Empire Archives is a series printed every Saturday featuring a short compilation of headline stories in the Juneau Empire from archived editions in 1985, 1995 and 2005.

This week in 1985, Christmas may be a time of peace on Earth, but this year is not proving very peaceful for the managers of local grocery stores. The cause of that is Alaska Marine Lines, the only barge line providing service to Juneau, decided to suspend the sailing of its barge from Seattle to Juneau and the rest of Southeast between Christmas and New Year’s Day. That means Juneau will be without barge-delivered supplies between Dec. 22 and Jan. 4. The change is prompting local food sellers to shuffle orders to guarantee supermarket shelves stay relatively full during and just after the holidays. “It certainly has caused me to lose a lot of sleep. We have ordered awfully far ahead now. The last thing we needed was the non-sailing of a barge,” said David Green, vice president at the Foodland supermarket downtown. A spokesman for Alaska Marine Lines referred questions about the cancellation to another official, who did not respond to inquires by press time.

Original Story: “Barge service cancels sailing during holiday,” by Chuck Kleeschulte. 12/12/1985.

This week in 1995, Anna Witt went to her grandson’s December concert at Auke Bay Elementary School expecting to hear songs of the Christmas season. She was grieved, she said, to hear songs about pigs instead. “I felt like I was in an atheist country,” she said. “I’m not a fanatic where I feel people should believe what I believe. (But) since I was born, Christmas was expressed in this country, and all of a sudden Christmas is being taken away from me and a lot of people.” Auke Bay Principal Dave Newton said he’s had complaints from parents in the past that concerts had too much religious content. This year’s complaints are “just the opposite.” The concert Witt objected to was actually a “fall concert,” not a holiday concert, Newton said. Harborview Elementary, with the same music teacher, performed the same concert in November, while the one at Auke Bay school was performed in December. School district policy states musical selections of religious origin may be used in classes, “but only on the basis of their musical and educational value and/or traditional secular usage.” They should also be performed “preferably in concert with other musical works which are non-religious” and as “works of art, not as acts of veneration.”

Original Story: “The season to rejoice in — what?” by Cathy Brown. 12/14/1995.

This week in 2005, The snow frosting the peaks of Douglas Island may be enough to get people thinking about fun on the slopes, but it’s not enough to open Eaglecrest Ski Area. “We will be open as soon as we feel good to go,” said Jeffra Clough, director of sales, marketing and the snowsports school. Two years ago that was at Thanksgiving. Last season it was New Year’s Eve. Last season’s big snow came in January, recalled Buddy Smith, 22, an avid snowboarder. “We got four feet in one day.” Eaglecrest’s target opening date was Dec. 10. Snow depths a couple of days later were about two inches at the base and 19 inches at the top, Clough said. Generally the ski area looks for at least two feet at the base and five feet at the top.

Today Eaglecrest is also facing delays in opening due to lack of snow. General Manager Dave Scanlan said the current target date is Dec. 20 if temperatures drop enough snowmachines can produce a sufficient base to cover the lower part of the mountain in particular.

Original Story: “Eaglecrest waits for winter temps,” by Tony Carroll. 12/14/2005.