Dave Kiffer - Alaskan Poet, Historian, Humorist

  By Dave Kiffer For the Daily News When Ernie De boer first came to Ketchikan in 1948, he came for a job that no longer exists here, dairy cow wrangler.  De boer, who died recently at the Ketchikan Pioneer’s Home at the age of 100, had been born and raised in western Washington. He had experience with dairy cows and there was a job in Ketchikan that sounded interesting. The Anderes family owned a Ketchikan dairy business called Crystal Dairy that provided milk and other products to Ketchikan residents.  “The owner of Dairygold in Seattle was a friend of one of the Anderes, so Mr. Anderes got in touch with him and asked if he could find somebody that knew how to handle cows and was willing to come up,” De boer said in 1994, during an interview with the Ketchikan Public Library Oral History Project. “I always wanted to go to Alaska and (I) figured it was a good opportunity. He sent us ( De Boer and his wife and two children) plane tickets and had a house...

  SOUTHEAST LOG 10-15-22 Three elected to Assembly HAINES - Gabe Thomas, Ben Aultman-Moore and Jerry Lapp  were elected to seats on the borough assembly. THE CHILKAT VALLEY NEWS   Port bond approved SKAGWAY - Voters approved a $65 million revenue bond to make improvements to the port. Orion Hanson and Dan Henry each won seats on Skagway’s borough assembly on Tuesday. Henry had previously served on the Assembly but resigned in 2016 when he was sent to prison for tax evasion. THE CHILKAT VALLEY NEWS Pot tax boosted SITKA - Steven Eisenbeisz will serve a second term as Sitka’s mayor. Chris Ystad and Thor Christianson were elected to the borough assembly. .Voters approved increasing the tax on marijuana products from 6 percent to 8 person and also approved spending up to $8 million for a marine haulout and boatyard. THE DAILY SITKA SENTINEL Public safety building defeated WRANGELL - Vice-Mayor Patty Gilbert has been elected as mayor, And a bond proposal for an $...

  SOUTHEAST LOG 10-8-22 Company fined in tugboat sinking PRINCE RUPERT - Wainwright Marine has been fined more than $50,000 by Transport Canada for failing to follow employment and safety requirements in staffing the tugboat Ingenika which sank last year near Kitimat in Gardner Canal, killing two crew members. THE PRINCE RUPERT NORTHERN VIEW New fire director PETERSBURG - Aaron Hankins has been named the new Fire/EMS/SAR director for the borough. Hankins has volunteered for the fire department for the past six years. THE PETERSBURG PILOT Riders raise $12,000 PRINCE RUPERT - Three Prince Rupert riders in the Tour de North have raised more than $12,000 for children's cancer research. Nathan Hokazono, Glen Kirkland and Kelsey Sonnel took part in the recent 600-mile bike race from Dawson Creek to Williams Lake. THE PRINCE RUPERT NORTHERN VIEW Hospital construction keeps pace TERRACE - A major milestone is taking place at the Mill Memorial Hospital construction site as the...

  SOUTHEAST LOG 10-1-22 Senior athletes score PRINCE RUPERT - Local senior athletes brought home 15 medals at the 55+ BC Games recently.  Jim Morse, 67, lead the group with three cycling competition gold medals. THE PRINCE RUPERT DAILY NEWS Smarter than the average bear! HAINES - Officials are recommending residents lock their car doors. It seems that at least one local bruin has figured out how to open the doors if they are unlocked. THE CHILKAT VALLEY NEWS locals honor queen TERRACE - Mary Ann Misfeldt led a special Royal Canadian Legion service honoring Queen Elizabeth last week. Misfeldt had met the Queen in 2005. That was the year that Misfeldt was the Legion's first female national president. THE TERRACE STANDARD Longtime teacher remembered CRAIG - Residents are remembering longtime Craig kindergarten teacher Justna Johns who died recently at 85. She was born in Klawock in 1936. THE PRINCE OF WALES ISLAND POST Field bond on ballot JUNEAU - Voters will...

  Historic Totem To Return to Kasaan 130 year old totem was i n Los Angeles, Colorado for 116 years More than a half century ago a Haida totem that was carved i n the 1800s was laying forgotten i n a lumber yard i n Los Angeles. I t was going to be turned to sawdust, but then fate i ntervened and i t spent the rest of the 20 th  century i n the courtyard of a Colorado museum. Now i t i s coming home to Kasaan. The pole, a 53-foot house pole with ties to Haida chief Son - i - Hat (Saanaxeit), will be welcomed back to Kasaan with a ceremony on November 5, according to Organized Village of Kasaan Tribal Chief Mike Jones. "We are at a time of a new beginning here," Jones said recently. "We have never had anything repatriated to our village before, let alone a massive frontal house pole." The totem pole was part of more than 200 tons of Haida cultural i tems that were shipped south i n 1906 to take part i n a national I ndian Crafts Exhibition i n Los Angeles. Th...

  By Dave Kiffer For the Daily News A totem pole that was carved i n   Kasaan   more than a century ago i s returning home i n November. The 53-foot pole has spent the last 116 years i n California and Colorado. I t i s not clear exactly when the pole was carved, but Mike Jones, the Organized Village of   Kasaan   Tribal President, says that photos from the 1890s show the pole standing i n what was then Old   Kasaan , which was located about 10 miles south of the current village on Prince of Wales I sland. I n 1906, the pole, a deconstructed long house, and hundreds of other cultural i tems were loaded onto the steamship Alki and sent to Los Angeles, California for a national I ndian Crafts Exhibition that was held on a open space near downtown i n what i s now Lincoln Park near the University of Southern California Campus. The exhibition was the brainchild of Henry Huntington, a California railroad magnate who also had an i nterest i n...

  Reconciliations took decades to come Native churches in Ketchikan, Juneau closed in 1962 Last summer, the national branch of the Presbyterian Church issued a formal apology to the Native community of Juneau over the closure of a primarily Native church in the 1960s. The Memorial Presbyterian Church was formed in early Juneau when it became apparent that the white parishioners at what eventually became the Northern Lights Church felt that segregated houses of worship were necessary.  For decades, Memorial Church was the center of the Native community in Juneau. Then, in 1962, the white Presbyterian church in Juneau decided it needed a new facility and convinced the national church organization to provide $200,000 for the new church. It also convinced the national organization to eliminate the separate Native church, a decision the national church now concedes was racially motivated. The reason for the closure given at the time was that Juneau coul...