20 years ago

Seldovia Village Tribe announced it will open a health clinic in Homer. Using funds from the Indian Health Service, the tribe previously offered health care in Homer through contract health providers, said SVT executive director Crystal Collier. Service focused on patients already sick. With the new clinic, SVT would provide more preventative services, she said.

The new clinic will have a nurse practitioner and possibly a part-time doctor on staff in a leased building next to Homer Flex School on East End Road. The tribe also got $500,000 to build a permanent clinic. The tribe then had about 400 members and served about 350.

— From the issue of Nov. 29, 2001

30 years ago

A “trophy sized” tar ball about 12 inches in diameter washed up on the Nanwalek (then known as English Bay) beach. Weighing 26 pounds, the blue-black glob was found in late October. Village Council Chief Vince Kvasnikoff said tar balls frequently appear after heavy storms.

The big tar ball renewed villagers’ fears that oil pollution would hurt their gathering of foods, as happened during the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation specialist Mike Munger said sometimes oil can be “fingerprinted” to determine its origin, but the tar ball was too weathered to determine if it came from the spill.

— From the issue of Nov. 28, 1991

50 years ago

The Nov. 25, 1971, issue is missing from the Homer News archives.