A retired Sitka School District staff member has raised concerns about alleged misuse of the district’s travel accounts. While the district and local say the matter has been investigated and resolved, the former business manager believes further scrutiny is warranted.

At the Sitka School Board meeting on November 5, Leslie Young said that while she oversaw school funds during a transition to centralized accounting in 2023, she noticed some concerning charges on the district’s Alaska Airlines travel account. 

“Before the account was transferred to the business office in 2023, two employees had exclusive control,” Young said in a statement during the public comment portion of the meeting. “Records suggest that miles and companion fares earned through district-related travel may have been used for personal vacations, including trips to Hawaii, Colorado, and multiple visits to Fairbanks with no documented district purpose.”

Young said she reported the trips to her supervisor at the time. After she retired in 2024, she continued to seek more information, filing a report with the Sitka Police Department and the Professional Teaching Commission to look into the matter.

“The records available to me at the time span only a three-year period,” Young said. “To determine the full extent of the misuse, I believe [a] formal records request to Alaska Airlines is necessary to establish how many additional years of activity may be involved. I firmly believe the evidence warrants a full, independent criminal investigation, not merely an internal review by the superintendent.”

Young submitted a written complaint to the school board in August, and received a response from Superintendent Deirdre Jenson.

In Jenson’s letter to Young, she wrote that both she and the former interim superintendent had investigated the matter and said that information involving personnel would remain confidential. Jenson wrote that while there were past issues of limited account access, now multiple staff members share oversight of the Alaska Airlines mileage account, and the District monitors it continuously. But Young wasn’t satisfied by the response.

“That response is unacceptable. Public funds or resources are never intended for personal use,” Young said in her statement to the board. “Misappropriating them is not a personnel matter. It carries potential criminal consequences.” 

Speaking with KCAW after the meeting, Superintendent Jenson said the matter had been investigated both internally and externally, by multiple parties.

“There has been investigation that has been done regarding this issue,” Jenson said. “[I] cannot comment on personnel matters. What I can assure the public is that there has been no misuse of public funds.” 

KCAW also reached out to Sitka Police to learn more about its investigation. Spokesperson Serena Wild said that a police officer opened a case after Young filed a report at the end of October. The officer consulted with the Assistant District Attorney regarding the case and the ADA determined that further criminal investigation was not warranted, and the case was closed as unfounded, pending further information.

Young said the district should have brought the matter to police from the beginning, not her as a private citizen. In an interview with KCAW, she said she didn’t bring the matter to the board’s attention lightly.

“I’m really saddened by this. You know, the district is such a wonderful opportunity for students. There’s so many great things that happen, and there’s so many wonderful teachers and staff that are amazing. And I just am really saddened that it impacts the good work that happens there,” Young said. “And I just want accountability. That’s important. I want to be able to sleep at night knowing I did everything I could to make people accountable and follow the rules.”

Climbing over a mountain of trash bags filled with donated clothes in Mt. Edgecumbe High School’s former mail room, residential staff member Maddie Gillissie stands beside tables covered with a wide variety of donated goods, like board games, menstrual products, and toiletries. 

“As you can see, we kind of started sorting out the donations that was from our first round, and we got some yesterday and some today, and this is just from the past 48 hours,” says Gillissie.

Laundry buckets are packed like sardines at the back of the room, which are later filled with sorted clothes and bedding to be taken to the laundry room.

“So we’re gonna go through everything, make sure everything is good and can be given away, [and] wash all the clothes that need to be washed,” says Gillissie.

These donated goods will be distributed to incoming Mt. Edgecumbe High School students who have been displaced by Typhoon Halong, impacting nearly 2000 residents across Western Alaska. So far, three of the scheduled new students have arrived and have already taken advantage of some of the donated resources. Gillissie says they expect more displaced students could arrive in the future, but the timeline is uncertain. Which makes her task of organizing and labeling the donated goods all the more pressing. 

Fortunately, Gillissie is not alone in executing this task. Over the course of the evening, 10 student volunteers stop by to help sort and label all the donated goods. Amongst these students is senior Eden Dock, alongside her twin sister Kayla. For Dock, volunteering was personal, as her family is from Kipnuk, a village hit hard by Typhoon Halong.

“I was worried… [I was thinking] ‘Are they okay?’ And I hope they get to find good shelter,” says Dock.

Her family is safe and are currently sheltering in cities like Anchorage and Bethel. Dock knows how meaningful it is to have resources like Mt. Edgecumbe’s growing donation drive, and hopes that it can help students facing similar situations to her family. 

“I was thinking of my family from home and how this would have a great helpful impact for them,” says Dock.

Tom Gamble has worked at Mt. Edgecumbe for the past five years as a substitute teacher, language proctor, and basketball coach. When he heard about Typhoon Halong, his first thought was his current and former students. 

“My heart went out to them immediately, wondering, you know, were they in the houses? And sure enough, students from my team… Man, still tough to think of, but we’re a long ways away and trying to do something so that they know that their family cares,” says Gamble.

Shortly after hearing the news, Gamble and Gillissie knew they had to do something. The two teamed up, recruiting students to help brainstorm how Mt. Edgecumbe can support those in need. Their planning resulted in a donation drive across town, from local grocery stores to the city’s visitor center. And so far, Gillissie says the bins are overflowing with items on pickup day. 

“I think it’s more than I could have ever asked for,” says Gillissie. “After the first pickup, I had one student helping me, and she said, ‘Wow. Like, I’m so glad to see that people care,’ I’m glad to see people care too. I think Sitka does a really good job of showing up for the community and for its people. I’m glad that we could all rally together to do this.”

For now, students will continue to prepare donations for when their new classmates will arrive, so that they can have a clear and calm space to acquire what they need to adapt to their new home. Mt. Edgecumbe students have also organized social media campaigns, sending messages of strength to those impacted by Halong, and plan to host welcome gatherings and dancing spaces to help new students adjust to life in Sitka. For Gillissie, helping students develop mutual aid initiatives is important to her so she can demonstrate to her students that they have the power to make the world a better place.

“I think one of the things that I would want to teach my kids in this role that I am at Edgecumbe is that, like you’re never powerless,” says Gillissie. “There’s always something you can do. And it feels when things feel hopeless, there’s always hope.”

As the U.S. government shutdown continues into November, Mt. Edgecumbe’s drive is part of a growing trend across the country of mutual aid initiatives to support those in need, from natural disaster survivors to furloughed workers and those losing SNAP benefits. For Gamble, these efforts give him hope in people’s shared humanity and commitment to looking out for one another. 

“And so the student-led initiatives to community-led initiatives allow for people to have direct involvement in something, as opposed to maybe waiting for what is perceived as a benefit or a federal payout,” says Gamble. “People are just fixing the problems they see necessary to fix. We’re seeing [in] the face of adversities, humanity is showing its face.”

Listen to radio messages from MEHS students to communities impacted by ex-Typhoon Halong:
Trevon
Brody -Message 1
Brody- Message 2
Anne Marie

The Pacific Salmon Commission held a meeting in Sitka last month, where commissioners from Canada and the United States discussed Chinook salmon issues and approved an annual work plan for the coming year.  

Several people from across Southeast Alaska spoke during the meeting about the importance of conservation and maintaining fisheries access to the region.

The Pacific Salmon Commission was formed 40 years ago by the governments of Canada and the U.S. to implement the Pacific Salmon Treaty. Under the treaty, the two countries agreed to collaborate in the management, research and enhancement of Pacific salmon stocks. The current 10-year agreement expires in 2028. 

The bilateral commission meets three times a year. In October, the four-day session in Sitka concluded with public testimonies, where speakers emphasized the economic and cultural significance of salmon, particularly Chinook, also known as kings, for Southeast Alaska communities. 

“Commercial fishing is not only the backbone of the Southeast economy, but in many rural economies, it is the economy,” said Linda Behnken, director of the Alaska Longline Fisherman’s Association and president of the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust.

During public comment, Behnken talked about the importance of salmon to the region’s economy. The economic output of the Southeast Alaska seafood industry exceeds $800 million annually, she said, accounting for 15% of regional employment with 4,400 resident commercial fishermen and 2,900 seafood processing jobs. She said no fishery is more important to the Southeast way of life and food security than the troll fishery. The troll fishery is the second largest fishery in the state in terms of numbers of permit holders, and there are troll permits owned by residents in each of the 35 communities in Southeast Alaska. Eighty-five percent of troll permits are owned by Southeast residents, and close to 50% of troll permits are held by Indigenous residents.

Behnken said she will always support harvest reductions for conservation. But harvest cuts that hurt local fishermen when stocks are growing or while other sectors are allowed to catch more, is difficult to accept. She said the current Chinook management model is no longer useful and requested it be replaced. 

“Trolling, and especially trolling for king salmon, is what sustains us,” she said. “While cohos and to a lesser extent, humpies and chums, are important to the troll fishery, Chinook are literally king, providing, on average, 40% of a fisherman’s annual income from trolling. That is why the Chinook reductions our fleet has taken over the life of the treaty have been painful to the point now of being almost crippling, leaving many without a viable business, way of life or cash flow to support even owning a boat.”

In April, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced the number of treaty Chinook salmon available this year for all Southeast fisheries was down almost 40% from last year’s allocation. Of the 130,800 allocated, trollers were allowed to catch 92,700 king salmon. The balance of treaty salmon went primarily to sport anglers.

Jacquie Foss is a commercial salmon troller in Sitka. She said almost half of her family’s income comes from king salmon. Losing access to that resource would mean significant financial burden to her family and community. 

Foss said she needs healthy salmon stocks to run her business and she supports conservation. But she worries reallocation is being disguised as conservation.

“If we, Alaska, give up fish to increase returns, those fish need to make it to the spawning grounds and not end up in someone else’s hold on their hooks or in their nets,” she said.

In April, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced the number of treaty Chinook salmon available this year for all Southeast fisheries was down almost 40% from last year’s allocation. Of the 130,800 allocated, trollers were allowed to catch 92,700 king salmon. The balance of treaty salmon went primarily to sport anglers.

Paulette Moreno, with the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, said nearly one in three commercial trollers in Southeast Alaska is a Tlingit and Haida tribal citizen. 

During public testimony, Moreno stressed the need for Southeast Alaska tribal representation on the commission and for sustainable management. 

She said for her people, salmon is not just food. Salmon is the anchor of their culture and governance, a cornerstone of their economy and the living thread that connects them to their ancestors and future generations. 

“Their decline is not just ecological, it is cultural,” Moreno said. “It strikes at the heart of who we are as Tlingit and Haida people. Families who once filled their smoke houses now worry whether their grandchildren will ever know the taste of these fish. And while local access shrinks, allocations for non-resident charter fisheries continue to grow, widening an imbalance that challenges the very intent of equitable management. These challenges demand that we act together — tribes, First Nations and all governments — to protect and restore the lands and waters that nourish salmon.”

Mary Jack is from Hoonah, and said she was speaking on behalf of a dozen fishermen from the small community. She said the health of Alaska salmon doesn’t stop at the border, and that they need cooperation from Alaska and Canada, and industry and communities, to protect crucial habitat. 

“For most, king salmon might seem like a luxury, even here in Sitka, but for us, it’s a necessity,” Jack said. “We can’t afford another source of protein. Chinook is the only salmon we have to rely on during the harsh winter months. That’s why this fishery means survival. Growing up, I remember Christmas vividly. We had a small tree, a few presents from my grandparents. My mother worried about how to put dinner on the table. That Christmas Eve, my dad went out with his uncle, Thomas Jack Sr. They caught a king salmon, they sold one, and then they raced to the local grocery store to buy presents for the kids, a few ingredients for our dinner, a winter king and a deer roast. Some might call that luck, but I remember the scramble and the worry of two men trying to pull off a Christmas miracle.”

Jack said this fishery represents survival, dignity and love for family.

“As my father Dwayne Jack Sr. reminded us only yesterday, if they take this fishery away, they’re taking away a way of life, something passed down from my great-grandfather and his great-great-grandfather was passed down to his dad, himself, and now it passes on to my brother,” she said. “Our message is simple. We believe in sustainable fishing. We believe in healthy salmon and healthy rivers. We believe in cooperation and not competition. We believe that the Pacific Salmon Treaty should continue to uphold the stability it promised, to protect not just fish, but the families and communities who depend on them.”

Following public testimony, vice-chair of the commission, Doug Vincent-Lang, thanked the speakers for their testimony before adjourning the meeting. He said their testimony provides perspective to help guide policy-making.

Listen to the full testimony here:

Sitka’s Municipal Administrator John Leach announced his intention to resign on Wednesday (10-29-25) after six years on the job. He will be leaving at the end of May of next year, hoping to give the city ample time for a smooth transition.

KCAW’s Hope McKenney sat down with Leach on Friday to discuss his time in the role and what’s next.

TRANSCRIPT:

LEACH: What brought me to Sitka was my days in the Coast Guard. I was actually stationed over at Air Station Sitka as the engineering officer from 2015 to 2018. I fell in love with the community. I loved everything about the place. I ended up getting orders to Washington, DC. I made a pretty difficult decision to leave my family here while I went off by myself to Washington, DC — it’s what they call a “geo-bachelor” tour. And with the intent to return to Sitka, I put in my retirement notice while I was at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, DC, and looking for a way to get back here and be in this community, this opportunity popped up, and I applied for the position and got it in late September of 2019, I think, was the official higher time. 

KCAW: So you announced this week that you’ll be stepping down from the position at the end of May of next year. Tell me a bit about that decision.

LEACH: Six years, or, I guess, about six-and-a-half years when this comes about next year, it’s a long time to be in a role with this level of intensity. I love the work. I absolutely love and value the people that I work with, but it can take a toll on you. And I never really had an opportunity to take a break, and I think I need that. I’m not leaving the community. I’m still here. I still want to help. I still want to volunteer. I plan on doing the things that I enjoy here in Sitka. That’s the reason why I moved back. But I think it’s just time to step aside a little bit and take a break and then see where else I can get involved after that.

KCAW: So in your six years, it’ll be six-and-a-half years by the time you leave, what are you most proud of during that time as municipal administrator?

LEACH: I think what I’m most proud of is putting systems in place that help us look further into the future. I think we make more calculated decisions now, whether that’s through our strategic planning or asset management. It’s about making good value decisions for what we’re going to do next, instead of just, you know, what’s the biggest fire right now and who’s the loudest person yelling? You know, we’re looking out for the long term interest of the city, and how things are going to happen 20 years from now. So just instilling that long term vision, I think, has been a big win.

KCAW: Can you talk about some of the challenges that you’ve seen over these six years?

LEACH: The biggest challenge, and it’s for everybody, not just me, it’s everybody that works at the city is, as I said, the high intensity, the big demands and the very limited resources. Local government is very personal for people, and you multiply that by a few times since you’re in this small island community. So because you’re making these decisions and doing work that is so personal to people, and then they’re the same people you’re connecting with, sometimes you have to make an unpopular decision and you take it personally if other people take it personally. You know, we really want to serve everybody, but you’re never going to make everybody happy. And that personal connection is really difficult to confront, I guess. 

KCAW: So you mentioned staying in the community. What’s next?

LEACH: Well, first and foremost, I’m going to take a break. I want to take a few months of not doing anything, reconnecting with my family. When I got out of the Coast Guard, I didn’t take that leave, that break before taking this job. It was out of the uniform one day, off the plane and stepping into this job the next day. So again, I’d like to reconnect with my family, recharge, and I’ve thought about some consulting work, seeing if I can help other municipalities, or even plug in here somehow through that work. But otherwise, the options, they’re open.

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

LEACH: I just want to emphasize that my decision to step down is not rooted in any frustration. I think Sitka is in a really strong position right now, and that’s because of the people who serve it every day. There’s a lot of good people in City Hall that are working on the citizens’ behalf here, and sometimes they go unrecognized. But I talked about local government being deeply personal. You know, these are the same folks that you go to school with, you go to church with, you’re sharing holidays together, and they’re here to serve you, and they work their tails off every day. So I want to thank them, and I want to just remind the folks of Sitka of that fact, that they’re here to work for you, and they also are your friends and neighbors.

Over 100 Sitkans gathered at Blatchley Middle School for the 3rd annual Salo Salo event on Saturday, hosted by Sitka High School’s Filipino culture club, Barkadas. KCAW’s Ryan Cotter attended the event amongst newcomers and returning regulars alike, experiencing an afternoon full of games, song and dance, a quickly emptied buffet, and a reminder of the importance of Pinoy pride. 

The City of Sitka will petition the state alcohol board for three more restaurant beer and wine licenses. The Sitka Assembly made the decision after two meetings filled with community debate.

The State of Alaska limits restaurant beer and wine licenses to one for every 1,500 people, and Sitka has technically already met the state limit for a town of its size — ringing in at just over 8,000 residents with six year-round licenses and two seasonal tourism licenses. But new regulations have opened the door for communities around the state to petition for additional licenses by taking into consideration seasonal visitor numbers. 

The City of Sitka estimates the island has a visitor population of more than 665,000 people per year, and approximately 3,200 non-local workers. Since 2023, Juneau, Homer, Haines, Soldotna, Wasilla and Valdez have had similar petitions approved.

At the Sitka Assembly meeting on Oct. 28, over two dozen community members and business owners called for the city to pursue the additional licenses.

“For me, this isn’t about alcohol at all. It’s about what we build around it,” said Cambria Holmes, co-owner of Campfire Kitchen, which hopes to accompany its pizza offerings in its new downtown location with beer and wine.

Holmes said approving additional licenses would support a thriving downtown, generate more tax revenue, foster community and add healthy competition.

“I want to be clear, if I thought for a moment that obtaining this license would harm anyone or hurt the fabric of this community, I wouldn’t be standing up here advocating for them,” she said. “I’m raising my daughter here, and I care deeply about the kind of place that she grows up in, one where businesses act responsibly, where families feel safe, and where we model what community looks like at its best.”

While the majority of community members voiced support specifically for Campfire Kitchen, several assembly members, including Katie Riley, reiterated that the decision on the table wasn’t about any one specific business, but about what’s best for the community.

“The question being asked of us tonight is whether or not, essentially, it’s in the public interest, or whether or not our community has the capacity to handle three more Restaurant and Eating Place Licenses, not who should get it or what they should do with it,” Riley said.

Sponsors of the resolution, Thor Christianson and JJ Carlson, said in a city memo that by adding more beer and wine licenses, they hope to allow existing businesses to grow, new businesses to start, and to meet the demand of the sizeable visitor and seasonal worker populations while still providing year-round employment and dining options for locals. While most public testimony was in line with this theme, one community member spoke against the resolution.

Michelle Kavouras is prevention director at Sitka Counseling, and is the Southeast regional co-chair for the Alaska Alcohol Alliance. She said temporary visitors aren’t reflective of Sitka’s actual population, and said allowing more places to serve alcohol would affect Sitka’s recovery community, which is running out of alcohol-free places to go.

“When we consider public interest, we are not just looking at creating revenue, we are looking at the health and safety of our community,” Kavouras said. “Adding more licenses means adding more risk for our youth, for our families and for our community. Any increase in alcohol availability has the potential to affect public safety, mental health and overall wellbeing, and these factors must be weighed thoughtfully.”

Assembly member Kevin Mosher also voiced concerns about public safety, and said he couldn’t reconcile voting yes to request more licenses based on Sitka’s high tourism numbers. 

“Because of this new law, we can include the seasonal numbers. Before we couldn’t,” Mosher said. “But I am struggling right now with choosing to request a license that will be for a year-round thing, for something based on seasonal numbers. So in my mind, although the state made it legal, I don’t know that that’s a wise course of action, because why did we issue the licenses? For public safety.”

The assembly considered petitioning the state board for up to six licenses at its meeting in August, before deciding to postpone a decision until more research and discussion was had. Assembly member Christianson said Tuesday that settling on three additional licenses is a good compromise, will be good for the economy and shouldn’t contribute to teen drinking.

“It’s not perfect,” he said. “I would love to be able to address everybody’s concerns, but we can’t. It’s the system we have, and I think we should go ahead and do this.”

After lengthy discussion, including a conversation about public health concerns and two amendments to the original motion, the Sitka Assembly voted to move forward with the petition on a 6-1 vote, with Mosher opposed. 

Staff are expected to submit the petition materials and virtually attend the Alcohol Beverage Control Board meeting in early December, where Sitka’s request will likely be considered. If the board approves the petition, businesses will still have to come back and apply for the licenses.

A jazzy melody from “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” peppers the air outside of Blatchley Middle School’s art classroom, a friendly reminder that fall has arrived. Inside, sixth graders are at their desks, painting and drawing. Yellow fabric is draped over the harsh fluorescent lights, imitating the warmth of the sun. Spread out above the whiteboard are various cut-out paper letters spelling out “ALL ARE WELCOME,” with each unique letter showcasing a different student’s skill and style. The first period of “Art Lunch Bunch” is hard at work.

Sitting behind a desk with colorful markers neatly displayed is sixth-grader Mariana Diaz Mendoza. She shows off a drawing in her notebook –a face outlined in ink, with shaded lips and brows, the sides of the face intentionally distorted, as if they’ve been stretched out like taffy. Her notebook is full of sketches like this– with muses ranging from fabulously creepy clowns to biblically accurate angels– demonstrating  a level of skill and detail that signals she has been drawing her entire life.

“I was born of a disability, and so I wasn’t able to move half of my body, [or] either my fingers. So [doctors were] like, ‘Oh yeah, art could help you with moving your fingers,'” says Mariana.

Mariana holds her arms apart as wide as she comfortably can, demonstrating her relatively limited range of motion.

“I didn’t know that. Mariana, that’s so beautiful. So you were, like, born to do it. You were born to do art,” says Clare Sheedy, the Resident Teaching Artist at Blatchley Middle School. She is one of four Americorps ArtistYear residents in Sitka this year. For the first time, the volunteer organization with a long-established local presence is piloting the program here, which connects art teachers in regions with little to no arts programming in schools. 

Sheedy was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. As the daughter of Irish and Scottish immigrants, she was surrounded by singing and dancing at family gatherings, and even learned to play the fiddle. She most recently served as an Art Educator at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, and studied art and writing in grad school. But she didn’t join Americorps with the arts in mind.

“I want to learn how to build a house. And then I started looking into AmeriCorps programs. And then I just came across artist year,” says Sheedy. “And I was like, this is something that I’m interested in and that I have real skills and passion I can bring to it.”

Sheedy hopes to help her students connect with the creativity they already have.

“Art is already in their lives. It’s in their families. It’s in the Sitka community around them. It’s in their notebooks. It’s something that we’re constantly co-creating, and that’s everywhere,” says Sheedy. “So I hope to just kind of be a facilitator of those touch points.”

Due to funding cuts, Blatchley Middle School has been without a full-time arts teacher for several years, so Sheedy arrived to a classroom low on supplies. But she says community members quickly stepped up to help, with donations of everything from  glue sticks to tempera paint. Sheedy has been incredibly moved by the generosity and strong sense of community amongst Sitkans, and says working with the students has been an absolute joy so far.

“They’ve been so fun and funny, just joyful and delightful to get to know,” says Sheedy. “Working with them has brought out a part of myself that I really like, that’s more playful and maybe a little chaotic, because there’s some of that chaotic energy in middle school.”

Above all else, the students are hungry for art. Right after Sheedy began teaching at the end of September she sent a survey to students, asking them what arts programming they want to see. Sheedy has incorporated their suggestions in her curriculum, like starting an after school art club, and the Art Lunch Bunch groups, which sixth grader Mariana attended, as well as 8th grader Claudia Teas-Klanott, who is painting a handmade cardboard guitar. 

“In the time I’ve been in this space and working with Miss Claire, it’s been really supportive and just like welcoming,” says Claudia. “You can connect with everyone without feeling like you’re gonna be judged, because everyone’s here to make art and stuff, so no one’s gonna judge you for the type of art you make.”

The arts programming at Blatchley got cut shortly after Claudia entered sixth grade. Now that it’s returned, they are able to regularly work on a wide variety of art projects more consistently. Claudia believes it is crucial that youth-centered art spaces like Art Lunch Bunch exist in Sitka. 

“It’s really important for kids to have creative outlets like this, because being in Sitka… There’s not a lot of art things and stuff that are, welcoming to kids,” says Claudia. “It’s really nice, because it’s during school, so you don’t have to worry about if you’re free after hours.”

Sheedy says it feels “exciting and a little overwhelming” to re-establish a middle school arts program. She is applying for grant funding for supplies, and making long-term plans for future teachers, even though federal Americorps funding beyond this year is uncertain.

“So that’s why organizing this room and putting a lot of emphasis on student involvement and setting things up in a way where it can easily be transitioned after a year or two to someone else,” says Sheedy.

While she initially applied to Americorp to learn how to build a house, Sheedy is building a foundation to help middle schoolers find a home in the arts.

The air is tense as a nurse steadily performs CPR on a patient in need. Another nurse stands nearby, ready to trade off and continue compressions if the first nurse gets too tired. Hovering behind them, two more medical professionals are ready to assist in anything from keeping time, to shoving an oxygen tube down the patient’s throat. 

But these first responders are not saving the life of any ordinary individual, but rather, man’s favorite four-legged friend. That is, they would be if the dog was alive. 

‘So I’ve got a video here about just, we’re using a stuffed animal. We don’t want this to be a traumatic class,” Dr. Toccoa Wolf says. Wolf is a veterinarian and owner of Sitka Animal Hospital. She is showing a room full of amused firefighters from across Alaska a video demonstrating how to perform CPR on pets and to recognize whether an animal is struggling to breathe and needs it. The recipient is a cuddly, life-sized stuffed retriever with brown curly fur.

Having worked in Sitka for over six years, Wolf has cared for many local firefighters’ pets. So when one of her clients reached out to her about teaching a pet first aid workshop for the Alaska Fire Conference in Sitka this October, she jumped on the chance. And so did the firefighters- Wolf’s class at the conference booked up quickly, so she had to host a second one. Wolf says it is crucial for Alaskan firefighters, many of which serve rural communities, to be ready to provide immediate medical care to pets in need. 

“And so the luxury of having that in the lower 48 is that’s often not far most of the time,” says Wolf. “They can get to an ER vet and they have access to immediate care. But here, especially in rural Alaska, that’s not always a luxury. So I think it’s especially important for us to have the first responders knowing how to do initial, supportive and non-invasive stabilization.”

It turns out, CPR doesn’t vary that much, creature to creature. But some adaptations are required, particularly for America’s most popular pet: the “squishy-faced” french bulldog.

“They are at such high risk if there’s an incident like their threshold for you know, any disruption to their heat regulation or their air regulation is so small,” Wolf says to the training participants. “So when you deliver oxygen to them, that’s when it becomes a little bit different…what you want to do is maybe forget the mask and actually try to get a way to get oxygen past the airway.”

Fortunately, a key lesson of Wolf’s training is that firefighters pretty much already have the skills needed to provide first aid to furry companions, they just need the training and the equipment. Firefighters who took her class walked away with free goody bags with animal oxygen masks and breathing tubes to bring back to their respective communities. Wolf encouraged the firefighters to reach out to medical professionals in their area to establish safety protocols when rescuing animals in need. 

“Collaboration amongst all medical professionals with first response is a really big part of emergency management,” says Wolf. “And sometimes we don’t always think about the veterinarian as part of our emergency management team. But as we can see, it is a huge part of emergency management.”

Wolf’s training ended up being timely– it came just about a week before Typhoon Halong hit Western Alaska, displacing over a thousand people. Amidst the evacuation efforts of those from impacted villages, some residents were separated from their pets.  A representative from the nonprofit Bethel Friends of Canines said that as of October 20, the organization helped rescue 107 dogs across Kipnuk and Kwigillingok, the hardest hit villages by the typhoon, and has already reunited many of them with their families.

For Wolf, the recent typhoon reinforces the need for these trainings. Throughout her decade of experience as a vet, Wolf has worked extensively on various humanitarian relief efforts with the U.S. military, and has seen firsthand how important it is to have emergency responders who recognize the strong bond between humans and their pets.  

“And if you talk to people that have been through traumas or disasters… people wanted to know, where’s my pet? What happened to my pet? What happened to my livestock?,” says Wolf. “And most of the time, it’s the first question that they ask. And so that being able to help facilitate the first responders, being able to help the rest of the family and the family pets has always been important to me.”

Wolf hopes that with continued education and resources, first responders throughout Alaska will be even more prepared to rescue family members, two-and four-legged alike. 

To learn more about how to bring pet CPR training to your own community, you can contact Dr. Wolf at [email protected]

More than 400 Sitkans turned out Saturday (10-18-25) to speak out against what they call an escalating abuse of power by President Donald Trump. They joined thousands of others across the state and country, from Maine to Kotzebue.

In Sitka, the “No Kings” protest fell on Alaska Day — also known as Reconciliation Day — the anniversary of the formal transfer of Alaska from Russia to the United States.

On top of Noow Tlein, also known as Castle Hill — where on this day, in this spot more than 150 years ago, Alaska was transferred from Russia to the U.S. — Tory O’Connell reads a land acknowledgement. She recognizes Indigenous peoples for their stewardship, as hundreds of Sitkans mill about holding signs reading “Stand Up for Democracy” and “Hate Never Made America Great,” the Russian flag flying in the wind above their heads, marking the spot of the land sale. 

Sitkans chant in unison, “Sitka says no czars, no kings on Lingít Aaní,” as they pose for a photo.

Cindy Litman is with Sitkans for Peace and Democracy, a group of about 40 locals who, for about two years, have been holding weekly vigils, protesting the war in Gaza and, more recently, President Trump’s policies. Litman says she was struck by how many people beyond the weekly attendees showed up. 

“I think things have reached such a critical threshold now that people who normally participate by voting or participate in their communities in different ways, are concerned enough that our country and our way of life and the things that we value are in jeopardy now, and I think that’s why we have the 400 plus people who came out,” she says. 

Mariah Warren is one of the many Sitkans who braved the cold, wet weather to rally on Castle Hill. She carries her baby nephew in a carrier at her front. Her young niece stands by her side carrying a fish-shaped sign reading, “No Kings, Except King Salmon.” Warren says she brought the kids with her because she’s concerned about preserving democracy for the next generation. 

“I think that Alaska Day, Reconciliation Day, is an incredibly good reminder that there are so many of us coming from so many different backgrounds, that we’re an incredibly diverse city, state, country, and that we really need to all work together and make sure that we continue being a democracy by the people, for the people, and that everyone is represented, no one is left out, let alone excluded, let alone persecuted,” she says.

Every year in Sitka, Alaska Day is marked by a massive parade, a pie and quilt sale, and a historical reenactment of the transfer. 

For the last eight years, many have begun to recognize the day as “Reconciliation Day,” acknowledging the sale of stolen Lingít land from one colonial power to another. 

Litman sees a connection between what was happening in 1867 and what’s happening today. 

“People in power who were appropriating land, appropriating people who didn’t belong to them, without any respect or any consideration for including those people in any kind of decision making that was going on. And in that way, I see parallels,” Litman says. “People who are in power and who just make decisions that profoundly impact the lives of all the rest of us, without any consideration, without any understanding.”

That history wasn’t lost on 84-year-old Jerry Deppa, who came to Alaska at 20 years old as a wildlife biologist, and moved to Sitka five decades ago. Now, he sits on his lawn chair in the middle of the crowd, holding a sign that reads, “No Kings in America Since 1776.”

“We’re not going to tolerate anybody getting into a position of responsibility and authority undercutting our system,” Deppa says. “No, we are in charge as citizens, and that was our statement today. No czars, no kings, no. A big no.”

Deppa says people all over the country are sharing that message now, speaking out against what he calls an “undercutting of democracy by the current administration.” 

“It’s shameful what’s been done,” he says. “So many vital agencies have lost staff, have lost funding. It’s criminal, and we can’t tolerate it. This is a nation of citizens, where we are in charge. We put people in power and we take people out of power.”

Alaskans turned out for No Kings protests across more than a dozen communities on Saturday, with crowds of 2,000 in Anchorage, to about 17 in Port Alexander — more than half of the 31-person town.

Lloyd Davis is the former mayor of Kake. He remembers the day nearly two years ago that an 80-foot halibut schooner sank in the city’s harbor. 

“Nobody was watching it, apparently, and bailing it out or whatever. [It] sunk and kind of rolled underneath them, one of our end fingers on the main dock,” Davis said. “You could obviously see the oil spill, the slick on top of the water and whatnot.”

Davis said the vessel initially was brought to Kake a few years ago from Wrangell, and was exchanged in a handshake deal. Kake’s current mayor, Lolanda Cavanaugh, said the Coast Guard and locals worked together to clean up the fuel from the vessel when it first sank. In the years since then, she said that the boat continued to be a hazard for sailors. 

“The boat is sitting in our harbor at low tide. It sticks out. It’s kind of a safety hazard, because if boats don’t realize it’s there and they’re coming into the harbor, you know, they could easily run into it or get stuck,” said Cavanaugh. “It blocks some of our parking spaces for boats and other marine vessels. We need to get it out.”  

She said the sunken vessel not only poses a risk to the safety of boaters, but also the harbor’s environment. 

“That’s where a lot of the local people crab pot, sometimes fish and herring move into the harbor and you’ve got kids off fishing on the docks,” said Cavanaugh. “We don’t know exactly what kind of contaminants are still basically in the vessel. It was old, very old. It probably should have been moved out of the harbor years prior to its sinking.”

Cavanaugh said the boat’s owner has been “uncooperative and unresponsive,”  so the city is taking responsibility for its removal, a costly and logistically challenging endeavor.

Cavanaugh initially applied for assistance from a derelict vessel removal program with the State Department of Natural Resources, but the request for reimbursement was rejected because the city hadn’t yet spent any money to get the vessel out of the harbor, and the estimated removal cost was over $50,000. Reapplying is not on the table, as a bill passed earlier this year by the Alaska state legislature axed funding for the program.

Kake is not the only community that struggles with derelict vessels. The Alaska Department of Natural Resources has documented over 400 abandoned and derelict vessels, over half of which are in Southeast. Petersburg Harbormaster Glo Wollen said that communities struggle to fund these removals themselves. 

“You have to demo them in a manner that ends up costing a considerable amount of money to the municipalities that you know are on the hook to to end up dealing with this,” said Wollen.

Wollen said it is important for coastal communities to work together and learn from each other to address the shared problem.  

“I talked to our neighbors quite often. And we approach a lot of things together, and many of us have ordinances that seem to work for our community,” Wollen said. “Maybe other communities can look at them and and blend whatever their uniqueness is with ours, and we can have kind of a cohesive approach to what we’ll tolerate in southeast Alaska.”

And that’s just what Mayor Cavanaugh did. Last fall, she learned at a city council meeting that the Borough of Wrangell applied for the Department of Defense’s Innovative Readiness Training Program to assist with a similar situation. 

“So we’ve been looking for the application to come out again. And so when it did, I have a gal who helped me with some grant writing, and she wrote the application for us,” said Cavanaugh.

Right now, Cavanaugh is waiting to hear whether their application will be accepted. If so, the Department of Defense will remove the sunk vessel from Kake sometime in the summer of 2027. She also applied for another federal grant program, to explore options. But with the current government shutdown, it is unclear how long the process will take. 

“We’re just in a waiting game,” said Cavanaugh.

While the City of Kake remains stuck in a sticky situation as they await federal aid, they are able to keep their hope afloat. 

The city is accepting feedback on their application for assistance from the Department of Defense until Oct. 30.