The most important thing you need to know about tourism in Haines is that the town markets itself independently. We pay 1 percent of sales tax toward a program we direct to bring the kinds and numbers of visitors we want. Want more Canadian visitors? We can advertise in Whitehorse newspapers. Want more cruise ships? We can send a delegation…
“And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, and said unto them, it is written, my house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of…
If you like Haines the way it is, you have an investment in tourism and in the 1 percent sales tax that funds our local program. Tourism happens in Haines on a small and varied scale, and that’s no mistake. It’s the result of 35 years of stops and starts, ideas, ventures, failures and corrections that’s largely been led by…
When I ran for borough assembly in 2016, I opposed a plan developed by a borough-appointed Solid Waste Working Group for a government takeover of garbage services locally. I’m still opposed to that plan because I believe it’s too expensive – up to 1 percent of sales tax or $628,000 annually, along with tipping fees – and it’s unnecessary. When…
If you have a beef with the Haines Borough government, it’s time to push your point. This is what elections are about. In fall of 2016, the Haines chapter of the Alaska Miners’ Association was concerned about the state’s consideration of Tier 3 protections, possibly including placing those protections on the Chilkat River. So the miners held a local meeting…
There’s a fundamental problem with our form of local government: Residents don’t understand who’s in charge. Consider this statement Haines Borough Assembly candidate Gabe Thomas made to KHNS this week: “I think the Assembly’s main responsibility is to set the budget. It’s not to direct the manager in any other way, besides give her the budget, let her review the…
In a professional baseball game, the team that holds a lead of at least four runs after the sixth inning has more than a 95 percent chance of winning. The ruinous decline of standards in the United States is nowhere more evident than in the fact that I found the above statistic in a quick Internet search starting with the…
In the 2006 horror movie classic, “When A Stranger Calls,” a babysitter is spooked by increasingly ominous prank phone calls. When she calls the phone company to trace the calls, she gets the most chilling message — that the calls are coming from inside the house. As a Haines Borough Assembly member, I can relate. Our manager, Debra Schnabel, pursues…
This is what to do with your vote on adding a 2 percent tax on sales of alcohol and marijuana: Vote “no” on both measures. Wait one year until a voter initiative — or the assembly — dedicates income from both these taxes to a comprehensive, community recreation program. Vote “yes” on both measures in 2020. About a year ago,…
I missed the Southeast Alaska State Fair in Haines this year and had to settle for the big Alaska State Fair in Palmer, which offers junkier junk food, grown men in cowboy hats and a generous serving of Jesus in the form of booths offering ministry to the fallen. It’s a bit different than the Haines fair, which leans toward…