People like to say that landscape painter Gil Smith was the first Haines hippie, kayaking here from Skagway, a company town, back in 1940. An art school graduate, Smith built a stone-clad house at Zimovia Point and like many hippies thereafter, supported his art with government work – humping a wheelbarrow and surveying for the federal road commission on the…
Old friends say they can’t believe I’m mayor, but it’s human nature to not believe things can happen until they do. Donald Trump was elected president twice, for crying out loud. As Jim Hightower famously said, “If God had wanted us to elect leaders, he’d have given us candidates.” I didn’t expect or want to become the town mayor when…
Through an effort I’m pushing as mayor, the Haines Borough, Chilkoot Indian Association and Haines Chamber of Commerce will hold three lunches in February aimed at connecting with residents 40 and under. The “40 and Under Summit” is intended to be a quick and easy polling of our younger generation, who they are, why they’re here, what they need to…
Young Road residents in December made quick work of a proposal to site a cell phone tower in their neighborhood. About 20 of them showed up at a Haines Borough Planning Commission meeting and effectively torpedoed the idea. Developer Roger Schnabel, seeking to build the tower on his own hillside property, withdrew the proposed location, which never made it to…
There’s an old expression about living in Juneau: “When you’re no longer happy skiing in the rain, it’s time to leave town.” I’m hoping we don’t get there, at least not soon. I didn’t sign up for Juneau when I moved here 39 years ago. But my wife woke me up early last Monday so I could get out skiing…
I didn’t know Gene Kennedy much in the early 1990s. Just that he was a rough-hewn guy who built Model A cars from old chassis and cut a curious figure carrying a boxy, old briefcase as chairman of the Mud Bay Land Use Service Area. The effect was that he was coming into city hall to craft a new ordinance…
At the end of September each year we run up to the Pass, away from the rain, under the canopy of golden aspens when the season turns patches of tundra rusty red. An unplanned camping weekend is a chance to wear dirty pants and drink warm beer and do whatever one damn well pleases in the treeless, expansive Canadian wilderness.…
A year or so ago I went looking for Mike Howard. I heard he was living at Dusty Trails, that he was sick and doctors had cut off his foot. I was hoping to write the story, “Santa Claus Is A Man With One Foot Who Lives in Public Housing.” A big guy with enough fluffy white hair and beard…
I was not expecting to say anything publicly regarding the municipal election but at recent forums our current assembly was unfairly maligned. As mayor, I pledge to work with any assembly members supported by voters, but some things need to be said. The Haines Borough Assembly elected last October has tackled three giant problems left at its doorstep by the…
Because it’s election season, people wanting political power are complaining that our town’s economy is in ruins. That’s not the truth. I know because I’ve heard that line for the 38 years I’ve lived here despite the fact that young, energetic people keep moving here and our town keeps improving. The Haines economy is doing fine, despite attempts by Alaska…