Pizza Joe was closing in on 30, way past the age of knowing better when he decided to jump the duck pond in his southern Ohio hometown of Cambridge. Perhaps, like so many guys who grew up riding spider bikes and watching daredevil Evel Knievel jump buses and cars and fountains on a motorcycle, Joe figured it would be fun.…
Strange things happen here in February, especially in government. But few have been as strange or as damning as the attempt by townsite police chief Heath Scott to criminally prosecute his political opponents, three years ago this month. Arresting or locking up your political opponents is associated with tin-horn dictators in lawless, Third World nations, but Scott took action akin…
Last summer, draftsman and designer Larry Larson challenged residents to submit ideas for the future of the intersection of Third Avenue and Main Streets, a hole in our downtown since the old elementary school gym there was torn down in 2011. We should take up Larson’s challenge. The fate of the lot has been a topic of discussion at least…
Heath Scott is up to his old tricks. The chief of the townsite police department, who successfully soaked taxpayers for more than $200,000 in raises and extra manpower for himself and his officers while twice overrunning his department budget since his hire in 2016, now wants to hire a sixth officer, at your expense. Or, he’d like more money for…
The Haines Pool sauna project didn’t turn out as planned. It turned out much better. Understanding the history of this project is important to knowing how Haines works and to learning how citizens can advance projects in our community even in the face of indifference or opposition from powers-that-be. The sauna was proposed by former borough consultant Darsie Culbeck in…
Louie Nelson was a worker bee. The Mud Bay homesteader, inventor and musician liked getting things done. On the Haines Arts Council in the early 1990s, Louie could be counted on to advocate for more brass instrument music and to provide fruit juice for the refreshments stand at every performance. At council meetings, Louie also advocated for a marching band.…
Remember back in October when we had a national debate over whether it was okay to “boo” Donald Trump when he showed up at the World Series? The hand-wringers and apologists said booing the president was “bad form” and that we needed to “respect the dignity of the office,” as though the office of president somehow exists separately from the…
I was at the front of a line of cars today here in suburban Philadelphia when the traffic light turned green, but there was no place for me to go. The lane I intended to turn into was backed up into the intersection where I sat. It was my first experience of gridlock – so many cars there is no…
We were walking up Tower Road, looking for friends with sleds. I am 58 years old and my companion is 62. I’ve been down south lately, I said to my friend, and I don’t think many 60-year-olds in my hometown are still out sledding. “Ah Haines,” he replied, “Where you can relive your childhood every day.” Indeed you can, and…
The policing-outside-the-townsite issue that the Haines Borough Assembly can’t seem to resolve is a manufactured crisis. This issue is made of nothing because nothing has changed in local policing except that the number of Alaska State Troopers posted in Haines was reduced from two to one in January 2017. State troopers are still responding to emergencies outside the Haines townsite,…