Empire Archives is a series printed every Saturday featuring a short compilation of headline stories in the Juneau Empire from archived editions in 1985, 1995 and 2005.
This week in 1985, it’s a little early for Juneau’s golfers to be polishing their clubs, but a land swap currently under consideration could clear the way for private developers to build an 18-hole golf course and indoor ice skating rink in Juneau. Developers Roger Brown and Pat Barrett say they have a good chance of arranging private ban financing for the $6 million to $7 million golf course and the $1.5 million to $2 million ice skating rink to be built along Montana Creek in the Mendenhall Valley, provided a complex three-way land swap will open up enough land for the course. The developers want to put the course on 202 acres of municipal land on the north side of Montana Creek Road across from the rifle and pistol range.
Today an 18-hole golf course is a decades-long discussed idea that remains merely that. However, there is indoor ice skating at Treadwell Arena — built at the other end of town on Savikko Road in Douglas.
Original Story: “Fore! Developers plan new golf course, ice rink,” by Chuck Kleeschulte. 11/14/1985.
This week in 1995, the reigning Miss National Congress of American Indians said she would never enter a beauty pageant. “A lot of what the standard beauty pageant represents to me is self-aggrandizement and that really isn’t a Native American trait to me,” said Mary Sattler, a Juneau resident crowned Miss NCAI at the 52nd annual convention of the Native Congress of American Indians on Nov. 3. But for Sattler, a junior at the University of Alaska Southeast, competing at the NCAI and other Native pageants is a celebration of her Yupik heritage. As Miss NCAI, Sattler will travel across the country this summer speaking to Native youth organizations.
Today Mary Sattler Peltola is the first Alaska Native elected to Congress, after winning the race for Alaska’s lone U.S. House seat last year.
Original Story: “Native ways win at pageant,” by Kristan Hutchison. 11/13/1995.
This week in 2005, Sealaska Corp. announced Monday that its shareholders and employees face a serious economic loss because the corporation’s timber resources are much smaller than previously thought. The regional Native corporation cannot maintain its current rate of timber harvest in Southeast Alaska, said Chris McNeil, the corporation’s president and chief executive officer, speaking at a two-day summit in Juneau. Sealaska estimates the total economic loss from logging reductions will approach $22.5 million. The corporation plans to reduce its timber harvest by 25% in 2006 and may reduce the harvest by 50% in future years
Today Sealaska has shifted away from timber harvesting to what it calls a business model that’s sustainable, responsible, close to home and rooted in traditional values. But the company last week also announced a lower annual shareholder dividend for the first time in at least a decade and shortly afterward announced CEO Anthony Mallott is stepping down effective Jan. 1.
Original Story: “Sealaska to reduce logging by 25 percent,” by Elizabeth Bluemink. 11/15/2005.
