Sometimes ideas must be worded in a certain way for their truth to sink in. Amy at The Bookstore said to me this week, “The bear problem won’t be fixed until the garbage problem is fixed.” Whoomp. There it is. The garbage problem, as it relates to bears, has two main parts: 1) Bears breaching the landfill, and 2) Improper…
One of the ironies of the recent “improvements” along Chilkoot River road is that money spent there for nothing could have gone to provide something very important at Chilkat State Park – access. I recently drove to the end of the Chilkat park road to share a bonfire and a sky full of stars with a friend, but it wasn’t…
For our summer weather, dreary is the new sunshine and for that we should be grateful. Earlier today, a tiny patch of blue sky allowed just enough sun through to light Pyramid Island, creating a micro-landscape of pleasantness. I’m surprised the outdoors people didn’t race there to experience it. Someone could have sold tickets. May and August were dark and…
Almost 50 years ago during and after the turmoil of the Vietnam debacle, a most popular TV show featured two hip Army surgeons wise-cracking about the lunacy of war while working wrist-deep in its horrors. A Saturday Night Live skit from the same era mocked TV commercials aimed at recruiting soldiers. As a nation riven by government-sanctioned killing and its…
Barring some unforeseeable change or revelation, I’m voting for experience in the borough election. I’m voting for the two candidates who’ve been here at least 20 years, have served previously on the assembly and other governmental bodies and have learned a thing or two about the town and how best to govern it. I have nothing against the other two…
Of all the things to fear in the world, I’m not afraid of China or particularly impressed by it. But I might be in the minority on that. With the fall of Kabul, a new Facebook meme this week regurgitated something former President Jimmy Carter said to President Trump in 2019 about our country’s wasteful spending on war. “We have…
I drove north last weekend to see my shadow, to use fifth gear again, to look out at something that was not familiar. I wasn’t disappointed because thankfully, Canada’s still up there, all sunny and civil and kind. Oh, Canada, land of immaculate campground restrooms and free firewood, land of public trails and parks and ice rinks and drivers who…
I asked park ranger Travis Russell this week what was the main goal of the recent work along the Chilkoot River. He said, “To fix the road.” Unfortunately, the road was never the issue at Chilkoot. The issue was people and how to protect resources there – including world-class bear-viewing and sport-fishing – amid an exponentially increasing number of visitors.…
By winning an Olympic gold medal in swimming as a high school student, Lydia Jacoby rocketed herself to the planet of Alaska Women Sports Gods. Libby Riddles lives there. So does Kikkan Randall. But if recent history is any measure, the place could get crowded soon. Since the 1972 passage of Title IX, federal legislation that gave young women the…
It’s time for Haines to break it off with large cruise ships. Twenty-six years after building a downtown dock to lure them here, it’s clear they’re not coming. And we should be glad for that. With COVID-19, the mega-ships have proved themselves virtual germ baths, as if that wasn’t already clear during norovirus and other ship-board outbreaks. Moreover, projections about…