On July 21, 1986, Bartlett Memorial Hospital announced that it made almost half the amount of its $1 million deficit announced a year earlier. If the City and Borough of Juneau decided to stall the hospital’s expansion plans to aid the city’s deficit; most of the money would have to be used to keep the facility up to code. CBJ’s decision was to be announced the following day.
The CBJ Board of Education was settling policies related to school closure, class size, and tobacco and drug use. Most of the focus was to be pointed at finalizing the Capital School’s closure policy. The University of Alaska Southeast was preparing for impending budget cuts as well.
Amidst Alaska’s harrowing financial history, the joy of celebration still endured. In Fairbanks, the 25th annual World Eskimo Indian Olympics kicked off. It featured games, competitions, dances and art from many Alaska Native tribes.
In other celebratory news, two men, Cecile Rice and Frank Lendaro, were awarded U.S. Coast Guard certificates of merit for aiding the burning cruise ship, the Daphne, in June. A fire had gutted the Daphne’s generator room as it traveled through Chatham Strait on its way to Ketchikan, but the cruise ship made it back to Juneau under auxiliary power, with all 700 people aboard unharmed.
— “This Day in Juneau History” is compiled by Empire intern Tasha Elizarde, who sums up the day’s events — 30 years ago — by perusing Empire archives. To learn more about the project, click here.
The front page of the Empire on July 21, 1986
