The KRBD Board of Directors Finance Committee will meet Friday, May 15th, at 6 p.m. by video conference. All KRBD board meetings are open to the public. If you wish to participate, contact Leila Kheiry at 225-9655 before 4 p.m. on May 15th.

And…

The KRBD Board of Directors Events Committee meets at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 17, by video conference. All KRBD Board meetings are open to the public. If you wish to participate, please contact Leila Kheiry at 225-9655 before 4 p.m. May 15.

The post KRBD Board Finance and Events Committees appeared first on KRBD.

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Please List Any Other Special Skills You Have, such as typing, computers, carpentry, building repairs, painting, fundraising, etc.

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Thank You For Your Interest In KRBD!

The post KRBD Volunteer Application appeared first on KRBD.

Back Island near Ketchikan is home to the U.S. Navy’s Southeast Alaska Acoustic Measurement Facility, SEAFAC. The facility tests how quiet nuclear submarines are, to make sure they are as difficult to detect as possible.

Some changes have been proposed for the facility’s operations through an updated Environmental Impact Statement. But, as KRBD’s Leila Kheiry reports, those changes – like the submarines themselves – should be difficult for the public, at least, to detect.

As its name suggests, Back Island is an island, so the only way to get there from Ketchikan’s road system is by boat.

Site Manager Jennifer Kelso picks me up from Knudson Cove Marina in one of SEAFAC’s boats, and we head out to the Navy site. It’s a misty day in southern Southeast. We pass rain-shrouded forests topping rocky islands, and rocks covered in seaweed – exposed at low tide.

It’s a quick trip, but once we arrive the rain has picked up.

We sit in a small electric vehicle used for quick transport from SEAFAC’s pier, and talk about site operations before heading to the main facility.

“So on our pier here, you’ll see we have three cranes,” she pointed out. “The first two closest to us are solely dedicated to lifting the float in and out of the water. On the end, we have longshoring crane to lift freight. We can fly boats, our small skiffs, into the water when the tides don’t allow us to launch via our ramp.”

Those skiffs help hook suspension cables to submarines for part of the acoustic testing. SEAFAC tests all the Navy’s Pacific sub fleet, looking at each vessel about every four or five years. That’s a schedule of maybe 10 to 12 a year.

Let’s go through a typical test. A nuclear submarine arrives – secretly – in Behm Canal.

“And typically, the first thing that we do is put some of our folks on board,” she said. “We always have our personnel, that’s typically Navy civilian employees that are dedicated to conducting acoustic trials, we put them on board the submarine.”

That team monitors noise inside the submarine, like pumps and engines. Arrays of submerged hydrophones monitor noise that makes it outside the hull. Analysts at the shore facility check those levels.

While that’s happening, other teams monitor the area to make sure it’s clear of boat traffic. That’s mostly for safety reasons, but it’s also to minimize ambient noise. Kelso said a typical test takes three to five days.

“Minimum, we usually spend two days – 48 hours – in the underway site, where a submarine is traveling back and forth, submerged, between two bottom-mounted arrays of hydrophones,” she said. “Then typically a minimum of 24 hours in our static site.”

In the static site, subs are held captive between two barges, and hydrophone arrays continue listening to the vessel.

So, maybe a dozen tests a year lasting about five days. That’s about 60 days of the year – give or take a few days – for testing. What do they do the rest of the time?

“Maintenance,” she said, laughing. “A lot of maintenance.”

The cranes, facility, hydrophones, electronic equipment, backup generator and much more all have to be ready to go when a sub arrives.

And while it is a secret, technically, the public can guess when a submarine is in the area, because SEAFAC puts out a notice that, when a certain beacon is lit, all boat traffic in the area needs to go dead in the water.

That’s for safety reasons, Kelso said, because if a submarine needs to surface suddenly, you don’t want to be in a boat right above it. It’s also to keep noise levels as low as possible. A boat motor can interfere with testing, because the hydrophones are extremely sensitive.

How sensitive? Glad you asked.

“In addition to traffic, weather can increase the ambient levels quite a bit, so we’ll see fluctuations seasonally based on the weather,” she said. “Wind has a large effect on the ambient levels, rain, even snow. So the sound of snow crystals hitting the surface of the water and melting will raise the ambient levels, which is pretty incredible.”

That’s a very simplified summary of what SEAFAC does. It’s also pretty much what they will continue to do. Kelso said the SEAFAC portion of the federal EIS update is small, and includes just a few key changes.

The one Kelso said is of greatest interest to people is the number of trials allowed in a year.

“The 2015 EIS record of decision lists 43 activities,” she said. “That’s a far greater number than we have historically done, or that I can imagine doing.”

Kelso said the most tests they’ve ever done in a single year is 17. The fewest was five. They’ve averaged nine per year since operations began in 1992.    

In the proposed updated EIS, the allowed number would go from 43 to a maximum of 37. Again, Kelso said, they’re unlikely to ever test that many. The EIS provides for the maximum, just in case it’s needed.

“From the public’s perspective, I would not expect the public to see any noticeable difference in our activity or in the way we interact with the public in our shared water space in Behm Canal,” she said.  

But what about marine life, like whales? Kelso said the biggest concern for marine life is noise. She said SEAFAC is in Behm Canal because it’s a quiet place to test quiet ships.

“We obviously can’t talk about how quiet our submarines are, but they are very quiet,” she said.  

They’re listening for noise, but they hope to hear as little as possible.

SEAFAC’s area on Back Island is about 15-acres, permitted through the US Forest Service. Kelso said they have about a dozen full-time, year-round employees.

The comment period for the draft updated EIS ends Wednesday, June 12. Here is a link to the EIS, and how to submit a comment : https://www.nwtteis.com/

The post EIS proposes minor changes for SEAFAC operations appeared first on KRBD.

A retired sled dog adopted by a Ketchikan family escaped in early April, and was on the run for weeks. Local dog lovers banded together, used social media to track Shaggy, gained his trust and eventually were able to get a leash on the two-time Yukon Quest finisher.

Anyone who’s had a husky understands they are escape artists. They love to run. Given a chance, they will quite happily run away. Sled dogs can take that to a whole other level.

Shaggy is a shining example of sled-dog energy and endurance. It took nearly three weeks before he was tired enough to let himself get caught.

Kasia Polanska helped coordinate the search for Shaggy. She said when she first saw a Facebook post about his escape:

“It just seemed like a typical dog-at-large, so it will probably end soon,” she said.

But it didn’t. Four days later, Shaggy was seen at the southern end of Ketchikan’s road system. That’s about 15 miles from where he started. Nothing to a sled dog.  

Let’s back up a bit and talk about Shaggy. He’s 11 years old, and was raised by musher Matt Hall. Shaggy is a wheel dog and finished the Yukon Quest twice. When it was time for Shaggy to retire, Hall asked Eleanor Wirts if she would like him for her Fairbanks mushing tour business.

“So, Shaggy’s been here for probably three years, at least three, maybe going on four,” Wirts said in a phone interview from her dog yard. “He’s super, super sweet, loves people and he’s a hard worker. So it was a good transition to go from running thousands of miles a year to hundreds of miles a year.”

This spring, Wirts said she was starting to think it was time for Shaggy to make another transition from working dog to house pet. A couple from Ketchikan was visiting her business, called Just Short of Magic. One thing led to another, and Rick and Sarah Hines decided to adopt Shaggy and bring him to Southeast.

Rick Hines said one of their dogs – a husky – had just died, and they wanted a canine companion for their other dog, Levi.

Shaggy had been with them about a week, and Sarah took both for a car ride because Levi had to visit the vet. Rick said Shaggy was in a harness that clipped into the seatbelt.

“As she was hooking the leash to Levi to get him out of the car, Shaggy came out of his harness and took off,” he said.

That was April 8. Hines said they started searching, and posted on Facebook. He said the response and help from the community was amazing, and he’s grateful for all the time people dedicated to finding Shaggy.

Polanska was joined by a few others early on. She and a friend drove around looking for Shaggy, left out food and set a dog trap in the area he first ran to. But then he came back to town.

That was week one.

Abby Bradberry got involved at the start of week two. She owns three huskies. When Shaggy first went missing, she, like Polanska , figured he’d get caught soon or come back. She said that’s what most huskies do when they’ve run off their excess energy.

“So, really didn’t put much thought into it but then the following Saturday, he was still gone but now in town,” she said. “So, I went out walking with one of my huskies and he came right up to us.”

Shaggy really likes other dogs, especially huskies. That played a role in his capture, but we’ll get to that later.

Bradberry’s dog and Shaggy played a bit, but she wasn’t able to get hold of him, and he took off. This was about the time more people got involved, driving around on their lunch breaks, reporting sightings, and feeding him.

Polanska said the efforts were coordinated on social media.

“It was absolutely amazing, and just the best use of Facebook that I can think of,” she said.   

We’re into week three now, and nearing the end of the Shaggy Saga.

Wirts said she had been traveling and didn’t know about Shaggy’s big adventure until around this time. She got a call from Polanska, asking for advice.

Wirts said she was headed back to Alaska anyway, and decided to change her flight to come through Ketchikan. Wirts said she was pretty sure Shaggy would come to her. If that didn’t work, she said Shaggy’s original owner, Matt Hall, was willing to fly down.

“So I had me sort of in the driver’s seat to give it a whirl,” she said. “If in fact Shaggy wouldn’t come to me, I knew he would to Matt because they were very, very close.”

That turned out to be unnecessary.

Wirts had recommended a light tranquilizer that could be given to Shaggy in food, and the searchers gave that a try.

At the next sighting, they were able to get him into a safe place. He already seemed tired. They gave him the food, and he started to relax.

Polanska said that while Shaggy rested, another volunteer arrived with her husky. They approached Shaggy.

“And she, about 20 minutes later, she started walking toward us with two huskies leashed,” she said. “So that was an unbelievable thing.”

Wirts said Shaggy is not a shy dog, and she doesn’t believe he was scared. She thinks Shaggy was having fun. But, he also missed his pack.

“I’ve never seen a dog need it like that,” she said. “I’ve dealt with a lot of dogs and I’ve rehomed dogs. There’s always a transition period, but they usually transition really well. That’s why a lot of dog mushers do it and that’s why a lot of people have retired sled dogs as pets.”

Not Shaggy.

Hines said everyone realized that he needs his pack. So a few days after he was safely caught, they put Shaggy on a plane back to Fairbanks and his dog yard at Just Short of Magic.

Wirts said she kept him separate from the other dogs for a couple days to make sure he was healthy and rested.

“Then one night early in the evening, he was out there howling and kind of up close to the kennel fence and I could tell: ‘I don’t think you want to be in there anymore.’ So I brought him out in the yard and had him say hi to his old neighbors,” she said. “Everybody gave big wiggles and wags. Shaggy literally hopped right up on top of his house, I clipped him in, he laid down and put his head on his paws and that was it. Done.”

Shaggy was home.

And that’s where he will stay. Wirts said she’ll keep Shaggy for the rest of his life. He can even continue pulling a sled part-time if he wants, because he clearly still loves to run.

The post Retired sled dog caught after three weeks on the run appeared first on KRBD.

Former Ketchikan High School teacher and local pastor Doug Edwards was sentenced Thursday to serve six years in jail for sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl who was a student and member of his congregation.

Doug Edwards was charged last spring with six counts of sexual abuse of a minor for groping the 14-year-old girl’s chest at the high school, at his home and at the church where he was a pastor. He pleaded guilty in early February to one consolidated charge of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor through a plea agreement.

During the sentencing hearing, Superior Court Judge William Carey accepted the plea agreement, and sentenced Edwards to 18 years with 12 years suspended. Edwards will be eligible for good time, which could cut his time in jail by up to a third.

Once released, Edwards will face10 years’ probation, and will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

The victim and her family had an opportunity to speak during the sentencing hearing. The victim participated by phone and declined to comment. But her mother and grandmother both spoke.

Her mother read from her daughter’s written statement. In it, the victim said she doubted her own ability to understand what’s normal, and who was at fault.

“He has kids, a wife, a reputation. Why would he abuse a student? Why would he pick me? He has nothing to gain from this and everything to lose,” her mother read. “What about his family? They’d be devastated, they’d be crushed. I don’t want to be a person who destroys relationships. Or maybe it was just a misunderstanding – something I’m reading far too much into. At this point, I now realize all the faults of my coping mechanisms and how untrue they were.”

The victim’s mother later addressed Edwards directly.

“The trust that you broke is perhaps the most sickening thing in all of this,” she said. “We trusted you with our most valuable possessions – our children. You are a shepherd, supposedly watching out for your flock. But instead you are the wolf, devouring many.”

The victim’s grandmother said her granddaughter is a hero for speaking out about Edwards.

“She showed Christ-like love when she thought of his family before she thought of reporting him,” she said. “He claimed to be a Christian, which meant he should have been Christ-like, and yet he didn’t even think of his own family above himself.”

The family does not agree with the terms of the plea agreement, and asked the judge to consider a longer sentence.

Edwards also spoke, and said he’s deeply sorry for the pain and distress his actions caused the victim and her family, as well as his own family, his church, the school district and the community.

“To have been in such a prominent position and to have been so trusted makes my crime that much greater. There is no justification for my sin,” he said. “Anything called repentance requires tangible evidence to prove that it’s real. I am committed to live out the rest of my life showing the change in my heart and the regret for my actions.”

Judge Carey agreed with the victim’s grandmother that her granddaughter is a hero for coming forward. Carey called Edwards’ actions appalling, and said they will have long-term effects, especially on the victim and her family.

“And my heart goes out to them for that,” he said. “She is never going to be the same, Mr. Edwards. This is going to stay with her (for) her entire life. This is going to stay with her family and those who are closest to her.”

Carey added that there have been collateral effects throughout the community.

However, Carey said the plea agreement is reasonable for this case.  Edwards, who is 60 years old, has no prior criminal offenses. Carey said 10 years of probation and 12 years suspended jail time should provide a significant incentive for Edwards to behave once released.

Carey did note that sexual offenders often are driven by strong urges, and Edwards will have some work to do toward rehabilitation. Part of his probation requirement is to participate in sex-offender treatment programs.

Once released, Edwards’ contact with anyone under 16 will be strictly limited.

The post Doug Edwards sentenced to 18 years, 12 suspended appeared first on KRBD.

Volunteers at the Gift Shop at PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center met March 9^th and chose to fund 13 hospital improvement projects from a list submitted by various departments.

The total amount donated this year was $53,948.

Projects funded include a new endoscopy monitoring system; bassinets for the birthing center; one-arm drive wheelchairs for long-term-care; a vein finder; supplies for chemotherapy comfort baskets; and large-print New Testaments, bookmarks, and vases for Spiritual Care. All proceeds from the shop go toward hospital projects. In the past 20 years, it has donated more than $500,000, according to PeaceHealth.

The post Hospital Gift Shop funds about $54,000 in projects appeared first on KRBD.

School calendars for the next two years are up for final approval by the Ketchikan School Board on Wednesday.

The calendars have some changes from previous years, according to a memo from Ketchikan School District HR Director Rick Rafter. They include an extra day for the Thanksgiving holiday break. And, a half-day professional training on safety was moved to the beginning of the year rather than before spring break.

Both calendars show the start of school in late August, with school ending in early June.

In her report to the board, interim Superintendent Beth Lougee writes that a sexual harassment and assault work session has been planned with Norm Wooten of the Alaska School Board Association.

The work session will be 5 p.m. on March 12^th. It will focus on board policies related to sexual harassment, ethics, non-discrimination, and public comments and complaints.

Also Wednesday, the board has an executive session scheduled to discuss contract negotiations with paraprofessionals, cooks and custodians. Wednesday’s meeting starts at 6 p.m. in borough assembly chambers at the White Cliff building. Public comment will be heard at the start and end of the meeting.

The school district also has scheduled a budget presentation and public forum starting at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Ketchikan High School Library. The forum will include a review of the district’s budget, and an opportunity for public input as the district starts work on its 2020 spending plan.

The post School calendars for next two years up for approval appeared first on KRBD.

Proposed Ketchikan School District calendars for the next two years are out for public comment, but as of Wednesday, no one from the general public has provided input.

District Human Resources Director Rick Rafter told the Ketchikan School Board on Wednesday that the proposed calendars for the 2019-2020 school year and 2020-2021 school year are online and have been for a couple of weeks.

I’ve had no comments yet. It’s on the website,” he said. “It’s the very first thing with my email address, so anybody has any comments they’re welcome to send them.”

Board President Matt Eisenhower asked what the schedule was for the calendar. Rafter says it’s set for adoption on Feb. 13^th.

“Our next meeting,” Eisenhower said. “So folks have two weeks.”

The calendar for next year shows school starting for students on Aug. 29^th, and ending on June 5^th. For 2020-21, the first day would be Aug. 27^th, and the last would be June 4^th.

Thanksgiving break for both years includes the day before Thanksgiving.

Both proposed calendars and how to comment are on the home page of the Ketchikan School District website: https://www.kgbsd.org//Domain/80

Last year at this time, adoption of the school calendar was somewhat controversial. Some parents complained that the proposed calendar in front of the board then hadn’t provided adequate opportunity for public input. The board ended up postponing adoption of the calendar and opening up a public comment period.

The post School district seeks input on draft calendars appeared first on KRBD.

The Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly had a relatively short meeting Monday night, and spent most of those 90 minutes discussing a proposed rare-earth processing facility.

Canada-based Ucore Rare Metals Inc., which owns the Bokan-Dotson Ridge mine site on Prince of Wales Island, is interested in building a processing facility at about Mile 10 North Tongass Highway.

Ucore spokesman Randy MacGillivray told the assembly that the company is not developing the mine now. They want to build the mill, ship purchased rare earth materials here, and separate those elements to sell. After building a profit, he said, they’ll be able to invest that into the POW mine.

Rare earth elements are used in technology such as cell phones and electric vehicles. MacGillivray said some rare earth elements are radioactive.

“The feedstocks we’re looking at, however, have to be shipped here. There are tight regulations on the shipping of … naturally occurring radioactive material,” he said. “We’re very cognizant of that. So the feedstocks we’re looking at to bring to Ketchikan are extremely low in thorium and uranium.”

MacGillivray said any potentially harmful waste from processing will not be stored in Southeast Alaska.

“If it turns out that it’s regulated material, it has to be handled specially, then it would be shipped away appropriately to a regulated landfill,” he said.

He said non-harmful waste rock could be used for other purposes, such as fill.

MacGillivray said the process involves the use of acid. For some of the feedstock, there will be some crushing required, but that would take place indoors.

Assembly members told MacGillivray that they had received numerous phone calls from concerned members of the public. The site proposed for the facility is zoned heavy industrial, but there are houses nearby.

Assembly Member Alan Bailey suggested that Ucore consider the Gravina Island industrial complex. He said it’s on the water, right next to the airport, and the borough is improving the docks there to handle commercial activity.

MacGillivray said they would love to learn more, but they’d need that information quickly.

“We’re in the due diligence period over the parcel that we’ve made an offer on,” he said. “That is meant to be finalized early in the new year. So, we’d be looking at new information as soon as possible.”

He said they hope to start operations by 2020. The facility would hire about a dozen people initially, building to about 24. MacGillivray said many of those jobs could be filled locally with on-the-job training.

Also Monday, the assembly approved a resolution establishing criteria for waiving zoning fees for after-the-fact permit applications. After-the-fact fees are charged on top of regular permit fees if a property owner has completed a project before receiving a needed permit.

Through the resolution, a waiver of after-the-fact fees will be allowed if the violation happened before the current owner took control of the property, and the violation was not disclosed before purchase.

The next assembly meeting is Nov. 19.

The post Assembly hears pitch for rare-earth processing in Ketchikan appeared first on KRBD.

The trial for a Washington man accused of murdering Ketchikan surgeon Dr. Eric Garcia has been delayed until next spring.

Thirty-three-year-old Jordan Joplin was to be tried Nov. 5. His trial recently was moved to Juneau out of concerns that an impartial jury could not be seated in Ketchikan. Now the trial will be May 6, still in Juneau.

In a Friday morning hearing, Superior Court Judge Trevor Stephens heard a request to postpone the trial. According to log notes from the hearing, defense attorney Katrina Larsen told the court that just last week, prosecutors had sent over a large amount of audio recordings that could be used as evidence. She told the court that the defense needs time to go through the approximately 250 hours of phone conversations recorded while Joplin has been incarcerated.

Prosecutor Tim McGillicuddy did not object to the rescheduling request.

Joplin has pleaded not guilty to first- and second-degree murder for Garcia’s March 16, 2017, death. Joplin’s next scheduled hearing is April 12 in Ketchikan Superior Court.

The post Joplin murder trial delayed until May 2019 appeared first on KRBD.