Daily Sitka Sentinel

October 11, 2013 Community Happenings

Hames Center Open
    For Alaska Day
    The Hames Center will be open on Alaska Day, Oct. 18, from 9 a.m. to  1 p.m. Lunch spin will be at 12:15 p.m. The website is www.hamescenter.com.

Family Fun Day
At Hames Sunday
Hames Center and its volunteers will host Family Fun Day 3-5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 13.
Bouncy castle, bounce house, climbing wall, ping-pong tables and kids toys will be available to all.
Gio Villanueva will instruct his class “Get It On” 4-5 p.m. free of charge. Those who purchase an adult day pass will receive one free child pass.  For more information visit hamescenter.com or call 747-5080.

    Raven’s Way
    Program Open
    Enrollment Set
    Raven’s Way, the SEARHC residential teen substance abuse treatment program, has made a few changes.
    The program has shifted from scheduled enrollment, where students were able to participate in the program  only during specific sessions, to “open enrollment,” which allows parents the flexibility to enroll their child in need of treatment for substance abuse any time throughout the year.
    The program also has increased the average stay to eight weeks rather than six weeks.
    The cultural and adventure-based program is open to all Alaska teens, both  Native and non-Native, ages 13-18. Its focus remains on developing each young person’s physical, emotional, mental and spiritual strengths, as well as their communication and problem-solving skills.
    Services are provided by licensed/certified staff, including psychologists and therapists, alcohol/drug counselors, and a secondary education teacher. Raven’s Way also provides medical and psychiatric support through Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital.
    The program is accepting students. Raven’s Way takes referrals from parents, community service providers, health councils, probation officers, schools and others. For more information, contact Jeremiah Craig, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. at 966-8716 or visit Raven’s Way on the SEARHC website under Behavioral Health Services, http://www.searhc.org/services/behavioral-health/yeil-jeeyax-ravens-way.

Harp Sing Set
The Second Sunday Sitka Sacred Harp Sing is set 3:30-5 p.m. Oct. 13 at the Pioneers Home Chapel. Beginners and listeners welcome. For more informaiton call 738-2089.

MEHS Junior in
All-State Band
Jeffrey Moore, a junior from Unalaska, was selected to represent Mt. Edgecumbe High School as a french horn player in the band at the All State Music Festival in Anchorage.
The festival will be held in late November. Moore was previously selected to the 2013 Southeast Honor Band and has played in the all-state band twice previously.
For more information, contact MEHS music teacher Stephen Courtright, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 966-3293.

Swim Team Plans
Dinner, Auction
The Sitka High School swim team will have a prime rib dinner and auction benefit 5:30 p.m. Oct. 27 in the Sitka High School commons.
Tickets are available from individual swimmers or at Silver Basin. Doors open at 5 p.m. for auction preview.

Taste of Russia
Set for Oct. 13
Taste of Russia, a benefit for the Alaska Day Committee, will feature palmeni – meat dumplings – 6 p.m. Oct. 13 at Centennial Hall.
The meal, $10 for adults and $5 for children, also includes salads, breads, cookies, tea and coffee.
Live Russian music will be provided by the SitNicks with dancing by the New Archangel Dancers.
For more information call Cyndy Gibson at 738-0655.

Blatchley Book Fair
Slated Oct. 14-18
Blatchley Middle School will hold its annual Scholastic Book Fair Oct. 14-18 in the school library.
Students will visit the fair in their language arts classes. The fair will also be open during parent-teacher conferences Oct. 15-16.
The Blatchley Kids Carnival on Oct. 26 will be the last chance to visit the book fair.

    Keystone Kops Offer
    Alaska Day Comedy
    Sitka’s version of the Keystone Kops are again out on the streets spreading good times and merriment while selling Alaska Day commemorative buttons for a $2 donation.
    The squad recruited by Jen Houx,  includes Rachel Ranke, Rachel Brown, Megan Vannoy, Laurie Nesheim, Michelle Upcraft, Karoline Bekeris, Robin McNeilley, Julene Howard, and a Kathleen.
    For those unfamiliar with the tradition, Keystone Kops appeared in Mack Sennett’s silent-film slapstick farces from 1914 to the early 1920s.  Encyclopedia Britannica describes them as an “insanely incompetent police force, dressed in ill-fitting, unkempt uniforms.
    They became enshrined in American film history as genuine folk-art creations whose comic appeal was based on a native irreverence for authority.  What the Kops lacked in sense they made up for in zeal, as they dashed off to the chase on foot or drove off in a tin lizzie, in jerky, speeded-up tempo.  Whether they collided with one another around corners or became entangled in clotheslines, ladders, or folding tents, their facial expressions of dour dignity never changed.”
    Houx can be reached at 738-1779.

    Dance Party is
    Slated Saturday
    Saturday at 10 p.m., Sitka will be the final stop in a dance party that begins in Tokyo 17 hours earlier and circumnavigates the globe.
    All are invited to join a happy band of Sitkans dancing through the streets to celebrate Alaska Day.
    ‘‘All you’ll need is a pair of headphones and a device that can store music,’’ organizers said.
    For more information ahead of time,  email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.   for details and links to the music downloads. To find out more about the event, go to globalfloat.com.

    Winning Writers
    Slated to Recite
    Sitka writers are sharing their thoughts about “Celebrating 50 Years of the Alaska Marine Highway” in this year’s writing contest.        
    The elementary and middle school winners will be heard 4 p.m. Sunday  at Kettleson Memorial Library. Monday night’s 7 p.m. Variety Show at Centennial Hall will present winning entries by high school and adult writers.
    Write Women of Sitka conducts the annual contest for the Alaska Day Festival which provides prizes of $100, $50 and $25 in each of the four age categories.  Excerpts from some winning entries will be published.

    Greeters Thanked for
    Alaska Day Welcome
    Alaska Day Festival planners extend thanks to the corps of greeters enlisted this year, including Judy Arnold, Erin Wamsley, Sharla Boddy, Santana Sumauang, Terri Middlebrooks, Kim Nielsen, Anne Lankenau, Stephanie Snelling, Yvonne Wilkes, and Betty Conklin, who coordinates the effort.
    For more than a week leading up to Oct. 18, greeters in 1860s costumes appear at the airport meeting Sitka visitors, in the parade, and at other activities, dispensing event schedules and commemorative buttons.
    Betty Conklin, 966-2281, invites other women or men volunteers to get ready for 2014.

    Unitarians Meet
    At this Sunday’s Unitarian Fellowship program Paul Rioux will lead a discussion of the possibility of becoming a ‘‘Welcoming Congregation.’’ It will include consideration of the difference between tolerance and acceptance.
    Fellowship begins at 10:30 a.m., with the program beginning at 10:45.  Children’s religious education is provided. Soup and bread follows the program at noon.
    The Fellowship Hall is located at 408 Marine Street, with parking behind off Spruce Street.

    New Arrivals
Baby Boy Charlton
    Liam Gregory Charlton was born 12:32 p.m. Oct. 3 at Sitka Community Hospital. At birth, the infant weighed 10 pounds, 10 ounces, and was 21 inches long.
    Parents are Jessica Charlton and Adam Charlton. The mother works at the Sitka School District and the father  at the City of Sitka.
    Maternal grandmother is Kathy Blizard. Paternal grandparents are Greg and Becky Charlton. Paternal great-grandmother is Roberta Sorenson.
    Liam joins a brother, Aiden Lafriniere.

    Donations Sought
    For Student Project
    Students in Pacific High School’s global oppression of women and girls class are seeking donations for an upcoming fundraiser to raise money for the Edna Adan University Hospital in Somaliland. The hospital is seeking to reduce the maternal mortality rate by training 1,000 midwives.
    Students are seeking donations of the following items: all-purpose flour (lots), wheat flour, yeast, salt, vegetable oil (lots), sugar, condensed milk, taco seasoning, Crisco, margarine, honey, butter, jam, syrup and powdered sugar.
    Donations are needed by Oct. 22. Items can be dropped off at the SEACC building/Pacific High School 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m. weekdays. Call Hillary Seeland at 747-0525, or email her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .


    USCG Open House,
    Road Race Canceled
    Upon notification by U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Sitka personnel that lack of federal appropriations will prevent their participation, the Alaska Day Festival coordinators regret that the annual road race and Coast Guard open house must be canceled. Those events had been scheduled for Saturday.