Juneau

Two Juneau swimmers returned from the Special Olympics World Games in Los Angeles with five medals. CJ Umbs and Christine Quick competed alongside 6,500 athletes with intellectual disabilities from around the world.

Juneau swimmer Christine Quick says Michael Phelps is taller than she thought he was. The most decorated Olympic athlete of all time took pictures with Special Olympians and jumped in the pool for a swim.

“What was that like?” I asked.

“Happy,” Quick says. “Our team was crazy to see him.”

Quick earned two gold medals and a seventh place finish in backstroke and freestyle events. She says the cheering from the crowd helped motivate her. She’s never received so much attention.

“Everybody said, ‘Yay!’ People took pictures of us,” Quick says.

CJ Umbs is another Juneau swimmer. He received gold, silver and bronze medals, and a fourth place ribbon in backstroke and freestyle events. His mother Michelle Umbs is a coach for Juneau’s Special Olympics program.

“The finish on the fourth place ribbon and the finish on the silver medal, he was just as happy as a clam both times,” Umbs says. “It didn’t matter. He was just so glad to finish.”

Umbs was in L.A. for the games with her husband and other family members. She watched every event her son and Quick competed in.

“The whole week was amazing watching both of them act independently and responsibly. But to see them both as young adults get up on a stage, accept their medals in an environment where they were treated with a lot of respect is over the top for me,” Umbs says.

CJ Umbs and Christine Quick were part of Team USA with fellow Alaska athletes Garrett Stortz from the Mat-Su and Brittany Tregarthen from Kodiak. Stortz competed in golf and Tregarthen in powerlifting.

All four Alaska athletes medaled, but Jim Balamaci says competing in the Special Olympics isn’t about winning.

“It’s really about doing your personal best and really performing and training,” says Balamaci, president and CEO of Special Olympics Alaska.

Prior to 1968, people with intellectual disabilities didn’t have a sports organization.

“Now, almost 50 years later, we transcend the world,” Balamaci says. “People with intellectual disabilities can achieve and that through sports, there’s no better way of gaining friendships and confidence that come back to your community and to your school.”

Both Juneau athletes get to take a short break from training as they enjoy the afterglow of the World Games. Quick will start swimming again in the winter and Umbs will start bowling in a few weeks.

On Monday afternoon, nearly 2,000 people arrived in Juneau for their first stop on the 30^th anniversary RSVP Vacations cruise. The cruise line caters exclusively to gay and lesbian people.

The Southeast Alaska LGBTQ+ Alliance, also known as SEAGLA, hosted an event for cruise patrons at the Imperial Saloon downtown. Nearly 200 patrons mingled, drank and played billiards during the 2-hour event.

“It’s just important to remember that we are in the community, that we’re neighbors, but also to welcome people who are traveling, who might be looking for community,” says Lauren Tibbitts-Travis, SEAGLA outreach coordinator.

She helped organize the event.

“It’s one thing to go somewhere that you’ve never been and see the sights, but if you’re going there [and you] immediately identify with [the place], that makes it a much better experience. That’s what we’re trying to do at these events,” Tibbitts-Travis says.

This week’s cruise will take tourists to Glacier Bay, Sitka, Ketchikan and Victoria, British Columbia. Although the passengers are predominantly male, the cruise caters both to gay and lesbian people.

Ticket prices ranged from $900 to almost $3,000. Joe Fallon and his husband David Rodes says the cruise was worth it.

“We’d never been to Alaska and we’d always wanted to do an Alaska cruise, but a straight cruise never seemed like that much because we figured we’d be with a lot of old people,” Fallon says.

Fallon and Rodes, who are both in their late 50s, decided to take the cruise to celebrate paying off their mortgage.

“We met working in the same shopping center when we were like 17 and 18 years old.” Fallon says.

They’ve been together for 39 years, says Rodes.

Both men says they’re most excited to see Glacier Bay.

For 47-year old Sam Wilson, he decided to go on the cruise because it’s something his best friend has always wanted to do.

“He actually wanted to go for a very long time, and we finally found time to go. We travel a lot, this is like my fourth cruise. I did a couple in the Caribbean and a Mediterranean one, so this was like on the bucket list — definitely one to come and see,” Wilson says.

Wilson and his friend have traveled everywhere from Egypt to Greece. He says the cruise is like a party every night and there’s always a chance to meet new people.

Halfway through the event, four local drag performers took the dance floor to entertain the crowd. Performer Vanessa LaVoce-Kellie — who preferred to be identified by her stage name — was one of them.

For her the event symbolized a larger effort to create a more inclusive community.

“I performed tonight because there’s not very many opportunities to do drag here in Juneau; it’s been getting a lot better. We’ve been having more exposure, but any chance that I get to step out in face and give somebody a show, I’ll take it,” La-Voce-Kellie says.

For LaVoce-Kellie, the bigger the drag queen presence in Juneau, the better.

“These events give people that safe place, and help us to build the conversation for more acceptance and tolerance. The more you can do for love the better,” LaVoce-Kellie says.

The cruise left late Monday night to travel to its next destination, Sitka, before making a stop in Glacier Bay.

Twenty-something seasonal tourism workers have been tentatively identified as those who climbed the Alaska Capitol and stole the U.S. and Alaska flags on July 31.

After stills from video surveillance were circulated in the local media, two of the three men caught on tape walked into the Juneau Police Department on Tuesday and talked with an investigator. They admitted to grabbing the flags after hitting the bars downtown. After the theft, the flags were apparently discarded somewhere in the downtown area. The flags and rope have an estimated value of $434.

A 26-year-old man and a 24-year-old man face potential trespass and larceny charges. Police have yet to name or arrest them.

Police say they know who the third man is, but he hasn’t been interviewed yet.

The Coast Guard’s annual Buoy Tender Roundup is in Juneau this week for the first time since 2012. Service members from Alaska, Washington, Oregon and the Canadian Coast Guard are participating. The week is filled with training and intense competition, like Tuesday’s “heat and beat” challenge.

The Coast Guard is offering public tours of the pier and a buoy tender from 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Dozens of firefighters stood by their trucks watching flames engulf a UAS building just off Mendenhall Loop Road. Bystanders gathered and firefighters took selfies in front of the fire.

The fire was part of a Capital City Fire/Rescue training exercise on July 25. Although they practice regularly at a training facility, firefighters were glad to hone their skills in more realistic scenarios.

“A lot of it is trying to put all the pieces together,” said Fire Chief Richard Etheridge. “They’re taking all the small skills, the one-person things, trying to put it together and orchestrate it so everything happens in time and in the right sequence.”

With limited experience in real-world emergencies, combining these skills can be critical.

“There’s never enough training,” said Assistant Chief Ed Quinto. “Especially when your life and other people’s lives depend on it.”

After running a series of drills like fire suppression, ventilation, and victim rescue, firefighters withdrew and let the flames take over the building.

And as for the property owners, “It saves them some disposal costs,” said Etheridge. “Because it is quite expensive to put a building in a landfill. … It’s kind of good for everybody.”

A makeover is planned this summer and fall for the Superbear IGA store in the Mendenhall Valley.

“In my opinion, the Superbear store is a very well run store,” said Tyler Myers, president of Washington-based The Myers Group and new owners of the store that anchors one end of the Mendenhall Mall. “The standards, the sanitation is all very, very good. But I do think it is a bit dated.”

Myers said their recent purchase of Superbear was just an opportunity that came up. Former owner Charlie Robinson passed away and his wife Judy Robinson was interested in selling. Myers referred to a confidentiality agreement and declined to disclose the price of the June 18 purchase.

“Superbear was something that came along when we came to Juneau. That wasn’t our goal to have two stores in town,” Myers said. “We’ve become very fond of Juneau. We think the people are great. Obviously, one of the most beautiful places on the planet.”

The Myers Group just finished renovating their previous purchase, Alaskan & Proud in downtown Juneau which became Foodland IGA and Ace Hardware. A pharmacy may open at the back of the hardware store later this summer and another small storefront at the Foodland Shopping Center is tentatively designated as either a future liquor store or health supplement store.

“Then, ultimately we would like to run both the stores as IGA stores with a common ad, leverage our buying power with the two stores, be able to lower some retail (prices) and make better offers for customers, and run two sister stores in Juneau with one on each end of town,” Myers said.

Myers said they retained all of the Superbear employees at the same pay, provided a retirement plan and provided medical, dental, and vision coverage for those working over 30 hours a week. There are 180 employees total at Superbear and Foodland, and current part-time workers could split their work at both stores to pick up more hours.

As for the upcoming renovations at Superbear IGA, Myers said they won’t be knocking down walls or rearranging the store’s layout. He wants to preserve Superbear’s back room, which is an expansive warehouse space and big walk-in freezer at the rear.

Instead, he said they’ll update the store’s lighting, flooring and exterior signage, and slightly expand the produce and deli sections.

Like at Foodland IGA, Myers said hundreds of new items will be introduced at Superbear IGA. Many of the new products will include specialty, natural and organic foods.

“For the consumer, what drives our business is the customer,” Myers said. “So, if a customer comes in and there’s something they don’t see that they want, all they have to do is ask.”

Besides a possible limited expansion to the meat counter, Myers promises no major changes to what may be the most popular department at Superbear.

“The meat counter in the store has an unbelievable reputation,” Myers said. “If you don’t hear anything else I tell you, my number one goal is not to mess up anything that is working really, really well.”

In addition, The Myers Group’s new company Seak Distributors will be distributing Sysco products and Franz baked goods in town.