Author: Ed Ronco

There is still no decision in who will be the next mayor of Sitka. Cheryl Westover, acting as temporary chair of the Assembly meeting, called a recess last night after the Assembly was unable to certify the results of the mayoral election.

At the continuation of its regular meeting Wednesday night, the Sitka Assembly approved three staff positions in City Hall.

Sitka’s mayoral election is headed to another recount.

Allen M. Brackley is the lead scientist at the Pacific Northwest Research Station's Sitka Wood Utilization Center. He addressed the Sitka Chamber of Commerce on 10-13-10.

A longtime Sitka couple is in Washington DC today (10-14-10) to accept one of the Forest Service’s highest honors. Chuck and Alice Johnstone will receive the Bob Marshall Champions of Wilderness Award on behalf of the Sitka Conservation Society. The award will be presented by Forest Service chief Tom Tidwell.

An historic totem pole in Sitka will remain in place a little longer. High winds Tuesday (10-11-10) prevented the lowering of the Baranof pole in Sitka’s Totem Square. Despite the weather, a small crowd of clan leaders, tribal elders, and others gathered to commemorate the seventy-year-old totem, and to acknowledge the controversial role it has played in the community’s history.

The multipurpose field at the city’s Kimsham complex has been named after a member of the Coast Guard who died in a July helicopter accident.

Thor Christianson and Terry Blake are now members of the Sitka Assembly.

The growth of “virtual education” in the state has spurred a building boom in Sitka. The Sitka campus of the University of Alaska Southeast is close to opening 19,000 square feet of additional classroom space, much of wired with state-of-the-art tools for delivering distance education.