Haines High wins gold, Mud Bay events to be reconsidered and Bird Flu comes to Southeast

The Haines Glacier Bears track team brings home a gold medal from the state meet, Mud Bay commercial events will get further consideration by borough officials, and bird flu has landed in the upper Lynn Canal. KHNS’ Mike Swasey talked to Kyle Clayton, publisher of the Chilkat Valley News in Haines for the latest on these stories and more.

Swasey – Kyle, thanks so much for joining us. Let’s talk about all things Haines, what’s coming up in the latest edition of the Chilkat Valley News.

Clayton – The Glacier Bears track team did pretty well at state. They placed in the top four, six different times, in the different events. And the girl’s 4×200 meter relay team took first place. Those girls,

So they were able to take that first play spot which was exciting. 

Another newsworthy event that was on our front page this week was the votes to prohibit Mud Bay commercial events that occurred at the last assembly meeting. Looks like it’s going to be reconsidered. Some of the borough staff reached out to one of the assembly members and asked them to reconsider the vote after speaking with the borough attorney who thinks that it’s going to have some adverse effects on businesses out there. So that will be a controversial issue coming back.

Swasey – What kind of commercial events could happen out at Mud Bay?

Clayton – Well, there’s wedding events in two different businesses, one called Viking Cove and one called Chilkat Inlet Retreats. And there’s been some controversy around Viking Cove. Some residents out there have cited complaints that they’re not complying with their permit. The planning commission says they’re not out of compliance. In any event that issue goes back a couple of years. But within the last year, eight months, residents out there circulated a petition, got some signatures, and after about eight months of going back and forth to the planning commission and the assembly, the assembly voted four to two to approve their desire to prohibit commercial events.

It’s unclear how it will affect Viking Cove. And there’s some efforts to rezone Chilkat Inlet Retreat into a different zoning category which will allow them to continue to operate. The borough staff consulted the attorney after the vote occurred, which is what’s kind of thrown this all up into the air again.

Swasey – Kyle, there’s been some bird flu found in the upper Lynn Canal. What’s the latest on the bird flu outbreak in Haines?

Clayton – Well, they found a bald eagle dead at Jones Point. And they found that it contained a strain of bird flu that has spread across the world over the last couple of years and it’s affecting wild and domestic birds. They’re asking people to make sure that they remove bird baths or bird feeders.

Swasey – Then we had Beer Fest recently, and you’ve got some numbers from Beer Fest, is that right?

Clayton – Yes it was the first Beer Fest in a couple of years and 1,700 people came and imbibed at the fairgrounds. More than 25 brewers from around the state, and the Yukon, and Washington. There were 1,300 tickets sold. I think they were sold very shortly after they went on sale, which is pretty typical.

Swasey – What I found pretty interesting about the event this year is that they opened up more of the fairgrounds to allow people to be a little bit more spread out so it wasn’t so congregated in one area. I thought that was a pretty good idea.

Clayton – Yeah, there’s some good pictures of Beer Fest in the paper, acouple pictures anyway.

Swasey – Nice. And then what else is happening in Haines?

Clayton – Little League kicks off, opening day on Saturday. So that’ll be exciting. I think there’s more than 80 youths signed up to play Little League this summer. 

The harbor committee here, the ports and harbor committee, discussed raising moorage rates. Nothing concrete has been proposed, but it looks like they might be moving in that direction so people can keep their eye out on that, as that gets more concrete.

Swasey – Kyle, thanks so much for giving us the rundown on what’s happening in Haines and what the Chilkat Valley News is covering in the latest issue. I appreciate it. 

Clayton – Yeah, thanks. Thanks for doing this.