The Skagway News - Oct. 13, 2023

Rocks and rain

Pianist visits

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Room for two

THE SKAGWAY NEWS.

Skagway gets wet Page 9

Oct. 19 in Skagway Page 12

October 13, 2023

Another marijuana store Page 3

Sk a g w ay, A l a s k a

Study of Pius X site doesn’t bring closure to STC

By Melinda Munson An archaeological assessment at the municipality’s Garden City RV Park, the site of the former Pius X Mission Boarding School for Indian Children, commenced May 2022. A report was published Sept. 7.

The University of Arizona Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology was contracted by the Municipality of Skagway, in partnership with Skagway Traditional Council (STC), “to conduct an assessment of the cultural significance of Pius X Mission School site, which is slotted for future development,” according to the report.

“It was good for us to work on this together,” said STC President Jaime Bricker. “STC has been working on this since I started on the council 19 years ago.”

Ground penetrating radar was used to rule out the existence of human remains, as have been found at other mission schools. Recently, 15 anomalies suspected to be gravesites of children were located at the nearby Chooutla Residential School in Carcross, Yukon (see page 7). “...I can guarantee you the council is very happy that there were no bodies found,” said Tribal Administrator Sara Kinjo-Hischer, regarding the Pius X site. She noted the mission owned much more land than the two public blocks surveyed. “This is not conclusive there aren’t any unmarked graves in Skagway.”

Pius X operated from 19311959. The establishment was founded by Father Edgar Gallant, a Benedictine priest who started religious work in Alaska in 1918. Andrew Beierly, a STC member and Skagway resident, attended

Pius X as a teenager. He said in his interview that Gallant was “like a father to me” and they became friends.

Per the report, Gallant accepted federal funds to aid the school, and constantly fundraised, which included having students craft non-traditional pottery and baskets, make Western style fringed vests, and care for hundreds of chickens to collect eggs to sell. Pupils were not allowed to eat the fresh eggs. Instead, they consumed expired army rations.

“It is unknown what became of Father Gallant’s funds he worked so hard to raise. It is interesting, nonetheless, that he did not pay the sisters their wages for years, was consistently behind on bills, wrote frequently of the dire financial state of the school yet he always had a new car, bought and sold land regularly in Skagway and traveled extensively including Hollywood and Rome (STC notes 2023).”

The Sisters of Saint Ann, based in Victoria, British Columbia, joined Gallant in 1932 to assist with teaching.

“Recently, the order recognized its role in cultural suppression and shaming as well as abuse or lack of protection toward students in their care. A large children cemetery was recently discovered in association with one of the Sisters’ schools in British Columbia – Kamloops Indian Residential School (Canadian Religious Conference 2014).”

Students went to Mass one to two times a day and wore matching clothes and hairstyles. They marched in line when they traveled on foot.

Sara Cash, STC Cultural Resource Specialist, said the school buildings, rebuilt after a fire in 1945, were prone (see page 7 - Interview)

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Photo by Jaime Bricker

Skagway Borough Manager Brad Ryan and new Southeast Conference President Kaitlyn Jared from Skagway accept the the award for Community of the Year on behalf of Skagway “In Recognition of Exemplary Economic Resiliency, Vibrancy and Strength” at the recent fall conference in Sitka Sept.

19 - 21.

Bass elected mayor, assembly, school board see tight write-in races

By Gretchen Wehmhoff Assemblymember Sam Bass is Skagway’s new mayor, winning 23 votes over Assemblymember Orion Hanson in a three-way race with William Lockette, II. Bass, who joined the assembly three years ago, was sworn in on Oct. 5.

“I am most humbled by being elected to serve as mayor of this amazing community. It’s a privilege that I will work each day to earn,” Bass said in his last meeting as a regular member of the assembly.

Vice mayor Orion Hanson You got to suit back up and offered “Losing tonight, it’s keep on trying. Someday always humbling. But I’m a we’ll win the Super Bowl.” lifelong Atlanta Falcons fan. (see page 6- Election

Photo by Melinda Munson

Deputy Clerk Kathy Carr swears in Mayor Sam Bass on Oct. 5.

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The Skagway News.

Skagway’s First Newspaper

Christened in 1897, buried alive in 1904 and resurrected in 1978, The Skagway News is currently celebrating 46 years of reporting in Skagway and Dyea, Alaska, recording our Centennial years and beyond.

October 13, 2023

How can a health fair be so much fun?

THE SKAGWAY NEWS

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by Oct. 22, 2023 Vol. XLVI, No 18 (957) October 13, 2023

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Phone: (907) 983-2354 www.skagwaynews.com editor@skagwaynews.com sales@skagwaynews.com Publishers Melinda Munson Gretchen Wehmhoff Contributors Jeff Brady Jaime Bricker Lisa Mandeville Mark Page Mark Sabbatini Alex Weddell Editor Emeritus

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Kent Fielding, above, and Alex Weddell, below, take pies for the team at the Skagway Health Fair Sept. 30.

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Alex Weddell near the vaccine booth (above) and Pastor Ryan Mandeville with daughters Emse and Eva (below).

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Submit letters and opinions to editor@skagwaynews. com. Letters may be edited for grammar and length.

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Correction In the Sept. 22 article “AP&T seeks 25% increase, lacks clear public notice,” the last quote was incorrectly attributed. The story has been updated. The Skagway News regrets the error.

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Emerlee Jared, Anika Thole and Amara Fielding Share important recycling information at the health Fair. (with Mary Thole and Elle McManus in background).

THE SKAGWAY NEWS

October 13, 2023

By Gretchen Wehmhoff A second retail marijuana business is planning on opening in Skagway sometime next year.

BoonTown Buds will be located in the front half of the building once housing Starfire restaurant on Fourth Ave. Skagway Brewing Company owner Mike Healy, and his cousin, Dylan Healy are opening the store. They submitted the completed permitting packet to the Alaska Marijauna Control Office earlier this week.

Dylan Healy is employed

by Skagway School as the chef.

Healy says the state Fire Marshal’s office will need to sign off on the building. The cousins hired an architect to “basically push the paperwork through” to get the building ready to meet the state’s codes.

“So I can do all of that 100% of all of this myself, including the paperwork. It’s

just that for whatever reason, when you have a stamp, or an architect’s stamp on the paperwork, it goes through much quicker and easier,” Healy said.

The application requires an operating plan, public notices, store floor plans and a description of how the business will comply with statutes and regulations involving prohibitions, signage, advertising, displays, exit packaging, labeling, security, waste disposal and customer traffic both walk in and drive up.

In addition to bud and edible products, Healy will also highlight health products.

“We will be focusing pretty heavily on the medical side of things,” he said.

They expect to have around four or five employees working the store. All of them, including Healy the owners, will need state marijuana handlers cards and a criminal background check.

The cards require completion of a handlers course.

Page 3

New marijuana store in permitting stages Healy Is not new to starting businesses. He first came to Skagway on a road trip in 1999.

“I just kind of fell in love with it. And then when I knew I wanted to go into business for myself, I moved up in 2003 to open what at the time was Glacial Smoothies and Espresso,” Healy ran the smoothie shop for about a decade while he started other businesses. In 2007 he started the Skagway Brewing Company.

Not all ventures panned out. Two failed Mexican restaurants followed. One restaurant Healy attributes to a bad location, but according to his polling and research, the second one took a hit as cruise companies started adding Mexican restaurants to the ships.

“When people got here, they already had their Mexican fill. So that wasn’t something that really interested them,” Healy said.

A commendation for working to save a life

Photo by Melinda Munson

Firefighter/EMT Ryan Odsather and Officer James Michels received a commendation from Mayor Andrew Cremata on Sept. 29 to mark the city’s appreciation for the pair’s efforts in locating an endangered missing woman.

With the paperwork in, he anticipates the request will go before the Alaska Marijuana Control Board in November. After that there will be comment time for the city.

Skagway currently doesn’t have any specific regulations on the number of marijuana shops allowed in the municipality.

Healy says reception has been good.

“Yeah, we’ve had nothing but really, really great positive feedback from people.

People are excited,” he said.

Page 4

Editor’s column

By Gretchen Wehmhoff As a child I’d stay awake late into the night, resting on my elbows because that seemed to make breathing easier. I knew the asthma attack would pass if I could hold my focus. Eventually, I would fall asleep, exhausted.

My sister lay in the bed on the other side of the room.

We had matching wooden dressers, matching desks and matching headboards – all stained a dark avocado green. On each headboard was a matching clock radio.

I turned the radio on softly, so as to not wake anyone.

The house was quiet. Everyone was asleep except for me – my sister, my parents across the hall and my brother in the next room down. I stared intently as the clock’s second hand slowly moved around the face at 60 beats per minute. Each minute I was closer to falling asleep or more likely, longer awake.

I waited for the Dj to announce a song, then drift back to another 10 minutes of John Lennon, Carly Simon, Steely Dan or Robert Flack. I imagined that I wasn’t really alone in my awakeness and that the DJ would drive past my house on the way home, another human up late in the early or late hours of the day. Or was the whole world asleep but me?

Opinion

October 13, 2023

THE SKAGWAY NEWS

This summer I bought a tent I could stand in along with a raised inflatable mattress, figuring $10 a night at Garden City could get me two weeks at a time. I’d leave my food and valuables in my locked car on the street and it would be fine.

But as the summer turned to fall and the bears made their annual walk into town, I wasn’t sure a tent was the best deal. Jeff and Dorothy Brady gave me a spot to park my car and my body for a month in August and September. There were still stairs, but I only had to climb them once a day.

The second SN victim, due to costs, was the printed paper.

Going totally online was not an easy decision. Melinda and I battled over the decision for months. Finally, I agreed to go online, but we needed to keep the PDF. The PDF paper was my digital anchor to an analog - or tactile experience. It looked like a newspaper.

A printed newspaper with a crossword puzzle will stay on a table longer. Add some coloring pages for children or quiet moments, and it might end up on the refrigerator. It’s hard to hang on to a digital paper - the look is there, the art is there, the color and page turning is there.

But, much like Alexa’s virtual clock, it’s really not there.

I know the printed paper is missed by many. I hear about it when I’m in town and via emails from frustrated subscribers. There’s a bit of excitement to get the “air fresh” copy of the paper in the mailbox or at the store.

Now, without the hardcopy, advertisers aren’t as comfortable and in this town, local advertisers are also our customers. We have a strong group of loyal advertisers who keep the SN going. I’ve worked to make our website more ad friendly and there is still work to be done to replace missing archives.

I’ve set eyes on a few grants and have been reaching out to current and potential advertisers for both The SN and the Skaguay Alaskan, for which I will start contracting ads and laying out in a few months.

There are folks who don’t

mind reading the paper on their computer or phone, although the page turning experience is less friendly on the phone. While I was in Skagway this last visit, I only met people who missed the hard copy. We lost a significant number of subscriptions when we had to stop printing.

If a paper is only online without a PDF - can it survive? If there isn’t an image resembling a paper, much like the virtual clock on the Echo Spot, is it really a newspaper? I think it helps and I will continue to keep the PDF. We have joined cooperatives with other Southeast papers to share stories and information. We have been blessed with the photo contributions of so many community members and we are grateful for the relationships we have with this town.

Printing and mailing the paper, at the lowest rates so far, costs us about $1700 a month.

Alexa can’t help here. But maybe Skagway can.

If you have a moment, write to us. Tell us your ideas, your memories, your reasons for caring about The Skagway News. What works, what doesn’t. What do you count on, what do you miss? Do you like the Fun Page? Do you print it out? Do you count on the Weather Watch or the Fire & Police Blotter? Do you find your election information helpful or could you find that somewhere else? What variety would you like?

You are our prime audience so your input is valuable - probably lifesaving.

A survey will go out to our readers in a month or so, but in the meantime bring it on - the good, the bad, the hopeful.

Email us at editor@skagwaynews.com. We may print your emails, so note your preference when you write to us.

Skagway, what will happen to The Skagway News?

The second hand is ticking.

Second hands never stop, even on virtual clocks

I’d continue to stare at the clock. If I was still having asthma in the morning we would go to the hospital, if it passed, I would go to school, but I might not walk. Mom would drive, walk into the school with me and sign me in. Nothing was ever set in stone, and getting to nothing was rarely done by schedule.

I wouldn’t know until the morning.

The clock ticked, the second hand moved and I waited for the DJ to announce another song.

A little over five and a half decades later, I’m resting in bed with some kind of respiratory bug. There are different surroundings – oximeters, nebulizers, medications that changed my life so I rarely get severe asthma attacks. But a respiratory cold takes you to your knees, or elbows in my case.

I found myself staring at my Amazon Echo Spot with Alexa’s virtual second hand ticking around a virtual analog clock. Now and then she offered a recipe or a weather report. Just a moment ago she offered a video of a bulldozer breaking down the wall between Israel and Gaza.

Then the words or pictures fade back to the ticking clock. The dog breed of the day came by, some bull variation. How does Alexa know I’m a dog person?

The second hand, all digital in a comforting analog form, continues around the circle and I’m either getting healthier or I’m not. I’ll get better. Right now I feel pretty crummy.

Alexa offers a question on her screen, “Alexa, who will win the World Series?”

Well, if she can answer that it would sure be a hit to the sports networks.

I wasn’t interested in that answer. The accurate answer would be “one of the teams.”

What would I care to know? I thought of a question closer to home where I wish she could shed some light..

“Alexa, what will happen to The Skagway News?”

It’s a valid question. For the past three and a half years I’ve been thinking of The Skagway News (SN) everyday. From the start of the pandemic when we had to quickly go online with a PDF version to being able to use CARES money to print again for two years, I’ve been laying out the SN twice a month, taking photos when I’m in town and falling in love with the people in the unique valley.

Joe and I planned to slowly make Skagway our parttime home, but the prices of homes didn’t invite a second mortgage and year-round rentals were rare. The passing of our daughter changed the trajectory of our obligations. Being near our grandchildren was imperative as they absorbed their new lives without her. Any move was on hold.

Even now, housing is tough for people who can’t afford to buy, but have obligations to be here.

Due to costs this past year, Melinda and I needed to make tough choices. We had to give up our office space in the historic Boas building above Skagway’s beloved bookstore. Of course, that took us away from the window looking out on Broadway Street, a favorite spot of mine. I can’t say I miss the stairs. If it wasn’t for my traveling buddy, Athena, I might rarely have left the building. Melinda or a member of her family would often meet me when I arrived and help carry my stuff upstairs to the little temporary apartment next to the office and Paul enjoyed taking Athena out for walks.

I lost my place to stay in Skagway when we moved out of the downtown office.

THE SKAGWAY NEWS

October 13, 2023

By Melinda Munson Mayor Andrew Cremata signed his last ordinance on Oct. 5 as his term ended. Ordinance 23-23, resurrected

by Assemblymember Deb Potter after first being proposed by Cremata in June, requires “that all bulk ore imported or exported through or to the Port of Skagway must be transported in sealed containers.”

The ordinance also states that a percentage of “ore shipment related revenues be set aside” for an environmental disaster related to the shipment of ore or other hazardous material. The amount is to be set by resolution at a later date.

The ordinance passed unanimously. Four residents spoke in favor of the legislation at the Sept. 21 first reading. Two more Skagwegians voiced support for the proposal at the Oct. 5 second reading.

Tom Cochran, former port manager and current long-

shoreman, shared his concerns at the second reading. “... I’m not really in favor of this ordinance, because I think it sends the wrong signal to the industry,” he said.

Cochran stated he was worried switching to containerization could delay the transportation process by days, forcing the ship to be in port longer.

“If you look at our ship schedule, and you look at the 2024 ship schedule, when would you get an ore ship in here? … if you increase the time to load an ore ship over a 24 hour window, I think you’re sending a signal to the mining community and industry that you’re not going to load ore out of Skagway. And I hate to see that signal being broadcast.”

“I’ve spent a lot of time talking and researching containerized mineral shipments, and those are all valid concerns,” Assemblymember Deb Potter said in response to Cochran.

Page 5

Containerization ordinance passes unanimously at Cremata’s last meeting as mayor “It will be more difficult and it will take a little more time … It ensures that no contamination happens again. Basically, since the Klondike Gold Rush began, Skagway has faced multiple different legacy contamination – this whole town was a fuel tank dumping ground.

It’s on our watch now,” Potter concluded.

Assemblymember Orion Hanson, also spoke to Cochran’s comments.

“We discussed logistical issues that Mr. Cochran brought up, I think at three or four different Ports and Harbors meetings,” Hanson said. “I definitely voiced the same concerns that I don’t think we entirely understand the containerization aspect in a cold weather climate.”

“Within the next seven years, I think you could see the mining industry change a lot. And we might have to adapt with that and revisit Ordinance 23-23. But, I’m not going to be stuck in the

Photo by Melinda Munson

Assemblymember Deb Potter and Mayor Andrew Cremata hold up the signed Ordinance 23-23, the final signature for the outgoing mayor.

mindframe that because we don’t know how it’s going to work in the future, that I would vote against this now.

Because I think there’s a way that this can be adapted and it can work.”

Hanson noted that the new Ore Dock redesign allows a ship to be in port for multiple days, at the same time allowing a cruise ship in and out.

Over the past few years, Assembly members and mu-

Police & Fire Blotter Sept. 18 -A set of Nissan keys was reported lost.

-Bear activity reported at Lazy Daisy Farm.

-Dispatch contacted the on duty provider.

-Police responded to a report of domestic violence.

Sept. 19 -A lost wallet was reported to dispatch.

-Bear activity reported on Dyea Road.

Sept. 20 -Bear activity reported on Dairy Drive.

-A lost driver’s license was reunited with its owner.

-Fire personnel responded to a medical emergency.

-Bear activity reported at 2.7 Mile Klondike Highway.

-Fire personnel responded to an EWS Fire alarm.

-Dispatch assisted a citizen in contacting the on duty provider.

-Bear activity reported on Dyea Road.

Sept. 21 -Police personnel performed a welfare check.

-Fire personnel responded to a medical emergency.

-Bear activity reported near City Hall.

-Bear activity reported on 8th and Broadway.

-Bear activity reported on 11th and Spring.

Bear activity reported on 12th and Broadway.

Sept. 22 -A lost wallet was reunited with its owner.

-Bear activity reported on 12th and Broadway.

-Bear activity reported on 20th Ave. -Bear activity reported on Dairy Drive.

Sept. 23 -Dispatch contacted the on duty provider.

-Dispatch received a report of damaged property at Seven Pastures.

Sept. 24 -Bear activity reported on Dyea Road.

-Dispatch contacted the on duty provider.

-Police assisted with vehicle lock-out.

Sept. 25 -Police assisted with vehicle lock-out.

-Police performed a welfare check.

Sept. 26 -Police assisted with vehicle lock-out.

Sept. 27 -Bear activity reported on 8th and Broadway.

-Bear activity reported on Dyea Road.

-Fire personnel responded to an EWS Fire alarm.

-Bear activity reported on Shotgun Alley.

Sept. 28 -Fire personnel responded to a medical emergency.

-Fire personnel performed a scheduled medevac.

-Bear activity reported on Dairy Drive.

Sept. 29 -Bear activity reported in Liarsville.

-Rocks were reported on Dyea Road.

-Fire personnel performed a scheduled medevac.

-Fire personnel responded to an EWS Fire alarm.

-Fire personnel responded to a brush fire on Dyea Road.

-Bear activity reported on 21st. Officers chased it out of town.

Sept. 30 -Dispatch contacted the on duty provider.

-Fire personnel responded to an EWS Fire alarm.

-Bear activity reported on 12th Ave.

nicipal staff hosted Yukon government officials to discuss mining and Skagway representatives have visited Canada for events such as Association for Mineral Exploration Round-up.

“I tested positive for lead when I was three years old in Skagway. So this is not something I take lightly,” Hanson said.

Submitted by Skagway Police Department

Oct. 1 -Dispatch contacted the on duty provider.

-A lost dog was reunited with its owner.

Oct. 2 -Dispatch assisted a citizen in contacting the on duty provider.

-Fire personnel responded to an EWS Fire alarm.

Oct. 3 -Bear activity reported on Shotgun Alley.

-Fire personnel responded to an EWS Fire Alarm at a downtown business.

-Bear activity reported in Liarsville.

-Police responded to a domestic disturbance.

-Fire personnel responded to a medical emergency.

Oct. 4 -Bear activity reported on 21st Ave. -Bear activity reported near Yakutania Point.

-Bear activity reported on Klondike Highway.

Oct. 6 -Police issued multiple trash related fines for Bear Attractant Nuisance.

-Dispatch contacted the on duty Provider.

-Bear activity reported at Pullen Creek RV Park.

Will risk life for free food. Please don’t tempt me.

Keep me alive.

October 13, 2023

Page 6

THE SKAGWAY NEWS

Art program grows at Skagway School, branching into community

By Melinda Munson Skagway School is in its second year of employing a full-time art teacher. Various colorful pieces are on display in the hallway: some hang from the ceiling, others are tactile and designed specifically for blind students to touch while a few were composed by a mother/daughter team.

For the first time, art educator Valerie Larsen is enjoying her own classroom space with natural light. Last year, she occupied a portion of the vocational shop.

“I am very passionate about art and having a mindful classroom where students can kind of relax and build confidence and develop their skills,” Larsen said.

She recently received a grant to cover art books and storage for first grade through high school. The two mini libraries will live in her classroom.

Several students choose to stay after school each day to work on projects. The atmosphere is quiet and studious.

Fourth grader Anika Thole agreed to show off her work.

“I take art really seriously,” she said. “I just think art will be a big part of my life.”

Larsen said Thole is excelling in her class. Thole inquired what excelling meant, then agreed.

“Art isn’t just art, okay?”

Thole explained. “It’s actually history. It can be math, it can be reading, it can be almost every single subject.”

When asked what emotions she experiences when she is creating, Thole replied, “ I feel calm, sometimes excited … but mostly calm.”

Skagway School District is one of five rural districts growing art in their school and community through the Rural Art Initiative (RAI), sponsored by the Alaska Arts Education Consortium.

In its second of three years, the program sets out specific goals for Larsen to meet.

One of those goals is for students to display work in the community. First through twelfth graders participated in the Arts Council Spring

Show of Winter Work, held at AB Hall. Larsen also spoke at Citizens Present at the Oct. 5 Assembly Meeting and asked the newly elected body for space in City Hall to rotate student artwork on a monthly basis.

“I love that idea,” said Assemblymember Jay Burnham. “That would be cool. …It doesn’t seem like it needs a big official thing.”

The assembly agreed to come up with a plan to move the suggestion forward.

Larsen plans to ask other entities to exhibit student artwork, perhaps the Skagby Melinda Munson way Museum or AB Hall. Anika Thole, grade four, with her art she produced asPhoto part of the RAI She stressed the work would program. be nicely matted and framed.

Another goal of RAI is to find a Skagway committee member. Magician and musician Andrew Nadon served in the position last year.

Larsen is looking for “someone in the community who is passionate about arts who is not over committed, who can take a little time to just help me.”

Student art displayed at Skagway School.

Photo by Melinda Munson

Election ends with new mayor, complete assembly and school board (Continued from front page)

Bass received 244 votes (49%), Hanson 221 votes (44%) and William Lockette, II received 25 votes (5%).

In the assembly race for two seats, current member Alex Weddell carried 278 votes (55%) with newcomer Kate Kolodi finding 243

(48%). Late entry write-in candidate Charles Doland followed closely in third place with 226 votes (45%).

With Kolodi and Weddell on the dais, the assembly will be equally shared by female and male assembly members.

Current assembly members Jay Burnham, Deb Pot-

ter, Orion Hanson and Dan Henry complete the body.

Three school board seats had looked to remain empty, but four residents ran writein campaigns after the regular registration period had passed.

With three candidates running for two, three-year terms, former member Jason

Verhaeghe brought in 190 votes (38%), earning a seat alongside newcomer Sterling Rachel who saw 171 votes (34%). Write-in Phil Wagner received 149 (30%) votes.

Running uncontested for a single one-year term on the school board, Melinda Munson received 182 votes

(36%).

Current members Luke Rauscher and Corey Thole make up the rest of the school board.

Poll voting saw 438 people cast votes, 48 voted early/absentee in person and 17 people voted absentee by mail.

There were three question ballots during early voting and one special needs ballot was utilized.

In the end, 503 ballots were voted in a pool of 1188 registered voters, leaving voter turnout at 42%.

Results were certified Oct. 5.

THE SKAGWAY NEWS

October 13, 2023

Page 7

Interview process around Pius X emotional and difficult (Continued from front page)

to flooding and she came across many “references to poor construction.”

While the school admitted non-Native day pupils from the community, the Native students experienced segregation. One example is how they were treated at the movie theater.

Pius X pupils “...generally occupied the balcony of the theater and had to take a weeknight to go to the theater when no white children were present so they would not be blamed for whatever happened inside (1Thornton 2004).”

The Sept. 2023 report contains six interviews with former students or their family members, as many pupils are now deceased.

“The interview process was extremely emotional,” said Bricker. “Families are still making decisions on whether or not they want to talk about these things – whether or not they want to share them with the public.”

Sexual abuse at Pius X is well documented. Priests frequently came through the mission to help teach or on sabbatical. According to the report, “at least two of these visiting priests were on the Anchorage list of abusive priests for assault with attempt to rape and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. One of them served time in federal prison before returning to active ministry.

It is now officially confirmed by the Dioceses of Anchorage and Juneau that Father [Francis] Cowgill, who served as principal of the school from 1952 to 1959, was a pedophile. Anonymous sources indicate that there was at least one more priest who abused children, as well as a teacher who was alcoholic and showed

pornographic magazines to the children. An anonymous source indicates that when older students learned of the heinous sexual abuses of smaller children, they took them out of the school and temporarily boarded them in a hotel in Skagway.”

There are more accounts of abuse not published in the report, but STC must be careful what it makes public.

“There are other stories that we heard, but we don’t have permission to share,” Kinjo-Hischer said. STC continues to process documents from the archives of the Sisters of St. Ann, some of which are protected under Canadian privacy laws.

While the report may give a glimpse of life at Pius X and rule out graves at today’s Garden City RV Park, it doesn’t ease the Tribe’s pain.

“This report is about a land issue. It’s not what STC has been in search of,” Bricker said. “We have not secured the information to be satisfied. We have missing children.”

According to Bricker, STC has acquired limited enrollment records for Pius X, particularly for the 1930s and 40s. She pointed to a photograph of approximately 70 children. That year’s census,1940, listed the number of mission students at 21.

Bricker hopes STC can reconstruct enrollment records and start building student profiles. She visited Washington D.C. in 2022 to ask the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and the Department of Justice to add Skagway to the investigative report associated with the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative and help locate boarding school records. While in the capitol, she met Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola and Secretary of the

Interior Deb Haaland.

“The DOI later agreed that Skagway belongs in the report which is supposed to be rectified in the next edition,” Bricker said.

“But where we are hitting another wall with enrollment records is with Bureau of Indian Affairs archives in Washington that say they don’t have them. Or at least don’t have them assembled in an accessible way,” Bricker said. “Not scanned – probably buried in boxes somewhere if they do have them.”

“I am frustrated,” she added. “I am emotional over it.

Until we have enrollment record, we have hundreds of missing children.”

1 Thornton, Thomas F. 2004. Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park Ethnographic Overview and Assessment. Report prepared for the U.S. Department of Interior National Park Service, Denver Service Station, Colorado.

Photo provided by Jaime Bricker

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland with Jaime Bricker in 2022

Know History has verified 33 deaths at former school

Efforts using radar to scan the grounds near the location of the now-demolished Chooutla Residential School in Carcross have found 15 anomalies believed to be potential grave sites of children who died at the school.

By Mark Page The Whitehorse Star Efforts using radar to scan the grounds near the location of the now-demolished Chooutla Residential School in Carcross have found 15 anomalies believed to be potential grave sites of children who died at the school.

While scanning was underway, a group called Know History was simultaneously able to verify 33 deaths occurred at the school by combing through documents and the archival record.

“As you can appreciate, this message is difficult to hear, and it will be difficult to hear for survivors across the territory,” said Doris Bill of the Yukon Residential School and Missing Children Working Group after the results of the search were presented Tuesday in Whitehorse.

All of the potential graves are within a mile of the former school’s main site, with three of them very close to the where the school once stood.

The rest are consistent with what could be “secret” burial sites, according to Brian Whiting, who oversaw the technical aspects of the search for the Burnaby, B.C.based company GeoScan.

Whiting and his team searched an area of just over 37,000 square metres. The potential grave sites cover just 58 square metres.

“Truly a needle in a haystack kind of problem,” Whiting said.

Despite the large amount of area searched, Whiting said there is more ground that

could be covered. Plans for continued scanning have not yet been made, but the search is finished at least for the winter.

Chooutla was run by the Anglican Church and was in operation between 1903 and 1969.

For most of the period following 1911, it was located in an area north of Nares Lake.

It was the first built of four residential schools in the Yukon and housed about 1,300 children during its operation, according to Know History’s Nicole Marion.

There are no firm plans to search the other Yukon school sites at this point. Members of the Working Group say that the decision to undertake a search needs to come from the local First Nation community.

In the case of Chooutla, the search was conducted at the invitation of and in partnership with the Carcross/Tagish First Nation.

The Archival Analysis The number of deaths uncovered by Know History does not necessarily equal the number of potential grave sites, explained Whiting.

“That’s the total number of documented deaths that they’ve been able to identify from the records so far,” Whiting said.

“And in many cases, indications are that they would have been buried in Whitehorse, or many other potential places.”

If a child was sick or injured, they would have likely travelled to Whitehorse for care at the hospital.

“We hope to learn more about who these

(Continued on page 8 - GeoScan )

October 13, 2023

Page 8

THE SKAGWAY NEWS

GeoScan worked Chooutla sight to for months seeking information, closure (Continued from front page 7)

children were, what they experienced, and where they are buried,” Marion said.

The number of deaths at the school documented by Marion’s team exceeded previously confirmed figures of how many students died at Chooutla.

Only 20 had been registered with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation’s Memorial register.

That being said, the Working Group said this past spring that the actual number was likely higher than 20, with estimates ranging up to 42.

This deeper dive into the records has given a more accurate figure after Marion and her team were able to remove from the list children who had been counted twice and those who they were able to show had died at a different residential school.

So far though, Know History is still unable to provide a complete picture because the federal government would not provide all the information they requested.

When they filed an Access to Information and Privacy request, Marion said, the government blacked out names and other information in some of the documents, due to what they said was privacy reasons.

“So, we have attendance lists, with no names,” Marian said.

Of the 1,300 children Marion said they identified as having attended Chooutla, they could only find names for 900.

“There are still children whose names we do not know, children whose cause of death we do not know,” Marion said. “And we do not know where the majority of these children have been buried.”

Marion said they are hopefully going to be able to find the documents they need after gaining access to records through the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation’s database.

If they cannot find what they need in that database, she said, they will appeal the government’s decision to provide redacted records.

The Search The team from GeoScan was at the school site for the past few months to try to figure out how many of these 33 children were buried at or near the school.

First, they gathered information from those who went to the school, from other community members and from initial information coming out of Know History’s work.

Next, they took this information and eliminated all the areas that would not make suitable burial sites, such as steep hillsides, or places with impenetrable bedrock.

They also looked for

things like mounds or depressions, or other sorts of markings which may indicate a gravesite.

Some of the area was already open ground and some needed to be cleared of trees, but it was rugged enough to prove challenging to the technicians who had to push or pull the lawnmower-like scanning device across some challenging terrain.

“It’s hard work, especially on rough ground it’s quite strenuous for people,” Whiting said.

More areas may be cleared of trees in the future to widen the search area, though that has not been decided yet.

The device uses ground-penetrating radar to identify abnormalities in soil composition and structure to find places where the ground has been disturbed or there are any buried objects.

It does this by sending radio frequency waves down into the ground that bounce off of any changes in the composition of the ground.

It can pick up everything from differences in soil moisture, to old foundations, rocks, roots – anything underground that causes a soil disturbance.

What it can’t do, is identify exactly what an object is.

Whiting said it is not a “bone detector” and only provides simplified information that needs to be evaluated by a technical expert to

even determine if it could be a signature of a potential grave.

To get better at finding those signatures, Whiting said, they train at actual graveyards to get an idea of the size, shape, depth and other characteristics of what a grave my look like when scanned by their device.

In those formal cemeteries, the graves are laid out in regular alignment, with standard burial practices that include markings and caskets.

At residential schools, Whiting said, this may not be the case.

“There’s evidence that burials were done secretly, maybe even under cover of night without using caskets, maybe even not as deep as properly should be done,” he said.

His team looks at four potential characteristics of a formal gravesite. If they find two to three of these criteria in a search area at a residential school, they mark that as a potential grave.

This has led to the findings of 15 sites that Whiting said have a “medium probability” of being burial sites at Chooutla.

To actually determine if these are graves, more invasive work needs to be done, something Whiting said is ultimately up to the community.

Other communities have made the decision to dig, though the Carcross-Tagish First Nation and the Working Group have not at this point.

Whiting did say there is an option to sample the soil to

look for traces of DNA as a less-invasive way to try to confirm if they are actually burial sites.

What they have found, Whiting said, is consistent with the historical record uncovered by Know History, and it is consistent with what people who attended these schools said they experienced.

“The truth of residential schools has been known to people who lived that experience,” Whiting said. “What we find is consistent with their truth; with those who are able who are still with us to speak and who are willing to speak.”

He compared his work to shining a light on one part of the story.

As he shines his light, other researchers shine theirs and those with lived experiences shine theirs, a clearer and clearer picture of what happened at these schools appears.

“The intergenerational trauma is a very real thing,” he said. “Hopefully, we’re starting to develop a way out of that, by this work.”

Sandra Johnson, an elder advisor from the Working Group, echoed this sentiment.

“With trauma inflicted upon our ancestors and generations that followed is a wound that runs deep but within the depths of pain, there is also an opportunity for healing and transformation,” she said.

Originally published in The Whitehorse Star on September 27, 2023

Annual Land Sale Multi-use parcels now available in your area SEPT. 13 - NOV. 27

Learn more at alaskamentalhealthtrust.org/FallLandSale Revenues generated from Trust lands support Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority beneficiaries statewide.

National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR)

Former Chooutla Indian Residential School at Carcross, Yukon.

(1972)

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October 13, 2023

Tons of rock drift onto Dyea Road in wet weather event

Page 9

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Boulders weighing several tons, lay at Mile 5.2 Dyea road last weekend.

By Gretchen Wehmhoff Giant boulders slid onto mile 5.2 Dyea Road last weekend as rain continued to soften the terrain in the area.

Skagway State DOT Foreman Shaun McKnight said it took two front loaders working together to roll the beast of a rock across the road and down the embankment towards the inlet.

“We had to wait until the tide was out, then we rolled the rock off the road,” McKnight said.

Environmental regulations prohibit dropping the rocks any other time than low tide to avoid impact to animals and fish.

“We’re required not to make splashes. Hence the reason we had to wait until the tide went out so we could push the rocks over, because they don’t want us to hurt animal or maybe any fish.”

More than two boulders fell.

“The big one was like 15 by 12 by 10. Granite weighs somewhere over 165 pounds a cubic foot. So you start going 12 by 15 by 10 - keep in mind that this isn’t a big giant square. It’s not a house.

So rounded off, you probably lose 30% of it. But you’re still talking about a rock that weighed almost 200,000 pounds,” McKnight said.

McKnight says it’s probably not over and the area isn’t stabilized.

“We removed as many rocks as we could reach with the equipment that we had.

And we’re hoping that the rocks that may come down will come down. What happens is the dirt underneath gives away and they just kind of slide. There are probably six more the same size up that hill.”

On the way to the boulders, McKnight and his one other operator passed by more rocks sliding around mile 3.

They did what they could, but the rocks were still coming down so they moved out of the way until it subsided.

McKnight says they have tried to keep the road graded, and the impact of the recent slides created more bumps and holes. Trying to beat the rain is tough and any attempts to smooth out the road often end up in more mud and holes.

“Until it stops raining. We can’t do anything with it.

And you know, I feel awful because I myself drive out there. And those things they’re all coffee spillers.

Mcknight’s crew is down to two, including him, headed into the winter. People have retired or moved. Hiring new crew has been difficult. The team is designed to be a five-person crew, but since March it’s been down to two. There were prospects, but the last three who applied “saw what it costs to find a house here and withdrew,” McKnight said.

Skagway is expected to have more rain, mountain drain off and area flood watches over the next few days.

First Presbyterian Church 5th & Main • 983-2260 Sunday Worship 11 a.m.

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Weather Watch 9/20 - 10/12 9/20 59 29 9/20 59 30 9/21 58 32 9/22 57 40 9/23 52 42 .04 9/24 53 40 .01 9/25 46 41 .10 9/26 57 43 9/27 59 46 .27 9/28 52 45 .19 9/29 52 45 .10 9/20 52 44 .20 10/1 48 41 .36 10/2 50 41 .35 10/3 52 45 .14 10/4 51 40 .34 10/5 47 36 .06 10/6 55 37 .50 10/7 56 48 .35 10/8 55 46 1.75 10/9 53 45 .43 10/10 51 44 .59 10/11 51 40 10/12 51 37 -

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PUBLIC NOTICES/LEGAL ADS Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority Trust Land Office Notice under 11 AAC 99.050 of Decision to issue Negotiated Land Sale – Skagway MHT 9101138 Notice is hereby given that, pursuant to the provisions of AS 38.05.801 and 11 AAC 99, the Executive Director of the Alaska Mental Health Trust Land Office (TLO) has determined that it is in the best interest of the Alaska Mental Health Trust and its beneficiaries to complete negotiated land sale of certain Trust land to Jeffery Hamilton.

The basis for this determination is explained in a written best interest decision prepared by the Executive Director pursuant to 11 AAC 99.040.

The Trust land affected by the decision is within Skagway, AK, and is more particularly described as: That portion of Lot 8 of U.S. Survey No. 5110 northwesterly of the Skagway River, containing 75.00 acres more or less, located within protracted Section 31, Township 27 South, Range 60 East, Copper River Meridian, containing approximately 75.00 acres (MH Parcel C20450.005).

Persons who wish to submit a qualified competing offer as described in Section XIII of the best interest decision, believe that the written decision should be altered because it is not in the best interest of the Trust or its beneficiaries, or because the

decision is inconsistent with Trust management principles set out in 11 AAC 99.020, or any other provision of 11 AAC 99, must provide written comments on or before 4:30 PM November 13, 2023. Qualified competing offers and/or Comments should be submitted to the TLO at 2600 Cordova Street, Suite 201, Anchorage, AK 99503, or by fax (907) 269-8905 or email mhtlo@alaska.gov.

Following the comment deadline, the Executive Director will consider timely comments that question the decision on the basis of the best interest of the Alaska Mental Health Trust and its beneficiaries or inconsistency with 11 AAC 99, and the best interest decision may be changed in response to such written comments or other information. Commenting parties will be provided a copy of the final best interest decision after the end of the notice period.

To be eligible to file for reconsideration of the best interest decision, or to file a subsequent appeal to the Superior Court, a person must have submitted written comments during the notice period. Eligible persons will have twenty (20) calendar days after published notice of or receipt of the final written decision to request that the Executive Director reconsider the decision under 11 AAC 99.060(b).

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Page 11 Land Office, or at https:// alaskamentalhealthtrust.org/ trust-land-office/. If you have any questions concerning this action, please contact the Trust Land Office at (907) 269-8658.

In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Alaska Mental Health Trust is prepared to accommodate individuals with disabilities. Please contact the Trust Land Office at (907) 2698658 for assistance. Requests for assistance must be received at least 96 hours prior to the comment deadline in order to ensure that any necessary accommodations can be provided.

The Executive Director of the TLO reserves the right to waive technical defects in this notice or to amend, postpone, or vacate the best interest decision. //ss// Executive Director 10/10/2023 Published The Skagway News: 10/13/2023

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Concert offers modern music from a different point of Wu

Photo courtesy of Phoebe Wu

Chicago pianist featuring a world of contemporary classical composers during Southeast Alaska tour

By Mark Sabbatini Juneau Empire When Phoebe Wu refers to modern music she’s not talking about Taylor Swift, so people not flocking to the pop star’s concert movie this weekend can get a lesson about an entirely different world of possibilities during a concert by the Chicago pianist at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Juneau Arts and Culture Center.

Wu is scheduled to perform works by a variety of contemporary classical composers with different backgrounds ranging from a self-described “avant folk vocalist” with a repertoire of “feminist rager-lullabies” to a Chinese man renowned for blending his country’s traditional music with American modernism.

“The structure of each piece probably will remind people of similar classical music, similar Western European styles, but a lot of the harmonies will be different,” she said in an interview Sunday. “There’s a lot of focus on rhythm. And then each piece is quite different from each other, too. So there’s going to be a big variety.”

The pay-as-you-can Juneau concert is part of a four-show “No Longer Very Clear” tour in Southeast Alaska that includes stops in Sitka on Saturday, Skagway on Oct. 19 and Haines on Oct. 21.

Wu said she has been in the region before, having taught and performed at the Sitka Fine Arts Camp, and wanted a more expansive experience.

“My main thinking was I wanted to do a small tour to some places in Alaska that may get a lot of performances through (or) may not get so many through coming through their town,” she said, “And I really wanted to make it for the people who live there, So if I go in the summer people are busy, they’re opening up shops for tourists, they’re giving tours there — and what tourist is

going to come and see a Chicago-based pianist on their cruise? That doesn’t quite make sense either.

So I thought I would do it in a time where people might have more free time who actually live in Alaska.”

Wu, listed as a “pianist/teacher” at the top of her website, collaborates on projects with dancers and other performance artists in addition to musicians throughout the country. She’s also performed in a variety of settings ranging from contemporary chamber ensembles to duets.

She said she feels “a very strong personal connection” to modern classical composers because of how she’s able to interpret their concepts and sounds, a means for her to express creativity beyond crafting her own compositions, which she hasn’t done in a long time.

“It’s a very different relationship with the music to make it versus to interpret it,” she said. “I really do love the interpretation of music. And I think there’s so much creative freedom in that type of art as well.”

The names of the composers whose works Wu will play are likely obscure to most people: Annika Socolofsky, Gabriela Lena Frank, Lou Harrison, Chou Wen-Chung, Florence Price, Joan Tower and Ruth Crawford Seeger. But Wu said each has had distinctive and broad influences.

Socolofsky, for instance, is a vocalist described

by The Guardian as “just the right balance between edgy precision and freewheeling exuberance.” Her official bio states her feminist folk project “confront centuries of damaging lessons taught to young children by retelling old lullaby texts for a new, queer era.”

“She and I are friends, and I find her music very intriguing,” Wu said. “I thought it’d be great to bring something super-recent to the program.”

Other composers are from the West Coast with that implied contemporary vibe, while WenChung — who died in 2019 at the age of 96 — helped others fuel American modernism as he “wrote mostly for Western instruments, but made them bend single notes to accommodate the microtonal flexibility of Chinese music,” according to the New York Times.

Wu’s concert is part of the Con Brio Chamber Series, which features a range of local and visiting composers in solo and ensemble performances. Sally Schlichting, artistic director of the series, said Wednesday, said Wu contacted her after finding out about the series from a mutual acquaintance in Sitka, since she was already planning a Southeast tour and was seeking out possibilities in Juneau.

“It really fits well with the kind of programming that I like to do with the Con Brio Chamber Series,” Schlichting said, adding “I really feel strongly my mission at the Con Brio Chamber Series is to deliver more chamber music to general audiences.”

“I like to showcase newer and contemporary, and lesser-known works and lesser-known composers,” she said. “Because I think that the greats get a lot of attention — the Beethoven’s and Mozart’s, and so on — and there’s just a wealth of music from newer generations, and non-male, non-white composers. And I just really feel the need to bring those to audiences — there’s treasures in there that would otherwise go unknown.”

Wu will perform in Skagway Oct. 19.