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Change in Juneau Police shifts argued on Capital Chat
The debate over twelve hour versus eight hour shifts for Juneau Police Department officers was featured on KINY's Capital Chat this morning.
(Wednesday)
The first part of the program was devoted to management's position to abandoned
twelve hour shifts in favor of eight hours which take effect Monday.
The union has proposed a ten hour shift compromise, but that's been rejected by Chief Rich Gummow.. He said the eight hour shift plan is the best way for the department to assure public safety.
Officer Paul Comolli, the vice president of the local union,
was among the guests during the second part of the program.
He responded by saying the chief's argument is "a compelling heart tug", but that would
lead people to believe that public safety hasn't been protected over the last decade since
twelve hour shifts were implemented in 1995.
When asked about increased cost with the switch, Chief Gummow said it should be pretty close to
"a wash" and added the department can live within its current budget.
Comolli disagreed saying, "It's not a wash." He said the loss will come when current productive police time is eroded by the change to eight hour shifts.
Police officers ranked sergeant and below, dispatchers and evidence clerks are represented by the Public Safety Employees Association.
A union rally was scheduled over the noon hour today at Marine Park across from City Hall.
The union is asking that Manager Rod Swope and the assembly
intercede in the matter. At a minimum, they're asking that implementing of the new schedule be delayed for a couple of months until it can be discussed more thoroughly.
DOT official says suggested mediation dates
might put talks under the gun
The Alaska Labor Relations Agency is scheduled to take up the state's request today for mediation with the three labor unions that represent fast ferry workers.
The state wants to reduce the operations of the Fairweather to a four day a week operation for the winter and has declared negotiations are at impasse.
Transportation and Public Facilities Commissioner Mike Barton says without a new agreement by January 25th, the vessel will be laid up.
John
Torgerson, a special assistant to the
commissioner, says one of the unions is suggesting a session with a federal mediator for January 24th and 25th.
He says they're concerned about those dates putting negotiators under the gun. He adds he hopes the unions won't test their resolve not to operate the Fairweather after the 25th.
Torgerson insisted
the state's position is not an anti-union approach to collective bargaining, but rather
based on the economics of the times.
Darryl Tseu, the regional
director for the Inland Boatman's Union, says they were close to an
agreement in November and he's shocked by the state's tactics.
Tseu says the state
negotiators are being disingenuous
He says the state's claim that
the IBU has refused to give them permission to run a four day 12 hour work
week is preposterous. He says they've already put that in the agreement.
The three maritime unions that
represent ferry workers are the Inland Boatmens’ Union, the Marine
Engineers Beneficial Association, and the Masters, Mates and Pilots.
The three ports currently
served from Juneau by the Fairweather are Haines, Skagway, and Sitka.
Park areas out the road to be discussed at Thursday meeting
The Juneau Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee and the State Parks Advisory Committee will discuss park areas of mutual interest at joint meeting tomorrow. [Thursday]
The committees reviewed park property from the Shrine of St.
Therese to the end of the road to see to how to work together while developing the park areas ,so one park wasn't impacted at the expense of another.
City and Borough of Juneau Parks and Recreation Director Kim Kiefer says now the committees want to work on the north end of the road.
She says that area is basically from Eagle Beach to the end of the road.
The committee will review where all the park parcels are, as well as other city and state parcels and privately owned land.
The panel wants to find out what the long range plans are for the area and see if there is any way to partner on things like, for example, garbage pick up in exchange for doing trail work.
The advisory committees meet tomorrow (Thursday) from noon to 1 p.m. in the Assembly Chambers.
Sexual abuse arrest made by Juneau Police
An arrest was
made by Juneau Police yesterday (Tuesday) after receiving a report of the sexual abuse of a 15 year old girl.
Investigation revealed that 43 year old Samuel Johnson, III, had sexual contact with the girl on several occasions.
He was arrested and charged with one count of sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree and two counts of the same charge in the third degree.
He was jailed at the Lemon Creek Correctional Center on no bail.
An investigation in to the case continues.
New Year's Eve partygoer dies at hospital
ANCHORAGE (AP) - Anchorage police say a man who attended a New Year's Eve party in which a disturbance broke out has died at a local hospital.
Police say 39-year-old Robert Canales died yesterday (Tuesday).
Police were called to the party at about 11-20 on New Year's Eve because several of the guests had gotten into a fight.
The guests and then medics with the Anchorage Fire Department administered C-P-R to Canales before he was rushed to the hospital.
Police say they are continuing to investigate. No arrests have been made.
Juneau murder suspect to be retried
Ronald E. Smith will be tried again for the murder of Ike Thomas over four years ago beginning May 16.
The murder occurred in December of 2000 at the victim's home near Willoughby Avenue.
Smith, 38, and Rey Joel Soto, 25, were both sentenced to 85 years in jail.
The retrial is necessary since the Alaska Court of Appeals reversed Smith's conviction. Soto was not part of the appeal.
Forty years of his sentence was suspended.
The appeals court ruled Superior Court Judge Larry Weeks should not have allowed hearsay evidence to be introduced.
The statement came from a girlfriend of a man who said he gave a shotgun to the pair and cleaned blood from it later.
Zachary Brown avoided testifying by invoking his constitutional right not to incriminate himself.
Proposed calendar for next year presented to School Board
The proposed 2005 -2006 school year calendar was presented to the Juneau School Board last night. [Tuesday]
The week of November 7th through the 11th is a particularly busy one.
The 7th is both the end of the first trimester for the elementary schools and parent's conferences for the middle schools and high school.
The 8th is a half day for parent conferences for middle school and the high school.
The 8th and 9th are elementary parent conferences.
The 10th is a staff in-service day and the 11th is Veterans day which is proposed to be a holiday as Superintendent Peggy Cowan told the School Board.
Cowan says part of the reason the week is proposed that way, is because of a regulation that recommends that in scheduling of in-service days, to the extent possible, the district should maximize the number of five day instructional weeks.
Cowan says basically they scheduled a lot of disruption for one week rather than multiple weeks.
The first day of school would be Wednesday, August 24th, and the final day on Friday, June 2nd.
The School Board is scheduled to take action on the proposed calendar on January 18th.
Action items for new and current high schools on
project team agenda
The High School Project Team meets tomorrow (Thursday).
School District Superintendent Peggy Cowan says the panel will consider space allocation options. She says those options primarily deal with different approaches to providing gym and auditorium spaces.
The team will also work on coming up with how many classrooms are needed.
Another issue is the amount of square footage needed for mechanical space.
The team will asked to approve the second phase of work at the current high school.
Phase two involves site considerations and includes parking and preparation of the field created with the demolishing of the old Marine Highway Building.
Other phase two considerations involve continued upgrades in the building. That includes everything from adding clocks in the hallways to white boards in the classrooms, according to the superintendent.
Cowan says the team previously approved a draft scope of work, but they now have additional details on the actual costs for various projects.
The Noon time meeting will be at the downtown fire hall.
Alaska plans to sue feds over water rights
ANCHORAGE (AP) - The state plans to challenge the federal government's right to control certain Alaska waters, contending the U-S departments of Interior and Agriculture have overstepped their bounds.
The deadline for challenging the regulations is Sunday. The state said it would file a lawsuit against the two federal agencies in U-S District Court on Friday.
The lawsuit will challenge the expansion of federal jurisdiction over certain waterways and water bodies, over marine waters beyond the mean high tide mark and over state and private lands.
The dispute arises from the Katie John subsistence case that originated with an Athabascan elder who was denied a fish camp on the Copper River.
In 1995, the Ninth U-S Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the federal government had the power to take over fisheries management on waters on or near federal lands - such as national parks and wildlife refuges - to ensure hunting, fishing and gathering rights for rural people.
The state says the lawsuit will not challenge the Ninth Circuit's decision in the Katie John case.
Instead, the state says it is attempting to protect its sovereign interests.
The lawsuit will contend that the two federal agencies have not followed the process laid out by the U-S
Supreme Court for defining federal reserved water rights and that they have improperly expanded federal jurisdiction.
Stevens elected chair of Commerce
Alaska Senator Ted Stevens was elected chair of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee today. (Wednesday)
The full Senate is expected to act tomorrow (Thursday) to officially appoint committee chairs.
With the exception of two years, Stevens has served the committee since 1971.
Republican conference term limits required Stevens to step down as chair of the Appropriations Committee.
But he'll continue to serve on that committee and retain his chairmanship of the Defense Appropriations subcommittee.
He maintains his seats on the Rules and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committees.
In addition, Stevens will continue to serve as President Pro Tempore of the Senate. That position is third in line to succeed to the presidency.
Job of removing oil from freighter off Unalaska begins
ANCHORAGE (AP) - Crews have begun removing oil from the freighter that wrecked off the shore of Unalaska Island.
A salvage team will continue the effort today (Wednesday), if the weather permits.
Rough seas prevented oil removal yesterday. But state environmental officials say that on Monday crews recovered more than three-thousand gallons of diesel and water from tanks from the stern section of the Selendang Ayu.
The 738-foot freighter grounded and broke December 8th.
Bad weather typical of the Bering Sea has hampered salvage plans since the grounding. But winds and waves subsided enough Monday to allow the first oil to be removed.
Holland America rail cars in limbo in Wasilla
ANCHORAGE (AP) - Several Holland America rail cars are in limbo in Wasilla north of Anchorage.
The McKinley Explorer passenger cars are owned by the cruise ship company. And a dispute over taxes has left them on a railroad siding -- disconnected from the locomotive.
Holland America and at least one other rail car owner are contesting higher property taxes that Anchorage officials impose on the cars.
The company hopes to save money under the city's new property tax formula by keeping the eight cars outside Anchorage.
John Shively, the company's Anchorage-based vice president, says the problem is that the city changed its tax rules last summer, and the company does not agree with the result. It is appealing its tax bill.
Alaska support team to help in tsunami recovery efforts
WASHINGTON (AP) - The U-S military said today it is expanding its contribution to the tsunami recovery effort in south Asia.
The Army is sending helicopters and about 100 people from bases in South Korea and the United States to fill a variety of medical and logistics needs.
Alaska will be sending an engineering support team to help assess damage to infrastructure and in planning reconstruction.
The U-S Army command in South Korea is sending several medium-lift helicopters to help distribute humanitarian supplies. It also may dispatch choppers to operate as air ambulances.
The Army also is sending four mortuary affairs teams from Fort Lee, Virginia, to help recover human remains and identify victims.
As of Wednesday, about 13-thousand-400 U-S military personnel were involved in the relief effort.
Fire reported in engine compartment of state plow truck
Capital City Fire Rescue responded to a fire in the engine compartment of a state plow truck this morning.
Captain Ed Quinto says the department was notified at 5:15 that the vehicle was on Thane Road.
The driver tried to put it out unsuccessfully. Another DOT employee arrived and doused the fire with an extinguisher.
Damage was estimated at
$500.
Warm temperatures turn parts of Alaska into soggy mess
ANCHORAGE (AP) - You barely need a coat in parts of Alaska, it's so warm.
In Anchorage, there's not enough
snow pack to hold an annual dog pull contest. In the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, high temperatures have turning roads into ice rinks, prompting officials to close schools.
Bob Hopkins -- chief meteorologist with the Anchorage office of the National Weather Service -- says he has studied state weather records dating back to 1917 and found that most January months have some kind of thawing episode.
Some are more pronounced than others, but don't blame global warming.
Hopkins says warmer spells are especially pronounced during the years of El Nino -- a phenomenon caused by disruptions in the Pacific Ocean's temperature.
Copyright ©2005 Alaska Juneau Communications - KINY Radio)
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