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, municipal election campaigning was picking up in terms of cash spent as an election candidate for Assembly District 2 reportedly spent $9,297 (approximately $26,357 today) toward campaigning out of the $11,633 he raised ($32,981 today), according to his campaign finance records with the Alaska Public Offices Commission.

The fundraising by the candidate, Erroll Champion, far outpaced any other candidate during the election. However, there was still a week to go before Election Day and more funds were likely on the way.

Today the candidate in the 2023 election raising the most funds so far is Laura Martinson McDonnell, who as of last Saturday had raised more than $41,000. She has spent about $34,000 with two weeks to go before Election Day.

Original Story: “Champion leads campaign funding race” by Betsy Longenbaugh. 09/27/1985.

This week in 1995, the Juneau Lodge’s order of the nationwide Benevolent and Protection Order of Elks of the United States of America voted 21-7 against an amendment to its constitution to allow for women to join the group.

“Most of the fellows couldn’t understand why females would want to come into the frat,” said Gary Jeffus, secretary for the Juneau Lodge at the time.

The vote came amid a national conversation about whether the strictly fraternal group — founded in 1868 — should admit women. The Juneau Lodge’s vote was counted along with the 1.3 million other members in the U.S. In the end the nationwide vote was for the change and today women are allowed to become members.

Original Story: “Elks vote on women: Juneau lodge not in favor of idea” by Erika Currier. 09/21/1995.

This week in 2005, an industry report revealed a total of 920,000 passengers came to Juneau throughout the cruise ship season which had already ended by September. That amount was a growth from the previous summer in 2004 which saw 876,000 passengers. It was expected that the 2006 season would remain “flat” compared to the 2005 growth.

Today the cruise ship season in Juneau is still ongoing and will continue to run until late October when the final ship, the Norwegian Sun, is scheduled to depart Juneau on Wednesday, Oct. 25. As of mid-September, Juneau had welcomed more than 1.5 million passengers — nearing 92% of the record-breaking 1.67 million total number of visitors anticipated by city and industry officials this season.

​​Original Story: “Cruise ship growth expected to be ‘flat’” by Andrew Petty. 09/27/2005.

• Contact reporter Clarise Larson at clarise.larson@juneauempire.com or (651) 528-1807.