Fire station to be renamed for Point MacKenzie activists

POINT MACKENZIE — A pair of longtime activists in one of the more remote stretches of the Mat-Su Borough will soon have one of the few public buildings there named in honor of their memory.

Aryls “Art” and Beulah “Boots” Scates died Jan. 5 in a head-on collision near Mile 12, Knik-Goose Bay Road. Two other people in the crash survived. Neither Scates was driving.

The Scateses were a familiar sight at meetings having to do with the various projects planned for the Point MacKenzie area, be it the port or the prison.

Art Scates served on the board of supervisors for the Central Mat-Su Fire Department for seven years. He served two, three-year terms on the Port Commission with three years as Chairman. He was the Chairman of the Point MacKenzie Community Council for five years and recently served on the Goose Creek Correctional Center Citizens Advisory Committee for a year. He also held a seat on the Point MacKenzie Community Comprehensive Planning Team.

Assemblyman Noel Woods said Boots Scates shared her husband’s vision for Point MacKenzie.

“I can remember Boots attending many of the meetings with Art. They were extremely enthusiastic about all things relating to the Port’s development and beyond.”

Tuesday, Mat-Su Borough Assemblywoman Cindy Bettine said she was honored to bring before the assembly a resolution naming a Knik-area fire station after the couple. The resolution passed unanimously.

Central Mat-Su Fire Chief James Steele said naming the building after the couple is a great idea that his department fully supports. The department’s board of supervisors, on which Art Scates served, endorsed it unanimously.

“He was very supportive of our department in that role and sort of looked after us, and he and his wife also were sort of part of that initial support for building a station out in that area, so it’s just I think an honor to actually name it after him and Boots,” Steele said.

At the time the couple died, Port Director Mark Van Dongen praised Scates as an active supporter of responsible development in the area who was key to getting the port a toehold from which to grow. Both Scateses, Van Dongen said, were personal friends.

The station, previously known as station 6-4, stands on that portion of Point MacKenzie Road that jogs west from Knik-Goose Bay Road before the road accessing the port heads south.

Steele said three trucks are housed there now, an engine and two tankers. It has some Murphy beds if firefighters ever need to sleep there, but usually they don’t.

“It’s sort of a basic rural station. It’s got an office area, a training area, a training room, sort of a little kitchenette,” Steele said.

He said the actual re-naming will not be accomplished for a little while yet.

“We’re going to have a ceremony. We’re going to be taking that sign down and taking it over and getting it re-lettered,” Steele said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.