Health

Nearly 80 Juneau youth – ages 6 to 18 — are in race programs this season at Eaglecrest Ski Area.

The youngest group, known as the Mighty Mites, is also the largest group, with more than 40 kids training each weekend.  The key is keeping the young skiers interested in racing over the next few years.

This past weekend Eaglecrest hosted one of two statewide qualifying races for older youth, with 40 skiers from Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau.

As Rosemarie Alexander reports, it takes a community to put on a ski race.

Forerunner Sophia Wahto radioed some valuable information to the racers waiting at the top of the course.

“Way soft so that coming into the throat you’ve got to be really, really prepared and up, and don’t dig your edges in too deep because you’re going to get sucked down.”

Home on break from college,  Sophia Wahto has skied the trail known as Hilary’s  hundreds of times in training and races.  Her dad, Doug Wahto, is the technical director of the race.  He stands at the throat of the course and lets officials at the top know when each racer has passed.

His daughters were about six when they started racing in Mighty Mites.  They’re adults now, but Wahto still works with the Juneau ski team.

“Thirty years here. Actually I still have my original USSA card from 1964, Juneau High School then University of Alaska in Fairbanks.  I skied for Jim Mahaffey up there for a number of years, and have been involved in racing ever since.”  

Ski racing is usually a family affair.

“Typically the kids that are racing here, their parents were involved in skiing and their parents were involved in skiing.

Parents lined the course or worked in the race shack during the three-day race series for youth ages 11 to 16, sponsored by Juneau’s NAPA Auto Parts store.

Some of the parents recently became certified race officials with the United States Ski and Snowboard Association, taking classes and passing tests.  There are lots of jobs –technical directors, race and course chiefs, referees, timing officials – and all to make sure the Alaska racers are ranked evenly with their USSA peers across the country.

Juneau Ski Club head coach Dan Ord says it would be impossible to pull off even a local race without the parent volunteers.

“The coaching staff – we’re two junior coaches and three devo (development team) coaches and you know we don’t do this. The parents and volunteers do it,” Ord says. “ And the mountain, too. The mountain manager,  we talk every day, and the groomers are in our court.  You know, we’re gettin’ it done.”

Challenging weather

Juneau’s blustery wet weekend weather posed big challenges for the young racers.

The first race was Friday – a giant slalom.  Fourteen-year-old Jeanne Lin Muller of Juneau says her first run was “OK.”

“It started off kind of slow, but it was really like fast and rhythmical.”

 And she knew she needed to get more forward on her skis in the second run.

“And rolling my ankles and absorbing more,” Muller says. 

 Fifteen-year-old Riley Howard of the Alyeska Ski Club calls giant slalom his thing.

“I just like going fast.  I don’t know (why), I just love it.”

 Even on a day when weather changed from heavy wet snow at the top of the course then to sleet then to a downpour at the finish.

“It was tough conditions. You had to be on that downhill ski, couldn’t be late (or) you’d get in that soft snow and lose all your speed,” Riley says. 

Sixteen-year-old Joe Greenough of Juneau is also a GS fan, but he wasn’t impressed with his first run.

“I got late a lot, back seat too much.  Couldn’t hold an edge, skied out way too much. ” 

By the end of the weekend, Greenough and Riley took home medals for their overall performance.

Greenough was happy to show off his gold medal for finishing all three races and earning the highest number of World Cup points for the series.

“It was a combination of speed, mental determination. Mostly I had fun.”

With an eye on Western Region Championships in March, Greenough will compete next week in the second statewide qualifier at Alyeska Ski Resort in Girdwood.

“And there’ll be a lot stiffer competition. A lot more intense.  It’ll be a great time.”

Meanwhile, Eaglecrest hosts another state championship next month for racers under the age of 14; Coach Ord is planning.

“So all our youth ski league, Mighty Mite, Devo programs across the state send down their kids.  I hope we get a hundred kids here,” Ord says. 

Eleven-year-old Tyler Weldon, of Juneau, expects to compete, with new confidence from the races just finished.  He was sporting a medal after Sunday’s award’s ceremony.

“I DQ’d in my slalom but I got second in the GS and the Kombi,” he says.

And what did he learn from the weekend races?

“To just go for it and have fun.”

 

 

Tlingit elder and original Sealaska Native Corporation board member Clarence Jackson passed away Thursday at the age of 78.

He’s being remembered for his contributions to the Native land claims movement, and for being an ambassador for Tlingit culture in both the business world and his personal life.

Sealaska Heritage Institute President Rosita Worl says Jackson relished comforting people in times of need. He served as master of ceremonies at the memorial service for the late Reverend Dr. Walter Soboleff in 2011.

“He became like our ambassador from Sealaska, where he would attend all of the funerals, all the memorials,” Worl said. “He was there to comfort clans and the family of those who had lost someone.”

Jackson was born in Kake in 1934. He lived there most of his life, attending Sheldon Jackson High School in Sitka, before moving back to the village, where he was a fisherman and operated a small store.

Worl says he was a great fisherman, who loved boats.

“We always say, it is as if the spirits of the animals know him and they give themselves to those kind of people who have those good spirits,” she said. “So, yes, he was a great fisherman.”

In the 1960s, Jackson was involved in the Alaska Native claims movement as a delegate to the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indians. He served as Central Council president from 1972 through 1976.

Also in 1972, Jackson signed the articles of incorporation for Sealaska, the regional Native Corporation for Southeast, created under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. He was the only board member to serve continuously from the time Sealaska was founded.

Current board chair Albert Kookesh first met Jackson when he joined the board in 1975. He says they quickly became friends.

“We’re both from villages right next to each other. He’s from Kake and I’m from Angoon,” said Kookesh. “He knew my father and he knew Walter Soboleff, my uncle. So I got immediately scooped up into his little circle.”

Kookesh says Jackson was a champion of village life and traditional culture on the board, something he attributed to being raised by his Tlingit speaking grandparents.

Kookesh says his ability to speak both Tlingit and English fluently made Jackson a valuable asset to the company.

“His Tlingit background, and his Tlingit stories, and his Tlingit upbringing gave him a really good sense of oration,” Kookesh said. “Very, very articulate. Not somebody who went to college, not somebody who went to law school, not somebody who went to graduate school. But somebody who went to the upper learnings of the Tlingit culture.”

When the corporation established the nonprofit Sealaska Heritage Institute in 1980, Jackson became one of its trustees and served as chair of the Council of Traditional Scholars.

Worl says the council was instrumental in identifying the core cultural values that guide the institute to this day.

“Clarence would remind us always, this is what makes us Native people, it’s our cultural values,” Worl said.

Jackson talked about the importance of preserving those values at Celebration 2012, the biennial cultural and educational event sponsored by the Heritage Institute.

“We’re strengthening our culture,” Jackson said. “We might hear a new song here and there this Celebration. But it’s a shoring up time to not be doing anything just for show. But to show the young people, this is the way it is.”

Jackson spent much of the past two months in Seattle receiving cancer treatment. He recently returned to Alaska, and died surrounded by friends and family on Thursday.

A service will be held at the Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall (former ANB Hall) in Juneau on Saturday at 5 p.m.

A video of Clarence Jackson from Celebration 2012:

Clarence Jackson’s last address at Celebration. from Kathy Dye on Vimeo.

Original post:

Tlingit elder and original Sealaska Corporation board member Clarence Jackson died Thursday after a battle with cancer. He was 78.

Jackson was born in 1934 in Kake, where he lived most of his life. He attended Sheldon Jackson High School in Sitka, and was involved in the Alaska Native claims movement in the 1960s with the Tlingit and Haida Central Council.

He served as Central Council president from 1972 through 1976. Also in 1972, he signed the articles of incorporation for Sealaska, the regional Native Corporation for Southeast, created under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

Jackson had been the only board member to serve continuously since Sealaska was founded. He also served as a trustee for the Sealaska Heritage Institute from the time it was created in 1980.

SHI President Rosita Worl says Jackson was an ambassador of Tlingit culture in the board room and his personal life.

“He lived in the village and he said that it is our responsibility to make sure that our people can continue to live in their homeland,” Worl said. “So, even with all of our businesses and investments, even if they were doing well outside of Alaska, he was always reminding us that we had a responsibility to our people in the villages.”

After the Heritage Institute was created, Jackson not only served as a trustee, but also as chairman of the Council of Traditional Scholars.

Worl says the council was instrument in identifying the core cultural values that guide the institute to this day.

“I remember some of the almost philosophical discussions they would have about how much change is acceptable, how much change can we allow in our society before we become not Tlingit,” Worl said. “And Clarence would remind us always that this is what makes us as Native people. It’s our cultural values.”

Jackson was a lifelong commercial and subsistence fisherman, who also ran a store in Kake and served as a director of Kake Tribal Corporation.

Worl says Jackson enjoyed telling stories and making people laugh. He was often the person who helped organize memorial services for elders who died, including his longtime friend the Reverend Dr. Walter Soboleff, who passed away in 2011.

Worl says Jackson spent much of the past two months in Seattle getting cancer treatment. But he was able to make it back to Alaska, where he died surrounded by friends and family on Thursday.

Services are pending.

Pick up your dog’s poop as soon as it’s dropped, or risk a fine.

After months of studying the problem, city officials Friday announced a zero-tolerance policy for dog waste and other dog-related problems in area parks.

CBJ Parks and Landscape Superintendent George Schaaf says the CBJ Dog Task Force looked at various solutions, including education, personal encouragement, and a media campaign, but the problems continue.

“And of course when the weather gets warmer, it becomes extremely obvious that there is a problem, especially in certain areas,” Schaaf says.  “So at this point, having exhausted all our other options, we’re  moving on to enforcement as a solution and we’re hopeful that we can avoid the need to actually close any parks to dogs if the problems still continue.”

Animal Control officers will no longer give warnings, but will issue citations immediately for anyone caught not cleaning up after their pets. Afterall, Schaaf says, dog waste is a public health issue, and the city has had pet laws on the books for years.

“It’s already required that you have a bag or another means of sanitary disposal with you whenever you’re in a leash law area and that includes most of the downtown business districts and other sites downtown, Schaff says. “And then it’s also illegal to allow your dog to relieve itself on any public or private property that doesn’t belong to you, without permission of the owner.

Those laws pertain throughout CBJ, whether on city, state or federal land, including Mendenhall Glacier and the Tongass National Forest. In the winter, the U.S. Forest Service helps maintain cross-country ski trails at the Mendenhall Glacier Campground.  Complaints last week of piles of dog feces sent the campground manager to inspect, says Ed Grossman of the Forest Service.

“The campground manager went out there and picked up a couple gallons of the nasty stuff around the gate area,” Grossman says. 

Like the city, the Forest Service  provides plastic bags at trail heads for picking up dog waste.  Grossman was a part of the city’s dog policy discussion last year.  He says the Forest Service will take its cue from the city, hoping the new enforcement will work.

“There’s little doubt that we are just as disgusted as the other land managers at the fact that we provide bags and receptacles and have jointly gone out with public notices, we have signs,” Grossman says. “So we share the concerns across ownerships, and have turned to the Grateful Dogs group to help us. They’ve done clean up days, they’ve done educational notices as well, but the problem persists at everyone of our sites and on everyone of our trails.” 

Leash laws are also on the books in downtown Juneau and many developed recreation areas throughout the borough, including the Mendenhall Glacier area.

Dogs must be on leash where noticed, and if they’re in an area where a leash is not required, they must be under competent voice control.  Schaff says that means never having to apologize for your dog’s behavior.

Enforcement is the key and that may be difficult.  Citizen complaints were the impetus for the CBJ Dog Task Force and the resulting zero-tolerance policy.

Schaaf says citizens should continue to report violators to Animal Control at 789-6997.

 

 

 

Those at risk of becoming homeless or who are already homeless are invited to attend the annual Project Homeless Connect event on Monday.

Health care, housing assistance, job placement and other services will be available at Centennial Hall, the Juneau Arts and Culture Center, and the Zach Gordon Youth Center.

“If you know of anyone experiencing homelessness, please encourage them to attend,” said Jessy Post of the Juneau Economic Development Council. She is also a coordinator for the Juneau Homeless Coalition which is organizing this year’s free event.

Participants can take part in blood pressure screenings, get foot care and hair cuts, talk to housing providers, and even apply for a replacement birth certificate.

“Those are just to name a few,” Post said.

Also on Monday, the participants will be asked to take part in the Point-In-Time survey to determine the size of Juneau’s homeless population. Post said that Project Homeless Connect only provides a portion of the count. The Juneau School District and other social services agencies also help with the surveys.

“They are also collecting information in these surveys to get the whole scope and whole snapshot of homeless numbers in our community,” Post said.

As many as 562 Juneau residents were identified as homeless in 2012 after a compilation of all the surveys.

Of the 187 people who received services at last year’s Project Homeless Connect, 41-percent reported at least one health issue. Most indicated that they were staying in shelters, with family or friends, in a motel, or in a place that was not meant for human habitation.

Project Homeless Connect runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday with social service and housing providers at Centennial Hall, and health care providers will be located at the JACC. Post says haircuts will be provided at the Zach Gordon Youth Center.

A march along the National Mall in Washington D.C. is planned for Saturday, Jan. 26th to advocate for gun control. Participants, some holding signs with the names of victims of gun-related violence, will quietly leave the area near the Capitol Reflecting Pool and walk down Constitution Avenue. The event will end with speeches and music at a corner of the Mall near the Washington Monument.

March organizer Molly Smith is a former Juneau resident who was moved by the recent tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut.

“We were both stunned by it. We were in shock,” said Smith as she recalled a conversation with her partner Suzanne Blue Star Boy in which they essentially decided to act before the tragedy faded from the public consciousness.

“And I just turned to her at one point and she said ‘Somebody has to do a march.’”

Smith is the artistic director for Arena Stage in Washington D.C. and is the founder of Juneau’s Perseverance Theatre.

“I’m a theater artist. Gun control is not my world,” Smith said. But she believes gun control is everybody’s issue, and she questions why civilians are allowed to possess assault weapons.

“The right to own a gun is not a right to own any gun,” Smith said.

“I think this is a moment that has to do with a moral and spiritual question: ‘How are we in this country defining the Second Amendment?'”

Smith recognizes that the overall discussion may have to include mental health and violence in films and videos, but Saturday’s event on the National Mall will be limited to just gun control.

Some of their prioriites, Smith said, include “reinstating the assault weapons ban, banning high-capacity ammunition magazines, requiring gun safety training, require background checks, and outlaw bullets that shatter in the body.”

Smith expects participants will include Newtown family members and Virginia Tech shooting survivor Colin Goddard. Also marching will be Mayor Vincent Gray and members of the D.C. Council, D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton and Maryland Congressman Chris Van Hollen, Shannon Watts who is the founder of One Million Moms for Gun Control, actress and activist Kathleen Turner, and several leaders of faith in D.C. including the Very Reverend Gary R. Hall of Washington National Cathedral.

March on Washington for Gun Control

Tuesday marked the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that created protections for abortion. In Juneau, a rally was held in front of the Capitol to protest the ruling, but inside the building, it’s not yet clear how much time the legislature will spend considering anti-abortion bills.

At lunchtime, about a hundred people stood in front of the Capitol steps. For a rally, it was pretty sedate. A few kids held lit candles, and a couple of people brought handmade signs.

They gathered because they don’t believe abortion should be legal. Phyllis Kirkham, a member of Alaskans For Life, says it saddens her that there’s a Planned Parenthood in the city that offers abortion services.

“You know, we just need to get rid of it here. We need to get rid of it here. It’s just sad that’s come to our town, you know?”

When asked what can be done about it, Kirkham says she wants Roe v. Wade over turned. But she doesn’t have any big asks for the dozen or so state legislators that were present for the rally.

With Republicans now in control of the House and the Senate, the subject was expected to be a big issue this year. But of the hundred-plus bills that have been filed since the legislative session opened last week, not one of them deals with abortion. Senate Majority Leader John Coghill, who spoke at the rally, said that may change soon.

“You know, coming into the session it was told to us, ‘I hope you focus on energy, and I hope you focus on these big economic issues, and I hope you don’t take time for the social issues.’ And that’s the problem with America,” Coghill says.

Coghill told the crowd that a bill defining what counts as a “medically necessary” abortion would eventually be introduced this session. Right now, the state must fund medically necessary abortions under Medicaid, according to a ruling by the Alaska Supreme Court. A bill that would narrow that definition was considered last year, but didn’t go anywhere.

Beyond policy changes like that, though, Coghill says there’s not much that the legislature can do to limit access to abortion.

“The Supreme Court is still the supreme law of the land, but life is given of God. The Supreme Court doesn’t understand it yet, but they will answer to God,” Coghill says.

Rep. Geran Tarr, a Democrat of Anchorage, says she wouldn’t be surprised if legislation trying to restrict abortion were introduced. She’s the former director for the Alliance for Reproductive Justice, and she serves on the House Health and Human Services Committee, where abortion bills get a hearing. Tarr says that for her part, she’s looking more at reproductive policy that would make abortion rare. But she adds that she would argue against any legislation that place greater limits on abortion access.

“What we don’t want to forget is that when Alaskans are polled, the majority of the public do support a women’s right to choose and that’s an Alaskan value,” Tarr says.

The Alaska Constitution contains a privacy clause that prevents explicit limitations on abortion.