ALASKA FISH FACTOR with Others Who Have to Do That Every Day
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German team signs Fossman - page 4 Naturalist pens mushroom texts - page 8 Serving Haines and Klukwan, Alaska since 1966 Chilkat Valley News Volume XLIV Number 37 Thursday, September 18, 2014 $1 Replacing Planners approve 3 school roof helipads at 10 Mile questioned Developer won’t reveal plans Pair says project By Karen Garcia and in a lot of cases it’s not good The Haines Borough Planning to let out those ideas too much won’t fix old leaks Commission last week approved because timing is important in a conditional use permit for the some of these decisions.” By Tom Morphet installation of three helipads at Floreske’s permit A local contractor who worked 10 Mile Haines Highway, despite application shows plans for three as foreman on a Haines High the developer’s refusal to provide 59-foot helipads 250 feet apart, School roof replacement in 1999 details on plans for the landing each connected to an existing this week questioned a proposed site. 1,100-foot gravel roadway by a $1.4 million bond for replacing The commission voted 5-2 to 39-foot-long ramp. The helipads the roof, saying decades-old leaks approve John Floreske’s permit. would be sited on the east side of have persisted through multiple Commissioners Heather Lende the highway, several hundred feet roofs and a major patch job. and Lee Heinmiller were opposed. from the roadway. Dan Humphrey said the When asked what he would be Floreske received an Army history of the issue suggests using the helipads for, Floreske Corps of Engineers permit in water is infiltrating the school said: “The reason for the heliports March to fill 1,400 cubic yards somewhere other than the roof, is to allow helicopters to land of wetlands as part of the project. possibly through seams in a utility and take off. That’s the reasons Assembly member Debra “penthouse” that sits atop the for them.” Schnabel, liaison to the planning school, or through a building duct Frustrated by the lack of commission, urged commission system. information, commissioner members to get more information “For someone to think that Lende asked Floreske to at least on the use of the helipads before spending $1.4 million on a new “give a hint” as to what he was voting to approve the permit. roof will fix all these mysterious planning. “That hint would be “My imagination allows me HERITAGE DANCER -- Logan Hotch of the Jilkaat Kwaan leaks, it’s not going to… A logical kind of proprietary information. to consider that there must be a Heritage Dancers performs Sept. 11 at the opening reception of the person would rule out the roof,” No disrespect, but that’s my reason why there’s three pads Soboleff-McRae Veterans Village. Members of the Soboleff and Humphrey said in an interview. business.” proposed, why one will not do,” McRae families attended the ceremony. More photos, page 5. Humphrey’s characterization Commission chair Rob Schnabel said. “Is it because there is supported by Henry Chatoney, Goldberg asked if Floreske are so many helicopters that will who worked as school would tell the group how many be operating at one time that there maintenance man in the 1980s Assembly to hear plea helicopters might be taking off have to be that many pads? I don’t and this week said the leaks go and landing at the site. Floreske know. Would that matter to you? back to the 1970s. By Chatoney’s for backyard rifle range again declined. It would matter to me.” count, the roof was resurfaced at “What I have in mind and “Our community, I think, least three times between school By Karen Garcia part of the townsite in 1999, what I might do in the future on deserves to understand or have construction in 1973 and the 1999 A neighborhood dispute over Keller received a letter from then- that is proprietary information,” a better picture of what is the project. a personal shooting range is city administrator Vince Hansen Floreske said. “My ideas of See HELIPAD page 12 “They’ve put two or three new raising questions about how the authorizing Keller to retain the business and stuff are my ideas, roofs up there and it hasn’t fixed Haines Borough should deal shooting range based on his pre- anything,” said Chatoney, who with “grandfathering” in uses existing use prior to annexation. blames the leaks on a rooftop and activities in a changing At the time Hansen wrote the expansion joint the penthouse sits community. letter issuing the non-conforming on. “They built the penthouse on Manager David Sosa last month use permit, there were only two top of it, so there’s no way you can sent resident Gary Keller a cease- properties in that area of Beach get to it to do anything. I would and-desist order, telling him Road. have fixed it in the 1980s if it was his private shooting range at Sosa visited Keller’s property fixable.” his Beach Road residence was and determined increased Borough facilities director a nuisance and public safety development put the adjacent Carlos Jimenez said he’s interested hazard. Sosa warned Keller that properties in “the area of concern” in speaking to the former workers. if he continued to fire guns on the for possible ricocheted bullets. Jimenez said his intuition wasn’t property, he would be cited for Sosa noted the residences on to replace the roof but to look for violation of borough code. either side of Keller’s property weak spots. The school board and According to Keller’s attorney, were within 200 meters. assembly supported the larger, Keller and his family have used “Considering the increased bonded project because the 1999 the firing range for the past 28 residential use of the area that years. When his Beach Road See ROOF page 10 property was annexed and became See RIFLE page 12 With sales low, ‘Buckshot’ to close Jan. 1 By Karen Garcia stream of tourists from cruise member of the Haines Chamber Four years after opening her ships. of Commerce, also has tried to boutique gift shop on Main Street, “I never thought it would be address the giant vacant building Kristine Harder has decided to this bad to have a business in this across the street from her business, pull up stakes and move her town,” Harder said. but to no avail. business to Skagway. Though she has a small, solid The former Coliseum Theater Harder said Buckshot & core of Haines customers, most of building, owned by Gross Alaska, Bobby Pins will close Jan. 1. Harder’s sales come from regional Inc., has been vacant since 2009. She has secured a space at 7th and visitors like Canadians. In 2012, Harder pushed the Haines Broadway in Skagway, which will “People from Skagway come Borough Planning Commission open April 1. in my store, people from Juneau to put a legislative prohibition Sluggish sales and a dilapidated come in my store, people from on boarded-up buildings in the downtown corridor drove Whitehorse come in my store, and town’s commercial core. Harder’s decision to move, she they go, ‘This is the greatest store. “It was shot down,” Harder HAPPY HARVEST -- Sue Braaten of Haines picks apples from said. Though rent will cost $5,000 I love this store,’” she said. said. Instead, the commission the Sheldon Museum’s Anway tree Saturday, part of “Community more annually in Skagway, Harder, who serves on the agreed to send a polite letter Apple Day” activities that included information on apples, an Harder said she expects to make Downtown Revitalization applesauce cooking demonstration and an opportunity for residents more money because of the steady Committee and is a former board See STORE page 8 to gather the tree’s yellow transparents. Tom Morphet photo. Page 2 Chilkat Valley News September 18, 2014 To list an event in Save the Date, phone 766- Editorial Save the Date 2688 or email [email protected]. A person learns early in life that the only real independence is financial – having your own money. Thursday, Sept. 18 Monday, Sept. 22 That’s as true for towns as it is for people. Culture Days: “War at Kaatx’Waaltu,” Candidate Forum, 5 to 7 p.m. at the museum. Towns dependent on other, nearby ones for infrastructure, jobs or 6:30 p.m. at the library. Presentation by Co-sponsored by We The People of Haines and shopping become appendages of those larger places – suburbs. As Anastasia Wiley and Sally Burrattin. the high school Drama, Debate and Forensics travelers, we tend to hold suburbs in low regard. They’re pass-through Haines Restoration Advisory Board team. towns, not destinations. meeting, 7 p.m. at the Chilkat Center. Nurturing Pathways, 6 to 8 p.m. at Haines Haines risks becoming such a place when we send locally earned Open Gym Basketball, 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Head Start. Caregivers and educators learn more money out of town, either by shopping elsewhere or on the Internet. at the high school gym. Every Tuesday and about movement and childhood development. Such shopping drains our town of money, slowly costing us jobs Thursday. Call 303-7383. and local convenience while making us dependent on sellers whose Hospice of Haines Grief Group, 6:30 to 8:30 operations are far beyond our influence or control. Friday, Sept. 19 p.m. Registered participants only. We lost a little independence this week with the news that Buckshot Adult Protective Services Resource Commerce Committee meeting, 5:30 p.m.