KCAW

First Bank, the Alaska Chess Federation, and the Sitka Chess Club will host Sitka’s first official US Chess Federation tournament 12 p.m. Sunday, May 18th, at Harrigan Centennial Hall. Blatchley Middle School teacher Alexander Allison discusses the details. Participants must join the USCF and will receive a national rating. Registration and additional information can be found online. The event will be a five-round “Swiss-style” tournament, and participants will play all five rounds, and record their moves.

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Safeguard Sitka’s Future member Sherri Blankenship asks audience members to raise a hand if they work in the tourism industry or have a friend or family member in the industry (KCAW/Rose)

Supporters and opponents of Prop 1, a citizen initiative to limit cruise traffic in Sitka, gathered on Tuesday night to debate the issue. 

Over 150 Sitkans attended the event at Harrigan Centennial Hall, which was organized by the two local advocacy groups and moderated by Lisa Busch, a former reporter and longtime leader of the Sitka Sound Science Center. 

Listen back to the full forum here (Divided into two parts due to audio file length):

Over the last several years, cruise traffic in Sitka has more than doubled the city’s previous record summers– around 600,000 visitors came to Sitka on cruise ships in 2024. Now, after several previous citizen-led attempts, the question of whether to limit cruise traffic is being put out to the voters in a special election. Prop 1 would limit cruise traffic to 300,000 visitors annually and set a daily cap of 4500. It would also establish a permitting process for cruise ships and penalties for ships that violate the new rules.

Participating in the forum were several representatives from Small Town SOUL, the group that filed the citizen initiative to limit cruise traffic. They say it’s necessary in order to preserve Sitka’s character and quality of life, manage overcrowding and help curb environmental concerns, like pollution.

On the opposing side were representatives from Safeguard Sitka’s Future, which is led by local business owners. In making its case, the group pointed to economic growth throughout the community spurred by tourism, and increasing sales tax revenue that’s helped support new city programs and infrastructure. 

Both groups gave separate presentations and were given the opportunity to provide rebuttals. They then fielded around a dozen written questions from the audience.

KCAW will host each group in half-hour, on-air forums later this month.

Sitka’s special election is Wednesday May 28. Early, in-person voting opens on May 13. Find more information about the upcoming special election here.

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Sitka Studio of Dance will present annual spring recitals this weekend, featuring senior solos and a variety of dance genres. Acting executive director Kincaid Parsons, dance instructor Jo DeBell, and senior dancer Jasmine Nellis joined KCAW’s Brooke Schafer to discuss the upcoming recital. Listen to the full interview here:

Recitals are 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, May 10 at the Sitka Performing Arts Center. Tickets are available at fineartscamp.org and at the door.

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Boys Run I toowú klatseen is celebrating its tenth anniversary with a sports-birthday-themed 5k fun run. The regional program includes place-based cultural curriculum in addition to running. Coach Clare Weber, volunteer Ben Hughey, and participants Caleb Gray and Dylan Winter joined KCAW’s Brooke Schafer to talk about the upcoming event. Listen to the full interview below:

The fun run will take place Saturday, May 10 at 10 a.m. Registration opens at 9:30 a.m. Community members interested in volunteering can sign up here.

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Pacific High School’s annual plant sale is set for Thursday, May 8th, from 2 to 7 PM, and Friday, May 9th, from 5 to 7 PM, in the school’s greenhouse. The sale features over 1,300 seedlings grown by the spring garden class, including vegetables, herbs, and fruits, as a fundraiser for the garden-to-cafeteria program.

Andrea Fraga, Jeremiah Ward, Trenton Lara joined KCAW to discuss the sale and the school’s gardening program. Listen here:

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(Ocean Wave Quilters Photo)

The 42nd annual Ocean Wave Quilters Quilt Show is set to open on May 9th at Fraser Hall, Sitka, Alaska, and will run through the 18th. The show will feature around 190-200 quilts of various sizes and styles, including applique, hand-pieced, and quilted works. The theme this year is “sassy,” and participants can vote for their favorite quilts in small, medium, and large categories. The show is not juried and is open to all.

For more information, contact Megan Pasternak at 907-738-2290 or visit the Ocean Wave Quilters Facebook page.

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Sitka Fine Arts Camp’s Young Performers Theater presents ‘The Reluctant Dragon,’ a tale about two young people who befriend a misunderstood dragon. Director Zeke Blackwell joined KCAW’s Erin Fulton to discuss the upcoming show, which will feature actors in grades 2-6. Listen to the full interview below:

Tickets are available here. The show is 7 p.m. May 2 at Odess Theater.

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Tim Fulton developed TISABAS (“Tim Saves Backs”) in his home workshop in Sitka in 2018. During his 38-years in the airline industry, Fulton prototyped a variety of rollers and belts to safely move heavy items like fish boxes inside of aircraft. He sold his first two production models to Malaysian Airlines, and steadily built an overseas market for the device. His company, Ramper Innovations, was valued at $3.5 million and appeared poised for growth until tariffs on some of his Japanese-made components forced him to significantly raise his price. Now, both customers and investors are shying away, and Fulton is considering his options: Moving his manufacturing out of the country, or declaring bankruptcy. (KCAW/Woolsey)

An Alaskan entrepreneur was featured on the cover of the New York Times business section Tuesday (April 29), but not for the reasons he had hoped.

Tim Fulton launched Ramper Innovations in Sitka in 2018 to manufacture a unique conveyor system for loading baggage on airliners, and slowly grew the business into a $3-and-a-half million-dollar company with three full time employees, and customers in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.

But almost overnight, tariffs imposed by President Trump have brought Ramper Innovations to the brink of bankruptcy. While Fulton’s equipment is manufactured in Sitka, some of the specialized parts are made overseas. Raising the price for his product has caused one of Fulton’s major customers to cancel, and uncertainty over future US trade policy has discouraged his investors.

KCAW’s Robert Woolsey recently spoke to Fulton from his wife’s home in  Belo Horizonte, Brazil, where he’s considering relocating his business.

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May Day traditionally is an important day to commemorate the modern labor movement worldwide. This May 1, demonstrators around the United States marched in opposition to policies of the Trump administration, which they believe are harmful to the working class. Around 150 people in Sitka joined the national “May Day” protest on Thursday.

Speaking to the crowd at the Crescent Harbor net sheds in downtown Sitka, local “May Day” protest organizer Mel Beadle lamented local programs impacted by federal funding cuts – like Sitka’s AmeriCorps program, which was eliminated last Friday.  

“We are told there’s no money for housing, there’s no money for AmeriCorps, there’s no money for school meals, but somehow they have condos and private jets and yachts, and they can fund endless genocidal war,” Beadle said.

Decked out in rain gear and carrying laminated signs, the group marched along Lincoln Street to Totem Square, where Beadle encouraged participants to hug each other. 

“Just like, give someone a hug and say, ‘I care about you’,” she said into a megaphone.  

Long-time Sitkan Howard Pendell said he was here to protest what he sees as human rights violations by the Trump administration. He carried a sign reading, “Are you next?”, a reference to a poem by a German pastor about Nazi Germany. 

“Are you next, meaning, ‘first they came for the socialists,'” he said, paraphrasing the poem. “‘I wasn’t a socialist, so I said nothing. Next they came for the trade unionists. I wasn’t a trade unionist so I said nothing. Next they came for the Jews. I wasn’t a Jew, so I said nothing. Then they came for me. There was no one left to speak.'”

Twenty-year-old Beatrice Perez said she’s been to at least 10 protests since the November 2024 election. 

“I am part of the working class, and I cannot live on the wage that I’m making right now, and that is the normal for everyone in America right now who is working class,” Perez said. “And everything that has been done in the past 100 days is only hurting us more. I stand for our unions. I stand for people like me.”

The march picked up a couple of new participants along the way – Anne Chippendale is visiting from Australia on a Holland America cruise with her husband. She said she had been planning to visit Fortress of the Bear today, but changed her mind when she saw the protest. 

“I could just feel the love here, and I can feel the despair as well,” she said, tearing up. “You know, I can see it on people’s faces.”

Chippendale said she was heartened to see so many people out protesting. 

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Animal control officer April Wheldon stands in front of her van in the parking lot of Sitka National Historical Park. (KCAW/Redick)

After months of turmoil surrounding the animal shelter, Sitka has a new animal control officer. April Wheldon is a former veterinary technician and dog owner. She says she wants to rebuild trust with the Sitka community. KCAW’s Meredith Redick tagged along on Wheldon’s morning routine to learn more. 

I’m riding along with April Wheldon, Sitka’s new animal control officer, on the way to Sitka National Historical Park. We’re in a van that reads “Have a nice day, neuter and spay!” on the side in large turquoise letters. Wheldon has a radio clipped into her belt and a bag of dog treats in her pocket. 

“I’m always keeping my eyes open for any animals, you know, whether they’re stray, any loose animals, of course,” she says as we start down the gravel trail. “And then if I do come across anybody with dogs walking on leash, I always am going to go greet them and say hi to them, because I want them to like me.”

Wheldon has decades of experience working with animals. She worked at the San Diego Zoo, at a vet clinic in Juneau, and for the past few years, as a veterinary technician at Pet’s Choice clinic in Sitka. She says she’s had her eye on the animal control position for a while, and she decided to apply when the job opened up a few months ago.

“I just saw that need for the animal control position,” she says. “And the thing is, I have the animal experience, but I don’t really have the policing experience, which to me, I just wanted to do something new and different.”

In her first few weeks on the job, she learned how to file legal paperwork and approach complex situations like neglect and hoarding. 

“Unfortunately, there can be some bad situations with like, I know in the past, we had like, some big hoarding situations with like 60 cats, some pregnant, and kittens, and I know a lot of those animals were not in good health,” she says. 

Those cases can be especially taxing, but she says she tries to find the bright side.

“People bring in animals that have been neglected, but they’re bringing them in, so they’re making the right moves to get things done,” she says. “So it’s, you know, you just don’t want to be judgmental in that situation. You just want to be there to help as much as you can.”

Part of Wheldon’s job is writing citations – like for unlicensed animals or off-leash dogs in the national park  – but she says pulling out the notepad isn’t her first step.

“It’s, let’s see if we can solve the problem first,” she says. “Sometimes people just need help fixing their fence, you know, or something like that. Sometimes they don’t realize that they’re getting out in a certain way, or they’re jumping the fence, you know.”

Today, the park is quieter than usual — all we’ve seen is a handful of red squirrels clambering through the brush.

“Usually I pass somebody,” she says as we round the corner to return to the parking lot. “There’s like, not many dogs out today.”

So we head back to the shelter.

Wheldon started her job here at a turbulent moment in the shelter’s history. For years, the shelter has been supported by both the animal control officer, a position within the Sitka Police Department, and a group of volunteers. Last summer, the volunteer group, Friends of Sitka Animal Shelter, was locked out of the shelter by the previous animal control officer, who cited security concerns. A month later, the animal control officer briefly went missing while hiking on the Katlian Bay road. She was ultimately located safe but didn’t return to work. While the position was vacant, police euthanized six animals by gunshot. 

Wheldon says she knows many of the volunteers from her vet clinic work, and she hopes to rebuild trust – and volunteer presence – this spring. 

“Transparency and communication — I think communication is probably the biggest problem,” she says. “I know that that’s kind of what everybody is saying is like, you know, everybody just wants to know what’s going on. I’m an open book.”

A few volunteers are back in the shelter on a limited basis now, but Wheldon says it’s a priority to get all the volunteers back in the building. In the meantime, she says volunteers have been active in the community. The group started a “home-to-home” program to coordinate foster placements and adoption outside of the shelter. 

“The volunteer people are actually doing more work, keeping them out of the shelter and, like, doing home-to-home visits,” she says. “And that’s good for everybody, really.”

That program has been successful. Back at the shelter, Wheldon introduces me to the lone shelter resident today, a timid six-toed cat with fluffy orange fur. A volunteer, Maggie Woodlin, is crouched on the floor of the enclosure, peering into an open cat carrier. 

“Six Toes!” Woodlin coos gently. “You wanna come out? You wanna come out?”

The cat stares at her from the back of the carrier — today, he does not want to come out.

Wheldon says she likes to sit in the cat enclosure when she has time.

“When I’m not on calls and stuff, I kind of just sit in there, and that way I can do, you know, paperwork and stuff and be on my computer,” she says.

Sometimes, she plays music from playlists with names like “Cat Music Jukebox” and “Cat Bliss” — calming instrumentals to help the skittish six-toed cat relax.

As we leave the cat enclosure, Wheldon gestures to a newly-painted wall in the hallway. The city is painting and updating parts of the building, while there aren’t a lot of animals here. 

“I feel like we’re starting fresh,” she says. “We’re starting new. We’re gonna, you know, get things under control and and, you know, get everything back to the way it should be.”

In the meantime, she’ll be playing “Cat Bliss” for any felines who show up at the shelter. 

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