KHNS - Haines

The owner of the Skagway’s ore terminal is speaking out against what it sees as ‘false information’ the municipality has put out about the facility.

The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority’s James Hemsath wrote an letter to the Skagway Borough Assembly recently. In it, he disputes claims made by the borough’s attorney, Bob Blasco, and Mayor Mark Schaefer.

Hemsath says the incentive for the letter came from a memo Blasco wrote earlier this summer to the assembly. The memo summarizes a meeting between municipality and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation representatives. Blasco talks about AIDEA putting up roadblocks in the borough’s effort to clean up legacy contamination in the ore basin.

But Hemsath rejects that claim. He says AIDEA is ‘happy to cooperate’ and has offered several times to allow access to the ore terminal property. He also disputes Blasco’s assertion that AIDEA is one of the parties responsible for that contamination to begin with.

Hemsath says suspicions municipal officials have expressed about continued contamination at the ore terminal are unfounded, and a breach of the borough’s landlord duties.  He says the ‘continued misstatements about the ore terminal cast a cloud over the facility and its operations.’

An executive session to discuss the letter is planned at the end of the Thursday’s Skagway Borough Assembly meeting. Attorney Blasco will be involved in the discussion.

Skagway Borough Assembly will consider Thursday an application for the town’s first retail marijuana store, called the Remedy Shoppe.

Owner Tara Bass applied for a conditional use permit to set up shop in the Business General zone at 371 Third Avenue. Her permit was approved by the planning commission in April.

The local government has the right to lodge a protest against the application if it sees fit.

The question of how to go about restarting tidelands lease discussions with White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad is also on the agenda. At the last meeting, the assembly agreed to try to re-engage with White Pass in an effort to clean up and expand the town’s port.

The assembly will hear an update on the planned ferry dock refurbishment. An Alaska Department of Transportation spokesman said in the spring that the dock project may happen either this winter or next year. Ferry service is likely to be impacted.

The assembly will also discuss how to fund a proposed local senior center and housing facility. The total project cost is estimated at about $7 million.

A resolution to proclaim Skagway’s official motto ‘Gateway to the Klondike’ is also on the table. The idea to make the tagline official came up during discussions about the borough’s new website. The majority of assembly members favored using ‘Gateway to the Klondike’ instead of ‘Garden City of Alaska.’

The meeting is scheduled for Thursday at 7 p.m in assembly chambers.

The haze that’s been lingering over the Upper Lynn Canal for a day or so is likely from fires far away, according meteorologists. While it’s not known for sure which fires are the cause of smoky fog, officials agree that there is no immediate danger.

Residents in Haines and Skagway started noticing a haze Tuesday morning hanging around both communities.

Sharon Alden , a meteorologist with the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center, said after examining satellite imagery and webcams, she can see the haze, but couldn’t figure out where it’s coming from.

There’s currently a fire burning really hot in northern British Columbia, but it’s more than 100 miles away and the wind is blowing in the wrong direction for residents here to see or smell the effects, Alden said. A wildfire is smoldering near Tok, too, but, again, the wind is blowing in the wrong direction. The AICC map shows two tiny fires between Haines and Juneau, though one is reportedly extinguished, and the other is a fraction of an acre in size.

In short, Alden says she can’t find a concrete source for the smoke.

Down in Juneau, National Weather Service meteorologist David Levin said it’s possible the smoke traveled from elsewhere in the state days ago, and is just now settling here. He said the smoky haze has popped up on weather cameras around Southeast.

“We imagine it must be something that got picked up over the Interior or maybe over the Kenai and got translated over the Gulf (of Alaska) over several days and is just now reaching here,” Levin said. “It’s nothing directly coming from the Interior or the fires up in Canada, but from our estimation it’s probably come over the Gulf and just take a couple of days to get here.”

Levin said it’s common for Southeast to get some forest fire smoke throughout the summer from across Alaska and Northern Canada.

Though “It’s not typical for it to come across the Gulf and make that long trek coming from the west, but it’s possible.”

A recent high pressure system in the region helped bring the smoke here, he said.

“Anything that’s down near the surface up to about 4,000 gets trapped, it can’t rise up and disperse. Then the westerly flow at the surface and over the lower levels – whatever is down there and is trapped just gets moved along with the wind flow.”

Levin said there is no fire danger in the area, and visibility is still good, so flights are not affected at this time.

(Photos by Jillian Rogers and Emily Files.)

The official theme of this year’s Southeast Alaska State Fair was “Spirit of Southeast.” But perhaps it should have been something like ‘Exceeding Expectations.’

The clouds parted and the rain held off over the weekend for the 48th –annual fair. Top-notch music, rides, exhibits, contests and, of course, the food exceeded organizers’ expectations.

“It went great,” says fair director Jessica Edwards. “The weather held out, which we were all really surprised about. People had a great time. The music was wonderful, the programs were great, the contests were well attended and well participated, and we just had a great fair.”

Edwards said she learns something every year. A highlight for her was getting to spend part of Saturday afternoon riding the train and playing games with her daughter.

“From the staff perspective, Saturday was the smoothest Saturday we’ve ever had,” she said. “And that just is really nice because at that point in the event, you’re pretty tired and when things just come together, you get a little euphoric about it.”

This weekend saw hundreds and hundreds of people taking in all the sights and sounds – and food – over four days.

Songs from the Southeast
Bands and solo acts from all over Southeast and beyond took to multiple stages, keeping the crowds dancing and singing along.

One of the most anticipated musical acts was actually made up of four brand new bands. After a week of furious song writing, lessons and rehearsals, the young women of Girls Rock Camp fame took center stage on Saturday.

The four bands, called The Shadow Drifters, The 907 Rockers, Last Minute, and Fear the FluffStars!, were made up of mostly rookie rockers. All the songs were original works and, for the most part, the girls got to pick their own instruments.

Nora Prisciandaro of Haines was in the band Last Minute. The group’s song was called “Overcome.”

“It was about how you get up on your bad days that you have,” she said.

She already had some experience with the guitar, and wanted to continue the path to becoming a guitarist. The best part of the weeklong camp was making new friends, Prisciandaro said. And writing a song from scratch.

Abigail Tidlow-Tranel of Skagway was the bassist and singer for Fear the FluffStars. The FluffStars sang a tune called “Somewhere,” about an eagle taking flight. Tidlow-Tranel said writing the song was challenging, but she already looks forward to next year.

Director and Rock Camp founder Monica Lettner said the week and the final performances went better than expected. So good, in fact, that she’s hoping to double the number of participants next year from 20 to 40.

Lettner told the crowd on Saturday afternoon that the girls learned to overcome fears, develop friendships and become empowered to, well, to rock out.

“We talk about how to support each and how to not buy into the stereotype that girls have to mean to each other, or catty with each other,” Lettner said. “We learn how to support. We learn how to celebrate each other’s strengths, and all of these smiles and beautiful works of art prove it.”

She said the highlight for her was seeing the progress throughout the week.

“Having campers that were really, really scared on the first day, come through in the end and absolutely love their instrument, love their teacher and love their band and performance,” Lettner said. “That to me is the biggest success, when they’re positive and they’re feeling confident. It doesn’t matter what I think, it matters what they think when they walk off that stage.”

This year’s more established musical acts were an eclectic mix of rock, country, reggae … you name it, really.

Speaking of fair sounds, kids laughing, crying and squealing with delight could be heard wherever you chose to roam. The Ferris Wheel, as always, was a big hit with the little ones.

Pigs enjoy attention
Past the carousel, the train stop, and the line of carnival games, was the barn. Mud and Charlie, two young, huge pigs were enjoying the attention on Friday.

“These are just homegrown, backyard pigs,” their owner Cristy Wright said, who thinks everbody needs some pigs.

Fair treats
For many, the music and happy kids, rides and animals are great, but what really gets people excited is the plethora of once-a-year fair food.

Judith McDermaid has been to 22 state fairs in Haines.

“This is the only time you can get corn on the cob that is fresh and sweet and juicy,” she said. “They always have something new. I go for the old stays, like pulled-pork sandwiches and burgers. Fair food! I mean cotton candy and kettle corn … it’s once a year. It’s so good!”

In case you want to plan for next year, the tentative dates for the 2017 Southeast Alaska State Fair are July 27-30.

A park ranger shot and killed a brown bear that was wounded during a hazing event in Dyea about two weeks ago, putting the animal out of its misery over the weekend.

On Saturday, a National Park Service ranger shot the bear that had evaded authorities for two weeks.

The bear was seriously injured during an attempt to scare it away from campers by a Skagway police officer on July 16. The officer intended to use a non-lethal rubber bullet, but accidentally loaded a lethal slug and shot the bear in the rump. The wounded animal dove into the Taiya River and disappeared. It hadn’t been seen until this weekend.

Following the hazing event, the Skagway Interagency Bear Management Group, made up of representatives from the Skagway Police Department, the park service, and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, evaluated the situation and determined to dispatch the bear whether it still demonstrated evidence of suffering.

Skagway Police Chief Ray Leggett apologized last week on behalf of the department for the accident. He said he was taking steps to prevent such a mishap from happening again. Leggett said the officer had only been on the job for a month at that point, and had yet to complete “hazing training.”

According to a park service release, a resident contacted the park ranger and reported Saturday morning and observed an injured bear near a fishing slough on the Dyea Mud Flats.

The release stated that the ranger observed that the bear was unable to use one of its hind legs and was not afraid of people.  After those observations, the ranger shot and killed the bear.

The park service and police department processed the bear as a “Defense of Life or Property” take.

After it was shot, they discovered the bear suffered from a broken femur and dislocated hip as a result of the hazing incident.

The hide and skull will be turned over to Fish and Game as is required by state law.