Community

If you see smoke and flames from an Otter Run house on Saturday, don’t call firefighters. They will already be there.

Capital City Fire and Rescue will be burning down a house near Fritz Cove Road as part of their ongoing training.

The 1970s house was donated by the owner, who plans to build a new home in the same spot. CCFR Training Officer Nathan Young says the fire department is offered five to six structures a year for fire training, but they often can’t be used.

“It’s very rare that it’s in a location where we can safely conduct a burn and adhere to all the state and federal regulations that govern this. Usually buildings are too close to overhead power lines or other structures, or not in an area that we can basically control for the day without putting a lot of people at an inconvenience,” he says.

Ignition will be pallets and cardboard. Young says small fires will be set in different rooms, and then the entire house will be burned down.

About 50 firefighters are expected to participate in the training, which he calls a valuable opportunity for more experience in fire behavior, which depends on oxygen levels and fuel types.

“There’s certain parts of it referred to as flash-over where all the contents of a room reach ignition temperature all at the same time and the entire room within seconds completely and explosively fills up with flame and it’s not a survivable situation,” he says. “So we really want our folks be able to recognize the signs leading up to those situations so they can either take care of the situations or get out.”

Such training is a reason the state Division of Fire and Life Safety awarded CCFR Training Officer Young the William A. Hagevig Fire Service Instructor of the Year.

State Fire Marshal Kelly Nicolello says in a news release that Young has a very successful program to keep firefighters “up on the latest cutting edge training.”

But Young says he’s just one of a very high functioning CCFR team.

“Some extraordinary people are in this department; some exceptional people in the state of Alaska are in this department,” he says. “And it’s all a matter of people who are going the extra mile all working together as a team. No one person makes an operation successful nor can one person be successful without the entire team.”

CCFR has 33 year-around and four seasonal personnel at stations one and three, and 45 to 50 volunteers at stations two, four and five.

Young, who is only 32, says he’s been firefighting since he was 14-years-old in the tiny Southeast town of Port Alexander, where, he says, there are ample opportunities for everybody to pitch in.

Confused about all the upcoming elections this fall? Want to know more about the voting process?

Go to the Voter Registration Rally Thursday in Juneau.

It’s part of the nationwide Native Vote Action Week, with a number of events being held in Alaska to increase voter turnout.

Juneau’s is sponsored by Tlingit and Haida Central Council and Sealaska. It will be held at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall.

Organizer Nicole Hallingstad says it’s open to all Juneau residents, but the primary goal is to increase the number of Alaska Natives who vote.

While 70 percent of Sealaska shareholders over age 18 living in the state are registered, that doesn’t mean they actually vote.

“We hope to increase the understanding in the Alaska Native population that your vote literally is the source of our collective strength,” Hallingstad says.

People who need to register to vote, update their current registration, or want to learn more about the election process should attend, she says. Many people never register, and many others register but never go to the polls, because voting is an unfamiliar process.

“So we’ll actually have standing ballot booths that are exactly like those you’d see at any balloting station,” Hallingstad days. “People can get a mock ballot. They can get familiar with the process of showing their ID, casting their ballot and going through the act of electing to try to increase familiarity, reduce some of the fear or uncertainty around that process, and get people more comfortable with voting.”

The Voter Registration Rally is from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall on Willoughby Avenue.

Should a second ice rink be located at Treadwell Ice Arena, or the Mendenhall Valley?

That’s the topic of a meeting tonight (Wednesday) dubbed Twice the Ice.

When Treadwell arena was built, plans called for a second ice sheet there sometime in the future. Then talk turned to the Valley, near Thunder Mountain High School, the Dimond Park Fieldhouse, and new Dimond Park Aquatic Center.

Ice skater Robert Sewell has helped organize tonight’s meeting. He says it’s time to begin the dialogue and resolve the issue, because Juneau needs more ice.

He believes it’s important to maintain and develop the current arena.

“There’s a vibrant skating and hockey community that has focused on use in Douglas for some years. That community needs to be enhanced and protected. If it’s spread out over 15 miles it’s difficult to see that the same level of coherence will occur and continue to evolve,” Sewell says.

He calls it a resource equity as well as cost-control issue.

“It’s difficult to see how the city could justify having two Zamboni’s, two heating systems, two cooling systems, two staffing patterns, simply to add on a second sheet of ice,” he says. “That is a significant additional expense.”

The Twice the Ice discussion is Wednesday from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Douglas Library.

Lifelong capital city resident Robert “Bob” Thibodeau has died at the age of 90.

Thibodeau was well-known around Juneau and active throughout his life in civic affairs, his church, and business.

A Rosary will be said at Tuesday at 7 p.m., at the Cathedral of the Nativity on 5th Street in Juneau.

A memorial mass is scheduled for Wednesday at 1 p.m. at St. Paul’s Catholic Church in the Mendenhall Valley. It will be followed by a reception at 4:30 p.m. at St. Ann’s Parish Hall on 5th Street.

Our Town

Bob Thibodeau liked to talk about his town of Juneau. In the early 1990s, he even had a radio show on KTOO called Our Town.

That was in his retirement years, when he wore out some shoes between the family home across from Juneau-Douglas High School to downtown, often to do research on a favorite Juneau subject.

“He had his walking path and he would say hi to the people along the way, stop down at Foodland and chat, and then he would get down to the library,” said daughter Therese.

And when he wasn’t out and about, people missed him.

“You know I would walk around town when he and my mom would go on vacation or something, and they would be saying, ‘Is your dad OK? We haven’t seen him in a while, you know. Where is he?'”

Thibodeau also greeted and got to know lots of visitors to town over the years.

“Anybody who came up to him, he had a smile for them and he was ready to tell them about his city. I think he was just a great ambassador for Juneau,” said his oldest son, John.

John and his sister Therese are part of one of the largest families in Juneau. Bob and Aurelia Thibodeau had 12 children, all of whom are still living and in Juneau this week to remember their dad.

Thibodeau was three months old when his parents Joe and Rose moved to Juneau from Yakima, Washington. He grew up in his father’s grocery store businesses.

And his kids were part of the workforce at the Douglas Shop-Rite Market, which Thibodeau owned and operated for 22 years, beginning in 1963.

“I remember Dad telling people there’s 12 kids in the family and a grocery store and he says he never could have had 12 kids without the grocery store and he never could have had the grocery store without the 12 kids,” John said.

But school and sports came first.

“He had lots of young people working for him so that he never had to deny anybody any time to do what they wanted to do at school or outside of work,” John recalled.

And Thibodeau seldom missed a school event himself, even when there were no more Thibodeau kids in Juneau schools.

[one_half][box][quote type=”center”]Anybody who came up to him, he had a smile for them and he was ready to tell them about his city. I think he was just a great ambassador for Juneau. [/quote][/box][/one_half]

Thanks to their father, son Tom said, the Thibodeau children know how to work.

“The work ethic that we learned, we learned from my dad. He was the hardest worker I have ever known,” Tom said.

The family home on Glacier Avenue is also across the street from the Augustus Brown Swimming Pool. Perhaps Bob Thibodeau made its sauna famous.

“We’re thinking of naming the seat in the sauna the BTS – Bob Thibodeau sauna,” said Jim Carroll, who and his family lived next to the Thibodeau’s for about 16 years. He also saw Bob nearly every morning at the sauna, where some days the conversations would range from Juneau to world events, to science, religion and politics.

“He always had something to say, that’s for sure,” Carroll said.

Bob Thibodeau was not shy about his opinions or challenging others to defend their own opinions. He loved politics and ran for a number of local offices, though he never won a campaign. That, he once said, was probably a blessing.

And while he had a reputation about town as being outspoken on most issues, he also challenged his children at home to study the issues and form opinions.

“You know in the family, he was always trying to get us to think,” Tom said.

He knew the value of family and when he retired from the grocery in 1985, he set a goal of writing letters to family members every week, whether in Juneau or out of state. They were signed “With Love, Bob, Dad, Uncle Bob, Brother, Grandpa & Cousin.”

“It was just a great way to keep up with what was going on in town and to get some of Dad’s thoughts about growing up, to hear his stories about his parents and his brothers and sisters,” Tom said. “I think most of us now are looking forward go going back and reading them again.”

Bob Thibodeau and his wife Ril celebrated their 66th wedding anniversary this year. He is survived by Ril, their 12 children, 30 grandchildren, 9 great-grandchildren, and numerous friends, who now have the last word. Here’s a message from a close friend:

“Bob, I will miss you. The times of discussions at your home and at the sauna bath I always enjoyed because you always agreed with me. Jim Carroll. I got the last word in.”

Few people know the ins and outs of the Alaska State Legislature as well as Alaska Public Radio Network’s State Capital Correspondent Dave Donaldson.

He came to Alaska in 1991 to cover state politics for APRN and has logged an impressive 22 legislative sessions. He arrived in Juneau from North Carolina, thinking he would only stay one year. But like many Alaskans, he fell in love with the state and its capital city almost instantly.

Donaldson turned off his tape deck Thursday for retirement. In this interview with APRN’s Lori Townsend, he says he had a great first impression of the legislature and state lawmakers:

Juneau resident and retailer Stuart Mark Whitehead has died at the age of 72, from cancer.

Whitehead was born and raised in Juneau, the only boy among five children born to Southeast Alaska pioneers Dr. William Whitehead and Dorothy Johnson Whitehead.

He graduated from Juneau-Douglas High School in 1958 – where he was well-known for his basketball prowess. In 1963, he completed a degree in business administration from the University of North Dakota.

After college he served in the U. S. Navy during the Vietnam War, returning to Juneau in 1965.

He was a partner in the downtown and valley Super Rexall stores and owned Juneau’s first dedicated Hallmark shop. Whitehead retired a few years ago and was living on Whidbey Island, Washington when he died.

His son, Will, is a pharmacist and credits all those years hanging around Juneau Rexall stores as a reason.

“I kind of grew up in the pharmacy. In fact after we just closed the old pharmacy down (in the Foodland Shopping Center), I had my height chart in there from the early ’70s,” Will Whitehead said.

Whitehead said his father had the traits of being a good retailer in a small town like Juneau.

“He really loved his interaction with all the customers, and Juneau was a lot smaller. He was a real people person,” he said.

Lifelong friend Andy Pekovich was also a basketball player and 1958 Juneau High School graduate. Pekovich calls Whitehead a gentle, but mischievous soul, who liked a good joke and was always upbeat.

“I never saw him really get mad at anybody, you know as a teammate never spoke harshly about another teammate or anybody on another team. And in fact in 1957 he got the sportsmanship award in the All-Alaska tournament, not only because he was a good sport. It was usually given in those days to the best player on the losing team and we just barely lost the state championship in the third game of the tournament and Stuart was by far our best player,” Pekovich said.

No services are planned for Whitehead. His family suggests friends honor his memory by setting aside a day to spend with their children.