COSMIC CARNIVAL – Kasey Davis performs under black lights at Sitka Cirque studio Wednesday night as she rehearses for the weekend’s Cosmic Carnival shows. The shows are a production of Friends of the Circus Arts in collaboration with the Sitka Cirque studio. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
Significant staffing cuts are likely in Sitka’s scho [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Assembly at a special meeting Thursday improved t [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
From solar flares, to black holes, comets and shootin [ ... ]
By ARIADNE WILL
Sentinel Staff Writer
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By NATHANIEL HERZ
Northern Journal
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By CLAIRE STREMPLE and
JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
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HOME OPENER - Sitka’s Sadie Saline runs after hitting what became a two-run triple against Thu [ ... ]
Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
April 18
At 1:22 p.m. a dog w [ ... ]
Family Fun Fest
Slated Saturday;
Everyone is Invited
Sitka Tribe of Alaska will host a free Family Fun [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Rep. Rebecca Himschoot says in the discussion on educ [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
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By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
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The Alaska House of Representatives voted Wednesday to allow comp [ ... ]
By YERETH ROSEN
Alaska Beacon
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has dismissed an appeal filed by [ ... ]
Mr. Whitekeys
In Sitka to Tell
Gold Rush Tale
Sitka Historical Society and Museum will present ‘‘Th [ ... ]
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
April 17
At 9:08 a.m. a transformer was r [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The threat of major cutbacks to the subsistence socke [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
With the first vote on the city budget for fiscal yea [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
In the final day of play in the recreational division City League volleyball [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
Three amateur athletes from Sitka were among tens of [ ... ]
By CLAIRE STREMPLE
Alaska Beacon
A proposal to require Alaska schools to keep opioid-overdose-r [ ... ]
By YERETH ROSEN
Alaska Beacon
Alaska’s Kobuk River, which flows out of the Brooks Range above [ ... ]
Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
April 16
At 8:07 a.m. a woman [ ... ]
Presentation On
Medicare, SS
SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium and Cynthia Gibson, CFP®, an [ ... ]
Daily Sitka Sentinel
No Hazard Found After Dynamite Search
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
An army ordnance disposal team found no live explosives Saturday after tracing a suspicious pair of detonator wires to a hole created in a rock blasting project 30 years ago.
The detonator wires were discovered Friday just off Lance Drive, raising concerns that they might lead to unexploded dynamite.
Local authorities called in an Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal team from Anchorage to oversee the investigation and possible disposal of any explosives that might be found.
Assistant Fire Chief Al Stevens said the cautious digging to trace the wires lasted from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Sitka police and fire departments and public works crews assisted the military experts, who were wearing combat helmets and body armor.
A public works crewman was also outfitted with an Army helmet and bomb vest as he ran the excavator digging through the earth and rock to find the end of the blasting cord.
Traffic on Sawmill Creek Road was stopped from time to time, usually for waits of five to 10 minutes, while the work was going on.
Stevens said it appears that the blasting cord already served its purpose. The dynamite it was connected to appears to have exploded, fragmenting the rock, turning stone to dust, and forming a two-by-four-foot cavern in the bedrock.
“What had happened is they packed so much sand into the hole around the detonation cord ... the sand was packed so tight that it protected the detonation cord, making it look like unexploded ordnance,” he said. Stevens added that the explosion 30 years ago was big enough that it fractured a garage-size piece of rock.
Stevens noted another outcome to the emergency project was the removal of an 80-foot hemlock tree that had long been a danger to nearby power lines.
The city had the tree cut down Friday because it was so close to the location of the suspected explosives, and close to power lines and homes.
Neighbors were pleased to see the tree go.
“They fear for their lives on a windy day,” Stevens said. “And the owner of the property is happy because he has firewood for next winter.”
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20 YEARS AGO
April 2004
The 7th Annual Honoring Women dinner will feature Roberta Sue Kitka, ANS Camp 4; Rose MacIntyre, U.S. Coast Guard Spouses and Women’s Association; Christine McLeod Pate, SAFV; Marta Ryman, Soroptimists; and Mary Sarvela (in memoriam), Sitka Woman’s Club.
50 YEARS AGO
April 1974
Eighth-graders Joanna Hearn and Gwen Marshall and sixth-graders Annabelle Korthals, Jennifer Lewis and Marianne Mulder have straight A’s (4.00) for the third quarter at Blatchley Junior High.