This Week in History
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TweetSept. 16, 1970
“Fireman, Save That Church!” was the cry yesterday when a group of citizens headed by Mrs. Eunice Benson halted the burning of the old Haines Presbyterian Church (see photo) scheduled for today as part of the training of fire fighters assembled in Haines.
Mrs. Benson has called a meeting for Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the school gym to enlist pubic help to preserve the church, long a landmark in town, which had been scheduled for destruction.
She said she hopes to turn the building into a cultural center and meeting place for Haines and has means available to move it. She said that the old building could be used as an art gallery, sales room for art supplies, and center for art classes.
Besides, she said, the building has historical and sentimental value.
Sept. 15, 1994
A summer worker camped at Chilkoot Lake received a frightening wake-up call but avoided serious injury when a bear ripped into her tent at the state campground early Sunday morning.
State trooper Don Otis said he was called out to the campground about 1:30 a.m. Sunday after Meagan Sherman reported to city police that she had been bitten through her tent and sleeping bag by a bear. However, public safety officials said it appeared the injury may have been caused just by a swat.
Sherman said she returned to her campsite after an evening of waitressing and was just nodding off when she heard a bear outside. “She said she returned from work late, right from the restaurant, and said she probably smelled like food,” Sanvik recounted. “She was asleep or almost asleep when she heard the paws hitting the tent. Then she said she felt it on her leg, pulling her, and biting her through her (sleeping) bag.”
At that point, Sherman said she began screaming, prompting the bear to drop its hold. She received a “bad scratch” about four inches long which began swelling almost immediately from the bruising, Otis said.
Sept. 10, 2009
Twenty-one-year-old Bob Flick sat at his post in the Army radio office at Chilkoot Barracks on Dec. 7, 1941. It was about 3 p.m. when he received the emergency dispatch from Juneau.
“The Japanese government has bombed and strafed the Philippines and Hawaiian Islands. Therefore, we are officially at war with Japan. You will take the following precautions to establish the protection of your radio station.”
Flick immediately called the colonel, his senior officer at the barracks, to relay the news. “I just got a message we’re at war.”
“The hell you say?” the colonel said, according to Flick.
Eighty-nine-year-old Bob Flick, now a resident of St. Louis, Mo., visited Haines last week aboard a cruise ship. It was his first visit to Alaska in the 68 years since his WWII service.
