Skagway News’ Melinda Munson previews the latest issue of the paper

A Miami man perishes in the Skagway Harbor and a date has been set for the special election to determine the future of the community’s medical clinic. KHNS’ Mike Swasey spoke with The Skagway News’ Melinda Munson for a preview of the latest issue of the paper.

Swasey – Melinda Munson from the Skagway News, thank you so much for joining me to talk about what’s been happening in Skagway recently. What’s the latest?

Munson – Well, our police department and fire department have been incredibly busy. In one week we’ve had two tragedies. The Celebrity Solstice had a man overboard, actually a woman overboard, on May 17, and our Chief of Police was the one who took the report when the Solstice came into the harbor. 

And then things got worse. On May 20, we had a male seasonal worker who jumped off the Broadway dock, started swimming, made it to a shore, to some rocks that are on the side, spent a little bit of time on the rocks and got back in the water and started swimming back towards a cruise ship near the pier for Broadway dock and just went under never came back up.

Swasey – That was the Norwegian Jewel that was at the Broadway dock at that point and a lot of people were there and witnessed it. 

Munson – Correct. It was a hot sunny day. There were passengers coming back and forth. So there were a lot of people who saw him go under, saw his body in the water. His body stayed there for about a day until a dog crew came in and was able to actually sniff the water and alert the crews to where his body was in the water, and they were able to recover him. 

Swasey – Oh wow. Do you know where that was? 

Munson – It was pretty close to where his body actually went down. And so that was 32-year-old Anthony Rodriguez of Miami, Florida.

Swasey – And do we know him as a seasonal worker in Skagway?

Munson – Correct. He was a seasonal worker in Skagway. We’ve had a lot of struggles in Skagway lately. Police have been answering a lot of calls for individuals with mental health distress. And so I think it’s really important to stress that anybody who’s struggling and needs some extra help, can always call the clinic and the clinic, the Dahl Memorial Clinic will get them connected with services. And in an extreme emergency, they can always call 911 and the police department will come to you immediately and help you with whatever it is that you need. 

Swasey – I think it was, the chief during his interview, that won him the job, when asked what his number one issue in Skagway was he said it was mental health.

Munson – Correct. And we’re in a place where we’re understaffed. We haven’t had a real season in a couple of years and the tensions are pretty high already and we’re only in May. And I can only see it getting worse. So I think that as a community, we really need to take care of each other and really monitor ourselves and make sure that everybody’s doing okay.

Swasey – Yeah. What else is happening in Skagway?

Munson – The other big thing, we’ve got a vote on July 12 on whether Skagway is going to retain and keep running its clinic or if we are going to ask SEARHC to come in and purchase the property and take over operations. It’s a really emotionally charged issue for Skagway. Skagway basically built that clinic from the ground up, it’s kind of its baby.

Swasey – It’s unique in that it’s the only one of its kind in America I’m told. 

Munson – As far as I can tell we are the only municipality-owned clinic left in the country. We’re gonna vote on July 12. And the reason the assembly gave for having that vote on July 12, versus waiting for the general election in November is that the clinic cannot hire, let’s say an executive director, because it’s so unstable. People want to know who they’re going to be working for. And that was the reason given for having the special election on July 12. SEARHC has said they’ll come in twice. They’ll come in once in June and once in July to do a town hall meeting. They’ve set up a landing page where residents can send questions to, and that is going to be SEARHC.org/skagway.

Swasey – And they did, last summer, come in and hold a forum so that information is available, I assume, at skagway.org I believe.

Munson – Yeah, basically SEARHC, in those meetings, promised that whatever services Dahl provides now, that SEARHC would kind of maintain those services.

Swasey – Melinda Munson, thank you so much for sharing what’s happening in Skagway. I appreciate it.

Munson – Thanks, everybody. Take care.

Find the latest edition of the Skagway News at skagwaynews.com.