If you’re housebound or colorblind, here’s a news flash: The dandelions won. About a dozen years ago, the science people warned us of invasive weeds making their way toward town. Bad players like dandelions, hawkweed, and Himalayan balsam would take over our lawns and roadsides, strangling out our shooting stars, fireweed and forget-me-nots. This was back during the Obama administration,…
Haines Borough leaders are increasingly looking at permanent summer closures of the town swimming pool as a way of saving money in the government budget. Summer closures have occurred in the past, but most of those were scheduled primarily for conducting necessary maintenance and upgrades. The idea of permanent summer closures struck a nerve with lap swimmers, families of competitive…
Our town’s two most interesting places are in a swamp and a burnt-out building foundation. Credit the Alaska Arts Confluence and the Chilkoot Indian Association for vision, the kind we need desperately at city hall. The CIA, a Haines-based tribe, is now completing a mile-long extension to its Sawmill Creek wetlands interpretive trail. The tribe has built the best trails…
The Lutak Dock is no longer necessary for the town to receive its freight and groceries, so why is the Haines Borough Assembly looking to spend $26 million or more to rebuild it? That’s a question you need to ask your representatives on the assembly. Whose bidding is the assembly doing? And why are taxpayers paying for it? The Haines…
About 15 years ago, my wife and I joined a protest in the Valley of the Giants, a grove of giant, red tingle trees in Western Australia. We happened into the demonstration while bicycling along the narrow, winding road through the grove, an awe-inspiring ride. The highway department was cutting down several of these 15-story eucalypts in order to widen…
There are several concerns with the gun resolution passed Tuesday by the Haines Borough Assembly, including but not limited to, the following questions: In what ways does Tuesday’s resolution obligate or encumber the borough assembly or any future assembly to take actions regarding federal gun legislation? What actions might those be? Regarding the resolution language “the borough expresses its intent……
It’s good our Haines Borough Assembly is bullish on bullets. Otherwise it might run out of ammo shooting itself in the foot. On Tuesday, the assembly plunged our local government into the national gun debate, passing a resolution “upholding individual rights protected by the Second Amendment.” The resolution states, “the borough expresses its intent… to oppose… any efforts to unconstitutionally…
Traveling to the Lower 48 is a small consolation when we can’t get into Canada. That’s been a lesson of COVID-19. Since restrictions between our nations were imposed 14 months ago, we’ve missed Canada, certainly more than it has missed us. At least here on the border, the bond between Alaskans and Yukoners is deep and enduring. It’s laid plain…
The Haines Borough Assembly can a put a lid on its gun-sanctuary debate simply by advancing the question to the fall, municipal ballot as an advisory question. Matter settled. Then the assembly can get back to important, local issues, where its members have expertise and an obligation to act. Resolutions about any other non-local issues – Black Lives Matter, LGBQT…
It’s baseball season and the Haines Borough Assembly is out in left field. COVID and December’s wreckage brought sharp focus to borough meetings, but the assembly is out grazing in the grass now, entertaining a gun-nut resolution. This is where assemblies land when they fail to deliberately and thoughtfully establish their goals. They stumble around like a drunk, opening doors…