Empire Archives is a series printed every Saturday featuring a short compilation of headline stories in the Juneau Empire from archived editions in 1984, 1994 and 2004.

This week in 1984, the question of how the municipality should put its new comprehensive plan into effect reared its head again Tuesday, and the Gold Creek Salmon Bake on Basin Road was the cause. The Juneau Planning Commission finally approved a key one-year extension of the salmon bake’s temporary use permit allowing it to continue operating next year, Bake owners William Leighty and Nancy Waterman had asked for a five-year permit extension, The approval of the one-year use permit, pending assembly approval, came after a strong complaint by Planning Commission Chairman Ventura Samaniego Jr. that the panel would be violating current and future zoning laws for the basin area in approving the salmon bake. It is a commercial use in land currently zoned for residential, and zoned in the new comprehensive plan as open space and resource reserve land. “If we are talking about clearing up past inconsistencies we have to start sometime,” he said, “The only reason the bake has gone on this long contrary to the zoning — 15 years — is because no one has complained and it doesn’t hurt anything.”

Today the salmon bake is located on Salmon Creek Lane near Bartlett Regional Hospital and is owned by Alaska Travel Adventures.

Original Story: “Salmon bake gets reprieve — for now,” by Chuck Kleeschulte. 10/24/1984.

This week in 1994, there will be no limit to the number of commercial tour operators using city-owned trails next summer, but they will be charged fees. The city-borough assembly during a work session Wednesday designated 1985 as a trial year to assess the effect on city-owned trails by commercial users, said Therese Smith, city Parks and Recreation director. By the 1996 tourism season more comprehensive long-term regulations will be in place, she said. Next year’s fee schedule will be set by Parks and Recreation at a later date. The assembly also approved improvements to Douglas Island’s Outer Point and Treadwell trails, with new fees to cover the costs, Smith said. Commercial users of state-owned trails are charged a $200 annual fee for each trail used, while the federal government takes a cut of a guiding company’s revenue for using its trails.

Today the City and Borough of Juneau continues to charge for annual commercial use trail permits. Companies are charged application fees for each trail, plus $3.50 for each person on CBJ parkland due monthly.

Original Story: “Tours will pay to use trails,” by James MacPherson. 10/20/1994.

This week in 2004, President George W. Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry would be better presidential candidates if they embraced some of the other’s qualities. That was the conclusion reached Tuesday night by University of Texas government professor Bruce Buchanan at the University of Alaska Southeast’s Egan Library. The presidential scholar and author delivered a 70-minute nonpartisan lecture, “The Choice: George W. Bush vs. John Kerry,” to approximately 60 spectators as part of the University of Alaska’s Democracy Project. “My angle on the subject of choice is that of analyst, not of advocate,” Buchanan said. “I can’t remember a campaign as close or as nasty since 1988. Close is noteworthy because it signifies that President Bush has run an efficient campaign. If he hadn’t, he’d be very far behind, given all the bad things he’s had to deal with in the last few months.” Nastiness is also noteworthy, Buchanan said, because the nature of an attack campaign obscures the flow of worthwhile information. “Candidates can run an efficient campaign for votes without running a useful campaign for voters,” he said. “The result is that the choice has not been well-clarified.”

Original Story: “Scholar: Good info is rare in nasty campaign,” by Korry Keeker. 10/20/2004.

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.