Today is Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year.
Here in Juneau we’re getting 6 hours 21 minutes of daylight. Sunrise was at about 8:46 this morning, sunset will be at 3:07 this afternoon.
For the next six months we’ll be gaining daylight every day, little by little until Summer Solstice in June. Of course, it won’t make much of a difference tomorrow. Mother Nature has still scheduled sunrise for 8:46. Sunset should be 3:08, but really we’re only gaining a couple seconds of daylight.
Meanwhile, a winter weather watch for parts of the Juneau borough has been cancelled. But the National Weather Service is still saying the next few days will be very windy and wet. Rain at sea level, with snow above a thousand feet. In Juneau, expect three to five inches of rain between now and Friday. Wind gusts to 45 miles per hour tomorrow and up to 40 miles per hour Friday.
Haines and Skagway are still under a winter weather warning from 6 o’ clock tonight through 9 a.m. Thursday.
The holidays are upon us and several local non-profits are looking for some elves to help Santa deliver a little Christmas cheer to area families. As Casey Kelly reports, it’s not too late to give.
AWARE is seeking individuals or organizations to participate in its Sponsor-a-Family program. The nonprofit domestic violence and sexual assault prevention center is based in Juneau, but serves nine other communities in Southeast from Yakutat to Tenakee Springs.
Organizer Mandi Johnson says donations will go to help women and families who have utilized AWARE’s services in the past year.
“That includes coming in for legal help, to coming to our women’s education group or children’s groups, to staying here, to just calling us on the phone for the crisis line,” she says.
Johnson says about 30 families are signed up for this year’s program. Most already have sponsors, but there’s a need for one or two more. She says the goal is to give each family a food basket and a few holiday gifts.
“Basic winter items like hats and gloves and we also ask the families if they need kind of fun toy as well,” says Johnson. “So like a toy or a stuffed animal the kids are kind of interested in as well – just to make it a little extra special holiday for them.”
Captain Donald Warriner with the Salvation Army says food always seems to be a big need during the holidays.
“What happens is, we give out 200 food boxes and then that kind of depletes our food for the following year,” Warriner says.
The Salvation Army is already well into its delivery schedule for those 200 boxes.
“We’ve already delivered some of those for the smaller families without kids. But Thursday is our distribution for the families with kids,” he says. “So they’ll be getting coats, they’ll be getting toys, and they’re going to be getting a big food box with turkey, stuffing, cranberries, all that stuff.”
But no matter when donations come in, Warriner says they’ll find a use for them. He says they’re always running low on gifts for teenage boys.
“They’re hard to buy for. So, like, toolkits or wallets, cologne sometimes. Another nice thing is like a gift card to McDonalds or iTunes if they have an iPod. Or even to the theater, it gives them something to do that they might not have a chance to do,” Warriner says.
Despite a relatively strong economy in Juneau, Warriner says the Salvation Army will probably serve 25 to 30 more families than it did last year.
“I know unemployment’s kind of not that bad in Juneau, but here it costs a lot to live,” he says. “So you have people that have a job, it’s just that they don’t have enough to make ends meet.”
Stephen Wright, president of the Juneau chapter of the Alaska State Employees Association, has died. He was 58 years old.
Wright worked for the state Department of Fish and Game in the Commercial Fisheries Division, coordinating federal grants and contracts. He previously worked for Environmental Conservation and Governmental Coordination. He’d worked for Fish and Game for about a decade.
Wright was a union steward for ASEA, which represents the General Government Bargaining Unit.
He was known statewide for his work on behalf of GGU members. He was a long-time president of the Juneau chapter, which has about 18-hundred members.
He also represented Juneau GGU members on the ASEA State Executive Board, which sets policies for the union and employs the business manager.
Wright came to Alaska to earn a degree in fisheries biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Commercial Fisheries Assistant Director Geron Bruce says Wright had various experiences in the fishing industry, including working in processing and as a fisheries observer in the Bering Sea.
Wright was well-known and well-liked at Fish and Game headquarters.
“He was always one to contribute to the sense of community around the office. Whatever it was, if it was something going on and people were getting together he was part of it and was always cheerful and brought a sense of collegial good feeling,” Bruce says. “Whether it was working on editing a report, some kind of meeting, or a social event, he always had that kind of cheerful, collegial attitude.”
Wright was also an officer of the Mt. Juneau-Gastineaux Lodge of the Masons.
He died Sunday from unknown causes. Juneau police spokeswoman Cindee Brown-Mills says Wright’s body was found by cleaning staff in a Breakwater Inn hotel room. Pollice were notified about 1:30 p.m.
Brown-Mills says police do not suspect foul play. The state medical examiner will perform an autopsy. It could be as long as two months before the cause of Wright’s death is known.
The City and Borough Assembly Monday night named the historic district within Savviko Park after the old mine. The district begins at the southern end of Sandy Beach and ends just north of the 1917 Treadwell Mine cave-in site.
The Savviko Park master plan has a recreation zone, including the ball fields, as well as Sandy Beach and the Treadwell Historic District. The CBJ Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee previously recommended the district become a historic park.
The Treadwell Historic Preservation and Restoration Society plans to put up interpretive historical signs in the area, and protect the Treadwell stamp mill and other town-site structures.
Crews work on transmission line Monday. Courtesy AELP
It appears an aviation marker ball is to blame for Sunday night’s power outage in downtown Juneau.
The red ball wore through a transmission line and it broke, knocking out power to about 3,800 customers between 6 and 8 p.m.
Alaska Electric Light and Power crews were able to restore electricity in less than two hours by rerouting energy through a distribution cable that runs along the Juneau-Douglas Bridge.
Crews Monday figured out the cause and will analyze the transmission line more closely, says A-E-L & P spokeswoman Deb Ferreira.
“The amount of wind that’s in that channel certainly could cause the ball to move, wearing through the line,” Ferreira says. “But we’ll know better when we actually have it here and we’re able to look at it.”
She says a new transmission line will be installed this morning.
“They’re running a brand new transmission line, and then there’ll be some splicing and tensioning to get it to where it needs to be and at that point they will be able to re-energize the line. But they expect they’ll be able to finish all of that by noon,” she says.
Ferreira says A-E-L and P did not burn any diesel during the outage.
Power has been restored to all of Juneau, after parts of downtown and Douglas were in the dark for a couple hours last night (Sunday).
Alaska Electric Light and Power reports a pair of feeder lines failed, causing about 4-thousand customers to be without electricity. The outage began just after 6 p.m. All areas were restored by about 8 p.m.
High winds are believed to be responsible for the feeder lines’ failure.
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