KHNS - Haines

The Haines Borough School District has a new top administrator this year. But it’s not Rich Carlson’s first time in the district.

This is Carlson’s second time filling in as interim superintendent at the Haines School.

He held the same position during the 2015-2016 school year.

Carlson said it feels like he never left.

“It feels comfortable, feels like home,” Carlson said. “I like Haines and I like the people here.”

Carlson has been working in education for more than 40 years. Much of that time was in Alaska. He spent 12 years as superintendent in Klawock before retiring.

Then, he was in Cordova for a year before his first stint in Haines.

Carlson was superintendent at the Haines School until the board hired Tony Habra at the start of the 2016 school year.

In July, the board ended Habra’s contract after about a year because it was not satisfied with his work performance.

That’s when Carlson got another call.

“I got a phone call from Jon Sedor, who is the attorney, asking if I’d be interested,” Carlson said. “Frankly, I said, ‘John I’m not looking for a job. But I did preface it with ‘if there’s something I can do, let me know.’ And again, here I am.”

Carlson’s contract is for one year. It could end early if the board finds a full-time superintendent before that.

Carlson said part of his job this year is to help the board with the search for a permanent superintendent.

But that’s not all he’s focused on.

Carlson also wants to work on revising the strategic plan, and making sure the district is financially stable.

“The budget is always, in Alaska right now, is always a major hurdle,” Carlson said. “While we’re not in a financial dire straits, we’re going to have to manage the budget carefully. Particularly looking at, not so much this year but trying to project what we’re going to be looking at in 2019 and 2020.”

The district is down a couple positions following budget cuts made at the end of last school year.

It’s downsized by one administrator after assistant principal Cheryl Stickler’s retirement.

“We’ve re-organized,” Carlson said. “Consolidated some of the job responsibilities. I have one of the responsibilities in curriculum that the superintendent didn’t have in the past. But I’ve got really, really good staff, they’re really competent. And we’ll make it work.”

The transition into this school year should be smooth, Carlson said, since he already knows a lot of the staff.

“It takes three or four months to kind of get the lay of the land,” Carlson said. “I do kind of feel like I kind of hit the ground running this time. Because I know them, I know they’re strengths and weaknesses. I’m looking forward to that, because we’ve got some really talented people working in the school district.”

Though he was starting to get used to retirement, Carlson said he’s also happy to be back in school.

“After 44 years, it’s just part of life,” Carlson said. “It’s just what I do. As silly as this sounds, I feel comfortable in schools. I feel comfortable in this kind of a position.”

Haines’ first day of school is Tuesday, August 22.

A popular but unregulated and untreated drinking water source in Haines has tested positive for E. coli.

KHNS had a sample of the Mud Bay spring water tested as part of a series focused on answering listener questions.

Juneau-based water testing company Admiralty Environmental said preliminary results show E. coli is present in the water.

E. coli is a type of fecal coliform bacteria associated with human or animal waste.

The bacteria is not always harmful, but certain strains can cause health problems.

Admiralty’s test does not include what level or strain of the bacteria is present.

Federal standards for drinking water do not allow for any level of E. coli.

The Haines Borough does not regulate or test the Mud Bay spring, but many residents use it as their drinking water.

The spring is located near Letnikof Cove.

Cindy Christian, a drinking water specialist with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, said she would recommend boiling the water when it’s going to be consumed.

These are preliminary results.

KHNS will have more information after Admiralty Environmental completes its full report in the next couple weeks.

Haines residents who do not get the borough’s water supplied to their home can pay $30 per season to get water from their tanks.

Skagway magistrate Susan Reed retired at the end of July.

Since then, the court has been without a local judicial officer. And that position isn’t set to be filled any time soon.

Court system officials say the long-term plan is for a magistrate judge in Haines to handle cases from both Upper Lynn Canal communities.

In a time of shrinking budgets, the Alaska Court System is looking at ways to save money while still serving rural courts.

Haines was one of the first communities in Southeast to feel the effects of court budget cuts.

When its longtime magistrate retired in 2016, the position was not filled right away.

Now, Skagway is in the same position.

Magistrates are judicial officers who preside over cases most common for small towns, like minor offenses and protective orders.

Since Reed’s resignation, Skagway hearings are being handled remotely by magistrates in Yakutat and Wrangell.

Trevor Stephens is the presiding superior court judge for the First Judicial District, which includes Haines and Skagway.

He said the futures of both courts are connected.

“We’ll be looking at putting a judicial officer likely in Haines that would cover both Haines and Skagway,” Stephens said.

Instead of replacing both magistrate positions, Stephens said the plan is to eventually hire a full-time or close to full-time magistrate in Haines who would remotely serve Skagway.

The timeline of when that would happen is unclear.

About eight months ago, the court system found a short-term staffing fix for Haines in retired judge and local resident Linn Asper.

Asper is presiding over the Haines court part time.

“He agreed to basically roll that over and continue for this current fiscal year,” Stephen said. “So that’s continuing.”

In the near future, Asper will continue in his role at the Haines court.

In Skagway, the court system is hiring for a part-time clerical position. The clerk will be the only Skagway-based staffer.

Day-to-day judicial proceedings will be handled by magistrates out of Yakutat and Wrangell for now.

“It’s (the state) budget,” Stephens said. “Given the case numbers, I don’t know that we would get approval to put another magistrate judge in (Skagway) for the time being.”

In fiscal year 2017, Haines had about double the number of district court case filings than Skagway. But Skagway did see a large increase in cases between 2016 and 2017.

The number more than quadrupled, from 25 in 2016 to 115 in 2017.

The majority of cases were classified as minor offenses and misdemeanors.

Clayton Jones, who provides administrative support for the First Judicial District,  held a community meeting in Skagway to talk about the court situation.

“We learned that although Skagway is small in numbers, they let us know that Skagway is an important community in Southeast Alaska,” Jones said. “They expressed concern about not having a local court presence and would like to see at a minimum a clerical presence in their community.”

Jones will hold a similar meeting in Haines at 7 p.m. Aug. 29 in the local court. He hopes to hear Haines residents’ feedback on court services in this time of transition.

After a contentious recall vote Tuesday, three embattled Haines Borough Assembly members will continue to serve out their terms.

Nearly 60 percent of Haines voters rejected the allegations of official misconduct.

As Haines residents filtered into the Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall to vote Tuesday, many said they did not want share their thoughts about the recall on the record.

But among those who did, some common themes emerged.

“I think the recall thing is kind of stupid today,” Dezra Burkes said. “But I’m here.”

Burkes said the recall grounds just aren’t serious enough to kick anyone out of office.

“It just seems like a bunch of he said, she said nitpicky stuff going on right now,” Burkes said.

The recall effort goes back four months.

Recall leaders claimed Assembly members Tom Morphet, Tresham Gregg and Heather Lende abused their power by violating the Open Meetings Act and coercing a subordinate borough employee.

The open meetings charge stems from an email one Assembly member sent another asking for support on an upcoming vote.

The coercion charge comes from when Morphet and Lende advocated for the local police blotter to be made public.

Recall leaders said that amounted to coercing the police chief for personal gain, since each had a stake in the newspaper, which publishes the blotter.

“I think that they’re guilty,” said Laura McCoy, who voted ‘yes’ to recall all three.

“It has to do with the way that they’re doing business, and it’s not right,” McCoy said. “Not right at all. They’re doing business when it’s not assembly time and then they come in there with a preconceived notion of this is what we’re gonna do.”

In the final weeks leading up to the election, a recall leader took out advertisements and distributed mailers criticizing the Assembly members for a slew of reasons that weren’t actually part of what voters saw on the ballot.

In the end, many residents thought the accusations didn’t fit the bill.

“They don’t seem substantial enough to cause this much expense and time, in a time when the borough is struggling financially,” voter Mary Jean Sebens said. “It seems ridiculous.”

Along with Sebens, about 60 percent of Haines voters said ‘no’ to the recall, according to initial results.

For those on the Assembly, it’s a relief.

“It’s nice to know that the community of Haines hasn’t gone to the dark side in what are really openly troubled times,” Lende said. “It’s nice to know that we still believe in democracy and the process and each other. I do think we’ve sent a message that treating our elected officials this way is not tolerable.”

The local acrimony mirrors a national divide, said Morphet, who also referred to a recent Alaska recall attempt in Homer.

“We’ve become more isolated and divided nationally, and I think that is reflected locally,” Morphet said.

Recall leader Don Turner Jr. has repeatedly refused to speak on tape with KHNS. But he did provide a short statement after the election results.

Turner writes that he is disappointed and he hopes the Assembly hears the 40 percent of voters who favored the recall.

Gregg said this outcome encourages him to try harder to make the changes he wants to see in Haines.

“Maybe now we’ve been given a second green light so we should actually step forward and try to put our best dreams and goals and visions in the forefront,” Gregg said.

The three recall survivors will be joined by three newly elected Assembly members this fall.

Haines residents have until Aug. 21 to declare candidacy.

Morphet said he’s worried the recall will scare people away from running.

“I talked to a friend of mine who has previously run for office and he said ‘I’m done, I’m sick of the whole thing,’” Morphet said. “That doesn’t help us, that attitude. And as distasteful and uncomfortable as the recall has been, we have to redouble our efforts to put faith in our community and get past it.”

There is some evidence that Haines will be able to move on.

Recall sponsor Turner released a joint statement with Margaret Friedenauer, who helped lead an anti-recall group.

“We may not agree but we still respect each other and our opinions,” the statement said. “We hope all of us can do the same as we move on.”

A Skagway resident who was sentenced to a year in prison on federal tax charges has filed to run for borough Assembly.

Dan Henry resigned from the Assembly last fall in order to report to federal prison. Henry was convicted of willful failure to file income taxes. Now, he is back in Skagway and running for election again.

Henry is the only Assembly candidate to file by Monday’s 5 p.m. deadline. There are two Assembly seats opening this October. They are currently held by appointees Spencer Morgan and Monica Carlson.

Mark Schaefer is running for re-election as mayor. He is currently unopposed. Schaefer is finishing up his second two-year mayoral term.

The only competitive race so far is the one for school board. Four residents are running for two open seats.

Cara Cosgrove put in a bid to retain her position. Chezare Doxey Leipold, Heather Rodig and Denise Sager also threw their names in the running.

There is still time for residents interested in running as write-ins. The deadline is Sept. 29, just a few days before the Oct. 3 election.

Haines’ candidate filing closes Aug. 21.

A plane on its way from Skagway to Juneau made an emergency water landing Monday morning. Everyone on board the aircraft swam safely to shore.

Haines resident Luck Dunbar was one of them.

“Well there you are, you’re sitting there thinking ‘This is it.  This is it. Here we go,’” Luck Dunbar recounted.

Dunbar boarded the Alaska Seaplanes flight around 5:30 a.m. Monday. The plane flew from Haines to Skagway to pick up three more passengers. Then, it headed for Juneau.

Dunbar is a commercial fisherman who was on his way to Sitka to get his boat. Once on board the flight, he took a nap. He woke up to what he describes as the engine making an unusual noise.

Soon after, he said the plane started to descend early. He asked the pilot what was going on.

“He pointed over by Coghlan Island and he said, ‘I think we’re going to lay her down over here,’” Dunbar said.

According to the Alaska State Troopers, the pilot was Haines resident Joshua Poirier.

Poirier declared an emergency following an engine failure. That’s according to a press release form Seaplanes General Manager Carl Ramseth.

The troopers said Poirier made an emergency landing in the ocean, about 150 feet from Coghlan Island.

Dunbar said after hitting the water, they were able to keep the plane upright.

“Josh, the pilot, did an amazing job,” Dunbar said. “He kept the nose up. We hit the water as slow as that plane could fly. Still keeping the nose up. By the time the nose hit we had lost enough momentum where we didn’t flip the plane.”

Then, they exited the aircraft.

“I opened the door without a problem,” Dunbar said. “Opened it up wide, reached down to unbuckle. There was water going up my arm pretty quick. I got unbuckled. I looked back, everyone was scrambling, doing their thing to get out of the plane. The back door opened. The pilot opened his door, I opened my door. Everybody scrambled, got out of the plane.”

All four passengers and Poirier swam to shore.

“We swam and swam and swam,” Dunbar said. “Not going to lie, by the time I got to the beach I was pretty exhausted. I had too many layers on. I was feeling pretty heavy, feeling pretty blessed to just relax and have my feet touch the sand of the beach of Coghlan Island.”

According to the troopers, an Alaska Seaplanes aircraft equipped with floats responded to the scene and retrieved the four passengers. Poirier stayed on the beach and was later picked up by Coastal Helicopters.

All of the passengers and the pilot were assessed by Capitol City Fire/Rescue and were released with no injuries.

Troopers said the plane that went down was a Cessna T207 on wheels. Its last airworthiness certificate was issued by the FAA in September 2015. It is set to expire in about a year. The National Transportation Safety Board and Alaska Seaplanes are working together to determine the cause of the accident.

Ramseth commended Poirier’s actions in the incident.

Dunbar thanked the airline, and credits Poirier for the success of the rescue.

“He did an amazing job,” Dunbar said. “He instructed us on exactly what to do at the proper time. We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Josh.”

Alaska Seaplanes is based in Juneau and operates daily flights to communities in Southeast Alaska. Seaplanes gained a monopoly on its market after competitor Wings of Alaska shut down in March.

Dunbar said this incident has not deterred him from flying.

“I’ll be flying happily for the rest of my life knowing that can’t happen twice, right?” he said.

In fact, Dunbar got on another Seaplanes flight to finish his trip to Sitka the same day.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated and expanded with comment from passenger Luck Dunbar.