t think any of us would take our car to a garage and have the garage tell us it took 11 months before they could fix the car. Nobody would tolerate that. So it’s clearly an example of the administration not taking action to make something happen that we need,” Szatkowski said.

Superintendent Bruce Houck told KHNS via email Tuesday the bus repair had been completed, but did not have a timeline for when the vehicle would be returned to Klukwan.

The lunch program was eliminated several years ago, but community volunteers continued to cook a few times a week until the pandemic hit. Parents called for the district to re-start the lunch program. They also want to see the pre-school re-opened.

“We have babies in the village! They’re like all sorts of babies, young children in the Upper Valley. But nobody’s gonna want to send our kids without stability without knowing there’s a stable learning environment,” Hotch said.

The Superintendent said the Chatham School Board is expected to vote on whether to close the Klukwan school, and that could be as early as its Nov. 9 meeting.

The community is opposed and says it has part-time teachers, staff and families dedicated to keep the school going. It just needs funding and support.