Peak at the Past

Here’s what made news 28 years ago, from the May 25, 1983, issue of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.

Determined officer saves boaters

Freezing waters stole her strength and forced her mind into a deadly dream world.

Michelle Hunsicker, 15, told her mother she dreamed she could let go of the overturned canoe and sink to the bottom, push herself off of the bottom and back through the surface of Long Lake — then way up into the sky. But for the bravery of one man and a decision he made the day before, Michelle’s warped dream would have turned into a nightmare for the lakeside community two miles southwest of Willow.

Michelle and her sister, Deanna Hunter, also 15, were spared certain death by the quick thinking and action of Fish and Wildlife Protection Officer Garland Dobson when their canoe upset on windswept Long Lake recently.

Witnesses report the girls clung to the canoe for 30 to 45 minutes in icy waters that were about 32 degrees, Dobson said.

“It’s just like when you make homemade ice cream,” Dobson said. “You add salt to the ice to make it melt and freeze the ice dream. The lake was at its coldest. The water is colder when the ice is breaking up than when it’s frozen solid and 40 below.”

The girls were dressed only in light clothing and no life preservers. Dobson, who lives three doors from the girls, reacted quickly, and while onlookers watched, he made his way to the girls. He talked to them while he acted.

“I told them not to panic and to hold on,” he said. “I told them not to leave their canoe or touch mine. Michelle was talking about letting go. I just grabbed Michelle and drug her in, then I grabbed Dee Dee and drug her in.”

When he finally got the girls to shore, medical responders acted quickly. Because of the cold, the girls suffered from poor circulation and could hardly move and were sobbing, according to the incident report.

The publicity shy Dobson shrugs off his rescue, preferring to credit the girls and their determination.

“I don’t know how they held on,” he said. But the girls’ mother, Pat Hunsicker, is quick to recognize his actions that day.

“I just can’t believe it,” she said. “His determination. The way he kept talking to the girls. His calmness and sureness. In just one more minute, they wouldn’t have been with us.”

Assembly mulls school budget

A hypothetical school district budget amount surfaced Tuesday night during a Mat-Su Borough Assembly workshop. Should it become a real number, the district will fall about $2.3 million short of its budget request.

Of the seven figures passed to the mayor, only one would fund the district at its full request of $37 million. The lowest was $33 million.

It cost what?

According to advertisements, in May 1983 you could:

• Take a three-day Disneyland vacation, including airfare, for $615 a person.

• Get a metal shop building put on your lot starting at $7,995.

• Fix up plenty around the house with duct tape, on sale at Mat-Su Supply for $1.69 a roll.

• Encourage those budding gamers with a new Coleco Vision system for $219. Add a Zaxxon game for $70 or Smurf game for $40.