On Sept. 19, 1986, Juneau’s Department of Community and Regional Affairs announced a big error they made in estimating the town’s population. Instead of losing 2,713 people, Juneau gained 833 people. The problem was due to a computer malfunction, which had also caused a small town’s population to supposedly increase by 700 percent.
In Bethel, Steve Cowper, the Democratic nominee for Alaskan governor, and Sen. Arliss Sturgulewski, the Republican nominee, fought it out in a gubernatorial debate held in Bethel. Topics included development versus fisheries, the power cost equalization program, subsistence, sovereignty and income tax.
For the first topic, Cowper openly supported fisheries while Sturgulewski did not give a clear answer. For the second, Cowper said he believed that the power must stay in place but there must also be a switch to weatherization and less power usage, while Sturgulewski was seeking a program using conservation. As for subsistence and sovereignty, both agreed that subsistence was important and they would not support governments outside of Alaska. Lastly, for income taxes, Cowper said he believes a tax should be reintroduced while Sturgulewski believed it should be tied with the Permanent Fund Dividend program.
“This Day in Juneau History” is compiled by Empire freelancer Tasha Elizarde, who sums up the day’s events — 30 years ago — by perusing Empire archives.
