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Mandatory garbage pick-up proposal dropped
Bear Committee will pursue other options
The Mayor's Ad-Hoc Bear Committee has reversed it's position on the proposal to require mandatory garbage pick-up. Committee Chair Mark Farmer says at its meeting last night the panel voted against the controversial proposal which he supported. Farmer says now that that issue is off the table, the focus should be on what needs to be done to reduce the conflict between residents and Juneau's urban bears. He says the committee wants to solve the problem without a lot of new ordnances and regulations. Meanwhile, scheduling conflicts have moved the Bear Committee's public hearings to February. The committee will meet the middle of next month to decide on dates and locations for the hearings.
Coast Guard plans to transport Air Force rescue para-jumpers to the scene of a cargo plane crash site today have been hampered by weather so far. The site is located on the caldera of a volcano about six miles from the Unalaska Airport. Petty Officer Jim Barber says the plan calls for dropping off the PJs at about the 1,100-foot level. The wreckage is at the 1,500-foot level. Bad weather hampered plans yesterday, but Barber says they have a one day window between the time the current front dissipatesand the next one moves in. The wreckage could be the DC-3 (like the one at right) that was reported missing on Wednesday. Searchers found the wreckage that afternoon. A DC-3 belonging to Majestic Air Cargo took off from the Unalaska airport Tuesday night bound for Anchorage. The two people aboard the plane were 53-year-old pilot Jody Pond and 39-year-old co-pilot Angela Drennan, both of Anchorage. In 1998, Pond was piloting a DC-3 that crashed outside of Anchorage when the plane ran out of fuel. The National Transportation Safety Board said the crash was due to pilot error. Pond and a co-pilot were not seriously injured in that crash.
Get ready for "Tax Cap - Round Two." Since Alaska voters rejected the ballot initiative to limit local property taxes last year, the sponsors are back with a new approach. Anchorage businessman Uwe Kalenka and two other co-sponsors have submitted 100 names to the Lieutenant Governor as an application to begin the petition process all over again. Kalenka says the new effort will avoid the criticism that plagued the old one. Primarily, that's the criticism that it deprived local governments of control. This time, the choice to limit property taxes, cap assessments or provide exemptions will be left to local governments. But residents will also have the power to bring up those issues themselves. The chair of the group "Alaskans United Against The Cap" says he's not opposed to the new proposal, but Ernie Hall is concerned that tax cappers plan to come back with a local initiative in Anchorage, which would have the same problems of limiting money for services.
A measure introduced in the State House proposes kicking the Governor's Office out of the State Capitol Building. Palmer Representative Scott Ogan (left) calls his measure the "move it or lose it" bill. House Bill 95 would bring the capitol building under legislative management and move thegovernor to new offices elsewhere. Ogan say if the Legislature stays in Juneau, people who travel here should be able to participate in the process. But he says that's compromised by the current cramped conditions in the capital building. He complains that committee rooms are woefully undersized and poorly ventilated. Ogan is also the sponsor of House Bill 28 which would allow the Legislature to meeting in other Alaska communities in alternate years.
A bill establishing a Task Force to look at turning gravel roads, known as Pioneer Roads, into paved highways sailed through the House Transportation Committee yesterday. House Bill 8 sponsor Anchorage Representative Norm Rokeberg says there are two Southeast Pioneer Roads already on the list. Those are a a road from Juneau to Atlin, British Columbia, and a road near Wrangell. Rokeberg says there are tremendous economic opportunities to be gained with improved highways. HB8 now moves to the House Finance Committee.
A Nenana woman is dead after a single-vehicle accident last night on the Parks Highway. Alaska State Troopers say 57-year-old Judith Holbert was a passenger in a Chevy Tahoe truck that struck a moose and rolled off the highway at about 10:30 last night.
Lieutenant Governor Fran Ulmer has named a task force to review Alaska's primary elections. Ulmer (right) says the panel will make recommendations on how Alaska could change it's primary election system to be compatible with a US Supreme Court ruling last summer. That ruling declared California's open primary unconstitutional. Alaska's system is similar. Ulmer appointed the four former Lieutenant Governors who live in Alaska. They include Lowell Thomas, Red Boucher, Steve McAlpine, and Jack Coghill. Also on the panel are Joyce Anderson of the League of Women Voters, and former Attorneys General Av Gross and Doug Baily. The group will hold its first meeting February 9th via video conference. In the meantime, Ulmer was scheduled to testify today via teleconference to the Washington State Legislature. Washington's blanket primary was also nullified by the Supreme Court's ruling.
An Alaska elections official is taking the job of elections director in Oregon. John Lindback, who's served as Lieutenant Governor Fran Ulmer's chief of staff, will begin his new job in Oregon on March 13th. Lindback helped oversee the state's move from punch-card ballots to optical scanner vote counting in 1998.
Juneau Police responded to an unusual traffic problem this morning. A car got stuck on Lee Smith Drive in the airport area when the manhole cover it drove over gave way. Sergeant Jerry Nankervis, who is the shift supervisor at JPD today, says the call came in at around 9:30. He says there was about $1,000 damage to the car. No one was injured. When asked if had ever hear of such a thing, Nankervis said he had not. A city street crew was summoned to make repairs.
Juneau Crime Line needs financial support from the public to find and put crooks behind bars. The organization's secretary, Arlene Crumrine, says they need all the help they can get. She says there has been about $3,000 paid out in the DWI reward program each year. In addition a $500 reward was paid out recently in connection with the bust of a meth lab in the valley that led to the arrest of two people. She says the only funding source they have is donations from citizens. The mailing address for Juneau Crime Line is P. O. Box 20141, Juneau 99802.
An act of vandalism is the focus of Juneau Crime Line this week. The incident at the rockpit located on Montana Creek Road was reported last December 16th. A front-end loader parked at the site was moved and driven into a rock conveyer. Damage to the front end loader was estimated at $2,000. The rock conveyer was totaled with damage estimated at $30,000. Anyone with information on this or any other crime is encouraged to contact the Juneau Police Department or Crime Line immediately. The Crime Line number is 586-4243. Callers may remain anonymous and still be eligible for a cash reward.
Two robberies in the Mat-Su Valley last night involving handguns. And authorities think there may be a connection. In the first incident, an armed man robbed a convenience store near Hatcher Pass. The other incident came shortly before 10:00pm when two men flagged down a car in Wasilla, pointed a pistol at the three teenage boys in the car, ordered them out and stole the car.
Two Juneau men have been cited by Fish and Wildlife Troopers for violations in the use of personal use crab pots in Auke Bay near Coghlan Island. The separate incidents occurred Wednesday. Douglas G. Blumer, 41, and 47 year old Richard G. Lund, Junior, were cited for operating pots that did not meet biodegradable escape mechanism requirements. The requirement allows crabs to escape in the event the pots are lost. Both are scheduled for arraignment in Juneau District Court on February 7th.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is trying to figure out the reasons behind a decline in fishing license sales. The agency has sent about 8,500 surveys to Alaska residents to figure out why fewer Alaskans are going fishing. Resident applications have declined by about 8 percent over the past decade.
California's power outages are dimming the lights in seven Alaska department stores including the store in Juneau. Officials with Fresno-based Gottschalks announced this week that all 79 of its stores in seven states would turn off unneeded lights and close stores early in an effort to conserve power. In addition to shorter hours, the company is shutting off its signs when stores are closed and workers are re-stocking shelves during the day instead of at night. Company officials say they will resume regular business hours when the energy crisis is over.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said today that President Bush intends to move ahead with a national missile defense plan, despite objections from Russia and other countries. Pentagon officials have said Alaska is the likely site for such a system.
Boaters near Kodiak should look out for floating logs that spilled from a ship transporting raw timber southwest of the island. The Ever Forest was en route to Japan when it lost about some 1,700 logs in rough weather about 90 miles south of Chirikof Island last week.
The official grand opening of the Boys and Girls Club of Juneau is scheduled for next Tuesday evening. Club Manager Steve Bassett (right in photo) and Advisory Committee Member Fran Preston (left in photo) were guests on KINY's Capital Chat this morning. He says the open house is scheduled from 4 to 7 p.m. Kids will be signed up as members and tours are planned. Staff demonstrations to show what a day at the club is like are also scheduled. A formal ceremony with guest speakers will occur at 5:30. The club opened its doors last August at a location on Mallard Street behind the Nugget Mall. The fee is $25 each for the winter and summer seasons, but Bassett says no kid will be turned away. There is money available for scholarships which the kids or their parents are required to work off. Winter hours are 2:30 to 7 Monday through Friday and from Noon to 5 on Saturday.
The National Bank of Alaska has extended its sponsorship of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. The Wells Fargo company has agreed to a new, five-year sponsorship deal worth over $1-million. The bank's contribution for this year's Iditarod will be over $200,000.(Captions for our photographs can be viewed by hovering over them with your mouse pointer)
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