Our history: June 9, 1989

Here’s what made the news in the June 9, 1989, edition of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman:

Rambo buys a Valley bulldog

Everyone loves a puppy — even America’s tough guy, Sylvester Stallone. Valley dog breeders Ralph Gaston and Mark Oathout placed a wriggly, scrappy white-and-orange female Game American Bulldog on a flight to Los Angeles last week, tagged for delivery to the actor who has given a new definition to the word “tough.” The puppy left the Valley with a $1,000 price tag and a proven breeding lineage.

Cleaning up in Valdez

A temporary city is rising out of the grave of a long-dead trailer park in Valdez — not as a ghost town, but as a place for homeless job seekers to live. Since the March 24 Exxon oil spill, Valdez has been overrun by people seeking cleanup jobs. Tents, motor homes and makeshift shelters and campers are squeezed into every available empty space.

Established recreational vehicle parks are full or expecting tourists, and without some help, the prospects of the summer season are looking grim. During the peak, when news of the spill was carried on every major newspaper across the country, more than 8,500 people from all over the United States were jammed into this town 2,600. Community leaders say there’s a need for inexpensive housing to relieve the crowded city.

Talkeetna project runs into problems

The Mat-Su Borough is under the gun to build a pump house to complete the Talkeetna water system before August. Although the system is already in use, it is operating under the third extension of the interim permit granted by the Department of Environmental Conservation.

The DEC will not grant a full permit without construction of the pump house. Without a permit, the system will be turned off and homeowners would have to return to their private wells. A building estimate on the pump house puts the funding amount for the project at about $133,000. The borough only has $131,563 in available funds.

It cost what?

According to advertisements, in 1989 you could:

• See “Star Trek: The Final Frontier” at Mat-Su Cinema for $3.

• Rent a three-bedroom apartment with a washer and dryer for $475 a month.