KCAW

Sitka Police Sergeant and local wildlife charter business owner Lance Ewers is the third candidate to file for one of two-open seats on the Sitka School Board. KCAW spoke with Ewers about his interest in the position and priorities if he’s elected: 

KCAW: Why have you decided to run for a seat on the school board?

Ewers: Well, I’ve always wanted to be on the school board ever since I was a young boy. I remember my father was on the school board when I was a boy, and I thought, ‘Wow, that’s kind of an awesome position.’ And now that I’m old enough, and I’ve raised five children here, and I have one one left in the nest, everybody else has flown off, but they’ve all been through our Sitka School District. So I thought, ‘Yeah, now is the time.’

KCAW: And what are your priorities if you’re elected, and what issue kind of, is there an issue that pulled you in, or not?

Ewers: No, I think my priorities would be to be there to help. I have so much respect for our school district. I’ve, like I said, raised all five of my children through the school district, so I know a lot of the employees. I have a lot of respect for all of the employees, so I’m hoping that I could be in a position to help if I need it.

KCAW: And do you have any kids in the school district currently?

Ewers: I do. Yes, my youngest daughter is in a junior in high school. Bristol, state champion.

KCAW: As far as serving on the board, any relevant experience you’d like to make note of?

Ewers: I’ve been in public safety for you know, public service really, my whole life. Right after high school I joined the military and had the opportunity to travel around the world with the military, and then became a deputy sheriff in the beloved state of Montana, and worked on the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Indian Reservation there for 10 years, and then came up here and was an Alaska State Trooper. And now I’m a Sitka Police officer. So I started my career in law enforcement in 1999 1998 and even before that, I was in the military. So just, you know, public service.

KCAW: You also are kind of a public figure in the role that you’re in in Sitka and and with that comes, obviously, some supporters and name recognition. It also comes with critics. And so I’m curious, if you were confronted with a voter who was on the fence about voting for you, what what you would say to them?

Ewers: I would say, you know, we’re lucky, because we have two seats available and three very competent people to pick from. I think both of the other folks that are running are going to be good at it if they get elected. So, I mean, that’s great for Sitka. So Sitka has just got a great school, schools, multiple schools, and it’s just a great place to raise children, and I’m confident that, because they’re running, their hearts are in the right spot, too. So I would just, yeah,

KCAW: The school board recently hasn’t had a lot of…there have been a lot of no contest elections. This year, there are three folks running, and I think that part of the reason for that is it’s, it’s a difficult time, I think, to serve on a school board, and there are a lot of questions about what the budget is going to look like. There are some questions at the state level about what the budget is going to look like. What’s the school board’s role in your mind in developing a budget?

Ewers: You know, I think a couple thoughts on that. I think that, historically, there hasn’t really been a huge problem with our schools. So I think that kind of is reflected by the fact that there hasn’t really been a huge interest in folks trying to get on the school board to fix something, right? In my mind, the schools always run like a fine-oiled machine, and there’s always a hiccup here or there or whatever, but it’s very competent group of people whose hearts are in the right spot.

When I’m confronted with a tough question, because there are some, definitely, I’m sure there’s going to be decisions that need to be made, and they’re going to be tough decisions. My philosophy is, I’m going to seek counsel from people who it’s going to affect the most, with the underlying foundation of providing a safe learning environment for children, all children, and then making these decisions on how it’s going to best, what hard decision is going to best affect the people who do it full time, the teachers, right? So I’d seek counsel from the teachers, and I’d seek counsel from friends who I know from town, and kind of get guidance from how the community, what the community is thinking, and how we want to move forward with certain hard decisions.

KCAW: this campaign is, you know, six weeks long or so. Why should Sitkans Vote for you in the October 7 election?

Ewers: I’ve been in Sitka since 2009 and I’ve raised five children here through the school district. And, my passion is, you know, just being there to help, you know, make tough decisions and seek guidance from the people that it’s going to affect, but I think everybody who’s running, I think, has got that in mind. I don’t think there’s any kind of people have a hidden agenda that want to try to do something, you know? I think they just want to help.

Six candidates are vying for two open seats on the Sitka Assembly. Sherri Blankenship is a longtime Sitkan and owner of Highliner Coffee. KCAW sat down with her to learn why she’s running for a seat on the assembly, and what issues she’d like to tackle, if elected. 

KCAW: Why are you throwing your hat in the ring for the Sitka Assembly? 

BLANKENSHIP: Well, I waited until the last minute, and I wanted to see if there was a strong voice for the business community that would throw their hat in. And I didn’t see that. So I decided that it was time that there was a voice that  represented the business community and other industries as well, from tourism to fishing. And I feel that I represent that accurately.

KCAW: You’re talking about being part of this business community. If elected, what will you bring to the table?

BLANKENSHIP: I believe that I’ll bring to the table a sound mind and reason when it comes to all the different industries here in town that feed into the economy and understand the balance between growth and sustainability and making it livable, while at the same time making it have growth as well, and seeing how we all can survive and live and function together efficiently. 

KCAW: What do you see as the largest issues facing Sitkans right now, and is there one that you would really try to tackle if elected?

BLANKENSHIP: That’s a question that is very difficult when it comes to Sitka, because everybody’s focusing on livability, pricing, inflation, all of those things that in the end, it really comes down to our economy, and also the housing issue is so hard to tackle right now. And if we had solutions, we would have already done it, I believe in some ways. And I have to be able to look at what those things are. You know, at this point in time, I’m ignorant on it, and I need some more time to educate myself before I over promise and under deliver. And that’s my worry, is that I’ll do that ahead of time. But I feel like having a strong economy, making sure that we don’t destabilize it, definitely helps with some of those things, as far as cost of goods and people having a strong living throughout the wintertime too.

KCAW: So you’re a born and raised Alaskan. What else do you think that Sitkans should know about you or your campaign?

BLANKENSHIP: I feel like I really understand Sitka in all facets. I’ve raised four children here. Two have grown and moved away. Two are still in school. I own several businesses in town, and I’ve lived here for 21 years. And I also have a group of employees that have all the same struggles that I’m always worried about and trying to deal with and help them and come up with solutions. And they’re year-round employees. And so that is near and dear to my heart. And [I’m] hoping that I can help facilitate a better way of life here. 

KCAW: And is there anything else I should have asked you or you’d like to share?

BLANKENSHIP: As far as what I can do on the assembly? You know, at this point in time, I don’t really know how this assembly fully works, and I’m wanting to talk to everybody that I can, get my hands on information, and understand the inner workings. One of my priorities too is to understand what our legislative priorities are for our city, and getting to the bottom of what grant programs we are not accessing, what we need more for our city, and that is a concern of mine.

Sherri Blankenship is one of six candidates vying for two open seats on the Sitka Assembly. Three candidates are also in the running for two open seats on the school board. Sitka’s municipal election is Tuesday, October 7.  

Sitka restaurant owners looking to score beer and wine licenses will have to wait — at least for now. 

At its regular meeting on Tuesday (8-12-25), the Sitka Assembly delayed a vote on whether to petition the state for additional Restaurant and Eating Place Licenses, which allow restaurants to serve beer and wine.

Alaska’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Board limits the licenses to one for every 1,500 people. Sitka has just over 8,000 permanent residents, as of 2024. That allows the city to have up to six licenses. 

Sitka technically has already met the state limit for a town of its size. It has six year-round licenses and two seasonal licenses, which can only operate six months out of the year and are subject to different population limits. That’s not counting licenses that allow establishments like bars and hotels to serve hard liquor. 

But sponsors of a resolution considered by the Sitka Assembly on Aug. 12, say that number doesn’t necessarily take into account the influx of visitors who come to Sitka, especially throughout the summer cruise season. In recent years, the number of cruise passengers visiting Sitka has more than doubled, to over 600,000. 

Co-sponsor Thor Christianson said Tuesday he hoped to help local businesses expand to meet the seasonal visitor demand and provide more year-round dining and employment opportunities for locals. 

“I purely saw this as a way to try and help out some of our local businesses,” Christianson said. “It turned into a much bigger deal than we ever thought it was going to be.”

Sitka’s not the first Southeast community to ask the state for more licenses — both Juneau and Haines have made similar requests, successfully. 

The Sitka Assembly initially considered petitioning the state for six additional licenses. But after hearing from stakeholders during Tuesday’s public comment period, they considered dropping that number to three. 

Mary Magnuson owns Mean Queen, a local restaurant and bar. She said adding any more licenses will hurt existing license holders.

“This is clearly going to make an impact,” she said. “Certainly, I am all about people starting up businesses, and you do it by buying an existing license. That’s how it works. This business of trying to count visitors as citizens when they’re here five hours a day is ridiculous.” 

Patricia McPike, another local business owner, agreed. 

“As in fishing, there have to be limits,” she said. “Not everyone gets a permit if one isn’t available. When years are really good and harvests are high in the fishing industry, prices can go down. And I feel like we’re looking at something similar here.” 

On the other hand, business owners like Luke Bruckert, who owns Campfire Kitchen, said more licenses means more opportunity to expand their businesses and support economic development. 

“I just want to speak to the spirit of competition that can exist between businesses that raises the bar within a community,” he said. “For businesses like ours, we don’t only want to serve tourists. We want to raise the bar for everyone in the community year-round.” 

After a lengthy discussion, assembly members agreed further research was needed on the issue, and asked city staff to reach out to stakeholders for more information.   

“There’s just too many unknowns,” said assembly member Kevin Mosher. “I definitely support new businesses and support old businesses. And there’s no real easy answer to this tonight. I’m not against possibly doing it at a future date, but right now, I just don’t know about this. So that being said, I make a motion to postpone this until the fall.” 

The group voted unanimously to postpone the discussion until their Oct. 28 meeting. 

Late last week, two more candidates filed to run for a seat on the Sitka School Board ahead of the filing deadline– Courtney Amundson was one of them. Amundson is a data scientist and is hoping her experience can help the school board as it navigates funding uncertainty in the future. 

KCAW spoke with Amundson about her priorities if she’s elected:

KCAW: Why have you decided to throw your hat in the ring for a seat on the Sitka school board?

Amundson: Oh, goodness. So I’ve been here, I’ve been in Sitka about five years, and I moved here kind of in the beginning of COVID with twin six-month-olds. They are starting kindergarten this fall at Xóots Elementary. And so, beginning last year, I started kind of paying attention more to the school board and listening to meetings. And my background is in statistics and data science. And so I kept thinking, ‘Man, I wish I knew more. I wish I could look at this information and synthesize it, because a lot of what I do is look at data and try and tell stories with it.” And so I thought, “Maybe this skill set would be useful to the borough to help decide some of these difficult policy issues and difficult, kind of, budget issues that we’re facing. So that was really the impetus. I’m also a foster parent, and we have a recent placement who’s also going into kindergarten, and she is nonverbal autistic, and so that is another reason, where we’ve got three little kids going into school, so it’s time to get involved.

KCAW: It sounds like the budget, definitely like a part of that decision, any other sort of, like, core issues that spoke to you, you know, in joining?

Amundson: I mean, related to the to the budget is just being able to support staff and teachers, and, you know, every year, if you’re getting a pink slip, it doesn’t build great morale. It doesn’t make you feel supported. And I think that what teachers and staff do. It’s more than just teaching, right? It’s like students, that’s their safe place, and that’s where they go to figure out who they are and who are they’re going to become. The role of schools in that is so much more important. And so if we can make them feel supported, that’s really number one, policy wise.

What I’ve also been thinking about a lot, because I’m kind of in the technological field, is artificial intelligence and how that’s going to kind of fundamentally change how we educate, and how students learn. So I’d love, you know, I was first on the internet when I was about 19, so I didn’t grow up with that. I had a set of encyclopedias that I referenced as a child, but now all this information is at our fingertips, and the pace of student learning, and sort of unverified sources of information is really rampant. And so how do we teach children to be critical thinkers when they literally just have to press a button and learn the answer to something? But I think that is happening now, right? Teachers are using it, students are using it, parents are using it, and so we need to come up with a policy, I think, to to address how we’re going to tackle that issue and and use those tools as as best as we can.

KCAW: And then as far as your experience on boards or commissions or serving in public office, do you have any any experience that you think will be relevant to this role?

Amundson: So in my work experience, I work for the federal government, for the US Department of Agriculture. I’m currently a senior data scientist and and my role is to use data to tell stories to inform policy. So for example, I work in food safety, and we have a lot of sampling data that can be used to help inform how we act to reduce human illness based on that. So can we use the information that we have? So we have, and I don’t mean just student performance, but things like historical budget numbers, things like that, to come up with, ‘Okay, this is what we’ve done in the past. This was the impact. These are the possible scenarios for the future. Can we either model or build off that to try and determine the best course of action? Can we use what we have in order to better inform what we do in the future?’ Because I think that’s one of the thing I noticed when I listened into school board, is that we’re really forced to make this really important decisions with very little information. And so if there’s something that we can do to kind of research a little bit and dig a little bit deeper into what’s been done in the past, what data do we have to help inform that, I think it might positively affect how we do business. So that’s the hope.

KCAW: Why should Sitkans vote for you in the municipal election on October 7?

Amundson: Well, I mean, I think anyone they vote for is is a good choice. I think public service is something that I’m passionate about, both as just a member of the community and someone who has children going into the school district. But I think that what I have to offer is a lot of empathy for the staff and the teachers that are affected by the decisions that the school board made, but also just my background, working with both technology and data, I think might be a unique resource for the school board to help inform policy making, and other decisions, other tough decisions that we know are coming. Because this year we had a last minute windfall, and I’d be surprised if times weren’t a little bit tougher in the next few years, especially with a shortcoming of federal grants.

Editors Note: That was Sitka School Board candidate Courtney Amundson speaking with KCAW’s Katherine Rose. Sitka’s municipal election is Tuesday October 7.

On Friday (8-15-25), the Sitka Sound Science Center (i.e SSSC) will be hosting Understory, a free event where researchers and Sitkans can exchange knowledge on Sitka’s kelp forests, as well as a chance to create algae art. SSSC’s Kari Paustian and University of California Santa Cruz researchers Haleigh Yang and Niki Sridhar join KCAW for the Morning Interview to speak on their research and how they hope to continue learning from the community.

Amidst the everyday hustle and bustle, not a lot of people are able to find the time to engage in reflective, intellectual conversations. The Sitka Public Library is starting the Big Ideas Book Club, where people can engage with various texts and be a part of a larger national conversation on living in community. Margot O’Connell and Garret Faulkner join KCAW for the Morning Interview to speak about what participants can expect.

While Sitka is well-renowned for its breathtaking mountains and local fish cuisine, outsiders may not know that it is also the home of the oldest existing organ on the Western side of the Mississippi. Originally manufactured in Estonia in 1844, the Kessler organ was shipped to Sitka in 1846. Nestled in the balcony of the Sitka Lutheran Church, visiting organists over the years have traveled across the country to play it.

On August 5th, organist Edie Hockspeier brought the Kessler’s sounds to life. As she explained to attendees at her first organ recital, Hockspeier’s journey to Sitka began when she was looking for a way to escape the heat of her hometown, Savannah, Georgia.

“So I wrote the Lutheran church to say, I’m going to be there for a month. I’ve already made reservations. If you need someone to play an organ prelude or postlude, you know, I’ll be glad to play,” she said. “And they said, “You’re it, you’re the organist.” She lets out an operatic shout for joy for the news, much to the amusement of the two dozen attendees.

Growing up, Hockspeier was surrounded by music. She studied music education in college and is a skilled pianist. But it wasn’t until she moved to Minneapolis, MN, in 1970 that she was recruited by a local Lutheran church to play their organ. Since then, she found work serving as an organist at churches in the Carolinas and eventually, Georgia. Now she is passing on her knowledge to curious listeners.

Despite her decades of experience, Hockspiere was caught off-guard by a unique characteristic of the Kessler organ: it has no pedals. 

“It is a pipe organ. Air is forced  through the pipes and makes the sound,” said Hockspeier. “But in a sense, that’s limiting, because most organ music is written for manuals and pedals.”

While the Kessler organ was repaired for fire damage in 1993, it has remained unaltered otherwise, maintaining the original design developed by Ernst Kessler nearly two centuries ago. As a result, Hockspeier was intentional about her song choices.

“I did not want to play any gospel hymns… Or I did not want to play any folk hymns,” she said. “I wanted to play music that Kessler may have heard, because he didn’t just randomly build an organ. He built an organ for this specific church, for the specific purpose of Lutheran worship.”

Hockspeier chose a selection of Lutheran hymns from the 18th and 19th centuries.

The attendees in the pews looked up attentively at Hockspeier as she explains the history of her chosen songs, listening to the music with a quiet focus and serenely closed eyes.

As Hockspeier played on, visiting pastor Jim Lehman listened from beneath the balcony. He said that Hockspeier’s presence is a meaningful opportunity for Sitkan worshippers to listen to the historic organ.

“They love to hear the organ being used in the way it was intended to be used to lead worship and to inspire people to praise God,” he said.

Pr. Lehman said he hopes that people, especially tourists, are able to attend any of the future recitals.

“I think it will give people another dimension to the life that exists here in Sitka,” he said. “There’s a significant faith community throughout this entire town of Sitka that it’s helpful for people to know about that there are Christian communities here that are doing what Christian communities do.”

After around half an hour of music, Hockspeier struck her final chords, at least until her next concert. Next month, she’ll head home, and is eager to bring some of the songs she’s learned in Sitka back to her choir in Georgia. But she hopes to return next summer to escape the Georgia heat and play for Sitkans tunes from their beloved Kessler organ once more.

Hockspeier will perform every Tuesday this August at 12:15pm at the Lutheran church, as well as every Sunday during service.

It is notoriously difficult to find childcare in Sitka. Fortunately, the Sitka Tribe of Alaska has recently launched a new childcare program that compensates family members or providers to look after their children in their homes. Melonie Boord and Kathleen Adams join KCAW to talk more about this new program, as well as upcoming two-step dance lessons.

The filing period to run for local office wrapped up on Friday (8-8-25). Two more candidates threw their hats in the ring for a chance at a seat on the Sitka Assembly shortly before the city’s 5 p.m. deadline. One of those candidates is Jonathan Wolf, who owns the Sitka Veterinary Hospital with his wife. KCAW sat down with Wolf on Monday to talk about his decision to run, and some of his priorities if elected.

WOLF: I’ve been in Sitka now for six years, and I want to get involved in local politics because I want to preserve the magic that brought me to Sitka in the first place, and I feel like contributing in local assembly and local government is one of the best ways to make that happen.

KCAW: If elected, what do you think you’ll bring to the table? 

WOLF: I think I bring a diverse set of skills to the table. But I think the ideas, there’s a lot of commonality between the candidates — I’ve read some of the other interviews — and the issues here everyone talks about: housing, childcare, affordability in general. But I think that it comes down to affordability. It comes down to people need to be able to make a life work here in Sitka, if this is the place they want to be. And unfortunately, I think for some, affordability has really driven a wedge, and there are people who have lived in Sitka for a long time that are seeking other places to live because they can’t make it work anymore. And I want to work with other people who are on the assembly, people who have served longer, who understand these issues, and see if there are approaches to this that haven’t been uncovered yet, and really drive towards using whatever avenues are available to us to make Sitka affordable and accessible to anyone who chooses to make this their home. 

KCAW: So you talk about this issue of affordability, which is affecting all Sitkans. What is included in that? And what are the big topics that you’d like to address, and how would you address those if elected to the Sitka Assembly? 

WOLF: That’s a great question, and I think it is sort of a nebulous topic. But you know, it can look different for different people. I have a three year old son. For families, childcare can be an issue. Some people are having to pay a lot of money to have a family here. And for some it might be grocery bills. Some might have a big family, and those $600 grocery carts can be a huge burden. And I think that for others, it can be housing. It can be the price of monthly rent, but it also could be utility bills. That falls under that same umbrella of housing, and whether or not Sitka can be an affordable place to live. And I think really a solution is going to look at all of those aspects and say, ‘Okay, we need to address these in the ways that we can as a community, as a government.’ There are a lot of different levers and knobs to tweak and and turn, but really it’s starting with a discussion as to how do we do this? And I think that that’s come up repeatedly before, and I think that there’s probably been a lot of good discussion in the past, but unfortunately, I don’t think a lot of that has materialized as far as real, meaningful change, because we’re still talking about it. My focus would be to try to move towards truly actionable things that can be done that can make a difference in people’s lives here. 

KCAW: And what do you think Sitkans should know about you or your campaign that we haven’t talked about?

WOLF: I’ve lived here in Sitka now for six years, and through the animal hospital, I’ve come to know a large number of people in Sitka as we’ve cared for their pets. And it’s interesting because I’ve met people from all walks of life, from all professions. From healthcare, fishing, the tourism industry, small business owners like myself, people who work for the federal government, people who work for the state government, and it’s really been valuable to me to make those relationships and get to know people from many different walks of life. And I feel very fortunate and privileged to have had the opportunity to do that.

KCAW: Well, thank you. Is there anything else I should have asked you or you’d like to share?

WOLF: I would ask that the people of Sitka place their trust in somebody like me. Although I haven’t had the privilege of serving in Sitka government, I think that that’s one of the things that makes Sitka unique, is that we do stagger assembly seats and the races for that so that no matter when you decide to enter government service, you know, when you decide to participate in that government, you’re working alongside people who have a wealth of experience. And being able to bring together different perspectives and different ideas is the cornerstone of a functional government. And being able to listen to those ideas and participate in that collaborative process for steering a community is an opportunity I look forward to, and it’s something that I will throw myself into wholly.

Jonathan Wolf is one of six candidates to file for one of two open seats on the Sitka Assembly — Thor Christianson, Austin Cranford, Katie Riley, Tracie Castle, and Sherri Blankenship are also in the running. Two school board seats are also open this year. Paul Rioux, Lance Ewers, and Courtney Amundson have filed in that race. Sitka’s municipal election is Tuesday, October 7. 

A group of ballerinas lifts their dance partners (Courtesy of Sitka Studio of Dance)

Are you an experienced dancer looking to connect with fellow dancers in Sitka? Or maybe you have never danced before and are looking to try something new? Regardless of your experience, Melinda McAdams and Jo DeBell believe that dance is for you. They join KCAW to talk about the free dance classes the Sitka Studio of Dance are offering next week in a wide variety of dance styles.