Registration is open online at juliehughestri.com. In-person registration for those 12 and under will be 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. Friday May 16.

Downloadable audio.

Sitka mayor Matt Hunter stumped Ebbesmeyer and Orbison with this object — but probably not for long. (Jessica Pyatt photo)

Oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer spent an hour enlightening, educating, and warning Sitkans about the world of ocean debris — especially the hazards of plastics, during The Flotsam Hour. “One day we’ll run out of oil,” he said, “and then thankfully we’ll run out of plastic.”

Ebbesmeyer (top) says that Nike has been the most cooperative company in helping him track down ocean-borne mysteries: Like where this and 29,000 other Nike sneakers were set adrift. (KCAW photo/Robert Woolsey)

Ebbesmeyer is the author of Flotsametrics, a study of ocean currents based on floating marine debris. He appeared with local beachcomber Dean Orbison, who brought in a trove of mundane objects which Ebbesmeyer was able to source to shipping losses all over the Pacific.

Hosted by KCAW’s Katherine Rose. Learn more about the Paths Across the Pacific conference.

Listen to the Flotsam Hour, Part 1

Downloadable audio.

Listen to the Flotsam Hour, Part 2

Downloadable audio.

Tonight at 6:30, tune in to “The Flotsam Hour” presented by KCAW and Paths Across the Pacific. Reporter Katherine Rose will be joined by oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer and local beachcomber Dean Orbison. If you have questions for Ebbesmeyer and Orbison, call us at 747-5877, or comment on our Facebook post. 

Downloadable audio.

The Julie Hughes Triathlon is a tribute to Julie Hughes, who lost her battle with cancer at the age of 15, in February 1985. During Julie’s treatment and through a period of remission she talked with her swim coach, Siouxha Tokman, and said one day she wanted to do a triathlon.

Although Julie was never able to realize that dream, Tokman and Julie’s parents, Bill and Carol Hughes, organized Sitka’s first run-bike-swim triathlon in May 1985. Now 32 years old, the Julie Hughes Triathlon remains one of the community’s longest-running events.

The triathlon includes 5 mile run, 14 mile bike ride, and 1,000 yard swim. There is a special short course for the 12 and under participants. Athletes can compete on a team or as an individual. Proceeds from this event are donated to the Sitka Cancer Survivors Network.

Listen to the full hour.

Downloadable audio.

Find more information about the 2016 Paths Across the Pacific conference here.

Photos from our show!

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In spite of everything, 2015 will be remembered as a good year in Sitka. It’s the year that the community’s faith, grit, and forward-thinking principles were put to the test. (KCAW photo/Emily Kwong)

In spite of everything, 2015 will be remembered as a good year in Sitka. It’s the year that the community’s faith, grit, and forward-thinking principles were put to the test. It’s the year that Sitkans forged tragedy, loss, and crisis into a renewed sense of purpose. It’s the year than many of us decided to try and lead better lives, for ourselves and others.

KCAW’s Robert Woolsey has this look back at 2015.

Downloadable audio.

If you think I’m going to exaggerate the significance of 2015 you should think about this: The top story of 2014 was the Ice Bucket Challenge.

Sitka’s school board takes the Ice Bucket Challenge.

Yup. You had forgotten all about that.

Sitka’s 2015 will be memorable because our biggest stories were clustered together in a year that was already sprinkled with interesting news stories, like the state’s closing all its parks here, its goal-line stand against an invasive marine species called D-vex, the school district outsourcing Community Schools, the Sitka Softball team winning its 5th state championship in 6 years, or the Cross Country  and Girls Basketball teams winning its first titles — ever. Go Wolves!

The Lady Wolves made it 5 out of 6 in Softball in 2015. (Facebook photo)

The epic news began on Monday August 17, when the Electric Department notified media that 30,000 gallons of diesel fuel had leaked from a storage tank at the Jarvis St. generator plant. Much of it had been recovered in a concrete containment structure designed for just this emergency. But an unknown amount — possibly as much as 7,000 gallons — had drained into a storm sewer that emptied into Jamestown Bay. (Note: This figure was subsequently revised down to 2,500 gallons.)

The state and city set up an incident command center to manage the situation, which would prove to be provident. The very next morning, Tuesday August 18, a sopping-wet storm system dropped down the outer coast and soaked Sitka with as much as 5 inches of rain in under six hours.

The deluge triggered 7 landslides on the Sitka road system, one of them sweeping through a new development on Kramer Avenue, destroying a house and killing two workers inside, the brothers Elmer and Ulises Diaz, age 24 and 25, and also taking the life of 62-year old William Stortz, Sitka’s building official.

City engineer David Longtin performing recovery work at the landslide that nearly overtook him. Longtin was not totally at ease — “I’m keeping my eye on it,” he said. (KCAW photo/Robert Woolsey)

Municipal engineer David Longtin and an excavator operator, Jerome Mahoskey, escaped. Longtin said they had very little time to react.

“We heard a rumbling. It didn’t immediately dawn on us what it was. We looked at each other with puzzled expressions and looked at the hill, and saw these 200-foot trees falling like dominoes — boom, boom, boom, one after another.”

The next day, Gov. Bill Walker flew to Sitka to personally assess the scene.

Gov. Bill Walker (right) and Sitka Mayor Mim McConnell visited the site of the Kramer Avenue landslide on Wednesday, August 19. (Rachel Waldholz, KCAW)

“I’ve been governor about nine months now and I’ve prided myself by saying I’ve never had a bad day. Well, I can’t say that anymore. This is a really tough day.”

And it would get tougher. Volunteers flooded the firehall with offers of assistance, but the threat of more rain forced officials to keep most everyone off the slope. And it soon became clear that there would be no rescue. Grace Harbor Church transformed into a 24-hour care center, for recovery workers, for families evacuated from the surrounding neighborhoods. Working in shifts, coaches and friends from their former high school baseball team found the bodies of Elmer and Ulises about 3 days after the slide. William’s body was finally found a week after, on August 25.

Seattle Fire Battalion Chief Thomas Richardson flew to Sitka to advise. His department had managed the slide in Oso, Washington, in March 2014, which claimed 43 lives.

“Yeah, it’s very similar. In fact it’s déjà vu.”

The video of the arrest of 18-year-old Franklin Hoogendorn will be examined by the FBI< along with Sitka’s police procedures. (YouTube image capture)

Then came the video. Over Halloween weekend a Sitka middle school teacher, Alexander Allison, posted a pair of videos on social media. One, of his own arrest as a bystander watching a DUI investigation, and a second showing then 18-year old Franklin Hoogendorn, a Mt. Edgecumbe High School student, being taken into custody by Sitka police, and being tasered multiple times as three officers subdued him in the local jail. The Hoogendorn video went viral.

Police chief Sheldon Schmitt said the video only told part of the story.

“What you’re seeing on the video is the culmination of a longer contact.”

Schmitt maintains that Hoogendorn was resisting — since the moment officers confronted him earlier in the evening outside a Sitka bar — and that the use of the taser conformed to police policies in place at the time of the arrest in September 2014.

Since the video went public, Hoogendorn has obtained legal counsel. His attorney, Myron Angstman, says the video tells its own story.

“It doesn’t really matter what I think the tape says, or what you think the tape says, or what the police chief thinks the tape says, or what the city manager thinks the tape says — because the jury has the final decision as to what that tape says.”

The conduct of the Sitka police officers is being reviewed by the FBI. The Sitka Tribe sent a letter formally asking the bureau to investigate possible racial bias in Sitka’s police department. At the request of media, Sitka released its police operating procedures manual, but the 342-page document doesn’t spell out guidelines for use of a taser. Top officers in the department held a town hall meeting with Tribal citizens to discuss concerns and ease tensions, but could not directly address the Hoogendorn incident since it appears headed to court.

The rest of the news in 2015 was lighter, but no less important. For example, the CEO of Sitka Community Hospital bolted. Well, technically Jeff Comer skipped town in 2014, but the news became public when he failed to show up for a meeting with the assembly on January 2.

Comer had been working in Sitka for less than three months. His abrupt departure, paired with a bizarre story of being attacked by an unidentified couple on a Sitka trail, left people more amused than worried.

The hospital classroom was packed for the first board meeting following the disappearance of Jeff Comer. Staffers urged transparency as the board moves forward. “A lot of what’s happened has been a mystery to us,” said one. (KCAW photo/Robert Woolsey)

Municipal attorney Robin Koutchak assured the hospital board that Comer would not be coming back.

“Ann, I think he’s gone. (Laughter) Elvis left the building.”

Sitka businessman Rob Allen later took the job of CEO, stabilizing the hospital’s finances, and possibly restoring sanity.

Sitka wrapped up the largest public works project in its history in 2015 – the $157-million Blue Lake Hydro expansion.
Electrical department engineer Dean Orbison was boosterish about the project for the two years it took to raise the dam and build a new powerhouse. But when he cut the ribbon in May, he didn’t seem to upset too take off his hard hat once and for all.

Project Manager Dean Orbison (left) and Mayor Mim McConnell smashed a bottle of champagne against one of the new, blue turbines. (Emily Kwong/KCAW)

“This particular project, this success, and working together with this team is by far the pinnacle of my career. Which ends today!”

Another significant departure this year was John Straley’s. The former writer laureate of Alaska retired from a three-decade career as a criminal investigator, most recently for the Public Defender’s Office in Sitka. Straley drew on his work experience to write nine novels, which he says, had far more “moral certainty” than real life.

“Reality is always so much more complicated, with so much more gray area. And in stories, you always make it work out faster.”

John Straley, in his office at the Sitka Public Defender. With up to 50 cases in play at any given time, Straley says the work “can be rewarding, but also heartbreaking.” (KCAW photo/Robert Woolsey)

As if to illustrate Straley’s point, the family of Lael Grant in June asked the state to issue her death certificate. The 33-year old mother of two went missing in 2012, with no ID in her possession, and no other means to travel off-island.

Her sister, Erika Burkhouse, believed Grant’s disappearance was connected to her involvement with Sitka’s drug culture. She didn’t want to give up hope, but the family needed to move on.

“I think she just got too far in, you know. She was in a really bad place after my dad passed away. So I would like to think so. She was a strong person, she really was. Those boys meant the world to her, and despite what was happening to her, and her unhealthy lifestyle, she still somehow managed to be a good mom.”

The state ruled Grant’s death a likely homicide. The case remains open and unsolved.

The 80-foot tender Kupreanof slips beneath the waves just seconds after the last crew member was hoisted aboard an Air Station Sitka helicopter. (USCG image)

And life also made headlines in 2015. Early in the morning on June 10, the 80-foot fishing tender Kupreanof began taking on water offshore of Lituya Bay. An Air Station Sitka helicopter arrived on scene and found the Kupreanof about half-submerged in rough seas, with four men on board.

The helicopter commander, Chris Stoeckler, asked the crew to get in their life raft, but the Kupreanof radioed back, with a problem.

“I’ve got one man that’s pretty old and can’t swim.”

A rescue swimmer was lowered to assist all four men into a raft, and all were safely hoisted to the helicopter, just as the Kupreanof slipped under the waves. There is a video of this rescue available online that is more real than any reality television you’ll ever see, though it plays like another day at the office for the cool heads flying the helicopter.

Simeon Swetsov, Jr., left, the mayor of St. Paul in the Pribilof Islands, choked up as he testified before the NPFMC advisory panel. Beside him is Mateo Paz-Soldan. (Rachel Waldholz/KCAW)

Sitka hosted two major fisheries meetings this year, the State Board of Fisheries, and the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council. The meetings were filled with intense issues, but none more so than the Council’s deliberations over wasted halibut — or bycatch. The stakes are enormous for small-boat fishermen in the villages of Western Alaska. Member Duncan Fields was aggrieved when the rest of the council adopted bycatch limits favoring larger commercial interests.

“I acknowledge on a personal basis my identity with the folks living in Western Alaska, and their loss of economic opportunity, personal identity, and cultural legacy. I get it.”

On three separate occasions this fall young vandals tipped over headstones in the Russian Orthodox Cemetery. (KCAW photo/Emily Kwong)

Cultural legacy came into play in other news stories as well. This fall, Sitka’s Orthodox Cemetery was struck by three separate episodes of vandalism, where numerous headstones were tipped over. Bob Sam is the caretaker of the 200-year old cemetery, which holds the remains of mostly Alaska Natives.

“When you’re washing a headstone, it’s no different than washing somebody’s feet. You experience a kind of humility.”

Sam was nearing despair over the repeated vandalism, but help from the police department and cadets at the Sitka Trooper Academy helped restore his faith. After each incident, law enforcement personnel returned to the cemetery to raise the stones, some weighing hundreds of pounds. Sitka police later caught the culprits, a group of 8-10 year old children.

Another cultural rift was mended when the Alaska Day Committee was called out on its use of the name “Slave Auction” for an annual fundraiser at the Pioneer Bar. Pressure to drop the name came from the NAACP in Anchorage, in a press release issued on Alaska Day. In the auction, business owners agree to provide a service to a high bidder.
Event organizers felt that the otherwise benign, 31-year old event had been unfairly targeted. This is Mary Magnuson.

“This controversy frankly offends me a little bit, that people who know nothing about my community are pointing fingers and acting like we’re racist.”

The Sitka Tribe endorsed the NAACP’s position, saying “slave auction” was insensitive. The committee changed the name to “Alaska Day Auction,” and suggested that they would have welcomed a phone call from the NAACP, rather than a limelight.

There is cultural rift, and then there’s just culture.

Music: Cantina Band from Star Wars

On December 17, in Sitka and just about everywhere, fans flocked to the premiere of Episode VII of Star Wars. The intergalactic odyssey proved inter-generational, as parents stood in a line reaching toward St. Michael’s Cathedral to watch a film with their children, that they first saw as children themselves.

“This is probably the most important night of my life since I was 5 years old on Christmas Eve and watched Star Wars for the first time,” said one movie-goer.

Mike Romine stands in front of his home on Wachusetts Street. He even provided a low-power FM signal so viewers could listen to holiday music in their vehicles. (KCAW photo/Brielle Schaeffer)

And afterwards, on that evening and many others, Sitkans would get in their cars to drive to the corner of Kimsham and Wachusetts streets, to the home of Mike Romine, a Christmas light enthusiast and — for one month at least –probably Sitka’s best electrical customer.

Romine’s show has evolved over the past decade into something worthy of Vegas, but it isn’t heavy handed. As programmed lights climb a tower, they merge to form the words August 18, Elmer, Ulises, and Bill — the three Sitkans who perished in the landslide.

“I just knew that there were a lot of people that it affected. People just came together, it was a pretty big deal. And because I was thinking of them, most of Sitka probably was too. I think the families have appreciated it.”

Music: Wiz Khalifa’s See You Again.

And it’s been gestures like Mike Romine’s, large and small, bright and not so visible — too many to count, really — that turn a difficult year into a good one.

Let’s meet again in 2016. Happy New Year.

The Blue Lake dam spilled for the first time this weekend, several months ahead of schedule. (Photo courtesy of Lance Ewers).

Sitka’s Blue Lake hydro project reached another milestone this weekend, as water began spilling over the lip of the Blue Lake Dam.

And “spill” probably isn’t the right word. With the dam now some 83 feet higher, the result is a full-fledged waterfall.

Project Manager Dean Orbison said it means the project is well and truly done — and the dam is doing its job.

“It means that the dam did not tip over when we put water behind it, and that’s what it was designed to not do,” he said. “It’s holding the reservoir back just exactly like we designed it to do.”

What’s surprising is the timing. Water spilling over the dam means the reservoir is completely full, covering an additional 362 acres of forest land. That’s several months ahead of the best-case scenario predicted by project planners. The reservoir wasn’t expected to fill until this October or November, at the earliest. But a warm winter and spring has meant a quick snow melt, lower electricity use — and high water levels.

Orbison compared the reservoir to a fuel tank — and right now, Sitka’s tank is full to overflowing. Any water that spills over the dam isn’t flowing through the turbines in the Blue Lake power house, and isn’t being converted into electricity.

So if you have a project that requires a lot of electricity, well, now’s a good time for it, Orbison said.

“The key thing everyone should know is that they should use electricity so that we can pay for the whole thing,” Orbison said, laughing. “Because that’s how it gets paid for, with revenue from selling electricity.”

Project Manger Dean Orbison addressed the crowd at the Blue Lake hydro project dedication. It was his last day on the job, before retiring. (Emily Kwong, KCAW)

Sitka’s City Hall is in the midst of a generational shift, with a spate of retirements among longtime staff. Those who have retired in April and May alone had racked up 93 years of city service between them.

KCAW checked in with several folks in their last days on the job.

Downloadable audio

Longtime City Clerk Colleen Ingman poses with a service award at her last assembly meeting. (Rachel Waldholz/KCAW)

At the Blue Lake dedication ceremony on Friday, the last word went to Generation Engineer — and Blue Lake project manager — Dean Orbison.

Orbison: This particular project, and this success, and working together with this team, is by far the pinnacle of my career – which ends today! [Laughter]

Orbison is retiring after 19 years with the City of Sitka. He worked on the Blue Lake hydro project for the last seven.

 KCAW: How does it feel to see it finally come to completion?

Orbison: Good! I mean, couldn’t be better! It is done! [Laughs]

Also retiring is Utility Director Chris Brewton, who shepherded the Blue Lake project to completion. He was with the city for six and a half years. And he put a little something special in the project’s time capsule.

Brewton: Actually, I put a bottle of scotch and a note to the crew of the future to have a toast on us and hopefully the plant’s running well, and everyone’s happy.

And as for advice for his replacement?

Brewton: The crew we have in the Electric Department is phenomenal. So I think they’ll do just as a good a job training the new guy as they did training me. So I really wish them the best.

Meanwhile, Colleen Ingman is leaving after almost 23 years of city service – 21 of them as City Clerk. That means 21 years of sitting at the assembly table as the parliamentarian, a position that gave her an up-close view of successive generations of Sitka’s elected officials. Speaking at her last assembly meeting, she said that has been a privilege.

“I know how hard it is to be successful, especially in your elected positions,” she told the assembly. “When you get in you’re so excited. And then all of a sudden, you realize rapidly that you can’t please everyone, and you can’t please your friends. And that’s a very difficult chair to sit in. So I have the greatest admiration for you.”

“As I mentioned in my resignation letter, I will miss working with you,” she said. “The politics, not so much.”

Colleen: I think it’s changed tremendously…

KCAW spoke with Ingman and Government Relations Director Marlene Campbell on April 30th, their last day of work, as they reflected on how the city has changed.

 Ingman: I mean, the overload of work was just tremendous. I had an in-basket that was three feet tall. And they wouldn’t allow you to work overtime. So I’m like, how do I sleep at night?

Campbell: Plus a very small staff. Very small.

Together: Totally inadequate.

 It’s better now, they said, but it can still be overwhelming.

Ingman: Sitka is probably the most complex municipality in the state. And every day you go to work, you have set things you know you need to get done, but every day you don’t know what you’re gonna be faced with. Because it’s whatever comes across that phone line, whatever comes across that door, whatever is coming before the assembly, whatever the administration has to tackle, whatever the state’s dealing with, whatever the feds are bringing in. So it’s constantly challenging and constantly changing.

Meanwhile, Marlene Campbell is leaving after working for the city for 27 years, most recently as government relations director. And that means she takes the long view when it comes to crises like the current state budget crunch.

Campbell: So the sky has been purported to be falling prior to now. It probably really is falling at this point. Things are changing dramatically. But I think more importantly, the city is in a totally different position than it was a decade ago…because we have responded from the mill closure in 1993 and the loss of our 400 top wage jobs. At this point, the city is in a completely different situation and far more capable of moving forward than a decade or two ago.

So how does it feel to be leaving? Surreal, Ingman said. Campbell agreed:

Marlene Campbell:…So many years, so long, and then, all of a sudden, this is it!

Ingman: This is the last day! [Laughs]

Campbell: This is the last day! Surreal is the perfect word!

 ***

Other retirements in the last year include former information systems director Garry McCarty, who retired last summer after 31 years with the city; former Planning Director Wells Williams, who retired in October after 26 years; former Animal Control Officer Nancy Buckmaster, who retired on April 30th after 19 years of city service, and former Buildings and Facilities manager Chris Wilbur, who retired at the end of last year after 14 years of service.

Assessor Randy Hughes will retire later this month, after four years with the city.

Project Manager Dean Orbison (left) and Mayor Mim McConnell smashed a bottle of champagne against one of the new, blue turbines. (Emily Kwong/KCAW)

State and local officials, including Gov. Bill Walker, gathered in Sitka on Friday (5-8-15) to formally dedicate the Blue Lake dam. The largest public works project in city history, it’s projected to meet the city’s electricity needs for the next thirty years.

People crowded into the Blue Lake power house to celebrate the completion of the hydro project. (Emily Kwong/KCAW)

Downloadable audio

Mayor Mim McConnell and Project Manager Dean Orbison did the honors, smashing a bottle of champagne against one of the brand new, bright blue turbines in Sitka’s Blue Lake power house.

McConnell: Ready?

Orbison: Ready!

[[Bottle breaks. Cheers.]]

Orbison: Let’s have some wieners!

The ceremony was followed by a barbecue.

It marked the end of a process that began years ago, as the city found itself maxing out the two dams that provide most of Sitka’s electricity, and burning expensive diesel — without much power to spare for expanding businesses.

The project broke ground in 2012. Two years later, the city has raised the Blue Lake dam by 83 feet, inundated more than 300 acres of rainforest, and added the three new turbines, which together added 27-percent more hydro capacity. That means, if all goes according to plan, Sitka will be running on rainfall for the next three decades.

Sitka Representative Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins called it a “declaration of independence.” And Governor Bill Walker said this kind of renewable energy is a model for the rest of the state.

“This is a great day, not just for Sitka. This is a great day for Alaska,” Walker said. He told the assembled crowd that stable energy costs are the key to a growing economy, and that more communities in Alaska need to liberate themselves from volatile energy sources like diesel.

“People love this project now, they’re going to really love it ten years from now,” Walker said. “You’re going to be absolute legends 30 years from now. Because you have stabilized the cost of energy.”

Governor Bill Walker addressed the crowd at the Blue Lake dam dedication ceremony. Seated next to him are City Administrator Mark Gorman and Mayor Mim McConnell. (Emily Kwong/KCAW)

The project hasn’t been without controversy, especially as the price tag ballooned from an early construction estimate of $50-million to a final project cost of $142-million — or $158-million, if you include new backup diesel generators. Of that, the state has kicked in about $59-million. The city has borrowed to pay for the rest.

But city officials say the dam is worth every penny. And State Senator Bert Stedman recalled negotiating for those pennies in the legislature, as railbelt lawmakers sought billions for massive hydro projects like the proposed Susitna-Watana dam.

“So we stuck our hand up, and said, fine, we got a couple little hydro projects,” Stedman said. “We don’t want the billions, $8-billion you want in the railbelt. We just want some rounding errors, chump change, and we’ll get our little project — one of which was Blue Lake.”

Stedman, meanwhile, is already looking ahead to the next dam. He said he hopes Sitka’s economy grows so fast, it maxes out Blue Lake’s new capacity in half the time projected. This may have been the largest project in city history so far, but he said, to laughter, “I’m hoping when they bury me in the future, it’ll be number two. ”