By Fayrene Sherritt
Turnagain Times
Hope Correspondent
At a recent community meeting, Tim Navarre, a representative of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor’s office and on behalf of Mayor Williams, requested a community vote to show which site was preferred by the Hope residents for the new Hope Post Office.
164 ballots were mailed to Hope residents, Hope, Inc. members and to property owners who requested a ballot. 75 percent of the ballots, or 123, were received by the April 25 deadline. On April 26 the votes were counted. Of all the ballots cast, the property located at Logman and Palmer Creek Road received 72 votes while the Pay Streak and Hope Highway location received 51 votes. A simple majority was required.
President Shawn Butler submitted the results of the vote to Mayor Williams on April 28. The week of April 21 both properties were inspected by the Postal Service. The Postal Service will now make a decision as to which location best serves the postal services needs. Should the Logman location be selected by the Postal Service, the Mayor’s office will fast-track the property in an effort to make the property available to the Postal Service as quickly as possible. Even though Hope residents have now voiced their choice of locations, the final word on location remains with the Postal Service.
At the same time the Postal ballots were mailed, 82 ballots were mailed to Hope, Inc. members. This was a ballot requesting a change to the by-laws allowing the required Saturday night meetings to be changed so that the President of Hope, Inc. could select what day of the week the meetings would be held. Of the 82 ballots mailed, 49 ballots were returned. 42 were in favor, however 55 votes were needed to meet the two-thirds requirement.
The next APC meeting will be held May 15 at the Hope Social Hall. Board member Jason Skaaren recently resigned. Anyone interested in filling this position, please watch for the posted notice or contact Dave Scanlan if you are interested. There will be a Hope Inc. meeting in the Hope Social Hall May 17 at 7 p.m.
The end of the school year is fast approaching. The Hope School Foods class (the entire school) went on a field trip April 25. The first stop was a visit to the Culinary Arts program at the King Career Center in Anchorage. The students had a tour of the industrial kitchen and learned a lot about the food service industry from their tour guide, Chef Jack Nurmi. Unfortunately the rest of the trip, the Alaska Zoo and dinner at Benihana’s, had to be canceled due to the heavy unexpected snow fall that fell on Anchorage, and in Hope, that day. The end-of-the-year field trip is all set. The students and staff will enjoy five days in beautiful Sitka May 12-16. The last day of school is May 22.
At the Hope Chamber meeting April 5 it was decided to hold an old fashion “Clean-up” along the Hope Highway from the Hope “Y” to the main part of Hope and to Porcupine campground May 22nd beginning at noon. Plan to meet at Tito’s Discovery Café and afterwards an afternoon BBQ is planned at the Hope Social Hall.
Since Kirk Vos who, for several summers cleaned along the Hope Highway, no longer lives in Hope, the Chamber would like to have businesses and residents sign up for a section of the highway or part of Hope as an area to keep clean during the summer season. It is the Chamber’s belief that having a clean community shows that cleanliness is important to Hope and that others are more likely to help keep our community clean too.
Gina Motoyama volunteered to create, and maintain, a new web site for the Hope Chamber. The web site address will remain the same. If anyone needs to update their information, please contact her with new photos or information for the web site.
Members of the Hope Chamber, as well as other Hope residents, wish to extend their appreciation for the noticeable reduction in the number of power outages here in Hope this winter. It is clear the work removing trees along the powerline in to Hope that has occurred over the past couple of years, has helped to keep the power outages to a minimum. Thank you to Chugach Electric and to the crews who have done a great job.
Smoke rose from the chimney of the Hope Museum on Saturday, April 12. The Hope and Sunrise Historical Society board sat in a circle around the stove discussing the coming summer season. Ann Miller reported that she is lining up volunteer museum hosts. Diane Olthuis showed off a designer draft of the Hope Main Street signs. Janet McCabe brought a text draft for a Hope Schoolhouse interpretive sign. Lynn Copoulos reported on the Display Committee’s plans for the museum building interior. Rosemarie Knecht offered to set up two talks or hikes this summer. One on local mining and the other would be on dog sleds. The meeting finished on a high note with everyone looking forward to the May 31 Annual meeting at the Hope Social Hall.
The Hope/Sunrise Volunteer Fire Department recently mailed a letter to the property owners and residents of Hope requesting a donation. These monies will be used for the operating expenses of the building, all required insurance, vehicles and equipment maintenance. A donation letter was not sent in 2007, as monies received in 2006 were enough to cover the expenses for both years. Thanks to all you who have already sent in your donations.
The Hope Christian Church held the last community breakfast April 30. The breakfast will begin again in September. The breakfast has become a popular Wednesday event for many Hope residents. The Food Bank is open Wednesdays 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Any folks needing to take advantage of the food pantry, outside the regular hours, please contact Burgins at 782-1002.