Peek at the Past

Here’s what made the news seven years ago, from the Oct. 8, 2004, edition of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman:

District, unions reach agreement

Name-calling, strikes and bitter misunderstandings had no place in this year’s contract negotiation between the Mat-Su Borough School District and its employees. Last week, an unusual encounter happened in a peaceful conference room where district representatives negotiated for fewer than 10 hours before agreeing to three-year contracts for each of the four employee associations. The four employee associations representing teachers, principals, support staff and mid-level managers had never before come together in a collaborative bargaining effort to settle their contracts at once. The three-year contract agreement is one of the longest contracts for any of the associations during the last 15 years. With negotiations potentially out of the way for the next few years, district administrators and employees said they are looking forward to focusing energy on student learning.

Wasilla voters uphold term limits

With only 21 percent of registered voters casting ballots, Wasilla residents didn’t exactly storm the polling booths Tuesday. The few who did upheld term limits for mayor and city council members in the unofficial election results. Both propositions to repeal term limits were soundly defeated, with nearly twice as many people voting to keep the limits rather than lift them.

Historic wildfire season draws to a close

The worst wildfire season in Alaska’s history is drawing to a close due to cold, wet weather and intense firefighting efforts throughout the state. More than 6.3 million acres of wilderness burned this season, well more than the previous record of 5.1 million acres set in 1957. Although several season-ending events have subdued the colossal wildfires that raged through the Interior this summer, the blazes have left behind them the huge task of wildfire rehabilitation. This task will be made a little easier with an extra $50 million in firefighter assistance secured for the state of Alaska through an amendment added to the 2005 Homeland Security appropriations bill.

It cost what?

According to advertisements, in 2004 you could:

• Fly roundtrip to Washington, D.C., for $363.

• Purchase a five-bedroom home off Hollywood and Vine for $215,000.

• Drive a two-year-old Chevy Tracker for $13,000.