From the publisher

Separate decisions affecting an effort to recall Wrangell's mayor and the Juneau-Douglas High School boys basketball team are similar, in that they disappointed some people, but they are not equal.

The organizers of a recall effort against Mayor Stephen Prysunka made the wise decision not to fight over the legality of their recall petition, and instead to focus on the assembly seats at stake in the next municipal election.

Rather than burn up time and money in litigation over the city's decision to reject the recall petition, the group decided "the most expedient way" of making its point and pursuing its agenda would be to find people to run for the three assembly seats that will be on the October ballot.

Let the voters decide the future of the city on a broad range of issues rather than a single-subject recall special election.

Though no doubt some of the recall group organizers may be disappointed, they made the right choice not to fight the battle in court no matter how much they might have wanted the chance.

As for the Juneau-Douglas High School boys basketball team, they, too, will stay off the court, but the disappointed players lost to a virus and public health concerns, not the game of divisive politics.

The team won the Southeast high school tournament on Saturday against Ketchikan, but the next day the school district announced the team would not travel to the state Division 4A championship in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough this weekend. The COVID-19 case count in the borough is too high, putting the games in Palmer and Wasilla off-limits for Juneau-Douglas School District travel.

The Mat-Su Borough last week had the highest number of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in the state, according to the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. The positive-test rate in the Mat-Su was three times higher than in Anchorage, and the borough's population was the least vaccinated in the state. Not exactly worthy of the honor roll, and certainly a worry for anyone traveling into the borough.

It's ironic that the Alaska School Activities Association (ASAA) moved the state tournament to the Mat-Su this year because pandemic-control rules in Anchorage prohibited the event. However, the high infection count was too real for Juneau school officials to overlook.

"ASAA selecting the Mat-Su Borough as the location for the state tournament essentially ended our season and dreams of competing for a state championship," Juneau-Douglas Coach Robert Casperson told Anchorage TV station KTUU.

Sometimes, the hardest decisions are the most disappointing. The Juneau-Douglas basketball team may not win a shot at the state tournament next year. Certainly, seniors lost their last opportunity at a state title this year.

I feel for the high school players who got caught up in the pandemic. They played well on the court but the school district played by its rules and took the team off the court. There is no happy ending to this one, just another sadness as the pandemic continues to mess with people's lives.

It's another reason for people to get vaccinated so that no more school teams lose an opportunity they earned. Support students by getting a shot in the arm.