Chilkat Valley News - Serving Haines and Klukwan, Alaska since 1966

Despite the absence of the valley’s major retailers and its manufacturers, the Haines Chamber of Commerce “Economic Summit” was a success for providing a snapshot of the community and how businesses are faring here.

Participants heard encouraging news about cruise visitation numbers and the local real estate market, and a warning from commercial gillnetters concerned that their livelihoods now rest almost entirely on hatchery chum. All useful information.

Further, the summit was an opportunity for community and business leaders to mingle on neutral ground, to ask questions, and learn more about each other’s plans. Some took an extra step and presented their vision of the town and its future.

Events like the summit are important on several levels. They foster understanding, encourage cooperation, and set the groundwork for a common vision for our community. They’re also a sounding board for ideas that may require public money, support or manpower.

Kudos to the Chamber for organizing the summit. Here’s to another one next year.

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Last week’s long discussion by school and borough leaders on whether to support “in concept” the siting of a modular preschool building on the grounds of the Haines School was unnecessary.

All the studies are in on this issue. Students who attend preschool develop brain power faster than those who don’t. In terms of producing smart students, the U.S. is now lagging behind nations that offer free preschool.

Due in part to recent brain research showing children are capable of learning much sooner than we previously knew, there’s little doubt among educators that it’s only a few years before preschools in this country are incorporated into public education.

The only real question for borough officials is whether the preschool should be a trailer on the school grounds or a wing on the Haines School. A trailer today will likely become a wing tomorrow, and, for our lack of foresight or courage, we’ll pay once for each.

I’m thinking that the old coots we call “The Greatest Generation” would have spent about five minutes on this question, and the discussion would have gone like this: “Well, all the studies show that preschool leads to smarter kids. Let’s have a quick show of hands for building a preschool on to the side of our school. Motion passes unanimously. Next topic.”

In our current era of political gridlock on even mundane issues, such a decision today would be called “visionary.” A generation ago, it likely would have been considered common sense. And a done deal.

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Organizers have canceled “Second Saturday” barn dances at the ANB Hall, due to scant participation, and with the closure of the Harbor Bar, the local poker league and Thursday karaoke are no more.

That’s too bad. Going out to dance, or sing, or play cards with your neighbors is a lot healthier than lying on the sofa, watching the tube. Such activities provide a night out during the long winter and bring together folks who may not otherwise get to know each other.

In that way, they help bridge some of the factionalism that’s endemic to our town, comprised as it is of people with differing backgrounds and beliefs.

In his 2009 best-seller, “The Big Sort,” journalist Bill Bishop documents how the cloistering of like-minded people is tearing our nation apart. People who don’t mix with each other tend to grow distrustful and intolerant of each other’s views. That’s dangerous because trust and tolerance are the oil that moves the wheels of a civil society.

In a small town, when we allow political differences to define our relationships with others, we not only sell each other short, but we also limit our ability to work together in other, important ways.

Social activities that bring together a mix of residents help make connections. In doing so, they build community.

- Tom Morphet