I was stunned at a recent borough assembly meeting when a self-described “fiscal conservative” characterized public funding of the nonprofit Haines Chamber of Commerce as unnecessary. For most of its history, the Chamber received support from our municipality, and for many of the same reasons that funding other nonprofits makes sense: The chamber does necessary jobs for cheap. First, the…
There will be no more ravens, at least in terms of street names, at least for now, and we mean it this time. That’s about all borough officials can muster after stepping into the quicksand of what we call streets and roads around here. Some efficiency-minded public employee questioned why our town has a Raven Drive, Raven Road and Raven…
“At around noon on 14 April, 2025, America ceased to have a law-abiding government.” — Edward Luce, Financial Times (London), April 16, 2025 Mom was working on a jigsaw puzzle of the U.S. Capitol and turned to me: “Tom, do you know what makes our country great?” I was about 10 years old and under the education of nuns, so…
Many bright, well-meaning people are trying to figure out Donald Trump’s plan. They’re debating the efficacy of tariffs and deportations and saber-rattling and giant cuts to funding and agencies, such as the National Weather Service. They’re wondering if the tariff statements were just an elaborate stock-market scheme. They’re looking into Trump’s philosophy and method and the logic of it all,…
Don Turner Jr. has another petition going. He wants to know, in detail, what our borough’s public works crew is doing every day. Turner can’t believe our roads aren’t in better shape and he wants to do something about it. I suggest he put in for public works director next time that job opens and find out. I can’t testify…
It seems the rich have us by the short hairs. They control our federal government, which they are dismantling. They control the few corporations that own our economy and have jacked prices so high that they are the only ones not feeling the pinch. If we don’t act soon, most of us will eventually become serfs in their medieval, dystopian…
“March Madness” refers to the effect of big winter on small brains. Cold and darkness topple the frontal lobe, resulting in events that cannot be explained. Husbands leave wives they never deserved. Underqualified and overpaid workers quit their jobs. Villanova beats Georgetown by shooting 79 percent from the floor. Stuff happens in March. So we shouldn’t be surprised that Alaska…
Due largely to the state and federal governments abandoning their obligations to our town and schools, along with voters’ passage of an ill-considered additional senior property cut last October, the Haines Borough is expected to face a sizable budget shortfall this spring. There will be talk of cutting programs to save money. Here’s an easy reduction the government can make…
A question largely overlooked in the coverage of Donald Trump is why does he dishonor himself? Why does he mock the disabled? Why does he insult our nation’s war heroes? Why, one week before the election, did he use a microphone to pantomime fellatio? Where does dishonorable behavior get him? What does it achieve? Why does he continue with it?…
“Those gooks were fierce and fearless. That’s the price you pay when you invade.” Rocker Lou Reed, from “Christmas in February” Vladimir Putin won’t own Ukraine. Neither will Donald Trump. The Ukrainians will own their own country for as long as they want to, regardless of the outcome of Putin’s ongoing war of invasion. Modern history shows that occupations following…