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The Riverboat Discovery floated off the drydock for the season Sunday, an intricate operation in which 90,000 gallons of water were pumped into and then out of the unique landing on the Chena River.

The drydock, built by the Binkley family with surplus 48-inch pipe purchased after the trans-Alaska pipeline was built, serves as a landing for the riverboat during the summer.

It took several hours to lower the drydock by pumping water into the pipeline pieces, float the 280-ton riverboat into the Chena and raise the dock by pumping water out of the pipeline.

The floating dock features eight sections of pipe about 160 feet long.

The riverboats are usually left in the river at freezeup, as the ice of the Chena does not damage the hulls.

Ryan Binkley, son of John Binkley and now president of the riverboat operation, said that once every five years the Coast Guard wants the boats to be lifted out of the water for an external inspection.

This was one of those years in which the drydock was used to get Fairbanks’ biggest boat out of the water.

The Coast Guard safety office was here in mid-April to gave the vessel a once-over. The smaller Discovery riverboats, numbers one and two, were lifted out of the water for an external hull inspection last year.

Binkley said trips for school kids will begin Thursday, with regular voyages scheduled to start a week from today.

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DEGREE: Erik Drygas, a member of the UA Board of Regents, will present his wife, Emily, with a master’s degree in communication Sunday at the UAF graduation ceremony in the Carlson Center.

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KEEP GOING: The most inspirational athletes in the Chena River Run were the trio of distinguished gents in the “80 and over” category.

Former Attorney General Charlie Cole was first, in 36 minutes and 25 seconds, followed about 20 seconds later by Jack Townshend of the U.S. Geological Survey and former state Sen. Glenn Hackney, the senior member of the group.

Glenn was about 10 seconds behind Jack and 30 seconds behind Charlie, which made this one of the closest age group finishes in the race.

Meanwhile, Janette Hanneman and Elizabeth Whisenhant made up the 75-79 group for the women, while for the men, Corky Corkran, 75, was in a class by himself.

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TAKE A TIP: Jay Lewis is to share some of his insight about marketing for small businesses at a workshop Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The cost is $30. Call Heather Heineken at the Alaska Small Business Development Center at 456-7232 to register.

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IN APPRECIATION: In case you haven’t heard, this is Child Care Provider Appreciation Week. There will be a free picnic for child care providers and their families Saturday from noon to 2 p.m. at Pioneer Park. For details, call 479-2214.

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CLEANUP: By the power vested in me by no one in particular, I have proclaimed this Cleanup Week, leading up to Cleanup Day Saturday.

Free Cleanup Week yellow bags can be picked up the United Way office on University Avenue and at most of the fire stations outside the city, as well as at the Fox General Store and the Pleasant Valley Store.

These are not for your household garbage, but for trash that you find along the roadsides and pick up in order to make the area more presentable.

If you want know which roads need some extra help, please drop by the United Way office at 565 University Avenue from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily to check out the map.

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HEALING: The guest speaker at the Noel Wien Library tonight asked for a podium, a microphone, a five-gallon bucket and a hula hoop. It seems like there should be a punch line here, but there isn’t.

If you want to find out why John Adams wants those props, go to the library for his free talk at 6:30 p.m.

Adams, who is from New York, is a full-time prayer-based healer who uses the Christian Science system of healing. His talk is titled, “Does Christian Science Really Heal Sickness and Sin?”

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GVEA: The GVEA meeting last week was one of the most contentious of those annual gatherings that I have attended, with Bernie Karl providing the first spark.

The GVEA Web site now features video from the meeting, including public comments.

Karl’s remarks should have been included in their entirety. While I realize he was more energized than usual and over the top — which is saying something — the microphone should not have been cut off when he had been speaking for nearly a minute and a half beyond the allotted two-minute period.

The members should have been allowed to hear him out, even if it took five minutes. He was not rambling.

To allow members more time to talk or vent, the utility should eliminate the entertainment portion of the meeting.

Karl and other members raised questions about the legal battle over the experimental coal plant in Healy, which has not operated for eight years.

GVEA chairman Bill Nordmark answered some of Karl’s questions, but said the utility doesn’t want to lose negotiating power by “throwing its cards on the table.”

The dispute with the state agency that owns the plant now appears to center on which entity would run the plant when it is brought back into operation. GVEA wants to avoid dealing with the Homer electric utility as a middleman. A middleman or two would add to the electric bill of everyone in Interior Alaska. The key questions: How much? Is it justified?

GVEA has reversed itself on the attractiveness of the $300 million Healy plant.

Record oil prices have added urgency to our situation. With oil at $120 and rising, calculations about what makes for a cost-effective experimental coal plant are vastly different than when oil was $20 or $30.

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GOOD WORK: Congratulations to the Fairbanks CrimeStoppers group for taking the initiative Monday to recognize the crime-fighting 22-year-old UAF student. The local entity stepped in to make up for obstinacy on the part of their Anchorage counterparts. She deserves a cash award, no question about it.

Dermot Cole can be reached at cole@newsminer.com or 459-7530.