Author Archives : Tom Morphet

A Coffee Shop in Sitka on July 2

By | Comments Off on A Coffee Shop in Sitka on July 2

She was a pale-skinned girl working at a coffee shop like all the other pale-skinned girls working at coffee shops, her light brown hair parted in the middle and tied back into a short ponytail. She wore small hoop earrings and a gray hoodie and jeans and she moved in an efficient way, making lattes and Americanos for customers at…

Read More »

Thoughts on the Fourth of July

By | Comments Off on Thoughts on the Fourth of July

The Fourth of July is something to make you think. To think about the nation, how it got here and how it’s going and where it’s going and whether it’s going to last, or to last in any semblance of the great words written on the day of its birth. Great words were the legacy of that first Fourth: Life,…

Read More »

It’s Over, Donnie

By | Comments Off on It’s Over, Donnie

Let the record show: Our republic was saved by stout-hearted black and brown women in Atlanta, Detroit, Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Phoenix who convinced their neighbors to stand in line for hours in November weather to cast a single ballot. By all rights, this was our most unlikely group of saviors. Of all the people in the country, this is a…

Read More »

Ours Is A Nap and A Beer Town

By | Comments Off on Ours Is A Nap and A Beer Town

“There’s always time for a beer and a nap somewhere along the line. Otherwise, you’re making a serious mistake.” Haines sculptor Judd Mullady The rough-hewn rock carver knew this place better than it knows itself. Ours is a nap and a beer town. Except for a few pilings seen only at low tide, the great canneries are gone. Fort Seward…

Read More »

Your Guns Won’t Protect Your Rights

By | Comments Off on Your Guns Won’t Protect Your Rights

I have some friends who have guns they keep in the event the government comes to take away their rights. My friends are misguided because that’s not the way tyranny works. Rights aren’t something you can lock up in a vault in your basement. The government can take away your rights without firing a shot, or you getting a shot…

Read More »

Revenge of the Science People

By | Comments Off on Revenge of the Science People

If you’re housebound or colorblind, here’s a news flash: The dandelions won. About a dozen years ago, the science people warned us of invasive weeds making their way toward town. Bad players like dandelions, hawkweed, and Himalayan balsam would take over our lawns and roadsides, strangling out our shooting stars, fireweed and forget-me-nots. This was back during the Obama administration,…

Read More »

Swimmers Make Case for Keeping Pool Open

By | Comments Off on Swimmers Make Case for Keeping Pool Open

Haines Borough leaders are increasingly looking at permanent summer closures of the town swimming pool as a way of saving money in the government budget. Summer closures have occurred in the past, but most of those were scheduled  primarily for conducting necessary maintenance and upgrades. The idea of permanent summer closures struck a nerve with lap swimmers, families of competitive…

Read More »

Trash to Treasure and Vice Versa

By | Comments Off on Trash to Treasure and Vice Versa

Our town’s two most interesting places are in a swamp and a burnt-out building foundation. Credit the Alaska Arts Confluence and the Chilkoot Indian Association for vision, the kind we need desperately at city hall. The CIA, a Haines-based tribe, is now completing a mile-long extension to its Sawmill Creek wetlands interpretive trail. The tribe has built the best trails…

Read More »

The $3,500 Headache

By | Comments Off on The $3,500 Headache

Back in January, I suffered headaches for a month. I’m used to headaches. I had migraines as a kid. Headaches come to me regularly enough I seldom even bother with aspirin. They last a day and are gone. But January’s headaches were different, located at the very top of my head with a sharp pain like someone using a chisel,…

Read More »

Ask Your Assembly: Why Spend Money on Lutak Dock?

By | Comments Off on Ask Your Assembly: Why Spend Money on Lutak Dock?

The Lutak Dock is no longer necessary for the town to receive its freight and groceries, so why is the Haines Borough Assembly looking to spend $26 million or more to rebuild it? That’s a question you need to ask your representatives on the assembly. Whose bidding is the assembly doing? And why are taxpayers paying for it? The Haines…

Read More »