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.…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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 out Mud Bay. Or the day Byron Rettinger strapped foam target animals to his lodge as decoration. Or the advertised date that tent-dweller Nick Degtoff arranged so…
Anyone who has lived here long enjoyed a good laugh Tuesday afternoon when school was let out, borough offices were closed and the night’s assembly meeting was cancelled in response to about four inches of slush. Four middle-aged women out jogging along Main Street at lunchtime, laughing and chatting, made it abundantly clear that no one would die in…
I vowed when I left Anchorage in 1986, I wouldn’t be back. But the city is hard to avoid if you’re doing any business in Alaska, so I’ve returned again and again. For my wife’s green card. For my Little Brother’s graduation from Alaska Military Youth Academy. Most recently I went for the Alaska Municipal League conference, where municipal officials…