PEEK AT THE PAST: March 28, 2010

Here’s what made news in the Mat-Su 24 years ago, from the March 28, 1986, issue of The Frontiersman:

Spring comes with record snowfall

It waited until five days after spring officially arrived, but winter finally made it to the Mat-Su Valley.

Even weather forecasters were caught by surprise by a storm that dropped a record of about 17 inches of snow in a 24-hour period in Anchorage, and about 15 inches in the Valley.

But the sudden snowfall doesn’t make up for an otherwise brown winter across Southcentral, which suffered through one of the snowless winters in many years. The National Weather Service reports that Southcentral usually averages about 70 inches of snow annually, but this winter only 38 inches were recorded.

Valley Press

closes doors

Citing a slow economy, the publisher of the weekly Valley Press newspaper announced the business would close up shop. After meeting with co-owners, it was decided that planned expansion of the publication just wouldn’t be financially possible.

The Valley Press began publishing April 4, 1984, and is closing just shy of its two-year anniversary. The publisher said he has no plans to re-enter the newspaper business.

MEA mall purchase falls through

A deal that would have seen Matanuska Electric Association move into a vacant mall appears to have been squelched. The electrical cooperative announced that it received word from the Rural Electrification Administration that the federal agency would not loan money to MEA it if went ahead with its plans to buy Valley Fair Mall.

MEA surprised many of its member/owners the previous week when the board of directors decided to make an offer on the property instead of building a new headquarters. Original plans were to build new in an industrial park for $1.9 million. The purchase of the mall would have cost MEA about $3 million, including about $1 million to renovate the building’s interior.

Cost of youth

sports outlined

Expanded sports programs have the Mat-Su Borough School District scrambling to find funding with programs like hockey costing an estimated $948 per student. Cross-country skiing is a distant second in per student cost at $464.

But it isn’t just the school district that is having trouble absorbing the costs of youth athletics. Parents are also strained to buy equipment for their children. Outfitting a hockey player costs upwards of $1,700, including helmet, mask, stick, skates and pads.

By comparison, the district’s music programs cost about $74 per student and has the second highest participation rate of 387 students.

It cost what?

According to advertisements, in March 1986 you could:

• Buy a full-size microwave oven for $299.

• Get a Sony Super Walkman cassette player for $75.

• Get a large pepperoni pizza at Shakey’s for $8.99.

• Enjoy strawberries for 89 cents per pint.

• Pay $4.89 for a 12-pack of Pepsi or Pepsi Free.

• Celebrate with a $3.99 bottle of Bolla wine.