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Search to continue tomorrow for
missing Angoon man
Searchers today (Wednesday) did not find any trace of a missing
Angoon man.
36 year-old Kevin O'Brian was reported missing Sunday evening.
Angoon Search and Rescue Coordinator, Jess Daniels, says the
weather is expected to be bad out in the open waters of Chatham
Strait tomorrow.
He says he's planning on sending three of four boats to search the
inside channels tomorrow morning.
A couple of ground search teams are also expected to head out at
first light in the morning.
Daniels says thirty-four Angoon volunteers are participating in the
search.
The Coast Guard suspended its search for O'Brian of Angoon late
Monday afternoon.
State Troopers suspended their involvement pending further
development's after yesterday's effort. Only O'Brian's sea bag was
found.
O'Brian departed Killisnoo for Angoon in an 18-foot skiff. His boat
was found beached near the seaplane dock in Angoon.
O'Brian was in the process of bringing his skiff from the ferry
terminal in Angoon to the boat harbor when he fell overboard.
State economists expects more
growth in 2006
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Alaska's economy has grown for years, and
state economist Neal Fried sees no reason to think that will change
in 2006.
Fried, who is an economist with the state Department of Labor, says
Alaska's economy has grown the last 18 years. Fried says entering
the New Year he can't see any reason why that would change. In fact,
he says, he is hard-pressed to find any industry that appears to be
struggling.
Fried says the health care industry has been the star performer the
past few years.
And he says another bright spot has been the small but noticeable
rebound in the oil industry.
Mining also is seeing a growth spurt.
(Alaska Journal of Commerce)
Assembly Finance and Committee of the Whole meet today
Two Juneau Assembly committee meetings are scheduled this evening.
The Committee of the Whole meets at five p.m. to be followed by a Finance Committee meeting.
Work is starting up on the City and Borough of Juneau's next budget, according to City Manger Rod Swope
He says they are working on a two year budget.
Swope says cuts made to the budget in recent years were tough, but he's glad they were done since he feels they put the city and borough in a pretty good position.
Overall, Swope thinks they are in good shape and he doesn't expect more cuts.
Swope will brief the Finance Committee on the city's finances at this evening's meeting.
The committee will also receive a status report from Collaboration Juneau; an update from Eaglecrest officials on the potential impacts of the ski area's late opening; and listen to a proposal from
the McDowell Group to conduct another tourism survey.
During the Committee of the Whole meeting, members will hear a presentation from Rollo Pool of the Southeast Conference on a regional solid waste management proposal.
Southeast Conference is working on draft legislation to allow
creation of Solid Waste Management Authorities in Alaska.
The panel will also discuss legislative priorities and the city's capital improvement project requests.
Guess won't seek re-election
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - State Senator Gretchen Guess won't run for re-election this fall.
The 36-year-old Anchorage Democrat announced the decision today (Wednesday), saying she wanted to put her family first. In a prepared statement, she says that her family is strong enough to handle the separation but it would not be best for her to continue her legislative work in Juneau while her family is in Anchorage.
Guess gave birth to a daughter at the beginning of last session and she and her husband, Jeff Tyson, are expecting a second child this summer.
She plans to return to work in the private sector after finishing her term, which ends this year.
Guess was elected to the House in 2000 and the Senate in 2002.
Kotzebue
Police hope toxicology tests reveal why teenager died
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Kotzebue police and Alaska State Troopers are trying to
find
out what killed a young woman.
Eighteen-year-old Kathleen Ticket of Kotzebue was found dead Saturday morning.
Police are awaiting autopsy and toxicology reports to determine the cause of death.
Kotzebue police say she attended a holiday party Friday.
Police Chief John Ward says Tickett was last seen alive at around three-30 a-m Saturday.
She was found dead four hours later. She was partially clothed in the upstairs bedroom of the home where she attended the party.
Ward says the woman's body bore no signs of trauma.
Tickett's cousin, Jarraine
Tickett, says the teenager had graduated from Kotzebue High School last year.
She says her cousin was living with another cousin.
(Anchorage Daily News)
Authorities identify avalanche
victim
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Alaska State Troopers say 30-year-old Joel
Schihl of Anchorage was the backcountry skier who died in Tuesday's
avalanche near Girdwood.
Officials say Schihl was found buried under at least four feet of
snow at Raggedtop Mountain, about a mile from the Crow Creek trail
head.
Rescuers say that's a common destination for backcountry skiers.
Schihl had been skiing with another man, 28-year-old Bradley
Cosgrove of Bird.
They were caught in the 1000-foot-wide avalanche that fell about
two-thousand feet.
Cosgrove managed to free himself and switched on an emergency
beacon. He found Schihl's body soon after rescuers arrived in a
helicopter.
Cosgrove was taken to his vehicle and released.
Fugitive arrested on Prince of Wales Island
A fugitive from justice was nabbed on Prince of Wales Island New Year's Day by Klawock Alaska Bureau of Wildlife Enforcement Troopers.
Raven L. Mooney, 29 of Hydaburg, was jailed on a felony arrest warrant from Washington State for escape.
He was booked into the Craig jail as a fugitive from justice awaiting extradition to Washington.
Authorities came upon Mooney after responding to a domestic
violence case.
He was arrested for assault in the fourth degree and interfering
with a report of a crime involving domestic violence.
Wasilla boy dies in Hatcher Pass sled accident
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Alaska State Troopers say a five-year-old Wasilla boy was killed in a sledding accident Monday on a Hatcher Pass access road.
Noval Matteson died when he lost control of his sled and slammed into a pickup truck.
Troopers say Noval was finishing a day of sledding with his father and brother on Hatcher Pass Ski Area Road, an access road built recently at the proposed site of a new ski area.
A pickup truck came up the hill.
The driver spotted the boy and pulled over but the child hit the truck at full speed.
The boy's father, Noel Matteson, and the pickup driver attempted to call 9-1-1 but had difficulty connecting.
Matteson eventually informed dispatchers he was driving the boy out of the pass.
A Butte first-responder and a Palmer ambulance met him.
Medics began cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the ambulance but the child was pronounced dead at Valley Hospital shortly before five p-m.
Man rescued from sea ice
Searchers were able to rescue a man yesterday (Tuesday) who was stranded on sea ice between Koyuk and Shaktoolik.
State Troopers say the sea ice had began to break up leaving the man, who was not identified, off shore.
Snowmachine teams from both villages and an Evergreen helicopter from Nome were sent to the area.
The search team from Koyuk was able to reach the man shortly after 4 p.m. after he was able to get to better ice, according to the Trooper dispatch.
The man did not need medical attention.
Former gubernatorial candidate
Campbell dies in Anchorage
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Businessman and two-time gubernatorial
candidate Jim Campbell has died at the age of 73.
Campbell died Monday of a cerebral hemorrhage at the Anchorage home
of his son.
Campbell ran for governor as a Republican twice in the 1990s. He
lost the Republican primary to Arliss Sturgulewski in 1990. In an unusual
move, he then signed on as Sturgulewski's running mate when
lieutenant governor candidate Jack Coghill left her to run with
Wally Hickel. The Hickel-Coghill ticket, under the Alaskan
Independence Party, went on to win.
Campbell ran again in 1994 and won the G-O-P primary. He lost the
general election by fewer than 600 votes to Democrat Tony Knowles.
Before he entered Alaskan politics, Campbell was a businessman
responsible for the expansion of Spenard Builders Supply.
Driver in double fatal had suspended license
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Alaska State Troopers say a man suspected of causing a traffic accident that killed two people did not have a valid driver's license.
Troopers say the license of 20-year-old Sean Nakaahiki had been suspended for speeding violations.
Witnesses say Nakaahiki was traveling at high speeds Monday on the Seward Highway when he crashed into a car carrying an Anchor Point couple.
Sixty-two-year-old Kenneth Wardwell and 58-year-old Lizabeth Wardwell died in the crash near Bird.
Witnesses trailing Nakaahiki told troopers he had sped by them at speeds they estimated at 80 to 85 miles per hour.
Troopers say black ice covered stretches of the highway.
Troopers say Nakaahiki sped over a rise, skidded out of control downhill into the oncoming lane and crashed into the
Wardwells' car.
Nakaahiki remains in an Anchorage hospital with what troopers call non-life-threatening injuries.
(Anchorage Daily News)
Ketchikan rainfall falls short of record
KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) - It was certainly wet last year in Ketchikan, but it fell short of being a record year.
The city fell about six-and-a-half inches short of breaking the annual precipitation record last year. That's despite a wet December, when more than 20 inches of precipitation fell.
The Flight Service Station at the Ketchikan International Airport measured 195-point-91 inches of rain 2005. The record set in 1949 was 202-and-a-half inches.
Weather watchers already are looking ahead to this year's totals. As of mid-afternoon yesterday (Tuesday), the airport measured one-point-one-two inches of rain.
Southcentral mayors call for spending federal dollars on roads
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Three Southcentral Alaska mayors say their constituents prefer road repairs to new bridges.
The mayors of Anchorage and the Matanuska-Susitna and Kenai Peninsula boroughs say needed road projects should not take a back seat to a Knik Arm bridge for federal transportation dollars.
A state plan produced in November would decrease Anchorage's annual share of federal transportation money from 40
million dollars annually to 17 million in 2006.
The plan called for tying up in advance hundreds of millions of dollars for design and construction of a Knik Arm bridge.
Anchorage officials say that would postpone major projects such as rebuilding the Old Seward and Old Glenn highways and other roads for two to six years.
The mayors are finding sympathy from some legislators.
Palmer Republican Representative Carl Gatto says that given the choice between a Knik Arm bridge and relief of congestion on Mat-Su roads, the constituents pick roads.
Legislators convene Monday and the House Transportation Committee will hear from state transportation officials Tuesday.
(Anchorage Daily News)
Volunteers help clean Fort Abercrombie storm damage
KODIAK, Alaska (AP) - Fifteen volunteers spent Monday helping staff clear logs, reseat a bridge and retrieve flotsam along Lake Gertrude in Fort Abercrombie State Historical
Park on Kodiak.
The cleanup was necessary after strong northeasterly winds pushed a nearly eleven foot high tide Friday up and over the ridge of land that separates the lake from the ocean.
The water floated drift logs that had rested on the oceanside beach for years.
Donn Tracy with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game retrieved the outlet stream footbridge that had floated into the lake.
The department stocks Lake Gertrude with rainbow trout and landlocked silver salmon to support a sport fishing opportunity for kids. If the outlet stream washes out, the fish can escape into the ocean.
The wind blew 30-40 miles per hour all day Friday, and the tide at 1-30 that afternoon was one of the highest for the year. Offshore, a weather service buoy showed waves of 15-to-18 feet.
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Information from: Kodiak Daily Mirror,
http://www.kodiakdailymirror.com
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