Browsing Category : Essays

Losing Your Voice at KHNS

By | Comments Off on Losing Your Voice at KHNS

In case you didn’t notice, you recently lost a little bit of your voice in this town. Public radio station KHNS has decided that you are not so welcome to the public airwaves the station provides access to. Specifically, the station put new limits on radio commentaries open to all citizens. Commentaries now will be limited to two minutes (reduced…

Read More »

Haines Junction, Who’d a Thunk It?

By | Comments Off on Haines Junction, Who’d a Thunk It?

I spent an hour in Haines Junction a few weeks ago, which made me wonder why I don’t visit more often. The temperature was about 95 degrees F., and a lady shopping at the Little Green Apple grocery store announced she was “heading to the beach.” The Junction has a beach and a lot more if you dig a little…

Read More »

Don’t Drink the Water?

By | Comments Off on Don’t Drink the Water?

Alarm about E. coli discovered in Mud Bay spring water may give users pause – for about a day, if that long. Not to diminish the hazard. E. coli is a nasty bacteria. If it gets to you, you’ll have the runs for a week, but you’ll survive it. Most everyone afflicted does. The bottom line is a lot of…

Read More »

For the Love of Competition

By | Comments Off on For the Love of Competition

We either have a competition problem or a pain problem with our young athletes, maybe both. In my discussion with high school coaches, it’s become a refrain: Our student athletes either don’t want to compete, or they don’t want competition to hurt, or they don’t want to work so hard. They want to participate, and they want to feel good.…

Read More »

Quake, Rattle and Roll

By | Comments Off on Quake, Rattle and Roll

Monday’s earthquakes brought back memories of a comparable round of shakers that occurred here 30 years ago. The first came at 6:48 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 14, 1987. It was relatively small on the Richter scale – 5.3 – but also very close, just 10 miles southeast of town. Like Monday’s, it rattled folks awake and out of bed, and…

Read More »

Music: What’s It Worth to Us?

By | Comments Off on Music: What’s It Worth to Us?

Even to people not interested in music, the Haines Borough School District’s decision to lay off Jason Muccino felt like a gut shot. The most common reaction hasn’t been criticism of the district or support for music generally or for Muccino in particular. It’s been more personal. What people are saying is that this dismissal is a statement about us…

Read More »

Music: What’s It Worth to Us?

By | Comments Off on Music: What’s It Worth to Us?

Even to people not interested in music, the Haines Borough School District’s decision to lay off Jason Muccino felt like a gut shot. The most common reaction hasn’t been criticism of the district or support for music generally or for Muccino in particular. It’s been more personal. What people are saying is that this dismissal is a statement about us…

Read More »

Sports-A-Palooza

By | Comments Off on Sports-A-Palooza

People in Haines for years have been talking about a winter carnival, a big weekend event that could draw people here from surrounding communities. Like Skagway’s Buckwheat ski race, or Whitehorse’s Rendezvous. On the face of it, the idea has potential. Haines has better winter weather than Juneau, a bigger venue than Skagway, and lots of room to romp. The…

Read More »

Sports-A-Palooza

By | Comments Off on Sports-A-Palooza

People in Haines for years have been talking about a winter carnival, a big weekend event that could draw people here from surrounding communities. Like Skagway’s Buckwheat ski race, or Whitehorse’s Rendezvous. On the face of it, the idea has potential. Haines has better winter weather than Juneau, a bigger venue than Skagway, and lots of room to romp. The…

Read More »

The Meaning of the Towels

By | Comments Off on The Meaning of the Towels

Only every so often in a reporter’s career comes a story like the one on the run on free towels at Howsers. I’m thinking of the story of the diapered duck that lived indoors with a local family. Or when Byron Rettinger strapped foam target animals to his lodge in Fort Seward, raising novel questions about zoning regulations. Or the…

Read More »