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A celebration of life will be held at Eaglecrest Ski Area this weekend for the guy who probably taught first aid to more people in Juneau than anyone else.

Ron Dippold died in January at the age of 78.

He could tie bandages like nobody’s business,” says Juneau Ski Patrol member Mick Lowry.

He says Dippold could have written a book on first aid.

Dippold was a member of the National Ski Patrol for 52 years and taught first aid to patrollers from the beginning. He also taught first aid and CPR courses for the American Red Cross – not just to students but to instructors.

Ernie Mueller sometimes taught alongside Dippold.

He was kind of a guiding light for all the instructors that worked with him in the Red Cross,” Mueller says.

It’s rare for someone to stick with a volunteer endeavor for half a century, but it became a way of life for Dippold.

He grew up in western New York, attended forestry school, did a stint in the U.S. Navy then got back to the woods with the U.S. Forest Service. He was able to spend much of that forestry career in Juneau.

He also was Southeast Regional Director for the Alaska Division of the Red Cross for several years, but those who knew him best say it was the years he worked without pay that define his legacy.

“The volunteers that we have, they’re a gold mine to us, especially those that stay active for as long as Ron has,” says Red Cross Disaster Response Specialist Roger Rettig. “I don’t think we have anyone that’s close to six decades.”

In 2006, the Red Cross created a Southeast chapter volunteer of the year award and named it after Dippold. He was the first recipient.

“He was intense,” Rettig says. “He was serious about everything he taught, everything he said.”

Mueller says for many years Dippold was the face of the Red Cross in Juneau. He also helped people recover from disasters such as home fires and floods. And when he was teaching, he had a way of reaching them even when they didn’t want to be there.

“You know, you can teach a class and you can tell that this person is here because they have to be here. But when you’re teaching the ski patrol or Red Cross volunteers you’re teaching people who want to be there, because they want to be there for other people,” Mueller says. “I think Ron really responded to both groups.”

Maybe it was easier to teach those classes because he loved to bike, kayak and ski and wanted to be prepared himself.

“I know some of the people that are on the patrol now, he actually pulled them down in sleds when they were younger,” says ski patroller Lowry. When they joined the patrol, it was Dippold who taught them first aid.

Early in his ski patrol career, Dippold received what’s known as a National Appointment for demonstrating leadership and extraordinary service to the skiing public and the National Ski Patrol.

The appointment is for life, but a patroller can lose it. Lowry says Dippold just kept earning it.

“It’s a very prestigious award, there’s not a whole lot of them done. There’s maybe 20 in the whole state of Alaska,” he says.

Throughout his more than 50 years volunteering for the ski patrol and the Red Cross, Dippold had to continually keep up to date on the changing protocols for administering CPR and first aid. He never missed a re-certification.

Mueller believes he knows what drove Ron Dippold to be the ultimate volunteer.

He had an underlying belief that it was important for people to have skills in the event of an emergency, which might require somebody to get first aid treatment, or CPR, or even react to a natural disaster,” Mueller says.

Friends and family will gather at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Eaglecrest to celebrate Dippold’s contributions to their lives and to Juneau.

Veteran Alaska journalist Bob Tkacz has died. He was 61.

With his gravelly voice and dogged interviewing style, Tkacz was a fixture in the state capital press corps for more than 20 years.

Tkacz peppered his share of Alaska politicians with a seemingly endless line of questions. Former Administration Commissioner Becky Hultberg was press secretary under former Gov. Frank Murkowski.

“Bob really liked to get under people’s skin if he could, and he’d kind of know when he did and he’d keep poking, keep going,” Hultberg says.

But she says she always respected the job Tkacz was trying to do. She doesn’t remember the issue, but says there was one exchange in particular where she tried to step in to prevent the governor from saying something he might regret.

“Ultimately, I was physically trying to maneuver my body between the governor and the podium to try to get the governor out of the room,” she recalls. “Because Bob had really accomplished what he wanted to accomplish, which was getting the governor riled up, and when people are upset they tend to be very quotable and not always in a good way.”

Former APRN Juneau Correspondent Dave Donaldson began covering the Alaska Legislature about the same time as Tkacz. They worked near each in the Capitol press room for 21 years. Though they were friends, Donaldson says even fellow reporters sometimes got fed up with Tkacz’s aggressive style.

Bob would not let go, and he would go forever,” Donaldson says. “And yeah, it did get a little annoying every once in a while. But the fact is that he came closer to really doing the job that we all ought to be doing than a lot of people who say, ‘Okay, thank you,’ and hang up.”

In September 1991, Tkacz was beaten and stabbed in an apparent mugging in Juneau. A New York Times story about the incident is still one of the first search results when you Google his name. Donaldson remembers visiting him in the hospital.

“He couldn’t talk, so he was trying to draw notes,” he says. “And he finally got it across to me that the reason I was there was to call his publisher and say that he’d be late for deadline.”

Tkacz worked or freelanced for several Alaska media outlets, including KTOO. In recent years, he wrote for Alaska Legislative Digest and the Alaska Journal of Commerce. His stories also appeared in national and international publications.

In 1994, he started his own subscription news service, Laws for the SEA, about the commercial fishing and seafood industry. Donaldson says that was the endeavor in which Tkacz took the most pride.

“He was kind enough when I retired that he gave me an honorary subscription, so I could keep reading them, and it really was good stuff,” Donaldson says.

In recent years, Tkacz traveled to Asia several times to report on how countries in the region are involved with Alaska’s seafood industry. Legislative Digest co-publisher Tim Bradner says he was passionate about the issue.

“The fact that so many of our seafood exports go to Asia, he just became interested in the market over there and what was happening to it and how that affected Alaska,” Bradner says.

Besides working as a reporter, Tkacz also did maintenance work at Jordan Creek Center, an office building in Juneau. He lived alone on his boat in Aurora Harbor, and often spent his free time at Augustus Brown Swimming Pool. He also was a volunteer DJ on KTOO’s sister station, KRNN, where he did a jazz show.

Juneau police say they responded to a report of a death at Tkacz’s downtown office Tuesday and found his body. The death is not considered suspicious. His body was initially taken to Alaskan Memorial Park Mortuary & Crematory then sent to the state medical examiner’s office in Anchorage for an autopsy.

Tkacz was originally from Ohio, where friends say he still has family. Services are pending.

Original post:

Longtime Alaska freelance journalist Bob Tkacz has died. He was 61.

Juneau police say they responded to a report of a death at Tkacz’s downtown office Tuesday morning and found his body. The death is not considered suspicious. The body was initially taken to Alaskan Memorial Park Mortuary & Crematory then sent to the state medical examiner’s office in Anchorage for an autopsy.

Tkacz was a fixture in the state capital press corps for years. His gravelly voice and dogged interviewing style needled a number of Alaska politicians. He had his own subscription news service, Laws for the SEA, which covered the commercial fishing and seafood industry. He also wrote for Tim and Mike Bradner’s Legislative Digest in recent years. He’d been published in the Alaska Journal of Commerce and once worked for KTOO.

In 1991, Tkacz was stabbed in an apparent mugging in Juneau that was highly publicized. A New York Times story about the incident is one of the top results when you Google his name.

His LinkedIn profile says Tkacz went to Ohio University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Newspaper and Magazine Editing. He lived on a boat in Aurora Harbor, and was a volunteer jazz DJ on KTOO’s sister station, KRNN.

Friends say he has family in Ohio. Services are pending.

(Check back for more details)

Do you have the strength and endurance to be a Juneau police officer? You can find out this Saturday when JPD holds a practice fitness test for the general public at Thunder Mountain High School.

The test consists of the five physical activities you must complete to meet the department’s minimum hiring standards. Lt. Kris Sell says JPD often hears from people who want to become a police officer, but either can’t pass the physical test or are worried they won’t be able to pass it.

“So we decided to do this practice test to let people come out, see what the test was going to feel like, get some advice on training for the test, ask about life at the academy, and the hiring process, and anything they had questions about to just kind of demystify that process,” Sell says.

To be hired by JPD, recruits must complete a 300 meter run in less than 74 seconds; do a vertical jump of two feet or higher; do a minimum of 21 pushups; complete 15 sit ups in less than a minute; and run a mile and a half in less than 16:44.

Sell says recruits should be able to do all that before they go to the police academy.

“Passing the test does not mean you’re ready for a police academy,” says Sell. “Passing the test means that we can send you to the police academy and you won’t need an ambulance on the first day.”

Sell says JPD has 10 vacancies right now, and only a few candidates are close to being hired. The process, which also includes mental tests and a background check, can take several weeks if not months.

Officers will be on hand to answer questions at Saturday’s practice test, which takes place from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Thunder Mountain High School track.

Juneau-Douglas High School seniors entered the gymnasium solemnly on Sunday, accompanied by the march Pomp and Circumstance. But graduation quickly became a lighthearted affair celebrated with selfies, beach balls and confetti.

Student speaker Manuel Guillen told the 164 graduating seniors that when in doubt, do what feels right.

“Now is the time where everything we’ve been taught is going to be tested to the limits.”

The ceremony also was marked with moments of silence for two members of the class of 2014, who passed away in accidents. Jessica Billy died in a vehicle accident in March and Savannah Cayce died in 2012 from injuries in an accident on Auke Lake.

Forty JDHS students finished with a grade point average of 3.5 or higher.

In the Mendenhall Valley, 158 graduated from Thunder Mountain High School, the fifth graduating class since the school opened in 2008.

Twenty-six had a GPA of 3.5 or higher, and three were valedictorians, meaning they had a perfect 4.0, or “A” average for their four years of high.

Valedictorian Jenna Luhrs challenged her classmates to be thankful for what they have, always keep moving forward, and be compassionate along the way.

“Our education thus far has encompassed countless blessings, and I’m not talking about the ability to write in cursive, or the skills required for a book report. I’m referring to the teachers who never gave up on us, the coaches who always believed in us, and our friends and family who continue to support us unconditionally.”

Retired JDHS teacher Clay Good spoke at both graduations, telling the students to live a life that creates meaning.

At TMHS, assistant baseball coach Joe Tompkins recalled the words from the 1977 Fleetwood Mac song “Don’t Stop Thinking about Tomorrow.”

If you stop thinking about tomorrow and dwelling in the past, he said, you will stop living your life.

Before the TMHS graduates received their diplomas, Tompkins warned them to celebrate without alcohol and drugs. He was paralyzed in a 1988 alcohol-related car accident near Auke Bay. Tompkins got a standing ovation from the crowd for his speech.

Graduation ceremonies for Yaakoosgé Daakahídi Alternative High School were held at Centennial Hall earlier in the day, with 38 students earning their diploma.

Juneau School District Superintendent Glenn Gelbrich attended commencement ceremonies for all three Juneau high schools for the last time. Gelbrich has been hired as superintendent for the Kelso, Wash. school district. He has been superintendent in Juneau since 2009.

Amid the barbecues, picnics, annual sales and day off work, Juneau observed Memorial Day at three services designed to honor those who died in the service of their country.

Flags hung at half-staff and promptly at 11 a.m. the commemorations began at Alaskan Memorial Park in the Mendenhall Valley and Evergreen Cemetery in downtown Juneau.

U.S. Coast Guard 17th District Command Center Supervisor, James Armstrong, lamented the way Memorial Day has changed over the years.

“Happy Memorial Day, someone said to me the other day,” he said, noting the word memorial is defined as something designed to preserve the memory of a person or event.

“Nowhere does the definition include the words party or sale. Memorial Day is not a happy occasion; it is not to be celebrated. It is and should be an event to be reflected upon and observed. It is not at all about the beginning of summer, unofficial or otherwise. It is most certainly not a time for merchants to exploit as an excuse for a sale,” Armstrong said.

Armstrong blamed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act for degrading the true meaning of Memorial Day. Since the act took effect in 1971, Memorial Day has always been on the last Monday of May, though the original date of May 30th was set in 1868.

American Legion Auke Bay Post 25 hosted the Mendenhall Valley observance, where poems were read, prayers were given, flower wreaths were hung and taps were played. Families gathered to visit the graves of their loved ones and friends; many of the graves were marked with small American flags and fresh flowers.

Evergreen Cemetery observance

The scene was similar at Evergreen Cemetery in downtown Juneau, where Taku Post 5559 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars held the annual commemoration.

Coast Guard Cmdr. Patrick M. Hilbert said he never really understood the importance of Memorial Day until he was stationed in the Netherlands. There he was approached by multiple generations of Dutch residents who still remembered and valued U.S. service members’ efforts during World War II.

Hilbert recalled the words on the Margraten, Netherlands memorial for missing service members at the American Cemetery:

‘Each for his own memorial earn praise that will never die and with it the grandest of all sepulchers. Not that in which his mortal bones are laid, but a home in the minds of men.'”

“With that sentiment in mind, today we mark the sacrifices of those that have passed over the bar in service of our nation,” Hilbert said. “We take stock of what we have to be thankful for. And most of all, we remember and honor those that we have to thank for the opportunities and prosperity we continue to enjoy today.”

Alaska Native Memorial Day commemoration

Shortly after the Alaskan Memorial Park and Evergreen Cemetery events, another ceremony commemorating Southeast Alaska Native military members was held at the park adjacent to Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall.

As the names were read aloud, American flags were placed at the stones inscribed with the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian words for warrior and courage.

Two observances are scheduled in Juneau for Memorial Day.

The annual downtown service will be held at 11 a.m. on Monday at Evergreen Cemetery, hosted by Taku Post 5559 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

The Mendenhall Valley observance is at Alaskan Memorial Park on Riverside Drive, also at 11 a.m. It will be hosted by Auke Bay Post 25 of the American Legion.

While many people think of Memorial Day as a day off work and the beginning of summer, it was first observed after the American Civil War when families would decorate the graves of their loved ones who died in the war.  It was known then as Decoration Day.

It is now an opportunity to remember all of those who have served their country.

On Memorial Day, the American flag should be flown at half-staff until noon then raised to full staff.