Photo from Facebook campaign flyer.
As a young girl in the late 1960’s, Cheryl D. Stickler attended the Haines elementary school until third grade. After leaving Haines she started a career in education, teaching in logging camps around Alaska. She returned to the Chilkat Valley with her husband and son in 1999 and worked as a school teacher and administrator in Haines and Klukwan for 17 years.
Stickler is retired now but stays active in the community. She is co-founder and president of the Haines Gals Shooting Club, co-chairman of the Haines Friends of the NRA, and treasurer of the Haines Sportsmen’s association.
“Between that and caring for family it keeps me busy,” Stickler said.
Stickler decided to run for office because these are unprecedented times and she said it is important for her to stand up, help out and share her voice. She said she would make a good addition to the assembly because she appreciates the diversity of opinions in the community.
“Together with multiple voices we can meet in the middle, engage in civil discourse, make strong decisions and move on with our lives. And in the process take care of one another with kindness and in a civil manner,” Stickler said.
Transparency and strong communication is a priority for Stickler, and she thinks the Haines Borough has room for improvement in those areas. She said that local leaders should make sure that members of the public are aware of important meetings that may affect them personally.
“If the chairs of those meetings would reach out to the community members whose projects and priorities are going to be primary topics of conversation, please reach out to those members and invite them,” Stickler said. “Make sure that they’re invited to the meeting so that when decisions are made that impact and affect people’s lives, they have a voice and they’re not blindsided.”
Stickler is also concerned about the number of bears roaming the Haines townsite. She thinks there is more to the issue than managing solid waste and bear attractants.
“I believe that the majority of Haines residents are doing their best to avoid setting out bear attractants. I believe the larger issue is that we have an overpopulation of bears in the townsite. I think that the assembly can work with Haines Borough Police, the trooper and Fish and Game to resolve this.”
Stickler is one of six candidates running in the election for the four open seats on the Haines Borough Assembly. She will face Helen Alten, Brenda Josephson, Caitie Kirby, Jerry Lapp, and Carol Tuynman in the election this October. You can learn more about the other candidates here.
