Community

In the near future, Santa Claus can no longer afford to stay at the North Pole, and with climate change, it’s not really that cold anymore. He’s outsourced his workshop to Pluto and his only hope to save Christmas lies with the U.S.S. Underdrive, which is sailing through the galaxy on a rescue mission.  

If this sounds like a plot fit for a movie house, that’s because it is. This Saturday, Collette Costa’s infamous take on traditional holiday fare returns to The Gold Town.  Her 6th Annual Christmas Bazaar Extravaganza is taking on a Star Trek theme, with captain Costa at the helm.

“We have all the kinda usual suspects. Our dancing girls, our dancing ladies, our dancing ukulele people, our dancing jugglers and some live music.

The idea was born out of her love for the old time television variety shows and a desire to bring Juneau her own.

“Donnie and Marie always had variety shows at Christmas and they were awesome and they had a bunch of dumb stuff,” Costa said. “They had some dancing and it was always completely nonsensical and unrelated and someone was always knocking on  the door like, ‘Oh, I wonder who that could be,’ and it was Bing Crosby or something ridiculous.”

But the show isn’t all about the holidays. Since they’re visiting the planets, some of the acts will take on a cosmic focus, including an encounter with the inhabitants of Venus.

“There may be a couple Uranus jokes. But it’s nothing dirty. I mean, it’s as dirty as Uranus can be. And how dirty can that really be?  I mean, it’s way out there. Most people can’t even see Uranus from where they’re sitting. So, it’s not a big deal.”

Like last year, the two Saturday performances are expected to sell out, and get increasingly loose as the night progresses.  

“I like to stick to the things that are important to me at Christmas. Presents, cookies and a fat man in a red suit giving me stuff,” Costa said.

Costa says “Playboy Spaceman, Bridget and George, Kari and Jason and many, many, many others,” will be at the party.

Tickets to Costa’s 6th Annual Christmas Bazaar Extravaganza can be purchased at the Gold Town Nickelodeon website or at their box office.

With Alaska recidivism rates hovering just above 60 percent, helping prisoners transition back to society successfully is as important as ever. Some prisoners enter a halfway house and receive substance abuse treatment, housing, and help with employment and education.

On my way out of prison, I lived at Gastineau Human Services in Juneau and and attended substance use services.

Back in 2012, I’d been in for six years for assault. And that wasn’t the first time I’d been to prison. I’d been through treatment and transition programs before, but none of them worked like Juneau’s halfway house and its alcohol treatment services. I wanted to put a finger on what worked, and here’s the story. To start, I went back to the halfway house and spoke to a client.

Meet Craig Porter.

“I hit rock bottom, lost everything I had,” he said.

He’s tall, in his late 20s and easy to talk with.

“It took being sober and sitting in a jail cell to realize truly how much I hurt people that I’d cared about and that loved me and how much I’d hurt myself and just took a real moral look at myself and it was — I kinda disgusted myself,” he said.

We’re at the halfway house and he’s sitting in the same chair I was in two years ago. On a day-to-day basis, there’s an average of 80 clients. I see other men and women coming and going, and I wonder if they’ll make it on the outside.

“Drug addiction is what brought me to jail to begin with and I heard about going to the halfway house, GHS, unsentenced. So I figured I’d try that and anything could be better than sitting behind bars,” Porter said.

“Unsentenced” is prison-speak for postponing a court appearance, and during that time you have an opportunity, and possibility, to avoid a harsh sentence by entering something like the halfway house.

“I started talking with the staff and learning more about Juneau Therapeutic Court. And the more I learned about it and what its main purpose was, I decided it would be a good idea to give it a try,” Porter said.

The Juneau Therapeutic Court is part of the court system that sends alcohol and drug abuse-related offenders to treatment and recovery programs instead of prison. Michael Rowcroft is a GHS counselor involved in it.

“I consider my approach to counseling as client-centered,” he said.

Rowcroft worked with me back when I was here. I appreciated the way he helped me get through denial and admitting that I had a problem with alcohol. We made a plan.

“The next stage is action. So you take action, you take the plan, you put it and implement it and start working on developing the tools of recovery, we call them,” Rowcroft said.

For me, the tools of recovery included talking about my problem, and being honest and thinking more positive. And they worked. Slowly, like Craig is now, I was able to get out of the halfway house and do more in the community. That’s part of the plan said GHS Director of Client Services Michele Federico.

“We work with folks on looking at some of their other re-entry needs looking at changing thoughts and behaviors,” she said. “We offer a structured phase system that people earn privileges over time so that they — with good behavior — they are allowed to do more in the community.”

Craig’s about half of my age. I hope he makes the most of his tools of recovery so he can enjoy the rest of his life.

“Before I got to jail and got help from the staff at GHS and through Juneau Therapeutic Court, I really wanted to quit, but I didn’t know what to do or where to go,” he said.

And he has a little advice of his own.

“You need to ask for help if you want it, cause it does not come knock on your door and there’s no one that’s going to tell you have to quit and you’re going to quit you have to really want it,” he said. “You know, go talk to someone if you want the help. Don’t wait for someone to come to you.”

If you do need help, GHS offers a variety of services open to the public as well. As for Craig, I wish him continued success and I’ll check back with him to see how things are going.

Editor’s note: Milligrock interviewed Craig Porter in early September. Porter is still at Gastineau Human Services and is doing well. Milligrock plans to check back in with Craig early next year.

Gov. Bill Walker and first lady Donna Walker welcomed the people of Juneau into their home Tuesday for the 2015 governor’s holiday open house. It’s an annual tradition that’s been going on for over a hundred years.

At a press conference at the mansion, the governor estimated that he would shake over 3,000 hands. Walker said he was excited about Alaska’s future, although he knows the state is in a period of “challenging fiscal times.”

“But we’ve never defined ourselves by how much money we’ve had. We’re a state made of Alaskans made up of all walks of life. Doing what we need to do to get the job done,” he said.

First Lady Donna Walker said they were trying to do more with less this year and the cookie budget, like the state budget was down. Still, 25,000 cookies were baked for guests to enjoy. The party even included a first—the option of gluten-free cookies.

Karla Hart was waiting in line wearing a sticker that says ‘get extra tough on B.C. mines.’ She said a group of people were planning on wearing the stickers to show their opposition. Hart said she thinks Walker has been a great supporter, but there were a lot of issues competing for his attention.

“So to  my mind, it’s an opportunity to reinforce what he’s already started doing and say this is really important and we need you to keep doing it even while you’re dealing with budget issues,” she said.

The governor is rolling out the 2017 fiscal plan for the state on Wednesday.

The public is invited to a community celebration of life in honor of Mayor Greg Fisk on Sunday, Dec. 13, 1-2 p.m. at Centennial Hall.

Fisk died on Nov. 30. He was 70 years old.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Juneau Community Foundation for the Mayor Greg Fisk Memorial Fund to benefit youth in Juneau.

A reception with light snacks and refreshments will follow after. Childcare will be provided in the Egan Room for kids of all ages.

A Catholic priest who served in Petersburg, Wrangell and Juneau died Sunday night, 10 days after a heart attack.

The Rev. Thomas Weise, also known as Father Thomas, was pastor of St. Rose of Lima parish in Wrangell, St. Catherine of Siena parish in Petersburg, and served at Juneau’s Cathedral of the Nativity.

The 46-year-old was hospitalized Nov. 25 while visiting family in Southern California. He died in San Luis Obispo on Sunday night surrounded by his family.

Rita Byrer is the Petersburg parish secretary and had known Weise for about 10 years. She said he was loved by the congregation and deeply cared for.

“He was a warm, kind, gentle, very humble, caring person,” Byrer said. “He loved children, he loved people in general. He just always made you feel welcome. He especially loved little children.”

Weise timed flights and ferry trips so he could celebrate mass in both towns on the same Sunday. He was considered an outdoor enthusiast. He had been known to kayak between Petersburg and Wrangell for services.

He was ordained in the diocese in 2002.

Parishioner Kate Kowalski had also known Weise for about 10 years. She said it was a gift to know him and he did great work for the community.

“He did everything 100 percent,” Kowalski said. “He lived his life like that. I mean whether he was kayaking from Wrangell to Petersburg or climbing up Mount Roberts or doing the insulation in the church in Wrangell or the insulation here he did everything 100 percent and with a lot of great spirit.”

Bishop Edward Burns with the Juneau Diocese is traveling to California. Burns calls Weise a true priest and says he loved living out his vocation.

“And he also had a real joy about being a priest, about being a disciple of Jesus Christ,” Burns said. “And he just lived that. At the same time, he always had this desire to help people, to reach out to them, and to invite them.”

A vigil for Weise will take place in San Luis Obispo on Dec. 14. His funeral will follow on Dec. 15. On Dec. 16, there will be a memorial mass in Wrangell. Petersburg will have a memorial service Dec. 17, and a final service in Juneau on Dec. 18.

The Juneau-Douglas High School art club is sending 10 students to Art Fest in Skagway, despite a fundraising setback last month. Some money went missing from the club’s booth during Public Market.

The booth was in the Juneau Arts & Culture Center and featured student-made pottery, comic books and holiday cards. Prices ranged from $3 to $15. Art teacher Heather Ridgway and art club students ran the booth.

Juneau-Douglas senior Hal Turman was the last person there the first evening of the three-day market.

“Ms. Ridgway told me to put the cashbox under the table and so I did that and, I don’t know, it wasn’t there the next day,” Turman said.

Turman felt terrible, but Ridgway said she takes the blame. Normally, Ridgway would close the booth and take the cash box home, but she left the market early for a family obligation.

“I was embarrassed. I can’t believe I did that to my kids. I felt awful,” Ridgway said.

She told Public Market employee Thomas Beierly Sr. that money had gone missing.

Beierly told the other vendors about it as a warning to be extra careful with their sale items and money. But then Beierly, along with a couple others, went a step further.

“I went to all the vendors and I asked if they could help donate a couple of bucks that we could help the kids, and everybody agreed and I think the smallest I ever got was $5. The vendors were throwing, like, $10, $20, $20 …” Beierly said.

Beierly said all the vendors at the JACC pitched in. He was able to give the art club more money than what was lost. Ridgway “couldn’t even stop hugging me,” Beierly said.

“I was beside myself with gratitude,” Ridgway said. “We had some cards we were selling with student designs on them and one of the parents that came brought a bunch of Hershey’s Kisses, so we put chocolate kisses in cards together and went around to all the vendors in the JACC and gave everybody a card and chocolate kiss and thanked them.”

In the end, the art club raised about $1,400, enough for all 10 students to take the ferry to Skagway for Art Fest in April.