Kidical Mass
Bike Ride On
Cyclists of all ages can join Sitka’s fourth Kidical Mass family bike ride, 2 p.m. Sept. 15 at the Sitka Community Playground across from the SJ Campus.
The group will bike to Keet Gooshi Heen Elementary School, where there will be complimentary pedal-powered smoothies, door prizes and activities. Free bike safety checks and helmet-fitting are planned prior to the ride. Participants should plan to arrive early.
Each participant will need a bike, a helmet, and an adult (or kid-at-heart) to ride with. Kidical Mass events encourage family participation and teaching young riders bike safety on the road. A few new helmets are available to use.
Sitka hosted its first Kidical Mass event as part of Kidical Massive in 2015. Local organizers include the Sitka Bicycle Friendly Community Coalition, 4-H, UAF Cooperative Extension Service Sitka District Office, Sitka Conservation Society, Youth Advocates of Sitka, and Sitka Community Hospital. For information, call Doug Osborne at 747-0373.
Teen Night at
Hames Center
Teen Nights are returning to Hames Center beginning Friday, Sept. 7, 8:30-10:30 p.m.
Ages 13 through high school seniors are invited. Activities will include foosball, basketball, video games, board games, karaoke and more. For questions about the free event, contact Hames Center at 747-5080.
CO2 Reducers
Meeting Sept. 6
The CO2 reducers group will meet 7-8:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 6, at the Island Institute, 304 Baranof Street.
Decreasing emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas that is contributing to climate change and ocean acidification, was identified as a top goal at the Sitka Health Summit.
Agenda items include 30-day action planning and promoting the upcoming Stop Idling Start Saving campaign.
For information go to https://www.sitkahealthsummit.org/.
SCLT to Meet
Sitka Community Land Trust will meet 6:15-8 p.m. Monday, Sept. 17, at Centennial Hall, Room 7. Members of the public are invited to attend.
For information call 738-2888 or go to sitkaclt.org.
A REVIEW:
Police Chief Nails Story
Of Living in Bush Alaska
‘‘Bush Blues: The Adventures of Alaska’s Police Chief Snow’’ by Sheldon Schmitt. Koehler books, 176 pages.
“Bush Blues” is a promising debut novel by our very own former Chief of Police Sheldon Schmitt. The plot moves right along, with fun sub-plots and distinctive characters that kept this reader up past bedtime. The novel’s rough setting is inhabited by the hard-scrabble, working-class characters loved by fans of crime-solving fiction. They (the characters, not – as far as I know – the readers) drive beater trucks, drink too much alcohol and coffee, fly from one run-down place to the next in rickety planes, and that’s just fantastic. Just for good measure, there’s a murder, a plane crash, a gillnetter gone berserk, and a love story.
Schmitt clearly knows Bush Alaska well. The Togiak he describes is a little bit of a composite of different places in remote Alaska (for example, his Togiak has Northwest Alaskan caribou herds and Inupiat whaling crews), but it will feel very familiar to those readers who have been there, and pleasantly exotic to those who haven’t.
It may seem easy to set fiction in Western Alaska, but racial and cultural conflicts there are such that Sheldon Schmitt took on quite a challenge. He avoids the “great White savior” trap with respectful descriptions of Yup’ik people in their home environment and culture. The main character, Chief of Police Snow, seems to be adjusting better than most to the complex realities of his adopted Togiak. He is surrounded by a realistic mix of teachers, heath care workers, and government employees with their varying levels of understanding of the place they moved to.
Schmitt also steers clear of the opposite: the New-Age or Romantic trap by painting an honest but not cynical picture of modern life in the village, complete with its four-wheelers, honey buckets, bootleggers, subsistence lifestyle, poverty and Pilot Bread crackers.
Overall, Sheldon Schmitt has filled this book with an astonishing amount of action, plot and character development for a mere 176 pages, and kept it coherent and interesting throughout. Now the question is: will Chief Snow travel to Point Hope, Sitka, Barrow? Schmitt certainly has many stories to tell, and with “Bush Blues,” he has demonstrated his ability to turn them into a decent book.
–Paul Norwood
Former Sitka Police Chief
Puts Experiences in Novel
Retired Sitka Police Chief Sheldon Schmitt has published a novel about his experience working in law enforcement and other jobs in rural Alaska: Bush Blues: The Adventures of Alaska’s Police Chief Snow.’’
It’s the first book in a series about life in the Alaskan bush as seen through the eyes of Chief Snow, the local village police chief. The main plot line of the book follows Chief Snow as he tries to solve a murder. Although it’s a police story the real story is in the remote environment and the people.
‘‘Bush Blues’’ also includes a bear attack, a small plane crash, violent crime, mysticism, and a little romance, all of which are part of the reality of bush life, the publisher, Koehler Books, said.
‘‘Bush Blues’’ is Schmitt’s first book and is based on his 20 plus years of experience working in Alaska as a police officer, as well as fisherman and other jobs out in the bush. He retired in May 2017 as Sitka Police chief after working for the department since 2002. He’d been chief since February 2005.
Before coming to Sitka he worked for the North Slope Borough Police Department in Barrow and Point Hope since 1997, and as police chief in Togiak for two years. ‘‘Bush Blues’’ is set in Bristol Bay in Togiak.
Schmitt graduated from Minnesota State University in 1993 with a bachelor of science degree in criminal justice, and later received his master’s of justice administration from the University of Alaska. He also completed the FBI National Academy at Quantico.
“I cut my teeth as a cop working out in the villages,’’ he said. ‘‘I have a real love for the people and the life out on the edge.”
Electric Vehicle
Open House On
An electric vehicle open house and fair will be held as part of “National Drive Electric Week” 1-3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 15, at the entrance of Centennial Hall.
Attendees can look at EVs, take a test drive, learn how to be a smart EV shopper, and have some EV cake. It is open to the public.
‘A Plastic Ocean’
Film to Show
The documentary “A Plastic Ocean” will be shown for free 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 9, at the Sitka Lutheran Church, 224 Lincoln Street.
The film documents the environmental impact of plastics in oceans around the globe. A brief discussion will follow the film. Plastic-free popcorn will be served. Attendees are asked to take their own cups. The movie is open to everyone. Call 747-2708 for more information. The film showing is sponsored by the Bags for Change.
Open House for
Mayor Candidate
Sitka voters are invited to meet mayoral candidate Ben Miyasato at a meet-and-greet open house 7-9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 7.
Michelle Putz and Perry Edwards will host the gathering at their home, 308 Cascade Street (behind the hospital).
Attendees can learn more about the candidate in an informal setting. Light refreshments will be served. For information call Michelle at 747-2708.
Sale Listed at
White E Shop
The White Elephant Shop will have a half-price sale on all green tags noon-3 p.m. Thursday and Saturday, and 6-8 p.m. Monday. The children’s store will have all pink tag items for 50 cents.
First Aid, CPR
Class Sept. 20
The Alaska Marine Safety Education Association will conduct a first aid, CPR and AED workshop 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 20, at NSRAA, 1308 Sawmill Creek Road.
Instructor DeVynarae Meeder will cover CPR and automatic external defibrillators; treatment of choking; medical emergencies; trauma; environmental hazards; patient assessment; medical communications; drowning and hypothermia; and common fishing injuries.
Attendees will receive a U.S. Coast Guard-accepted, two-year certificate issued by the American Safety and Health Institute. Cost is $100, including sales tax. Register online at www.amsea.org or call 747-3287.
Students Enroll
The fall semester welcomed new transfer and freshmen students from Sitka to Fort Lewis College, Durango, Colorado.
They include: Haylee Steffes, biology major; Brandal Arnold, engineering; Madison Kranz, exercise physiology; Sophia Eastham, undeclared; Mariah Arthur, business administration; Cisco Jaramillo-Mahoney, business administration; Tristian Duncan, public health; Marlis Boord, public health; and Arthur Freitas, public health.
Running of Boots
Marks 24 Years
It’s time to dig the XtraTufs out of the closet and paint them up. The 24th annual Running of the Boots is Saturday, Sept. 22, at Totem Square park.
This year the costumed fun run fundraiser benefits two Sitka nonprofits — the Sitka Local Foods Network and Youth Advocates of Sitka.
Registration opens at 10:30 a.m., with the costume judging about 11 and the race starting at 11:30 a.m. Entry fees are $10 for individuals and $30 for families. In addition to the race, Sitka Local Foods Network is planning a farm stand selling produce from the St. Peter’s Fellowship Farm communal garden, and the smoothie truck will be set up. Live music, costume contests, door prizes and other activities will round out the day.
The fun run is part of the Greater Sitka Chamber of Commerce’s Season’s-End Celebration.
Mycotoxins
Subject of Talk
Sam David will present “Mushroom Poisoning and Mycotoxins: The Bad Side to Eating Mushrooms and Moldy Food” at the Natural History seminar talk 7:30 p.m. Sept. 13 at UAS-Sitka Campus.
The talk explains the types of toxins found in mushrooms, what mushrooms the toxins are found in, and how to recognize and treat (if possible). It also will introduce mycotoxins from food contamination. Several safe local mushrooms will also be covered in the talk.
David studied mycology at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse with Dr. Tom Volk, where he received both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in biology. He moved to Anchorage to teach at UA, where he currently works in addition to being a microbial lab technician. Sam led forays this year at the Girdwood Fungus Fair and the Cordova Mushroom Festival.
The Natural History seminar series is supported by a grant from the Sitka Alaska Permanent Charitable Trust to the Sitka Sound Science Center and by the University of Alaska Southeast and the National Park Service.
Contact Kitty LaBounty at 747-9432 or kllabounty@alaska.edu with questions.
Donations Sought
For ANS Raffle
Alaska Native Sisterhood Camp 4 is seeking donations of raffle items for Grand Camp Convention in October. Items may be donated at the ANS Camp 4 meetings or by calling Grace at 738-8292 or Rachel at 747-7382.
Alaska Pioneers
Meet Thursday
Sitka Pioneers of Alaska will resume its regular monthly meetings on Sept. 6 at United Methodist Church. Social hour begins at 5:30 p.m. and the potluck dinner is at 6 p.m.
Plans will be discussed for the fall season including the Grand Igloo statewide convention to be in Seward on Oct. 17-20.
For information or transportation help, contact Elaine at 747-3469 or Jamie at 738-8891 or 738-3309.
Book Sale Set
The children’s store at the White Elephant Shop will have books for $2 a bag starting Thursday and continuing through Monday.
