I missed the Southeast Alaska State Fair in Haines this year and had to settle for the big Alaska State Fair in Palmer, which offers junkier junk food, grown men in cowboy hats and a generous serving of Jesus in the form of booths offering ministry to the fallen. It’s a bit different than the Haines fair, which leans toward…
If you’re lucky, you haven’t had the chance to drive the new, smoother and wider section of Haines Highway. It’s no improvement. The road is smoother, and perhaps the lanes are a few inches wider, but the elevation of the roadway and the fact that it is hemmed in by guardrails for miles effectively has narrowed it, eliminating miles of…
Besides the obvious question of whether Heath Scott deserves to be paid nearly $33,000 more than any other permanent police chief in our town’s history is the matter of the precedent set for a 10 percent pay increase to borough executives. Under his proposed new contract, Scott will make $110,000 annually for 18 months starting in January, then get a…
A couple decades back, pundits and comedians made hay with the news that new hammers at hardware stores were coming with a written warning about their dangers. But the joke was on us. The Fear and Hazard Racket is now big business, with governments at the local, state and national level cashing in on this message: Be afraid. Be very…
“So another part-time position has become permanent?” — Haines Borough Assembly member Don Turner III, asking borough manager Robert Venables about his proposal to create a full-time “facilities director” position, September 18, 2007. “So long as grants are paying for it.” — Venables’ response. Let the record show: “Liberals” on the Haines Borough Assembly tried to reduce the size of…
Haines Borough manager Debra Schnabel recently increased the pay of police chief Heath Scott to more than $110,000 annually, making Scott the highest-paid police chief in borough history, by $33,000. (Bill Musser, the last, permanent chief previous to Scott, was paid $76,877, according to borough finance department.) Scott had been making $100,000 annually and getting $50,000 in benefits, and was…
Don’t be fooled. A ballot measure asking Haines Borough voters to expand police powers to the roaded boundaries of the municipality would give the borough power to tax residents in outlying areas for those times that townsite police choose to drive out there. Don’t let proponents of this change tell you otherwise. The power to deliver a service is the…
Simultaneous vacancies in three full-time Haines Borough jobs – planner, facilities director and grant writer – offer the community a chance to streamline staff and reshuffle priorities in an era of deep government cuts that historically supported our town. The assembly should act on this for several reasons including: 1) It’s very difficult to eliminate a position when it’s occupied,…
Poking into a sand dune last week, looking for shells, my niece uncovered a shark’s tooth. “Watch for pieces of eight and gold doubloons,” I told her, repeating something my mom, a tireless beachcomber, would say while we ambled along the Jersey shore, scouring the surf’s edge. My niece and I were at Ocean City, N.J., one of the dozen…
If you think a proposed charter change to formalize police service outside the Townsite of Haines is a rehash of a matter resolved by voters in last fall’s municipal election, you’re right. Like a zombie, attempts by the Haines Borough administration and its police department to expand police service outside the townsite just won’t die. This year’s proposal is a…