About 60 residents of the Goldhill area of Fairbanks, sometimes called the Ester Lump, gathered Saturday for a bonfire and a meet-and-greet with Republican candidates for the Legislature, mayor, assembly, and school board.
The event, organized by Assembly member Barbara Haney at the home of Karla Secor, included state Senate candidate Mike Cronk, House of Representative candidate Ruben McNeil, mayoral candidate John Coghill, Assembly candidates Miguel Ramirez, Tammie Wilson, and Jimi Cash, and school board candidates Loa Hubbard and April Smith.
Ester has a growing number of Republicans and conservative-leaning voters in the district, but a Republican event in Ester is still a rare thing. This one came shortly after two heavily attended fundraisers hosted by Gov. Mike Dunleavy in Fairbanks for Rep. Frank Tomaszewski and mayoral candidate John Coghill.
For Rep. Mike Cronk, now running for the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Click Bishop, this event was like a homecoming of sorts. Cronk has several family members who are long-time residents of the neighborhood, where the Cronk kids were well known and popular. Even though Mike Cronk moved from Ester to Northway while he was young, he’s maintained ties to the area through his aunt and uncle and extended family.
Residents had one-on-one conversations with the candidates about issues that mattered to them, while a bonfire was the center of activity for hotdogs and marshmallows.
The Goldhill area is one that has been hard hit by homeless people squatting on private property, sometimes even inside people’s houses, sheds, or garages, while owners are away. Ester also has a mining community, and some members expressed concern with the “anti-mining” mindset of the current borough Assembly under the leadership of Savannah Fletcher.
Other area residents discussed the challenges in meeting the documentation requirements by the borough assessor for the agriculture exemption, and other assessment issues. Overly aggressive assessments, excessive document requirements, and unreasonable timelines under the new appeal process have been an on-going area of concern by residents throughout the FNSB borough, and Ester residents were no exception.
Under the new appeal process passed under Fletcher’s leadership, it is practically impossible to file an appeal under the 10-day timeline. As one attendee noted, “By the time a person receives the letter to allow the appeal, the 10-day deadline to appeal is passed. It doesn’t seem fair.”
Saturday was an opportunity for candidates to listen to the concerns of Ester residents. Rather than coming in with a platform of ideas, the candidates came to listen to what mattered most to residents.
It’s called the People’s Republic of Ester. Cool to have a GOP bonfire in the heart of the beast.
This is a very narrow summary of the discussions that took place among sixty voters and eight candidates for state office, school board, mayoral candidate, and Assembly. Surely, more was discussed, especially with the brouhaha going on about the FNSB school board’s health curriculum and the outrage displayed at last week’s FNSB school board meeting.
Isn’t Ester the home base for the Hopkins family? Along with all the radical lefties outside of Fairbanks? All of those ultra-liberal wack-job Democrats who wear their knee waders year round, even when it’s -40°. And the Republican bonfire is like a smoke signal for the Hopkins tribe to complain to the Borough about neighborhood air pollution. John Coghill will be a total relief from local government insanity and a chance to keep another Hopkins out of the government trough.
Who knows. John Coghill might even be able to keep Hopkins”s son-in-law, Scott Kendall, from meddling with Interior politics. God knows. There’s enough of the Hopkins tribe already on the farm.
Don’t forget the nutty David Guttenberg. He’s running for the Assembly again and he’s a Hopkins too. Jesus, how many Hopkins are there, disguising themselves with other names, hoping to fool the public?
No, he’s a Guttenberg. It’s really easy for figure out, but I’ll help you if need be. Luke Hopkins is from Branford, Connecticut and came to Alaska in 1966 to attend what is now UAF after graduating high school. The Guttenberg siblings (David, Elyse and Richard) are from Queens and came to Alaska several years later. Elyse married Luke in 1977, yet she retained her maiden surname. There’s that connection, plus the one formed when Selena Hopkins married Scott Kendall. There’s also a connection I previously mentioned: Isidore “Joe” Guttenberg came to Fairbanks to spend his last years living with or near his children and had a relationship with Vic Fischer’s first wife.
Well, thanks Sean…..I think. Draw us a tree, please. There’s so damn many of them running for politics that you can’t tell them apart. Do the they all attend the same Democrat church too?
I think there’s geographic confusion all around here. The Guttenberg and Hopkins clan are/were on a small hill in the shadow of the Moose Mountain ski resort off Murphy Dome Road. That’s considered Goldstream and is several miles north of either Ester Lump or Gold Hill, which are separate places. Ester Lump is an extension of Ester Dome and is home to Ester village and some less densely-developed subdivisions to the north and west. Gold Hill is several miles east. There was a separate town there until it was wiped out by dredging activity during the middle of the last century. That town was home to what is now the Ester post office, which may cause confusion if you lack intimate knowledge of the area and its history. Gold Hill Road is a remnant of the historic road network connecting mining settlements of long ago and provides access to various subdivisions. Ester CDP, a Census Bureau statistical unit, encompasses the area bounded by the Parks Highway to the south and the Alaska Railroad tracks to the east and north, including everything north of the Parks between the Sheep Creek Road and western Old Nenana Highway intersections.
Sean–thanks for the geographical clarification. “Ester Lump” is the name of the road service area that serves part of the greater Ester area. No one who I know uses the term to refer to a political district as this article does.
So Sean, did Luke Hopkins graduate with a degree from UAF? I heard from a friend that he worked as a carpenter at UAF but he had a hard time hitting the nails. There are a lot of misaligned door frames on that campus.
Was Luke on those jobs?
Let them rule. Better they are consumed by their own folly. Just be sure your lamps are full of oil.
Who? The all-electric Hopkins clan, with massive windmills revolving around the stratosphere in the Goldstream Valley?
😂
I was also in attendance as a candidate for city council, met some city residents there. It was a great turnout!
Was more people from North Pole than Ester. Waste of time.
Scott Kendall is the Hopkin’s new patriarch. Luke needed a vacation. 🤣🤣
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