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Fiancée of stabbed cabbie was
dispatcher and owner of cab
Juneau Police continue to look for the man and woman involved in the vicious
stabbing of a taxi cab driver Wednesday night.
Eric Drake, 37, underwent emergency surgery and was listed in fair condition
after suffering multiple stab wounds.
He was driving a cab owned by his fiancée, Maria Miller.
She was filling in as dispatcher and took the call from a location outside
the school grounds in the Riverbend Apartment area requesting a ride to the
Super Eight Motel.
She told Drake she didn't know if it was a prank call, but asked that he
check it out and let her know.
The cabbie told her afterwards that they seemed pleasant and very polite and
didn't think there was going to be any problem.
When they arrived at the Super Eight Motel the first time, the man said he
had a hundred dollar bill and needed change.
Drake offered to take him across the street to get change, but the man
wanted to be return to the Riverbend area. He left the vehicle for a couple
of minutes after arriving back there, but Miller says Drake did not see
where he went.
When they returned to the motel, the cabbie was instructed to pull around to
the back of the hotel on the Jordan Creek Side where there are no lights.
That's where he was attacked.
Miller says her finance was stabbed at least nine times from his head to his
knees.
Both suspects are described by police as Natives. The man is in his early
20's. He's clean cut with a light build. He was wearing a gray pullover with
baggy pants. Police say he may have an injury to his left hand or fingers as
a result of the assault.
The women is thought to be about 20 years old and is described as heavy set.
She was wearing a gray pullover and jeans.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Juneau Police Department.
Informants wishing to remain anonymous can call Crime Line. That number is
586-4243.
Juneau Cab is offering a $500 reward for the arrest and conviction of the suspects. The company is also taking up a collection for the couple as
Drake recovers from his wounds and Miller cares for him.
People can arrange donations through Juneau Taxi and Tours at 102 North
Franklin Street.
Three indicted for murder of
military police officer
A grand jury has indicted three people in the shooting death of a U-S Air
Force policewoman in Anchorage.
Twenty-two-year-old Airman Crystal Saint Auburn was killed in a drive-by
shooting last November.
The grand jury yesterday indicted Steven Hinshaw, Regina Bibbs, and Dorian
Dixon.
Hinshaw was recently extradicted from Maryland, where he was arrested in
December on a warrant related to a drug crime. He was charged with both
first and second-degree murder.
Bibbs and Dixon each were charged with second-degree murder.
Saint Auburn joined the Air Force in March, and was assigned to Elmendorf
Air Force Base in August.
Police have provided no motive for the shooting.
Anchorage man survives shooting
A man was shot in the back while eating in his car at a Taco Bell in
Anchorage early today. Police say he was fortunate that the steel of the
vehicle dulled the impact of the bullet.
Bradley Burnett, a 33-year-old Anchorage man, tells police he heard several
gunshots then realized he was hit. He says he didn't see who did the
shooting. Taco Bell employees say they did not hear any gunfire either.
The shots were fired about two in the morning in the parking lot of a Taco
Bell in midtown on Tudor Road. Burnett drove himself to a relative's home
and was then driven to Providence hospital. A hospital official says he
received medical care in the emergency room.
Police spokesman Ron McGee says Burnett was very fortunate. He says the
bullet didn't penetrate Burnett's back deeply because the vehicle took much
of the blow.
Armored car bandit sentenced
A man has been sentenced to nine months in prison for stealing thousands of
dollars from an armored car.
Twenty-six-year-old Benjamin Cottle pleaded guilty last October to bank
theft. He stole 54-thousand dollars from First National Bank Alaska while
serving as a custodian for Loomis Fargo armored car company.
U-S District Judge John Sedwick ordered Cottle to pay back the money.
U-S Marshals also seized a coffee cart that Cottle apparently bought with
the stolen money. The cart will be sold, and the money will go toward
Cottle's restitution.
Body of man missing since October
found at Unalaska dock
A body recovered in the water by divers near the Unalaska spit dock appears
to be that of a fisherman missing since late October.
Sergeant Aaron Renken of the Unalaska Department of Public Safety says the
body is believed to be that of 42-year-old Thomas Brister. He was a
Washington state resident who had been fishing out of Dutch Harbor for many
years.
Brister has been missing since October 23rd.
The body was found Monday by a local police officer and a diver. It was
found near where Brister's boat had been docked when he was last seen.
Authorities only recently realized that Brister was missing. His family in
Washington thought he was still in Alaska, and people in Alaska thought he
had gone south.
Sponsors submit signature changing
process for U. S. Senate appointments
Sponsors of an initiative to require a special election if a vacancy occurs
in a U-S Senate seat are delivering petition signatures to the election
office in Anchorage today.
If approved by voters, the initiative would allow unexpired U-S Senate terms
of two-and-a-half years or less to be filled by special election, rather
than by gubernatorial appointment.
Sponsors filed the initiative application after Republican Governor Frank
Murkowski appointed his daughter, Lisa Murkowski, to the U-S Senate seat he
vacated last year.
Trust the People was set up by three Democrats in the state House,
Representatives Eric Croft and Harry Crawford of Anchorage and David
Guttenberg of Fairbanks.
Most Democratic presidential
candidates oppose ANWR drilling
A coalition of environmental groups and alternative energy companies have
surveyed presidential hopefuls on oil development.
Eight of the Democratic candidates say they oppose opening the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge to oil development.
Most candidates also said they would work to increase domestic supplies of
natural gas. Only Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut specifically endorsed
financial incentives to develop Alaska gas.
The Sustainable Energy Coalition released its presidential candidates survey
yesterday.
President George Bush and the Reverend Al Sharpton did not respond.
The eight Democrats who did answer the survey put their opposition to ANWR
oil drilling in strong terms.
Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean said drilling in ANWR will not solve the
country's energy needs.
Deadline coming up for salmon fishermen
benefit program
The deadline for commercial Pacific salmon fisherman who want to apply for
benefits under a federal agriculture program is January 20th.
Called the Trade Adjustment Assistance program for Pacific salmon, it gives
eligible fishermen technical assistance and cash benefits. A Web site of the
Farm Service, an agency of the U-S Agriculture Department, says the benefits
are available because increased imports have contributed to a decline in
salmon prices.
To be eligible salmon fishermen must show proof of commercial fishing during
2002 and a decline in their net income.
Temporary offices were opened across Alaska, from Bethel to Ketchikan, to
help fishermen apply.
Alaska soldier illegal booze
business in Iran
An Army sergeant from Wasilla, patrolling the 434-mile border between Iraqi
Kurdistan and Iran, sees firsthand the value of booze in the widely
religious Middle East.
While alcohol is perfectly legal in secular Iraq, it is banned inside the
Islamic Republic of Iran, where demand for the illegal product there is
booming. Soldiers say crates of hard liquor are smuggled across the border
on packhorses and inside tractor-trailers.
Sergeant Louis Gitlin, of Wasilla, is a member of the U-S Army's 101st
Airborne Division.
Gitlin says at least a few of the 100 to 200 trucks that cross into Iran at
Penjwin each day are loaded with liquor. Truckers crossing the border pay
20-dollar bribes to see the loads through Iranian customs.
Gitlin says ``Everybody gets his little piece.''
Despite being outlawed, foreign alcoholic drinks have been found in Iran
since the 1979 revolution, including well-known U-S labels.
The penalty for sale or consumption of alcohol in Iran is a fine or
flogging, or both
Franchise awarded for Famous Dave's
in Alaska
Famous Dave's has announced a franchise agreement to do business in Alaska.
The Minneapolis-based chain of barbecue restaurants says Utah B-B-Q will
operate the Famous Dave's franchise in Alaska.
(Copyright ©2003
Alaska Juneau Communications - KINY Radio)
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