Homer Trails Alliance thanks volunteers

The Homer Trails Alliance Board of Directors wants to thank the many volunteers who have spent Sundays and days in-between working to improve the Homestead Trail. With their dedicated efforts, we have installed 300 feet of new boardwalk, a 40-foot bridge and the rerouting of an entire trail. We’ve had community members and AmeriCorps volunteers weed whacking, hauling, grubbing, and building; laboring to fulfill our promise of ensuring sustainable trails on the north side of Kachemak Bay. We had a vision two years ago of getting hikers out of the mud and onto dry trails and boardwalks. With the support of 100 Women Who Care, the Homer Foundation and the Homer Foundation Youth Advisory Committee, the Kachemak Bay Nordic Ski Club, and the Kenai Peninsula Community Assistance Program grants, as well as individual generous donors, we were able to enact that vision for hikers and fulfill our promises to funders.

We could not have done this without the hard work and enthusiasm of people willing to put in the efforts needed to improve these trails. We have had an extraordinary amount of support and it fuels us to move forward with plans for new trails and routes in the Homer Diamond Creek Recreation Area and beyond. We encourage you to get out there and experience the improvements, hike our trails (rain or elusive shine), and treasure this special place we call home. Check us out at homertrailsalliance.org.

Kim Smith for the Homer Trails Alliance

Homer Foundation funds academic dreams

With this letter, I’d like to thank the Homer Foundation and the Tin Roof Fund for the generous provision of the Beluga Tale Fiction Writing scholarship to help fund my journey through college and beyond.

Leaving Homer, and furthermore, Alaska in pursuit of an education is a difficult task, just as is finding your own way in the world. There are many additional incentives to stay locally, finances being one of them. However, I strongly feel that it is within the very core of what it means to be human to cross beyond the horizon and discover lands new and old: It is a remnant of our nomadic history that serves us well time and time again. The scholarship from the Homer Foundation is a critical stepping stone to this later success.

With the aid of the scholarship from the Homer Foundation, I am going to study Aerospace engineering and applied physics at the Colorado School of Mines. One day, I hope what I learn there will enable me to change the world for the better, and I will always be thankful for those that contributed, funded, and supported my journey thus far and in the future.

Regards,

Zach Marley

Colorado School of Mines Class of 2027

Concern over debris in local waterway

What in tarnation were the Anchor Point VFW Post 10221 and Anchor Point Chamber of Commerce thinking when they sponsored the dumping of tubs of plastic ducks into the Anchor River to “race” downstream?

Marine debris is a global problem that they either don’t understand or care much about. Although efforts were made to net the plastic ducks out of the river once they crossed a “finish line,” I am scratching my head here wondering, how do you know the two or three volunteers were able to remove all of those plastic critters with certainty? Could there have been a different way to achieve the same goal of this event?

All marine debris comes from people. It can enter the ocean and waterways from land through littering, poor waste management practices, storm water discharge and extreme natural events. Now we can add to this list the Anchor River Duck Race.

The best way to prevent accumulations of debris from getting larger is to stop debris from entering the ocean in the first place! With several young children present for this event, I am left wondering what message they take away from observing the excited grown-ups dumping hundreds of plastic toys into a vital waterway? I’ll ask again, could there have been a different way to achieve the same goal of this event?

I hope that next year the race organizers will reconsider how to engage people of our community to make some quick ca$h for fun. If suggestions are needed, I have several! You can find me out in the community picking up litter.

Shellie Worsfold

Our Little Quilt

Back in the 1980s-1990s when hanging hand-made quilts were the thing for warming our home walls, my mom was busy happily stitching these smaller versions of the quilting she loved to do. One year she gifted all of us six kids with a small size quilted American flag to hang in the home. It wasn’t a typical flag.

The red stripes were of a wavy flag design and the top left midnight-blue square was a circle of touching hearts instead of the 50 stars. In those years homes hung out their family flags only on national holidays, typically the Fourth of July and Memorial and Veterans Day. Dad was particular about teaching us how to unfold and fold up the flag, not letting it touch the ground or get soiled. It was something to be respected. I think he would be saddened by the display and thereby dirtying of the American flag on the backs of trucks we see today.

A circle touching hearts to represent the states, the United States, is just what we need. I hung this little hand-stitched American flag, Mom’s version, at the top of my drive this past July 4. It is sun-faded and a bit worn but still proud to proclaim not just liberty and freedom, but justice and equality. This country has come a long way from the Declaration of Independence for all “men” and it still has a long way to go. I keep hoping people will continue to come to terms with our many differences and find common ground in peaceful acknowledgement and acceptance of each other.

Therese Lewandowski

The Sun was out for the Kachemak Bay Highland Games

The Kachemak Bay Highland Games welcomed the sun and great participation for the 11th annual Highland Games on July 1st. Thirty-one athletes competed in all the traditional events and several with a bit of Homer flair.

Thanks go out to NOMAR for supporting the games and providing the custom-made halibut that are repaired as needed every year for the halibut toss. Thanks to The Grog Shop, Alaska Communications, Ocean Shores Motel, Grace Ridge Brewery, The Flat Fish B & B, Coal Point Trading Company and Alice’s Champagne Palace for providing support. Thanks to the Alaska Scottish Club and The Scottish American Athletic Association Northern Rockies Branch and to the City of Homer Parks personnel for their support in making the 2023 Games a success. Lastly, thanks to everyone who showed up to enjoy the Games, Music, Food and Sunshine. Lets do it again.

Robert Archibald, Athletic Director,

Kachemak Bay Scottish Club