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,…
Before any more lawsuits or ill will between neighbors, the Haines Borough needs to identify and acquire access to popular public trails, beaches and waterways. In the past five years, longtime users of Chilkoot River and Viking Cove faced off in court against property owners and the results were disastrous. Besides costing tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees,…
(A version of the below tribute was read at Skagway’s memorial celebration for the late Buckwheat Donahue, held Nov. 23, 2019. On the same evening, Lynn Canal Community Players in Haines dedicated the howl during its performance of “Lust for Dust” to Buckwheat, a passionate howler and generous supporter of KHNS and many local causes.) What kind of man drives…
If you operate a business that relies on visitors, you might have an issue with the Haines Borough. It’s been robbing you. Let’s start with a bit of history. Since October 1987 when it was approved by City of Haines voters, 1 percent of municipal sales tax has been dedicated to “tourism development and promotion.” The money was intended to…
The house I grew up in was built with two accessories we seldom used as intended – a dining room and a large, porcelain bathtub. So small by today’s standards that such homes aren’t even built anymore, our house had one bathroom, three tiny bedrooms, a stand-up kitchen and a living room just big enough for a modest sofa and…
In spring of 1989, following the published plans of Geddes Resources to open North America’s largest open-pit copper mine 100 miles up the road from Haines, resident Jim Stanford organized a public meeting. Stanford said his meeting would be an objective discussion of the mine proposal. As Geddes officials themselves hadn’t yet come to town to explain their plans, the…
I am missing John and Ray these days. I am missing them like the grandfathers I never knew, or like a crochety uncle I did know. I am missing their visits to the newspaper office, with letters-to-the-editor in hand, or with musings on some local issue, or with questions about a meeting they missed or with a private opinion they…
During a recent visit to my hometown, I awoke on Halloween disappointed to find no toilet paper draped from our trees and none of our car windows streaked with soap. Mischief Night apparently is dead. Many adults, I’m sure, are glad for its passing but their relief is mistaken. It’s a worrisome sign when so much of our younger generation…
What happens when a Trump supporter angers another Trump supporter? Nothing much. This herd is spooked, stampeding and losing numbers. No sense tripping up a fellow traveler. I witnessed the following spectacle Saturday afternoon at the public library in Media, Pa., and it says everything you need to know about Trump’s following. A crowd gathered in the library basement for…