Community

Longtime Juneau resident and painter Herb Bonnett died this morning at the age of 87.

Bonnett’s paintings of boats, planes and iconic local landmarks are all over Juneau, including a very large painting on the back wall of the Juneau Assembly’s chambers at City Hall.

Daughter Michelle Bonnet Hale said he’s very well known by “old Juneau.”

“You can just see his prints all over town,” she said. “And lots of his prints in banks – so he’s got a print of the old Douglas bridge, he’s got prints of ferries. One of the more recent prints that he has is called ‘Rainy night in Juneau’ and it’s looking up Franklin Street on a rainy night.”

Hale said he signed his paintings Bonnet, but he was officially Bonnett with two Ts.

Bonnett was the son of an AJ Mine electrical engineer. He was born at St. Ann’s Hospital in 1930 and grew up in Thane and Douglas. He drew and painted for decades.

Hale said he died peacefully at the Juneau Pioneer Home.

“He had a very good run of it, very long, good life in Juneau and Southeast on his boats with his friends,” she said.

Mail condolences for the family to Michelle Hale at 4431 Taku Boulevard, Juneau, 99801. A tribute is being planned.

A former attraction in Thane is slated to be burned to the ground. That’s because the former Thane Ore House property will be the site of a park for Tlingit and Haida culture. A controlled burn will be held to train firefighters.

The Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska won its bid to redevelop the former Thane Ore House restaurant property in 2015. It’s the centerpiece of the tribe’s $7 million project.

“The Tlingit and Haida immersion park is a preservation of our culture,” said Annette Ulmer, an economic development officer with Central Council. The 3-acre site is actually two separate parcels. There’s a former restaurant owned by the city. And there’s a former Alaska Electric Light & Power Co. workshop. Ulmer describes the plan from a visitor’s perspective.

“You will enter into the first main building and it will have digital, virtual reality, a video that will explain about Elizabeth Peratrovich, the history of Tlingit-Haida people to give a true historical perspective.”

All of this will be built over the former Thane Ore House, a once-popular shoreside restaurant built in 1982. After the restaurant closed in 2012, the owners were evicted for not paying city sales tax. Ulmer said the tribe realized it had inherited a mess when it took over in March.

The structure was never built to code. Engineers found major structural problems. Black mold was in the timbers. And it looked like the former owners had simply walked away.

“Oh my gosh! We could not walk in there without respirators on,” she recalled. “When the city closed the doors they literally closed it and did not enter back into that building. So there was standing grease, there was food. It was just left in a real disarray.”

The original plan was for the building to be restored in the style of a traditional longhouse. Now the tribe says it will completely rebuild.

“There have been great memories for people who have come out here to the Thane Ore House when it was the restaurant,” Ulmer said. “But also look forward to the new opportunity you’re gonna see now.”

The property was originally built on state-owned tidelands that were later ceded to the city.

Port Director Carl Uchytil said it was quite a process for the city to take possession of the property.

“Docks and Harbors never really had the authority to enter the building until after the eviction process, and it takes awhile to make things happen,” Uchytil said.

The Docks and Harbor board decided last month to allow the tribe, which now holds a 35-year lease, to burn down the building.

This is a rare opportunity for Capital City Fire/Rescue. Officials said opportunities for controlled burns of structures are becoming increasingly difficult to find.

“It’s an excellent training training opportunity for all the brand new firefighters,” said Fire Chief Rich Etheridge. “Juneau’s growing up so much around everywhere that it’s hard to find a spot where we can burn a building that’s not going to endanger other buildings or put heavy pollutants in a neighborhood that’s going to affect other people – so it’s getting more and more difficult.”

The burn plan is still awaiting state permits. Once the building is cleared away, construction can begin to rebuild on the site. Public access on the beach will continue with five public parking spots.

The tribe said it hopes to create a new cultural destination for tourists in the summer and school children in the winter. The cultural park promises to be a prominent landmark from both the land and water.

“If you’ll notice when you come out to this property, there is only one way in and one way out for the cruise ships,” Ulmer said, “and they are pretty slow and this will be a beautiful scene that they will see, first thing.”

Under the lease terms, the tribe will begin paying annual rent of $8,600 for the property next year. It also agreed to pay a $1-per-visitor fee to the city. The tribe hopes to break ground before the end of the year.

No king salmon allowed!

That Department of Fish and Game announcement doesn’t seem to be hurting boat loads in this year’s Golden North Salmon Derby. Derby officials said contestants are actually catching more fish than last year.

If you can’t have the biggest king, you might as well catch all the silvers your ice box can hold.

Derby workers are hunched over dragging tubs of silver salmon, or Coho, across the bare wood of a float in the Auke Bay harbor. They’re working on filling up super-sized plastic containers with the fish derby contestants are reeling in.

Kami Bartness is in charge of the three stations that weigh fish for the Golden North Salmon Derby. She said even though contestants aren’t allowed to target the prized king salmon, Juneau residents aren’t snubbing the three-day contest.

“I think the first day, from all the weigh stations; we’re probably looking at about 1100 validations, which is pretty comparable to last year,” Bartness said.

Contestants brought in about 16,000 pounds of fish on the first day of the contest, Bartness estimates.

“That’s better already than last year – the first day,” she said.

Last year, the derby landed about 18,000 pounds.

Fish and Game banned king fishing a week before the derby’s start because of record-low fish numbers.

Historically the derby’s heaviest fish have been kings. This year, first place will go to a silver. Derby officials said this is the first silver-only derby in its 71-year history.

But, Bartness said it’s logical that the closure isn’t hurting the contest.

“In August, it’s mostly Coho fishing anyway,” she said. “It’s just the way the species run. King fishing is mostly May and June.”

She said last year, contestants only asked to put 70 king salmon in the running for a prize.

“So about 85 percent of all the proceeds came from Coho anyways,” Bartness said.

Katherine Dimond won first place last year with a 27 and a half pound king salmon. Midway through this year’s derby, the biggest Coho weighed is just under 19 pounds.

Bartness said the good news is many of the fish that don’t have a chance to win are being donated toward the Territorial Sportsmen Scholarship Foundation.

“All the fish that are turned in, weighed and scholarship (fish) get sold to Alaska Glacier Seafoods — the processor here,” she said. “They in turn, give Territorial Sportsmen a check for the sale of that fish.”

Territorial Sportsmen, the derby’s organizer, puts the money into a scholarship fund and each year they give earnings from that fund to several local graduates to use for their next education goals.

According to the derby website, last year’s derby fish were worth slightly more than $24,000.

Derby officials plan to finalize results for the 2017 derby and announce winners on Tuesday.

A small crowd gathered outside a two-steeple white church. It was early in the day, but the sun was already beating down, glinting off of the lone headstone that stands beside the church. There lies Christian missionary William Duncan, a controversial and key figure in the story of this Southeast community’s history.

“No matter what anyone may think of him, William Duncan did what he thought was best for us,” David Robert Boxley said.

Boxley lives in Metlakatla, and explained to the crowd the origins of the town’s founder.

Mr. Duncan, as he is known, strove to convert the Tsimshian community to Christianity. In 1887 Duncan arrived at Annette Island with about 800 Tsimshians from British Columbia and founded what is now Metlakatla Indian Community, about 15 miles south of Ketchikan. That arrival is marked on August 7 and celebrated as Founder’s Day.

During the wreath-laying ceremony at Duncan’s grave, Boxley read remarks off his cell phone, alternating between English and s’malgyax, Metlakatla’s indigenous language.

“[s’malgyax] He loved us. And he worked hard to show us a good way to live,” he said.

Boxley asked for a moment of reflection and prayer. Those in attendance bowed their heads as a wreath was laid next to the headstone. Boxley is a renowned artist and co-chair of the Haayk Foundation, a non-profit aimed at preserving the s’malgyax language. The foundation was hosting and co-sponsoring the Founder’s Day feast later that evening.

“Have a wonderful Founder’s Day, and we’re gonna get back to work,” he said. Thank you.”

The day is filled with religious significance. In this small town, the line between the duties of elected officials and dedication to the Christian faith is blurred. About 50 people convened at the Metlakatla longhouse for a community church service. Mayor Audrey Hudson spoke.

“It’s very important that our children understand the word of the Lord and they grow to know that this is the norm and this is how it should be,” she said.

There are many schools of thought on how the role of missionaries like Duncan affected Native Alaskan culture. Despite the historical suppression of many Tsimshian customs, the last 30 years has seen an increase in Tsimshian cultural pride.

The interior of the longhouse is itself evidence of the ongoing cultural revival in Metlakatla. The floor and ceiling are all made of gleaming cedar. Artwork and handmade artifacts lined the walls.

Founder’s Day is about more than the town’s beginning, though. It serves as a homecoming of sorts for those who were raised in Metlakatla.

“My son did a good job,” said David A. Boxley.

He’s David Robert’s father. The senior Boxley was raised in Metlakatla. He lives in Seattle now but comes back every year for Founder’s Day.

The father-and-son team have carved many totem poles together and the elder Boxley’s carving work is on display at institutes and museums all over the country. He gestured to a pole just down the street.

“My son and I did that totem pole right there for all the women who started the children’s dance groups years ago,” he said.

He talked excitedly about the schedule of events for the day, including a parade, foot races and dance performances.

“It’s like 4^th of July anywhere else, you know,” he said.

There are even fireworks.

Standing beside William Duncan’s grave, Boxley said he thinks the missionary changed the Tsimshian community for the better.

“It’s really important,” he said. “You know, our culture, our tribe. When this man came among our people, [he] changed our future. Absolutely changed our future. And his history, since he was 30 years old, is our history.”

Hundreds of Metlakatlans headed toward town. Around the street corner and into the ball field came the parade procession. A little girl dressed as Disney princess Moana sat on top of a paper-mâché canoe. Representatives from the Tsimshian tribes followed, dressed in traditional regalia and beating taught, tan drums.

Kimberly Wellington is part of the Wellington Clan. She said they are descended from Arthur Wellington Clah, the man who taught William Duncan to speak s’malgyax.

Wellington and her two sons were wearing matching purple shirts with her family’s crest and s’malgyax words emblazoned on the front.

“The saying on the top means ‘love one another,’ which was my grandmother’s favorite saying, and so this is in honor of her,” she said.

Many, many people milling around the ballfield were wearing these matching shirts. Wellington said making T-shirts has become a Founder’s Day tradition for the Wellington clan.

“Every year we do some sort of design with some sort of remembrance — for somebody within the family,” she said.

On the 130^th anniversary of Metlakatla’s founding, it’s clear that Tsimshian residents are intent on keeping traditions alive – even newer ones that call for matching T-shirts.

A Sitka man accused of murder will ask the court to move his trial to another town.

39-year old Reuben Yerkes, a former clerk in Sitka’s Legal Department, is accused of shooting and killing his 28-year old girlfriend, Ali Clayton, in an argument in her home in the early hours of Saturday, May 6.

Yerkes turned himself into Sitka police later the same morning.

In an omnibus hearing on Thursday in Sitka Superior Court, public defender Jude Pate advised Judge David George that he planned to file a motion to change venue. Judge George gave him until September 29 to do so.

Pate also asked the judge to schedule a bail hearing. Since his arrest, Yerkes has been held first in Sitka’s jail, and then was subsequently moved to the Lemon Creek Correctional Center in Juneau. His bail was set at $500,000.

Pate asked the court to schedule up to an hour to review the monetary posting, and to make an argument for third-party custodianship.

George agreed and scheduled a hearing for 8:45 a.m. Thursday, August 31.

Judge George also questioned Pate on other possible defense motions. In particular, whether he planned to file any motions over issues regarding Yerkes’ “competency, sanity, or diminished capacity.”

Pate said no.

George ordered the state to provide the defense with the complete results of its investigation by September 15.

The defense has asked for access to the autopsy report, all physical evidence from the crime scene, a ballistics study, and the contents of computers, iPads, and phones owned by both the victim and the defendant.

Amanda Browning, representing the state, agreed. She also supported the idea of allowing at least 12 days for the trial, which is scheduled for January 2018.
Yerkes appeared in court via teleconference from Juneau.

As with all prior hearings in the case, the Sitka courtroom was crowded with friends and supporters of Clayton and her parents.

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Two people in Juneau who handled a drug package after it was spotted in the mailing process and then tagged by federal officials have been arrested.

The Juneau Empire reports 44-year-old Christian John Peters and 34-year-old Tiffany Jo Spaulding were arraigned on Thursday in U.S. District Court after a multi-agency warrant search of their house.

U.S. Postal Service Inspector Aaron Behnen says he came across a suspicious package from California on Aug. 6. He says it was sent to “Rosetta Stone” at the suspects’ address. It contained a large canister of coffee filled with 50 pills identified as oxycodone and 221 grams of suspected methamphetamine.

Federal officials placed an electronic alerting and tracking device inside the package and acted when it indicated that the package was opened.