KHNS - Haines

A rockslide early this morning near the north end of Skagway’s largest cruise dock will close the railroad dock for the rest of the day, the dock’s operator said in a statement.

The slide occurred about 3 a.m., according to a statement from White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad.

After geotechnical engineer assesses the situation, White Pass will decide whether to proceed with ship dockings Wednesday.

This is the second slide near the railroad dock in just a couple weeks. The other rockfall took place Aug. 26.

Four ships were expected in Skagway today.

Two of them, the Star Princess and Solstice, were forced to re-route after the slide. The Star Princess now is docked in Haines, which was expecting no ships today.

The Skagway Assembly is expected to discuss the slide hazard at the railroad dock during its meeting this Thursday.

A brown bear was shot and killed near the Haines Highway last week.

Haines Wildlife Trooper Trent Chwialkowski said early on August 22, callers reported a dead bear in the middle of the highway near mile 17.

Chwialkowski located the bear. He says it was either shot near a creek and ran toward the road, or the incident happened near the highway where the animal was found.

The bear was approximately 3-and-a-half years old.

Chwialkowski says there was no evidence the bear was hit by a car before being shot.

Troopers are investigating the incident. Chwialkowski encourages anyone with information to contact his office at 766-2533. The Alaska Fish and Wildlife Safeguard accepts anonymous tips at 800-478-3377.

In July, a brown bear cub was struck and killed by a driver in Haines on Lutak Road.

A rockslide near Skagway’s largest cruise ship dock Saturday didn’t injure anyone. But it drew attention to the potential danger of an active slide area neighboring a bustling port.

The dock adjacent to the slide area, called the railroad dock, is owned and operated by the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad, a major tourist attraction.

The railroad has a train track running down the dock that picks up passengers and takes them on scenic rides.

Towering on the east side of the dock is a steep cliff prone to landslides. On Aug. 25, it rained close to half an inch in Skagway. The next morning at about 6:30 a.m., a rockslide occurred. Two ships, the Volendam and Island Princess, had just tied up to the dock.

“We made the decision to move the ships out of an abundance of care and safety,” said White Pass official Tyler Rose.

The ships were relocated to Skagway’s other two cruise docks. Meanwhile, White Pass reviewed the damage, which Rose says was minimal. A large rock struck and damaged a railing meant to protect the facility.

Rose says in addition to cleaning up the debris, White Pass had geotechnical engineers assess the slide area. White Pass already has fences on the cliff and a catchment in place to shield the dock from slides.

“They’ve done the assessment and basically said the fencing at the upper level served its purpose,” Rose said. “The excessive rains were a large causation…there was obviously an escape that came through there. And the initial analysis was that everything appears fine.”

Rose says the engineers gave the green light for ships to continue tying up at the railroad dock. He says White Pass expects to receive more information from the engineers about whether they should implement additional protections.

“That is an active slide area,” Rose said. “We’ve put mechanisms in place to mitigate that risk, as you can see by the infrastructure that’s been put in that area. We’re monitoring it constantly. We will do what is best to address the safety issues down there because safety is paramount to our organization.”

“It has raised our attention to this issue,” said Skagway Borough Manager Scott Hahn.

Hahn says he’s been approached by some Assembly and community members with concerns about the rockslide. Hahn talked to White Pass on Monday about the engineer’s assessment.

“You never know for sure in any situation, but they felt that it was safe and so that’s good to know,” Hahn said. “I’m also looking into seeing whether we can find someone who does that same type of work in case the Assembly wishes to have a second opinion that.”

Hahn says he would need direction from the Assembly as a whole to seek a second opinion on the stability of the slide area.

For now, Rose says things are back to normal on the railroad dock after the temporary disruption. The dock was scheduled to have at least one ship for the rest of the week following Saturday’s slide.

Earlier this year, Alaska Gov. Bill Walker issued a disaster declaration to combat opioid abuse in the state.

Since then, more time and resources have been dedicated to the issue. This summer, some of those efforts are aimed at getting the attention of the fishing community.

“We haven’t had something of this magnitude before,” said Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, who spoke with KHNS during a visit to Haines.

“I’m an old guy, I’ve been an old cop for a long time,” Monegan said. “There were surges in the ’60s and ’80s and ’90s with different types of drugs. But they usually have flared out, usually by this time. This one is a long one.”

This summer, commercial fishermen throughout the state received an unusual letter from Monegan warning of the dangers of opioid abuse.

The letter warns of the devastating effects of opioid abuse and the state laws against carrying drugs on the water.

“It’s not just about fishermen, it’s about lumberjacks, it’s about concrete pourers and everyone else out there,” Monegan said. “We’re working with the pharmacies, we’re working with doctors, we’re trying to get this thing – arms around as many people as we can. And then hopefully the more we grab and have them join us in this effort, the more we’re going to save.”

Alaska Department of Fish and Game commissioner Sam Cotten explained why the state is conducting this kind of outreach to fishermen.

“You know there’s a lot of people that I’ve heard from, especially in smaller fishing communities, that have expressed concern about especially young people in their communities that are struggling with drug use in general and opioids in particular,” he said.

Though the letter was sent specifically to fishermen, the commissioners said its part of a wider effort, and they’re not singling out one industry.

“What we were all trying to do is reach out to as many different types of populations as we could, to heighten the awareness of the situation that we have with opioids and other drugs,” Monegan said.

Cotten said commercial fishing already is a dangerous job.

“There are a lot of, even this year we’ve had deaths and a lot of injuries. Any impairment, alcohol or other drugs in addition to opioids also raise the danger level on a fishing boat or in a lot of other industries as well,” Cotten said. “We all know that the fishing industry can be a dangerous place to work. Drug use or alcohol abuse aboard a vessel increases that danger.”

Monegan said the governor’s disaster declaration has allowed for a greater focus on opioids.

“He declared it a disaster, just like an earthquake or a forest fire,” Monegan said. “That way we can put more resources – we have bi-weekly meetings on it, we have updates, we try to brainstorm everything that we can to get the word out to everyone else.”

Both Haines and Skagway are focusing on combating drug abuse on a local level.

In the last year, the Haines Public Safety Commission formed a drug awareness task force.

In March, highly addictive opioids like fentanyl were stolen from the Haines clinic. The police have announced no developments in that case.

An opioid task force got its footing in Skagway earlier this year.

Monegan and Cotton hope their outreach will help commercial fishermen avoided adding risks to an already dangerous job.

The Haines Borough is looking into extending the police department’s jurisdiction to areas previously served by a Haines-based Alaska State Trooper.

Residents will have another opportunity to voice their opinions about police service outside the Haines townsite at a meeting 6 p.m. Tuesday in Assembly chambers.

The Haines trooper post closed earlier this year. There is still a local wildlife trooper.

Even if the Assembly does decide to move forward with a new “community safety” service area, there’s disagreement about how to pay for it.

Right now, borough code says area-specific services should be funded by property taxes.

Assembly member Tom Morphet said there’s a reason for that.

“The way the revenues are traditionally generated in an area is from property, which makes sense,” Morphet said. “In other words, we’re not taxing people outside that area for services that go only to that area when we levy a property tax.”

Currently, the borough does not follow code in the way it funds townsite services. Three services are confined to the townsite: police, public works and animal control.

Haines uses property and sales tax along with state money to support the amenities.

Although code limits service area funding to property taxes, Haines Borough Charter is more flexible.

Borough manager Debra Schnabel encouraged the Assembly to align code with charter to allow for flexibility.

“If we’re going to expand the police service area, for example, and only allowed the funding for that area to be paid for by property tax, I think it would be a pretty harsh reality to bear,” Schnabel said.

But Morphet said the borough shouldn’t change the rules for the possible police service expansion.

“I see this as an attempt to address a specific problem by making a substantial change in a good law and I don’t know that that’s wise,” Morphet said.

The Assembly ultimately postponed a decision on the service area funding question to its Sept. 12 meeting.

If the borough were to seek establishment of a new service area, it would have to be ratified by voters.

The results of Haines’ special recall election were certified Tuesday night.

The effort to unseat Assembly members Heather Lende, Tresham Gregg and Tom Morphet failed, with about 60 percent voting against the recall.

On the question to recall Gregg, 59 percent were opposed.

Sixty-two percent voted against recalling Lende.

And 58 percent voted to keep Morphet in office.

The three Assembly members were accused of misconduct in office.

Don Turner Jr. led the recall effort. He spoke at Tuesday’s Assembly meeting.

“I hope that we all learned something in this process that we went through,” Turner said. “I know I have. I think that we all need to follow borough charter and the borough codes.”

Resident Thom Ely said he hoped Haines could move past the division of the recall.

“I believe that the results of the recall vote show that the majority of the community wants to move past the divisiveness and rancor that embroiled us last spring through several decisions, the hire of our manager,” Ely said. “It’s nice to see all of you up here in a much more relaxed state of mind and I hope that will continue on through the election this fall.”

The special election saw a higher turnout that the past several regular elections, at 48 percent, the strongest turnout since 2011, which was the year of the last recall election.

The borough saw a record number of early voters.

More than 400 people cast ballots early in the recall election, That is the largest number since consolidation.

Morphet, Lende and Gregg will be joined by three newly elected Assembly members this fall.

Gregg’s term expires in 2018. Lende and Morphet will serve until 2019.