Adelyn Baxter

State lawmakers are hearing public input Saturday morning on whether distilleries should be allowed to serve mixed drinks in the State Capitol building.

The Alaska Alcoholic Beverage Control Board voted Jan. 23 to ban businesses like Amalga Distillery in Juneau from combining their product with mixers to serve to customers in their tasting rooms.

The decision came after months of deliberation by the board, as well as considerable public input on the issue.

An ambiguous state law passed in 2014 states that distilleries “may sell not more than 3 ounces a day of the distillery’s product to a person for consumption on the premises.”

The House Community and Regional Affairs Committee’s Saturday hearing is on House Bill 269, which would clarify the language that led to the controversial mixed drinks decision and override it.

The committee is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. in room 124 of the State Capitol building. It will also be teleconferenced.

Call 586-9085 or email hcra@akleg.gov to weigh in remotely.

Gavel Alaska plans to cover the meeting on 360 North television and stream it on 360north.org.

On Monday, a Juneau Assembly committee met to discuss six proposals submitted for a city property in the Mendenhall Valley.

Each proposal comes from an organization or individual looking to provide a service in the community.

The city previously leased the property to Juneau Youth Services for $1 a year, and may enter into a similar agreement with an applicant they feel meets an important need.

Juneau Lands and Resources Manager Greg Chaney said the Assembly Lands Committee plans to whittle the six proposals down to three to recommend to the full Assembly.

“Right now, they’re just trying to gather information and do it in an equitable manner,” Chaney said. “Which is really hard because these are each different organizations which are proposing different uses for the building, some of which are pretty straightforward, some of which are kind of complicated.”

The proposals include:

• an elder care assisted living facility operated by a private company based in Washington state;
• the Gehring Nursery School, which hopes to establish pre-K childcare in the facility;
• relocating Polaris House to expand mental health services;
• Prama Home Inc. proposes a combined homeless youth, pre-K and elder care program; and
• one resident proposes establishing dual housing for former prisoners reentering society and seasonal workers.

The proposal that’s triggered the most online community discussion comes from the Glory Hole, the downtown emergency shelter and soup kitchen. It submitted a proposal to move its shelter to the Hurlock Avenue property.

Basically, some area residents don’t want homeless people in their neighborhood.

Interim Director Kyle Hargrave said this would allow the shelter to lease their current facility at a commercial rate.

“The Glory Hole is constantly struggling to pay for itself through donations and fundraising and grants,” Hargrave said. “It takes a lot of work. I think the prospect of having a property that could generate income was the most attractive thing about this.”

Hargrave said it’s preliminary. The proposal is mainly to keep options open.

“The thing that’s the highest concern for the Glory Hole board or the director, Mariya, is going to be the neighborhood and the community response,” he said. “And also the input of our patrons and clientele as well.”

Juneau Youth Services used the building as an emergency shelter for youth for more than 50 years, but downsized to their existing facility on Montana Creek Road due to budget constraints.

Whoever moves in will be responsible for maintenance and operations costs, which average around $50,000 per year. The longer the facility sits empty, the more the city will have to bear those costs.

The applicants are scheduled to present proposals to the Lands Committee at noon Feb. 12. The committee plans to make its recommendation by its Feb. 26 meeting.

If things go smoothly, the Juneau Assembly would consider the proposals on April 2.

Board game lovers from Juneau and elsewhere descend on Platypus Con every January to try out new games and test their skills against other players.

Seated around a table in Centennial Hall, six players made their way through a dungeon in search of the “Heart of Wolover.” Suddenly, a zombie ogre appeared.

“I have seven health left, and I use my heavy crossbow to try to hit it in the face with a bolt,” said Keegan Ariail, 11, before rolling his 20-sided die.

The game is Dungeons & Dragons, the fantasy role-playing game that tests players’ ability to strategize and work together to overcome obstacles on their quests. The players at the table ranged in age from about 10 to 50. Most had never played before. One had played since 1978.

Tazio Rosenberg, 17, flew up from California for the weekend just to be there. His cousins live in Juneau.

“I like board games, I haven’t really played very much D&D, but I think it’s fun, so I’ve played a lot this weekend,” Rosenberg said. “I like playing with people that also don’t totally know what’s going on.”

Rosenberg was one of more than 300 players who stopped by the locally organized three-day gaming convention. Like Dungeons & Dragons, board games have been making a huge comeback, with massive conventions attended by enthusiasts around the world.

“I’ve been to Gen Con in Indianapolis,” said Joshua Warren, the founder of Platypus Con. “It’s expensive, it’s like a four-digit vacation to get there. So I just wanted to bring a similar type of experience to Juneau so people can, instead of spending thousands of dollars, can spend $30.”

Warren founded the event four years ago. He’s an avid board game player with a personal collection of over a thousand. He decided to share them with a wider group, beyond the friends he regularly plays with.

Today he’s the president of Platypus Gaming, a nonprofit created to keep the event going and help it grow. This year, Warren and his volunteers moved from the JACC to Centennial Hall.

That allowed them to expand the number of games being played and the level of competition. This year featured 10 tournaments, including a Settlers of Catan National Qualifier. The winner won an all-expense-paid trip to Origins Game Fair in Columbus, Ohio, this June.

Platypus Con’s gaming library features more than 1,600 games from Warren’s personal collection and some that were donated over the years. They’re separated by difficulty so that players can choose based on their skill level.

“My favorite part is finding people who either look lost or don’t know what to play and either teach them the game they’re already sitting down with or find them a game they’re gonna enjoy,” Warren said. “Because one of the things we say is with 1,600 games, I can probably find a game you’ll enjoy, even if you don’t like board games.”

Peter Minick has attended Platypus Con from the start. He and his family tried out a new game his teenage daughter picked out called The Great Dinosaur Rush.

“I’ve got my daughter and my wife here, and we’ve got a friend playing with us. My two sons are around somewhere playing other games; Dungeons and Dragons, Secret Hitler.”

Volunteer John Foster ran the demo area, where players learned how to play the more intimidating games.

“Basically Platypus’ mission is largely to get people exposed to new games and exposed to new people,” Foster said. “Hopefully you’ve shown up here and you’ve played a game you’ve never played before, or you’ve played with people that maybe you get their number and you’ll play after the convention.”

Back at the D&D table, the campaign continued. Our heroes defeated the ogre only to find themselves battling a hydra. As Ariail’s turn to roll the dice came up again, things were not looking good for his character, a 135-year-old paladin named Sir Caldron.

“Now, you hear an almost ‘nomming’ sound, as it tries to eat the canned meal,” the dungeon master said.

“I’m not canned, I’m wearing armor,” Ariail replied, making his fellow players laugh.

He rolled and managed to escape unharmed.

The game would continue for hours, but none of the players showed any signs of slowing down. Neither does Platypus Con.

In this newscast:

• Alaska House leadership calls for the resignation of Rep. Zach Fansler following allegations of an assault on a Juneau woman,
• and Juneau Empire reporter James Brooks on how he learned about this sensitive story and what it means for the legislature.

A story published Saturday afternoon by the Juneau Empire details accusations of a violent attack by a state legislator on an unnamed Juneau woman.

According to Empire reporter James Brooks, Bethel Democrat Zach Fansler allegedly slapped the woman in his room at the Alaska Hotel on Jan. 13 as she attempted to put him to bed after a night out drinking just before the current legislative session began. She later learned she had a ruptured eardrum.

Immediately after the story published, House Speaker Bryce Edgmon released a statement calling on Fansler to resign. Fansler’s lawyer has said he denies the allegations. 

The victim reached out to Brooks with her story. She had been in a relationship with Fansler before the alleged incident. She shared texts exchanged with Fansler afterward and photos of her injured eardrum from the doctor. Brooks also spoke with people who knew about the relationship.

Brooks sat down with KTOO’s Adelyn Baxter on Saturday to share how he reported this sensitive story and what it means for the investigation.

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Q: Tell me about how you came to find out about this incident.

This happened because I had met this woman once at a Democratic fundraiser here. On the night before session there’s fundraisers all over the place and I made the rounds and I ran into her. She mentioned she had a ruptured eardrum and I commiserated with her but she didn’t mention why. Then after about a week she called me up and said “Hey do you have some time to talk?” And just that simple phone call, just that simple message, started the whole thing.

Q: And how did you go about verifying the different elements? I know there’s a lot of detail in the report.

With something like this it’s always really hard because the person involved, or the people involved, don’t always want to talk on the record, they don’t want their names out there. Because especially in the Capitol, there are — I won’t say there’s people actively looking to punish others, but if you come out and speak publicaly you’re less likely to get rehired by another legislator. You’ve kind of broken the code of silence. So there’s an incentive if you want to keep your job; you stay quiet, you don’t make waves, don’t make difficulties for others. In this case, the woman asked that her name be withheld, and I’ve done that.

I also asked around and talked to other people who knew of the relationship that they had. They had been flirting for a while and been pursuing a romantic relationship. And so that was known by some acquaintances of both, people who were friends of both, and they were able to explain different aspects of it.

The woman involved, she kept text message records of their conversations. And so she was able to do that and she was very open with me, even though she didn’t allow me to use her name, she said “Yes you can look at my medical records, share these pictures, share these text conversations to help explain the story.”

Q: The story said you waited to publish. What has the timeline been like?

One of the things I wanted to make sure was that since she had gone to the police, I wanted to make sure the police had first priority because they’re doing something that’s important as well. I’m not going to get in their way if I can help it. In this case, I sat on the story for a week. She asked me to not interview anyone, not talk to anyone, while the police did their work. And I did that.

And the reason it came out now as it did, was because the Department of Law had started alerting people that this story was out there, that they were investigating. And so once it started coming out, started becoming known — and the woman’s name didn’t necessarily become known. I don’t know how many people know that still. But once the story overall, the accusations became known, that’s when we decided to publish.

Q: Do you know who is investigating Fansler besides the Alaska Department of Law?

I’m not sure of who exactly is doing the investigation and what everyone’s role is in it. I just know that there is a criminal investigation. I don’t know how far that is. I do know that his cohorts in the Alaska House Majority have called on him to resign. I don’t have a statement from him saying whether he will or he won’t, and that’s the next thing to look for. Will he decide to resign? Will he say, as his lawyer told me, that the allegations are untrue and fight them? And that’s where we go from here; will he fight back? Will he say “No, I think this is wrong, that this wasn’t accurate?” Or will he say “Yes, I did something wrong” and own up to it?

Q: What implications do you think this will have for the House in light of former Rep. Dean Westlake’s resignation due to sexual misconduct accusations?

So, it’s important to remember that that takes second fiddle to the personal harm that someone suffered. But if we’re going to talk about that, keep in mind that the House Majority has just 22 members. A bare majority, the minimum you need to have a majority in the house, is 21. Once Westlake’s replacement comes in, they’ll be back up to 22. If Fansler resigns, they’ll be back down to 21 and they’ll have to search for a replacement as well. And so that puts, it makes things very tight for that coalition in the House.

Q: Did the victim tell you why she reached out to you with her story?

She said she wanted it to be known and she wanted him to have responsibility, to have some sort of responsibility for what had happened. She didn’t want this to just pass into the night. It was very interesting talking with her because she said it’s a tendency in these types of cases for people to say “It really wasn’t that bad” or “It can’t have been as bad as I remember.” But she said she took notes for herself and that she didn’t want herself to underplay what had happened.

And so after some thought she said “Yes, this is serious enough. I’ve talked to my doctor. I have a ruptured eardrum. There’s a hole in my eardrum. I’m going to go to the police, I’m going to talk about this to the newspaper.”

Q: How long was it between the incident and when she reported it to police?

So, it was within a week. She had a business trip in between and she needed to see the doctor as well. So that is part of the timing on this. The incident happened on a weekend, she saw the doctor, immediately had to go on a business trip out of Juneau and then came back and filed the police report.

Q: Have you heard from her at all today?

I have, I have. She’s spending the day with friends. I’ve kept her informed on when the story was going to go, because that’s the absolute least I can do. So I’ve tried to keep in touch with her and make sure at every step of the way she knows what’s happening. Because in something like this, one of the biggest things for the victim is uncertainty, so you try to give them as much certainty as possible.

Q: Thanks for speaking with me James. Is there anything else?

Sure, and I’d just say that you can read the whole story on juneauempire.com and obviously I’ll be following this as it develops. If he comes out and has a statement, if he comes out and says “I’m resigning” and just for the rest of the session, what’s happening next. I’ll be covering that.

The leadership of the Alaska House of Representatives is calling for the resignation of Bethel Democrat Zach Fansler, following accusations of assault published by the Juneau Empire.  

The Empire is reporting that an unnamed female state employee accused Fansler of drunkenly attacking her in his Juneau hotel room on Jan. 13.

The Empire reports the victim suffered a ruptured eardrum in the alleged attack, during which she said Fansler slapped her, pulled her hair and tried to prevent her from leaving the room.

House Speaker Bryce Edgmon said in a statement Saturday that he learned on Friday afternoon that Fansler was being investigated for an incident “unbecoming of a legislator.” He requested Fansler’s resignation after speaking with House leadership.

“Zach Fansler is someone I and many others respected and trusted, and who worked hard for his district,” Edgmon said in the statement. “His behavior is a betrayal of trust, which has created feelings of shock and deep sadness among everyone I have spoken to.”

Edgmon also praised the bravery of the victim for coming forward to report the incident and said he and the other members of House Leadership “will not tolerate this behavior.”

KTOO could not reach Fansler for comment Saturday. His attorney told the Empire Fansler denies the allegations.

Fansler was elected to the House in 2016. He practices law in Bethel, where he served on the city council and taught math at the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Kuskokwim campus.