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CBJ puts "day off"
proposal on table for police officers to consider
City and Borough of Juneau staff met with officials of the union that
represents the city's police officers this afternoon. (Friday)
The discussion focused on issues resulting from the change from the 12 hour
to eight hour shifts.
The City is presenting an option that would permit every police officer to
have at least one weekend day off for at least 8 months during a 12 month
period.
The proposal would require officers to bid on shifts every four months.
City officials say there would be no additional cost associated with the
proposal.
Many police officers and their families have strongly opposed the shift
change because of the changes in days off.
The Public Safety Employees
Association, says with an eight hour shift, officers will be required to
work five consecutive days carrying over for many into the weekend, with
some officers not getting a weekend off for years.
Juneau police have been
working 12 hour shifts since 1994.
Hours and work schedules are
not part of the officers bargaining agreement with CBJ.
As of Friday evening, the PSEA has not yet accepted or rejected the city's
offer.
Juneau's Bob Martin
among those appointed to Board of Regents
Three appointments to the University of Alaska Board of Regents were
announced today (Friday) by Governor Murkowski.
They are Bob Martin of Juneau, and Carl Marrs and Jeff Staser of Anchorage.
Martin is currently the regional roads engineer for the Alaska Bureau of
Indian Affairs. He previously served as Director of the Southeast Region of
State DOT and spent 14 year in the utility industry. He's the former chair
of the Alaska Energy Authority and Goldbelt Board of Directors.
Marrs is the former president and CEO of the Cook Inlet Native Regional
Corporation.
Jeff Staser, has served as the federal co-chair of the Denali Commission
since it started in 1999. He's a 1972 graduate of West Point and a former
aide to Senator Ted Stevens.
Staser fills the term vacated by Kevin Meyers of Conoco Phillips.
The two regents leaving the board are Elsa Demeksa of Juneau and Mike Burns
who is now the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation's executive director.
UAS phone system being restored
slowly
There's progress to report on the phones and fax machines knocked out of
service Thursday at the Auke Lake campus of the University of Alaska
Southeast.
School official Kevin Myers says Bartlett Regional Hospital just replaced
its phone switch, so they had an extra that they loaned to them.
So he told us this morning (Friday) they'll in the process of bring the
phones up slowly and anticipate they'll have some percentage of the phones
back in operation the end of the day.
He says the phone switch was in a room without any insulation. The sprinkler
in the storage area froze and burst pouring water right on the switch.
Electrical problem aboard
Fairweather fixed, voyage rescheduled
The departure of the fast ferry Fairweather to Sitka this morning was
delayed until 8:15. Its
normal departure time is 7 a.m.
The trip was initially cancelled last night after the vessel experienced
electrical problems, but engineers were able to make repairs, according to
Alaska Marine Highway Operations Manager Jim Beedle.
He says the vessel experienced problems on its return from Haines to Juneau
Thursday.
They didn't believe repairs would be made in time so today's trip to Sitka
was initially cancelled. But he says engineers found the problem and repairs
were made.
Beedle says there was a loose wire are on of the engines and a couple of
grounds that were causing trouble with the control system. He says it was
giving out false readings. He wasn't sure what caused that to happen.
Governor's education
funding proposal means budget cuts for Juneau schools
Governor Murkowski is requesting an additional $126 million for education
over the next two years.
However, Juneau School District Superintendent Peggy Cowan says the
Governors' education funding proposal will still mean budget cuts for
Juneau's School District.
Cowan says with the Governor's
proposed funding for Juneau, the district will remain at status quo, with
only a minimal increase in expenditures, as the district's costs continue
increase.
She says, if the district gets the amount of money the Governor's proposing,
they will decide where to make the necessary cuts after consulting with
school site councils and unions.
Mostly likely, the cuts will be where they've been in the past; buses and
specialist positions.
However, Cowan says there are aspects to the Governor's proposal that are
appealing.
Including his acknowledgment of the burden that the Teachers Retirement
System (TERS), and the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS), has on the
state's educational system and the Governor's identification of early
funding of school districts.
Former governor suggests
enacting a `standby' tax
ANCHORAGE (AP) - Former Governor Jay Hammond says the state should enact a
``standby'' tax.
In an interview with K-U-D-O Radio in Anchorage, Hammond called for either a
state income tax or a sales tax.
Hammond says a tax should be adopted now but take effect only if the state's
Constitutional Budget Reserve falls below a certain set level. He says the
tax would be the state's insurance policy.
Hammond says: (quote) ``We would have a tax that would come into play only
if it were necessary. But if we have a gas pipeline and no income tax, can
you imagine the horrendous financial impact that providing services to the
multitudes that would flock up here?''
Hammond says the time to approve such a tax is (quote) ``when we don't need
it.''
(From Rich McClear, KUDO)
Potential Capitol designers narrowed to four
Eight capitol design team semi-finalists have been whittled down to the final four.
The Capitol Design Jury interviewed the teams earlier this week.
City and Borough's Special Projects officer Maria Gladziszewski says the four are Moshe
Safdie and Associates, Incorporated, of
Sommerville, Massachusetts, Thom Mayne with Morphosis Architects of Santa Monica, Richard Dallam and Steve McConnell with NBBJ of
Seattle, and Mehrdad Yazdani with Yazdani Studio of Cannon Design based in Los Angeles.
She says each of those four are associated with four Alaskan architects as well associated Alaskans in landscape, mechanical, structural,
and civil engineering.
Mead Treadwell of Anchorage is one of the jurors. He hopes people pay close attention to next month when the finalists submit a design concept
A statewide tour of the design finalists, is scheduled in February with the winning design team selected in early March.
Once the design team and a concept for the building is in place, the Mayor says they'll ask the legislature for a long term lease based on the concept.
That will allow the city to sell revenue bonds in anticipation of receipts from the long term lease.
Lawmaker among those stopped by MADD and ABC teens looking for booze
Juneau teenagers who wait near liquor stores apparently don't have a difficult time finding an adult to purchase alcohol for them.
That according to an exercise conducted last weekend by Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the State Alcoholic Beverage
Control Board.
MADD's Youth in Action Coordinator Jessica Paris says two teams ranging in age from 14 to 19 stood near downtown liquor stores and asked passing adults to buy alcohol for them, while admitting they were underage.
Paris says the teenagers waited
eight minutes before an adult said yes. The second team only had to wait one minute before an adult agreed to buy alcohol for them.
Paris say, overall, the two teams spent one hour in two different locations downtown. She says
four out of 24 people agreed to buy alcohol for the teenagers.
Paris say one of the adults the teens asked to
buy liquor for them was State Representative Kevin Meyer. The
Anchorage lawmaker sponsored legislation last year that allows liquor stores to sue adults up to $1000 dollars for buying alcohol for teenagers.
Whether the adult said yes or no, the teens presented
adults with a card explaining that it was a survey and the legal consequences of buying alcohol for someone underage.
ABC also conducted compliance checks last weekend in which 18 and 19 year old teen agents attempted to buy alcohol directly from liquor stores.
Juneau had 100 percent compliance last summer. However, last weekend, in 27 checks, clerks sold to underage teens twice.
Regular adults face the same penalties as clerks, bartenders and waitresses do- fines up to $10,000 and up to 1 year in jail.
First time offenders are typically fined $1000 and sentenced to five days in jail.
Statistics show that, overall, alcohol kills 6 and half times more teenagers than all other drugs combined.
Dyson released from hospital after fainting
JUNEAU (AP) - State Senator Fred Dyson was back at work today (Friday) after fainting during a dedication ceremony the day before.
Dyson, a Republican from Eagle River, was kept overnight at Bartlett Regional Hospital for observation. This morning, he appeared during a brief session of the Senate and assured his colleagues that he was fine.
Dyson passed out at a ceremony to rename the House Resources Room for Ramona Barnes, Alaska's first female House speaker.
He says tests showed he did not have a heart attack, but he plans to meet with a cardiologist in Anchorage next week.
He attributed the collapse to stress and because he had not had breakfast that morning.
State orders closure of
unlicensed Ketchikan birth center
KETCHIKAN (AP) - State officials this week ordered the immediate closure of
a Ketchikan birthing center.
The Department of Health and Social Services on Tuesday ordered A Woman's
Place Birthing Center to stop delivering babies.
The cease and desist order came after official learned the facility was
operating without a license to deliver babies and that an infant died after
being born there December 29th.
The Ketchikan Daily News reports that Eileen Small operates a women's health
clinic and the birthing center.
According to her Web site, she's a certified nurse-midwife, specializing in
several aspects of women's health, and a member of the Alaska Chapter of the
American College of Nurse-Midwives.
She is licensed as an authorized advanced nurse practitioner and registered
nurse.
Virginia Stonkus of the Division of Public Health Certification and
Licensing says the order pertains only to the birthing center portion of
Small's business.
Small's attorney says she will comply with the order.
Funding earmarked for tsunami warning system
The Bush Administration plans to strengthen this nation's global tsunami monitoring system.
That word from Conrad
Lautenbacher, Junior, the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He said additional tsunami detection buoys will be deployed along with more seismic monitors.
The funding plan calls for the expenditure of $37.5 Million.
The move was praised by Alaska Senator Ted Stevens. He said greater warning information is a priority for Alaskans, especially those who lived through the Good Friday earthquake of 1964.
He added the plan will provide enhanced detection capabilities and greater coverage of the North Pacific.
DiRita: missile defense system ``is what it is'' despite testing failure
PENTAGON (AP) - The Bush Administration missed its goal of declaring the missile defense system operational by the end of 2004, and Pentagon spokesman Larry Di Rita says he doesn't know that such a declaration will ever be made.
Di Rita does say the system already has a limited capability against a small-scale attack and can hardly be called a failure.
He says the system ``is what it is,'' adding that the military's focus right now is on testing the system as it's improved and eventually put on 24-hour alert.
The last test occurred in mid-December when an interceptor missile failed to launch. Another test is planned next month.
Oil spotted 50 miles from wrecked freighter
ANCHORAGE (AP) - Fuel oil from the Selendang Ayu has reached Dutch Harbor, about 50 miles from the wreckage of the grounded freighter.
The discovery this week is prompting new concerns about the effect of last month's spill off the western coast of Unalaska Island.
Leslie Pearson with the state Department of Environmental Conservation says D-E-C workers counted as many as two dozen clumps of oil along a quarter mile stretch of rocky beach at the southern end of Dutch Harbor, a community of four-thousand on Unalaska Island. Some of the clumps measure two feet in diameter.
Pearson says the agency is trying to assess the threat to the local water table as well as seafood processing plants in the area.
Meanwhile, federal officials say their investigation into the grounding could take a year or longer to complete.
The National Transportation Safety Board is primarily focusing on the December eighth grounding.
But it also is looking into the crash of a Coast Guard rescue helicopter carrying freighter crew members away just before the disabled ship went hard aground.
The agency usually doesn't investigate military crashes, but is doing so because it involved civilian deaths. Six crew members were lost at sea in the crash.
The Coast Guard, F-B-I and Environmental Protection Agency also are investigating.
Concerns increase for crab harvest
The Bering Sea snow crab fishery is scheduled to start Saturday.
And concerns are increasing about the fishery and the impact of oil from the freighter Selendang Ayu -- which grounded and broke apart last month off Unalaska Island.
Officials say the state will post three additional seafood inspectors in Unalaska to monitor plants. And crab boats are following a route to keep them out of oily waters.
Marketing grant to bolster Kodiak seafood
KODIAK (AP) - Kodiak-brand seafood is getting a boost through a marketing grant.
The Alaska Regional Salmon Marketing Grant Program has awarded 80-thousand dollars to the Kodiak Branding and Marketing Committee
The committee in 2003 received money to develop a quality assurance marketing program for pink and coho salmon.
The plan also called for developing a Kodiak brand name and logo, conducting product sampling and soliciting buyers.
The brand developed was ``Star of Kodiak.''
The new grant will focus on marketing.
Three more men join in sexual abuse case
ANCHORAGE (AP) - Three more men have joined in a lawsuit against a Catholic priest they say molested them as children.
The priest -- the Reverend Francis Nawn -- is now dead. The abuse allegedly took place at St. Peter's Catholic Church at Sheldon Point near Emmonak.
The men joined in a lawsuit filed in Bethel in December by another alleged victim. The alleged victim -- identified only as Jack Doe 1 in the documents -- also accused the Reverend Segundo
Llorente, who also is dead -- of molesting him as a boy.
The three latest plaintiffs say they were molested between 1970 and 1974.
The four plaintiffs say that church officials moved priests from parish to parish to conceal the abuse and avoid scandal.
Fairbanks Bishop Donald Kettler denies those accusations.
Man who killed dog found guilty
ANCHORAGE (AP) - A Superior Court judge has found a man guilty of several crimes, including killing a dog during a stand-off with police.
Twenty-year-old Tommie Earl Smith of Anchorage was found guilty yesterday of felony burglary and four misdemeanors, including cruelty to animals.
Judge Philip Volland set a May 20th sentencing hearing.
Smith forced his way into an Anchorage home last February. While homeowner Gale Keppler was able to escape, her German shepherd was inside the house with Smith.
The dog -- which was rescued from an abusive home -- died after being stabbed numerous times.
Smith's lawyer says his client was addicted to over-the-counter drugs and was using marijuana the day the attack occurred.
Man pleads no contest to illegal wolf killings
ANCHORAGE (AP) - Alaska State Troopers say a man under contract with the state has pleaded no contest to shooting wolves illegally.
Forty-one-year-old Tony Zellers of Eagle River was under contract to shoot wolves as part of the predator control program around McGrath.
He pleaded no contest yesterday to shooting nine wolves from a plane outside the prescribed area.
The state says Zellers and partner 38-year-old David Haeg killed no wolves in the prescribed area, but wandered far outside the area.
Then the state says they falsified paperwork about where the wolves were killed.
The predator control program was approved by the Board of Game in 2003. Its aim is to eliminate wolves in a 33-hundred-square-mile area surrounding McGrath to encourage the moose population.
Barnes remembered with dedication of room in Capitol
JUNEAU (AP) - A room in the Legislature has been dedicated to a long-time Anchorage state representative, Ramona Barnes.
Barnes died in November 2003.
Representative Pete Kott says Barnes was second to none in her respect and love for the Legislature and the building itself.
The room will house memorabilia from Barnes' life, including a portion of her collection of elephants.
Barnes was the first female speaker of the House in Alaska.
Barnes served in the Legislature longer than any woman in Alaska history and held every legislative leadership position, including majority leader, minority leader and minority whip.
Murkowski reappoints Seamount to AOGCC
JUNEAU (AP) - A member of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has been reappointed to the job.
Governor Murkowski Thursday said Daniel Seamount will continue as one of three commissioners. His six-year appointment will expire in 2011.
Seamount was originally appointed to the commission in 2000. He fills a seat designated for a geologist.
The commission regulates oil and gas drilling, development and production, reservoir depletion and metering operations.
Before his first appointment, Seamount worked as a geologist for Chevron U-S-A, Marathon Oil and Union Oil of California.
Seamount's reappointment is subject to legislative confirmation.
Pat Hanley appointed to
Anchorage District Court seat
ANCHORAGE (AP) - Governor Murkowski announced the appointment of a District
Court judge today.
Patrick Hanley, an assistant district attorney, has been named to an
Anchorage District Court judicial seat. He succeeds Judge James Wanamaker,
who retired.
Murkowski says Hanley understands Alaska and the issues so often faced by a
District Court judge.
Hanley has been a public school teacher in rural Alaska and a commercial
fisherman. He holds a degree in mathematics from Pacific Lutheran University
and a law degree from the University of Utah.
Crimson Bears teams play at Anchorage tournaments
The Juneau Douglas Crimson Bears were routed by West 70 to 39 at the Alaska Airlines Eagle Classic tournament in Anchorage.
Juneau plays Laurinburg Institute of North Carolina this evening and Christian Academy of Fort Washington, Maryland Saturday.
Both teams are nationally ranked.
Tip off both evenings on KINY is at 6 p.m.
The Lady Crimson Bears won their opening game at the Lady T-Bird Classic in Anchorage last night. The defeated North Pole 76 to 46.
Juneau plays East tonight at 8 and Chugiak at 6 p.m. Saturday.
Copyright ©2005 Alaska Juneau Communications - KINY Radio)
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