Sports

Winter ended at Eaglecrest yesterday (Sunday) with a splash.  The city-owned ski area wrapped up its 36th season drenched in sun, warm temperatures, plenty of snow, and the sometimes annual Slush Cup.

That’s where brave skiers and snowboarders race down Hilary’s run to a pond filled with water.  The idea is to get across the pond  without sinking.  Forty-four entered the Slush Cup this year, but only seven finished.  The rest fell into the frigid water, but divers were on hand to quickly help them out.

Prizes were given for the longest and shortest distance across the pond, the biggest splash, the best costume, and the person who drew the loudest cheers from the crowd.  First place went to Andrew Campbell, also known as  “Captain Scurvy” for the event.  Bruce Griggs took second place and Lucy Squibb was third.

Hiram Henry made the biggest splash.  Ron Flint had the best costume; Jubal Skaggs was the crowd pleaser; Kemper Hart fell immediately on entering the water and got the prize for going the least distance.  Dan Ord went the longest distance,  skiing across the pond and way beyond before stopping.

Ord’s and Squibb’s results aren’t surprising: both are coaches for the Juneau ski team!  Assistant coach Patrick Shanley also made it across the pond, though his style was bit shakey.

The Slush Cup had been set for Saturday afternoon, but the pond sprung a leak about mid-morning and had to be repaired, so it was postponed ‘til Sunday.

Spring  brings out costumes at Eaglecrest, and on April 6 and 7, two unicorns, a dinosaur, gladiator, pirate,  hockey goalie, squirrel hunter, and a number of other strangely clad ski racers could be seen on the  mountain.  Kids ages 9 to 56 competed in the Juneau Ski Team’s Stanley Cup spring series –a  giant slalom on Saturday and Sunday’s slalom and costume race.

The  56-year-old who shows up at most Eaglecrest races is Juneau physician  Dan Harrah. Dr. Harrah is a USSA Alpine Masters racer and competes in races at Washington-state ski areas as well as Alyeska Ski Resort in Girdwood.  Juneau does not offer any masters-level  competition, so he’s often seen among  the junior racers.  As Dr. Harrah says, “You’re never too old to be young.”

Our thanks to Coach Randy Bates for the pictures.

View the race results here.

The National Hockey League and its players union launched an initiative today that it hopes will stamp out homophobia from the game.

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NHL, Players Union Launch Initiative To Battle Homophobia

Juneau School District Superintendent Glenn Gelbrich wants an independent investigation into the alleged assault of a student by a football coach.

A news release from the district late Tuesday afternoon says Gelbrich requested an independent, third-party investigator be appointed by City Manager Kim Kiefer.

Kiefer has agreed to hire a personnel investigator after police have completed their work.

“We will have somebody from outside of Juneau that has direct experience investigating personnel matters come in after the police are done with their investigation,  to do the internal school district investigation,” Keifer says.

The alleged assault occurred last summer in Gold Beach, Oregon, while players and coaches were at a football camp. The incident was reportedly captured on video, which allegedly shows Thunder Mountain High School assistant football Coach John Wahl engaged in a boxing match with an incoming freshman player. Wahl allegedly sucker punched the boy, who apparently collapsed unconscious while the coach celebrated.

Wahl also works as a teacher at a Juneau middle school.

Authorities in Oregon are taking the lead in the investigation with help from the Juneau Police Department. The latest district release says Juneau school officials continue to cooperate fully with the official investigation, and the independent probe will not interfere with it.

An earlier release from the district said two unnamed “coaches” have been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. According to JSD spokeswoman Kristin Bartlett, those coaches are school district employees.

Gelbrich has not returned KTOO’s phone calls over the past two days.

Related:

Investigators looking at alleged assault by Juneau football coach

And then there were two.

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A settlement proposal that could have stopped litigation against the Juneau Planning Commission was never acknowledged by the city.

Juneau Chapter of Veterans for Peace on March 12 proposed the Planning Commission hold an additional hearing on the safety and health aspects of the Juneau Mercantile and Armory facility where semi-automatic, automatic and assault-style weapons will be sold or rented for shooting practice in an underground range.

Veterans for Peace appealed the facility’s permit, and the case was heard by the Juneau Assembly on April 1st.   Chapter President Phil Smith says the settlement would have ended the appeal and been an amicable solution.

“They would get their permit and we, the public, would end up with a comprehensive explanation of  how that place is going to work,” Smith says.

City Planner Greg Chaney is defending the case for the Planning Commission.

“If we had agreed to that, we would have been admitting that there was something inappropriately done in the past or that the decision was inappropriate.  And in both cases we strongly feel that everything was done appropriately,” he says.

The settlement proposal is similar to the veterans’ demands heard by the city Assembly.   But they also call for Juneau Mercantile and Armory owners to work with the chapter and CBJ Assembly to convene a task force to address firearms-related public health and safety measures in Juneau.

Chaney says he’s not opposed to a community conversation on gun safety, but it’s outside the purview of the Planning Commission, which can only address land-use issues.

Neither Chaney nor the gun range owners and their attorney responded to the veterans’ offer.  Chaney says the settlement came too late in the process and there wasn’t much incentive at that point to try to settle the case.  Though he calls the offer “extreme,”  he says the lack of response was an  oversight.

“We should have responded and I should apologize for that,” Chaney says.

In the settlement offer and at the April 1^st hearing, Veterans for Peace argued that too little is known about the security features at the new armory, including background checks, firearms training, instructor qualifications and other safety issues.  The Planning Commission record barely addresses these issues, or any comments from local public safety officials, including Juneau police.

Chaney says they were carefully looked at, but city staff deliberately left the information out of the record because it detracts from the land-use issues the Planning Commission is responsible for deciding.

The Juneau Assembly will announce its decision in the case at the end of April.  It could remand the case back to the Planning Commission for rehearing, as requested by Veterans for Peace; let the Commission’s permit stand, or require some change in that permit.