Doug Has Questions

Send us Fan Mail What if healing starts with a simple truth: your body already knows the way? Licensed counselor Cesre McQuaid joins us to share how a life-altering NICU crisis awakened her faith, redirected her career, and taught her the power of real-time support. From that hospital room to leading crisis response in Alaska, she unpacks what actually helps in the hardest moments: clear words, st...

Send us Fan Mail What does it take to build a life anchored in service, humility, and real hope? We sit down with Vince Hansen—former city administrator and borough manager, longtime deacon, firefighter, and hospice volunteer—to chart a remarkable journey from pear orchards in Northern California to leadership and ministry in Alaska. Vince grew up one of ten kids, working paper routes and orchards...

Send us Fan Mail  A broken engine, a borrowed wheel, and a room packed with glossed-over facts—sometimes the biggest turns come from the smallest moments. We sit down with Gershon Cohen, longtime Haines resident, potter, scientist, and environmental advocate, to trace a path from North Philadelphia to the Bering Sea and into the hearings that reshaped Alaska’s cruise ship standards. Gershon shares...

Send us Fan Mail  What happens when a saltwater-obsessed kid from Tampa grows up on Cuban bread routes, learns to fish for dinner, and then moves to Alaska to rebuild his life—and ends up mayor? Andrew Cremata sits down with us to trace that winding path and the big ideas it shaped: subsistence vs sport, fisheries and trawlers, faith and persuasion, ferries and bureaucracy, and why access decides...

Send us Fan Mail A plywood smokehouse recipe, two commercial smokers, and a head full of cannery memories—that’s where Harry Rietze started. What followed was nine lean years, a gutsy pivot, and a methodical buildout that turned a tiny smoke operation into a modern plant moving four million pounds with a 60-person crew. We dig into what actually changed the trajectory: tender service that let gill...

Send us Fan Mail The sky rarely hands out straight lines. Rick Dunning’s journey proves it—line boy in Indiana, a bruising exit from Embry‑Riddle, and a leap to Southeast Alaska that rewired everything. We sit with Rick, now a Delta captain, to unpack the tightrope of judgment that bush flying in Lynn Canal teaches: learning routes like a hometown map, respecting weather more than ego, and underst...

Send us Fan Mail A river can teach you how to build a life—and a town. We sit down with legendary boatman and entrepreneur Bart Henderson to chart the line from Vernal’s early raft culture and Grand Canyon miles to first descents in Ethiopia and the bold move that helped reimagine Haines, Alaska, as an adventure hub. The stories are gripping: a waterfall misread that changed how he leads, improvis...

Send us Fan Mail  A brown bear mauling, a river business built from nothing, and a small Alaska town trying to find its future—our conversation with longtime Haines, AK resident and entrepreneur Duck Hess is a study in grit, ingenuity, and community. We trace Duck’s path from Oregon logging camps and Air Force intelligence to family logging in Southeast Alaska, the realities of owning bars in a bo...