PEEK AT THE PAST: Aug. 21, 1998

Here’s what made news in the Mat-Su 12 years ago, from the Aug. 21, 1998, issue of The Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman:

School board approve schools

The Mat-Su Borough School District Board of Education has approved a recommendation by the district’s Site Committee to locate a middle and elementary school southwest of Bogard Road and East Seldon Road and Seward Meridian Road.

The new middle school may be named Teeland, but other names are also in consideration, including Reed, Kerttula and Fireweed. A name has not been recommended for the elementary.

If approved by the borough assembly, the schools will be located on 160 acres of land that could also allow for the future construction of another high school.

More money for library

A public hearing has been called to discuss a proposal that would funnel $21,000 into the Wasilla Public Library. The funds are needed to cover a shortfall of more than $30,000 that has prompted cutbacks on purchasing books, periodicals and continuing education and audiovisual materials.

The library received $322,000 from the Mat-Su Borough for library funding in fiscal year 1999, the same as in 1998. That funding was short of what the library budgeted as needed to continue its mission and programs.

Overall, the library’s 1999 budget is $604,000 including city funding. That’s up from about $578,000 in 1998.

Plan doesn’t change much

The Mat-Su Borough Assembly has approved a $110,000 plan to regulate Big Lake, the Valley’s largest lake. But the plan actually doesn’t set any rules; rather, it makes suggestions, which is a departure from the norm in the borough’s other 14 lake plans.

Instead of setting quiet hours at night, a no-wake zone along the shore or shoreline setbacks, the plan recommends doing these things over the next 10 years. Each rule will need to come back to the assembly for separate approval.

The plan drew a skeptical comment from borough manager Michael Scott, who said, “This is a plan that is essentially without teeth. These are paper tigers.”

It cost what?

According to advertisements in August 1998 you could:

• Get a 1,200-minute monthly wireless plan for $119.

• Strike a deal on “the best performing residential toilet made today.”

• Have a hip back-to-school hairstyle for $16.