20 years ago

Homer residents along with countless others across Alaska who knew him are mourning the death of former Alaska House member Drew Scalzi, who died July 21 at University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle following a long battle with cancer. Gov. Frank Murkowski’s office announced Friday that flags would be lowered around the state in Scalzi’s honor when the family announces funeral arrangements. A commercial fisherman by trade, Scalzi was elected as a Republican in 2001 and served one term in the Alaska Legislature, holding seats on the Community and Regional Affairs Committee, the Special Committee on Fisheries, the Transportation Committee, and several Finance subcommittees.

— From the issue of July 28, 2005

30 years ago

Louise Manley said she’s wanted a totem pole since 1982, when she and her husband, Jim, moved into their house on Lakeshore Drive. Last week, she got her wish, when a forklift hoisted the 600-pound pole carved by a Washington relative into place. Patty McGlenn of Whidbey Island, Wash., said she got the idea for the totem pole two years ago, when she joined the Manleys on a visit to Halibut Cove. Upon returning to Whidbey Island, she began studying Pacific Northwest Indian totems. But she worried whether it was ethical for a non-Native to borrow from Native culture. She asked Bernie Gobin, a respected elder and carver on Washington’s Tulalip Indian Reservation, if that would be disrespectful.

— From the issue of July 27, 1995