Police tracking down suspects in check theft and forging ring
A sixth suspect has been arrested in connection a payroll check theft and forging scheme.

Lieutenant Kris Sell describes the investigation as "following a spider web."

32 year-old Roberta Jean White, of Juneau, was taken into custody on January 28th after police received information about her location. 

Lieutenant Sell says officers watched a residence associated with White, while investigators applied for a
search warrant.

With the warrant in hand, officers then had to force entry into a home in the Valley where White was arrested without incident.

An investigation by Juneau Police found that White, possibly with an accomplice, broke into a Mendenhall Valley home on or before New Year's Eve.

The residents returned and found checks, artwork, jewelry, and other property gone.

On January 3rd, Heather Schimanski tried to cash one of the checks stolen from the residence at Fred Meyer.

She fled the area when an employee called the police but she was found a short time later and arrested.

Police say Schimanski was also involved with cashing payroll checks in November and December that were stolen from a downtown business.

Lieutenant Sell says about ten checks from the residential burglary in December were cashed at various businesses and banks where employees did not check the identification of the person cashing the check.

A search warrant associated with the stolen payroll checks was executed on White's residence in the Valley on January 7th.

Property from the residential burglary was found along with evidence linking White to a burglary of a Valley business.

That burglary is still under investigation.

Police investigators also found mail taken from Valley mailboxes in White's residence.

Some of the outgoing mail contained checks and incoming mail contained credit card applications and credit card information.

Investigators recovered mail linked to about thirty Valley residents.

White was lodged at the Lemon Creek Correctional Center on a charge of burglary in the first degree, a B felony, and multiple counts of forgery.

Lieutenant Sell says the investigation is extensive and more accomplices are being sought for burglaries and forgeries and additional charges may be filed on those already in custody.

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The scheme began to unravel on November 13th of last year when Juneau police received a report that 45 payroll checks were missing from a downtown business. Police have not named the business. At the time of the report, nine of the checks, totaling $8,935.61 had been forged and cleared through various banks. 

That same afternoon police were notified that Cindy Hotch was attempting to cash one of the checks at a downtown bank. When police arrived Hotch fled the bank on foot. After a short foot pursuit she was caught and arrested. Hotch was lodged at the Lemon Creek Correctional Center on no bail for forgery and theft in the second degree, both C felonies.

The subsequent police investigation revealed that the theft of the checks involved Heather Schimanski and Nicole Richert. Police say Richert was a former employee of the business and provided Schimanski with the keys to the business which she used to gain access and steal the payroll checks. 

According to police, the checks were forged and cashed by Hotch, Schimanski, Joycelyn White, and Mark Nash under the direction of Vonnie Williams. The total amount of the cashed checks was $18,257.60. 

On January 3rd, Schimanski was arrested for forgery in the second degree while attempting to cash a check taken during another burglary. After further investigation she was also charged with burglary and theft in the second degree. 

On Saturday, January 19th, Nicole Richert was arrested for aiding and abetting burglary in the second degree. 

On Monday, January 28th, Mark Nash was arrested for forgery in the second degree.

Williams was arrested Saturday, January 26th on 14 counts of theft in the second degree.
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One point of clarification. The Nicole Richert mentioned in this story is not the school teacher Nikki Richert.

Heavy snow warning issued...heaviest expected to miss Juneau
The National Weather Service has issued a heavy snow warning from 6 p.m. this evening through 6 a.m. Tuesday.

Two to 4 inches is expected today and then 3 to 9 inches tonight with the heaviest occurring south of Juneau.

Meteorologist Andy McLaurin in the Juneau Forecast Office expects Juneau itself will see five inches through tonight.

Another 2 to 3 inches is expected Tuesday.

Between Saturday and Sunday there were 10 point 6 inches recorded at the airport. Five point six was recorded Saturday and five inches Sunday.

Between the two days there were 11 point 2 inches recorded at the Juneau Forecast Office on the Back Loop Road.

Tulsequah Chief Mine Taku River proposal subject of public meeting
A public meeting on the proposal to transport mineral concentrates from the Tulsequah Chief Mine in British Columbia through Juneau to Skagway for shipment overseas is scheduled at Centennial Hall this evening. (Monday)

Tom Crafford, the mining coordinator for the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, says the purpose of the meeting is to provide information to the public on the air cushion barge and amphibious tug plan proposed by Redfern, Incorporated.

Verbal public comment won't be accepted that evening, but Crafford says they can make written comment with forms provided at the meeting.

They can also e-mail comment at a later date prior to close of public comment February 21st.

The mine is located along the Tulsequah River 13 miles upstream of the Taku River and 40 miles northeast of Juneau.

The Taku crosses into Alaska from Canada and flows into Taku Inlet south of Juneau.

Redfern is proposing using the Taku River as the primary access and transportation route and utilizing an air cushion barge that would be towed by an amphibious tug.

Fishing and environmental groups are concerned about possible damage to salmon spawning grounds in the lower Taku River watershed.

The company came up with this plan after dropping its original proposal to build a 100 mile long access road from Atlin, B. C. to the mine then hauling equipment, supplies and mineral concentrates by truck.

This evening's public meeting is from 7 to 9:30.   

Local party members to gather on Super Tuesday
Alaska joins more than 20 other states in helping to select the next President of the United States in balloting and caucusing dubbed Super Tuesday tomorrow. (February 5th)

Local Democrats and Republicans are participating.

Kim Metcalfe is the chair Juneau Democrats. She says registration at Centennial Hall will run from 4:30 to 6 p.m.

Caucusing will begin at about 6:30 following short presentations from representatives of the presidential candidates.

Benjamin Brown, the vice chair of the District 3 and 4 Unified Republicans, says they will conduct a presidential preference poll rather than a caucus.

He says their polls will be open from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Hangar Ballroom.

The polling is being held in conjunction with the district convention. Brown says the district convention will begin at about 6 to 6:30. People just wanting to vote and not interested in being a delegate do not have to attend the meeting, he says.

In the case of both parties, people can change their party registration right up to the time of the events in order to participate.

Local Democrats will send 21 delegates from Downtown District 3 and 17 from District 4 in the Valley to the state convention in Palmer May 22nd and 23rd.

That's where delegates to the national convention will be selected. Eighteen delegates will represent Alaska in Denver August 25th through the 28th.

Brown says local Republicans plan to send as many delegates as possible to the state convention in Anchorage from March 13 through the 15th.

Twenty-nine delegates will represent Alaska at the Republican national convention in Minneapolis St Paul September 1st through the 4th.

Signal from personal locator beacon on lost balloon not picked at last report
Searching continues today for a Japanese hot-air balloonist who disappeared last week over the North Pacific south of the Aleutian Islands.

Michio Kanda, a world-record holder, vanished Thursday about 435 miles south of Adak Island.

An Alaska Air National Guard C-130 joined the Coast Guard led search Sunday.   

A Coast Guard aircraft searched this morning, but there were no signs. The National Guard plane is taking over this afternoon.

The cutter Jarvis with an H-65 Dolphin helicopter is enroute to the search area.

The Jarvis is scheduled to arrive in the area Thursday.

Chief Barry Lane was asked if Kanda was outfitted with a locator beacon. He says Kanda reportedly does have a personal locator beacon on board, although no transmissions have been received to date.

The Coast Guard is also told that he has 20 days of food and water on board.

The 58 year old Kanda was attempting to fly 5,600 miles from Japan to Portland, Oregon in a quest to break world distance and duration records.

He left on the voyage last Thursday and was reported missing that night after he missed communication checks.  

Susan Butcher Day passes Senate
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - The first day of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race will honor a four-time race champion under a bill approved by the Alaska Legislature.

House Bill 37 establishes the first Saturday of every March as Susan Butcher Day.

Butcher, the second woman to win the Iditarod, died in August 2006 of leukemia.

The Senate on Monday approved the measure on a 14-2 vote. The Alaska House approved the measure unanimously in 2007, the first of the two-year session, but the bill languished in a Senate committee until recently.

Gov. Sarah Palin says she will sign the bill.

The last time an Alaskan has been accorded such an honor was in 1988 with the establishment of Elizabeth Peratrovich Day to honor the civil rights leader.

Kohring calls for judge to step down, dismiss charges
By STEVE QUINN
Associated Press Writer
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Former House Rep. Vic Kohring, who was convicted on federal bribery and extortion charges, says he deserves a new trial.

Additionally, Kohring's attorney John Browne wants the federal judge overseeing his client's case to step down because of a conflict of interest.

In a court filing, Browne says Judge John Sedwick should never have presided over the trial because Kohring introduced legislation that cost Sedwick's wife, Deborah, her state job.

A Justice Department spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment. Kohring is scheduled to be sentenced February 11th.

Kohring was convicted in November of demanding and accepting at least $2,600 from VECO Corp. executives for his support on legislation.

Investigation reopened in alleged sex crime by former VECO chief
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Anchorage police are reopening a case over alleged sex crimes by Bill Allen, the former head of the oil services company VECO.

Allen is the government's key witness in an ongoing political corruption inquiry.

The Anchorage Daily News reports that authorities are looking into whether Allen had sex with an underage girl in the mid-1990s.

They say there is no statute of limitations for sexual abuse of a minor.

Detective Kevin Vandegriff says the investigation originally began in 2004 as an offshoot of a complex probe into a sex and drug ring.

Because that case was so complicated, federal prosecutors say they asked Anchorage police to suspend the investigation shortly after it began.

Allen, a longtime political force in Alaska, pleaded guilty in May to bribing Alaska lawmakers.
(Anchorage Daily News)

Anchorage man sentenced on cocaine charge
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A federal court judge has sentenced an Anchorage man to five years in prison for manufacturing or distributing crack cocaine.

Forty-five-year-old Derek Lamont Elliott was sentenced to 60 months Friday by U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Burgess.

Prosecutors say Elliott processed powder cocaine into crack cocaine and provided it to a co-defendant who sold it to a government informant.

Alaska foreclosures double
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A nonprofit agency that offers mortgage counseling says the country's problems with risky home loans is touching Alaska.

Janice Jones of Consumer Credit Counseling Service says counseling related to foreclosures doubled last year.

Jones says most of the people coming to her office for help are in trouble because of a subprime loan.

She says they can't afford the ballooning interest rate payments.

Regulators make Chiniak Gully available to trawlers
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Federal fisheries researchers say the Chiniak Gully research area off Kodiak Island will be available to trawl fishermen this year.

Alaska Fisheries Science Center director Doug DeMaster says researchers will not be gathering data about pollock abundance and distribution there this year.

Demaster says the agency was using the area as a scientific control area.

Researchers don't need that information this year.

The long-term research project was designed to evaluate the effects of commercial fishing on pollock distribution and abundance.

The research is part of an investigation of Steller sea lion and commercial fishery interactions.

Crimson Bears basketball teams in action
The Juneau Douglas High school men's basketball team was victorious Saturday night while the Lady Bears suffered defeat.

The men took revenge in Ketchikan Saturday night by defeating the Kings 66 to 56.  They lost Friday's game 59 to 52.

The Lady Bears, who won Friday night on their home court, were edged Saturday night 48 to 45.  Friday's score was 58 to 54.

The Lady Bears host Sitka this coming Friday and Saturday.   The men next travel to Sitka for games February 15 and 16.

Guardsman wants to become first Tennessean to finish the Iditarod
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Tennessee National Guardsman Master Sgt. Rodney Whaley lives in a suburban Tennessee neighborhood with manicured green lawns and brick homes.

What makes him stand out is the wheeled sled he keeps to train with his team of dogs.

Whaley wants to be the first Tennessean to complete the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in March from Anchorage, Alaska, to Nome.

Whaley, who is in his 50s, says his experience as a soldier and his childhood in Alaska will help him through the eleven-hundred-mile race.

Whaley is currently training in northern Michigan with Iditarod veteran Al Hardman.

The race starts in downtown Anchorage on March first.

Whaleys says his goal is to make it to Nome with happy, healthy dogs.

Corvallis doctor to enter Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race
CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) - A Corvallis neurosurgeon is on a five-month unpaid leave of absence from a hospital to prepare for his fourth competition -- he says it's his last -- in the 1,100-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race next month.

Doctor Cliff Roberson, who is 60, says this will be his last chance.

He knows what a whiteout feels like, and while mushing across a frozen stretch of the Bering Sea he found out what a minus-110-degree wind chill feels like.

But he has developed a bond with his dogs and says he relishes his adventures into the Alaska wild.

When the northern lights are out, he says, it's fantastic.

He has been in Alaska since November working with a leased dog team. It will be his first Iditarod since the mid 1990s.

Daffodil Days deadline coming up
Pre-sales for the annual Daffodil Days, a fundraising event for the American Cancer Society, is now open.

The final day to order is February 15th.

Money raised from the event is used for cancer research, educational programs, advocacy and services for cancer patients and their families.

Chair Wanda Fleming says Daffodil Days is a sure sign that Spring is around the corner.

Last year they raised over $32,000. She says that was the highest amount in the  state, beating Anchorage and Fairbanks in sales.

The daffodils are ten dollars a bundle. Each bundle contains ten flowers.

Orders of ten bundles or more qualify for delivery.

Smaller orders can be picked up at the Goldbelt Building and Nugget Alaskan Outfitters on the day of delivery.

The daffodils will be delivered on March 12th.

The daffodils are available in the outlying communities like Skagway, Hoonah, Tenakee, Gustavus and Angoon.

Pre-sales volunteers will contact customers for orders during the pre-sale period.

Fleming says she's still looking for someone in Angoon to sell the flowers.

If you live in Angoon and want to volunteer call her at 364-3617.

If you have not been contacted by a pre-sale volunteer and you would like to order, contact Fleming at that number.

Dairy under construction sells cheese for delivery in spring
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A dairy under construction near Wasilla is trying to sell cheese for delivery in the spring.

The dairy is selling the promise of cheese under a project it's calling the Cheese Futures Campaign.

The project could help four dairy farms remaining in the Matanuska Valley.

The farms lost a buyer when the Mat-Maid Dairy filled its last order in December.

The new dairy can't now receive milk on a regular basis.

Project sponsors say early money raised will be used to help keep milk supplies flowing.

Cheese futures range in price from $30 to $150.

The cheese will take 60 days to age.
(KTUU-TV - Anchorage)