Yvonne Krumrey

Juneau has a new emergency manager. Ryan O’Shaughnessy took over the role earlier this year.

He first stepped in to help the City and Borough of Juneau’s emergency management department after the 2024 glacial outburst flood. 

“I was, you know, watching the special assembly meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 6,” O’Shaughnessy said. “And heard that there was some concern about who would be managing long-term recovery, volunteer management, donation management and all of those things.”

So he called and said he wanted to volunteer to help coordinate community efforts. Then in February, he was hired to lead the city’s emergency management team.

He said he’s spent the last few months getting up to speed on the city’s capacity for emergency management and building relationships with other organizations who help in emergencies, like the Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska’s public safety team.

For O’Shaughnessy, the work is personal. 

“I have been on both sides of emergency management,” he said.

In 2022, a landslide hit O’Shaughnessy’s house in downtown Juneau. He said seeing the community response to that disaster planted a seed for his work today. 

“I wouldn’t say that at that moment it was like … ‘I need to be involved in this,’” he said. “But long term, it definitely had a pretty profound impact.”

Right now, the city is preparing for Juneau’s annual glacial outburst flood, which has happened at the beginning of August the past two years. Floods in the Mendenhall Valley have reached record-breaking levels for two years in a row. 

O’Shaughnessy said the city continues to improve its response and communication with residents during the annual event. He strongly encourages Juneau residents to sign up for emergency alerts.

Former Emergency Planning Manager Tom Mattice remains with the department in a specialized role focused on avalanche forecasting.

The city’s emergency team is also currently updating its hazard mitigation plans. Residents can comment on the risk assessment portion of that plan at a public meeting on Monday at 5:30 p.m. 

This story has been updated to clarify what the city is updating currently. 

This is Tongass Voices, a series from KTOO sharing weekly perspectives from the homelands of the Áak’w Kwáan and beyond.

A Juneau bookstore turns 50 this year. Earlier this month, it was voted one of the nation’s top 10 best independent bookstores by USA Today. 

Olga Sofia Lijó Seráns took over Hearthside Books in 2022, but she got into the book business as a librarian in Juneau nearly two decades ago after arriving from Northern Spain.  

The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Olga Sofia Lijó Seráns: I love Waiting for the Weather. Eric Forrer’s memoir. It just has so much information about Alaska without being ponderous. Actually, it’s pretty funny. So it’s a great way to just have a very good look at Alaska without thinking that you are studying on it. 

My name is long. It’s Olga Sophia Lijó Seráns, and I am the owner of Hearthside Books and Toys. I was approached about buying Hearthside Books around three years ago, about this time of the year, by somebody else who thought that I could be a good match, because Hearthside  had been for sale for a while, and well, nobody in this town wanted it to close. 

I’m not sure why people thought about me. I have my guesses. I’m a book person. I’ve been always very active in the community. Since I arrived in Juneau in 2007, I got my master’s in library science. I already had two degrees in similar subjects, and then I became a public librarian, and then I became librarian for the Legislative Affairs agency. 

So between that and the fact that I’m always around books, I guess it was not very strange that somebody would have thought about me. 

What brought me to Juneau in the first place was love. My then love interest invited me for a holiday in 2006 and that was it. He was definitely a love interest, but Juneau just closed the deal. 

The big surprise was bestsellers and having to be on top of those changes almost daily. So it makes it a little bit terrifying, because you’re always having to be thinking about what’s coming next and what’s going to be people’s next interest. But on the other hand, it’s also exhilarating, a lot of fun. Will that set of books that were really, really hot two weeks ago arrive in time for being still of interest when they get here?

Hearthside is turning 50 on September 19. It was open in September 19, 1975. So I wasn’t thinking about what that would mean when I initially bought the store. But it has become more and more obvious that people in Juneau consider Hearthside a legacy. 

When you have three generations of the same family coming to you and saying, “You know, my mom used to bring me to Hearthside as a kid, and now I’m bringing my own kids here too.” It kind of makes you realize how important an independent bookstore is still in a community like Juneau. 

This is Lingít Word of the Week. Each week, we feature a Lingít word voiced by master speakers. Lingít has been spoken throughout present-day Southeast Alaska and parts of Canada for over 10,000 years.

Gunalchéesh to X̱’unei Lance Twitchell, Goldbelt Heritage Foundation and the University of Alaska Southeast for sharing the recorded audio for this series.

This week’s word is yaakw, or canoe. Listen to the audio below to learn how to say yaakw.

The following transcript is meant to help illustrate the words and sentences. 

Kooshdáakʼu Bill Fawcett: Yaakw. 

That means canoe.

Here are some sentences:

Kooshdáakʼu Bill Fawcett: Goodé sáwé yaa naḵúx̱ wé yaakw?

Where is that canoe going? 

Keiyishí Bessie Cooley: Haa x̱ooní Yanshkoowas.á amsikóo yaakw layeix̱í.

Our friend Yanshkoowas.á Jimmy Smarch knows how to build a canoe. 

Keihéenák’w John Martin: Ya aan, ldakát yá Lingít aaní yá átx̱ has alyéx̱ nooch, dutʼéek wé yaakw.

The village, all the Lingít villages, they all use it all the time, people paddle canoes.

Ḵaakal.áat Florence Marks Sheakley: Yá “blue canoe” áyá haa yaagúx̱ sitee.

This blue canoe here is our boat.

Kaxwaan Éesh George Davis: Du yaagú yíkt aawatʼík.

They are paddling in their canoe by themselves.

You can hear each installment of Lingít Word of the Week on the radio throughout the week. 

Additional language resources:

Find biographies for the master speakers included in this lesson here.

Learn more about why we use Lingít instead of Tlingit here.

Watch a video introducing Lingít sounds here.

A Juneau court declared a woman who has been missing for six years legally dead Tuesday, at the request of her family.

Her case was never solved. They sought the death declaration in the hopes of getting a chance to ask police about their investigation in front of an official audience, but that didn’t happen.

Tracy Lynn Day’s family hasn’t heard from her since Valentine’s Day 2019.

Six years later, in a Juneau courtroom, Judge Peggy McCoy presided over a jury of six through the proceedings to declare Day legally dead. 

“You’ve been called in as jurors today for a presumptive death hearing to consider the circumstances of the disappearance of Tracy Lynn Day and to determine whether she should be presumed dead,” McCoy told jurors. 

Day’s daughter Kaelyn Schneider petitioned for the declaration. She said the death declaration would help her family settle her estate but that’s not the main reason she came to the courthouse. She came in the hopes of getting answers from the Juneau Police Department and the justice system. 

Over the last few years, Schneider has been using social media to bring attention to her mother’s case by connecting it to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples’ cases nationwide.

Day was Lingít and experiencing homelessness when she went missing. But Schneider said Day stayed in contact with her regularly. 

“We just wanted to tell her story in a legal setting and make JPD answer our questions,” she said to KTOO after the hearing. “That’s what this was about.” 

In the courtroom, Judge Peggy McCoy called Juneau police Detective Frank Dolan to the stand. He wasn’t the detective who originally investigated the case. The investigating detective is no longer with JPD. A spokesperson for the department said in an email that no officer is currently assigned to this case, but if there is new information, a detective will be assigned. 

McCoy asked Dolan questions about his knowledge of the case, and he summarized the evidence in the files. He said there was no evidence of Day leaving Juneau or of anyone seeing her after February 2019, and he testified that he doesn’t believe she is still alive based on the evidence he read. 

Schneider and her family planned to also ask Dolan questions themselves. But Judge McCoy said that in a death declaration hearing, only the judge and jury are able to question witnesses.

“All we’re trying to establish today is there’s no reason to believe that she’s still alive,” she told Schneider. 

McCoy also asked Schneider and other members of Day’s family about the last time they spoke to her and if they believe she is dead. They all said they haven’t seen or spoken with her since that Valentine’s Day, and they believe her to be dead.  

Later, Schneider said she had been preparing to give the court testimony and ask questions about parts of the case she doesn’t understand.

“I had all these questions that I was gonna ask,” she said later to KTOO. “I stayed up all night. I’ve been working on this for weeks.”

Schneider said police have denied her requests to access the police files about her mother’s case. JPD’s spokesperson said the department’s policy is that they don’t share police reports in open cases.

The family also wants to know if the case is still open or if the declaration will affect its status. Juneau police say that missing persons cases stay open until the person is found, and Day’s legal status as dead or alive does not change the case’s status.

The Juneau chapter of St. Vincent de Paul, a global Catholic organization that provides housing support and many other services, will have a new executive director in July.

Dave Ringle, who has led the organization for the last five years, is stepping down as director. He plans to remain with the organization to help with strategic planning and major projects.

Jennifer Skinner will take over. She has a background in social work and spent two years as deputy director at St. Vincent de Paul. 

In Juneau, the nonprofit runs a thrift store, a warming shelter for unhoused people in winter and provides more than 100 units of affordable housing to low-income residents and families.

Ringle joined the organization after he retired from a teaching career. He said teaching prepared him for the creativity and fast-thinking required for the work he has done, but he said Skinner has a different set of skills to bring to the table.  

“I had to learn human resources. I had to learn finance. I had to learn housing,” Ringle said. “Jennifer comes in already knowing that, and she’s going to help with providing some stability and some structure.”

Ringle was hired as an interim director, with a timeline of about six months. He stayed on for five years. But now amid health issues, he says it’s time to let Skinner take over.

He said he joined the organization at a time of chaos and he’s spent the last two years working with Skinner to provide St. Vincent de Paul with a smooth and stable transition. 

Ringle said he doesn’t want the organization’s mission to be waylaid by the search for a new director. He said St. Vincent de Paul will keep working to provide both immediate shelter needs and long term housing for Juneau’s unhoused community. 

“Our goal is to continue that, to look at ways we can both care for the people who can’t find a place to live, but with a long term goal of fixing what is broken,” Ringle said. “And it’s not an either or.” 

Skinner will start her role as executive director on July 1. Ringle said he plans to take a long bike ride before he comes back to help out. 

This is Lingít Word of the Week. Each week, we feature a Lingít word voiced by master speakers. Lingít has been spoken throughout present-day Southeast Alaska and parts of Canada for over 10,000 years.

Gunalchéesh to X̱’unei Lance Twitchell, Goldbelt Heritage Foundation and the University of Alaska Southeast for sharing the recorded audio for this series.

This week’s word is taan, or sea lion. Listen to the audio below to learn how to say taan.

The following transcript is meant to help illustrate the words and sentences. 

Kaxwaan Éesh George Davis: Taan. 

That means sea lion.

Here are some sentences:

Kaxwaan Éesh George Davis: Taan eech kut.áa.

The sea lion sits on the submerged boulder.

Keihéenák’w John Martin: Haa tuwaaxʼ kalitéesʼshán taan.

We think sea lions are interesting to look at.

Keiyishí Bessie Cooley: Taan dax̱dligéixʼ.

Sea lions are big.

Kooshdáakʼu Bill Fawcett: Taan xʼáatʼi áyá.

This is a sea lion island.

Ḵaakal.áat Florence Marks Sheakley: Yá taan yá has du x̱ʼadaadzaayí áyú yá shakee.át daa yéi too.úx̱xʼun. 

We always used to put sea lion whiskers on our shakee.át.

You can hear each installment of Lingít Word of the Week on the radio throughout the week. 

Additional language resources:

Find biographies for the master speakers included in this lesson here.

Learn more about why we use Lingít instead of Tlingit here.

Watch a video introducing Lingít sounds here.