KCAW - Sitka

Gov. Bill Walker will unveil his upcoming budget Wednesday, and the backdrop isn’t pretty. Should the price of oil remain low, Alaska could face a deficit of $3.1 billion.

In an effort to get Alaskans on the same page, state budget director Pat Pitney has spent the past six months leading fiscal dialogues in communities throughout Alaska. Last week, she brought her talking points to Sitka, along with a wooden scale to simulate the state budget crisis.

Before a crowd of 50 Sitkans, Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins played Pat Sajak. He stood at a spinning wheel, which represents the price of oil, and explained, “We live on risk in Alaska. Because we don’t know what the price of oil is going to be next year and so it’s literally a game show that we’re playing.”

While not as flashy as the one on Wheel of Fortune, where it lands has big consequences. Kreiss-Tomkins sets the wheel in motion. It clicks to a halt at $60 a barrel. “That would be great,” Kreiss-Tomkins said. He spins it again and it lands on $50 a barrel. “Also good.”

Lately, the price of oil has been at $40 a barrel, which leaves the state with a $3.1 billion dollar gap between revenue and spending. It’s a problem so big you have to see it to believe it.

Kreiss-Tomkins handed the microphone to Pat Pitney.

“We are almost entirely dependent on oil price and production for our budget. And at $40 barrel of oil, instead of $109 barrel of oil, that is what creates that budget gap,” she said.

It’s a message state financial officers have been taking on the road and Sitka is stop number 52. The dialogue began with a PowerPoint presentation, filled with a parade of sobering charts.

Pitney argued that if legislators don’t break the oil habit now, Alaska could drain its savings and potentially hurt its credit score.

“Everyone is afraid. This is a huge change for Alaska. Anybody that’s not 60 has never paid an income tax in this state. I mean, it’s huge. It’s a sea change,” she said.

Pitney transitioned to the wooden scale in front of her, inviting Sitkans to literally balance the books. Kreiss-Tomkins joined her in explaining how it works. Loaded on either side of the scale are blocks of different colors.

Each of these blocks represent $100 million. Together, they depict life as we know it in Alaska. On the left side of the scale is how much money the state spends: $5.1 billion dollars total. On the right side is revenue. The scale is balanced for this year, but there’s a catch.

“Our current budget is balanced on the back of our savings,” said Kreiss-Tomkins. He motioned to a pile of white blocks, which represent part of Alaska’s Constitutional Budget reserve, or rainy day account. It’s pretty big, $7 billion, but won’t last if the state continues to drain it to keep the budget balanced.

Of the CBR, Pitney added, “If we do nothing, this savings is gone in two years. Then the next choice is to go to this savings pile, which is the earnings reserve.”

The earnings reserve is the money that can be spent from the Permanent Fund. Permanent Fund Dividend checks come from here. The blocks are gold with a white dot on them, but if Alaska drains all that too, the dividend checks will stop. That is a future Pitney doesn’t want to come to pass.

“We don’t like that picture at all. We want to do something sustainable now,” she said.

Pitney couldn’t go into detail about Gov. Bill Walker’s budget. But her presentation did provide a glimpse of how the administration wants to close the gap in the long run. They’re looking at the power of the Permanent Fund, which at $51 billion is so big it earns more money on interest than the state deposits in revenue. The return on investment follows the stock market, which in general has a more consistent performance than the price of oil.

“Over the life of the Permanent Fund, it’s earned almost 10 percent, 9.75 annually,” Pitney said. “Yes, you could have a 2008 and it could be bad for a period of time, but on average over time, this is the better investment model.”

The administration calls the strategy the “Sovereign Wealth Model.” If the state can agree to funnel all new resource revenue – from oil royalties to petroleum production taxes – into the Permanent Fund, it can become a renewable pool of money to run the state. PFD checks would continue, but be cut at smaller amounts. Extra bonus if the state can create some new taxes.

Now, it’s well and good to simulate this in the game, but in her travels, Pitney has learned that not all communities want the same solutions. Southeast seems to not mind a smaller dividend check, but in the North Slope the proposal elicits a different reaction. Audience there are fine with an income tax.

“But the idea that the dividend would be less is harder to handle because they’re more dependent on it. Or you go into the Kenai area and they’re very comfortable with a sales tax, but not an income tax. Or a motor fuel tax is really problematic,” Pitney said.

Kreiss-Tomkins scans the audience for a willing participant, telling the crowd to applaud and boo just like voters do on election day. The comparison is a comical one, especially in front of a live audience. “You are a legislator and you either get thrown out like a bum, or you get the electorate’s approval and you get to do another budget,” he said.

Hahlen Barkau, a teenager, steps forward. He enacts a 2 percent sales tax, but restores funding to health and human services. The audience cheered. “Halen, you just got re-elected,” Kreiss-Tomkins said.

The event was co-sponsored by the Island Institute and the Greater Sitka Chamber of Commerce.

A few days later at the Backdoor Cafe, Blossom Twitchell tussled with the imbalance herself. The game is set up in the middle of the lunch rush.

Twitchell imposed an income tax and took a deep breath before plopping the blocks on the scale. “This is new territory for me and as a mother and an Alaskan I’d rather look into try to get revenue somewhere,” she explained.

And just by comparison, taxes on alcohol and marijuana are tiny blocks. They barely tip the scale. And that’s really what the game – designed by Gunnar Knapp and Ian Laing of Anchorage – is all about: weighing what you think you know about the budget against the working reality. By bringing the scale to the people, voters can begin to understand the magnitude of the hard times ahead.

Annika Ord of the Island Institute oversaw the game play. “Numbers don’t really resonate with me. I’ll forget them 10 minutes from when I read them. But seeing the process, you just really get to see the physical changes, which is a lot more memorable,” she said.

Ord added that not everyone is an eager contestant. “I asked a few people if they wanted to balance the budget and they’re like, ‘Well, that sounds depressing.’ And it kind of is, but it’s the reality.”

A reality that will soon be in the hands of the Legislature, when they meet for regular session in January and hold something far more precious than blocks in their hands.

Curious to try this yourself? The Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of Alaska Anchorage developed an online tool – an interactive Excel spreadsheet – that allows you to attempt balancing the budget too.  

The City of Sitka has released its police department Operating Procedures Manual to the public.

The 342-page document was posted on the city’s website Wednesday morning in the wake of a viral video showing a high school student being tased in the Sitka jail.

KCAW filed a public records request for the document after Police Chief Sheldon Schmitt brought a copy to a news conference with Sitka reporters Nov. 3. A video posted on social media showing a teenager being repeatedly tased in the Sitka jail prompted concerns over the use of excessive force in the department.

The radio station’s request was formally denied in a letter drafted by Sitka’s legal department on the grounds that the release of police procedures “could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings,” among other objections.

Maegan Bosak, Sitka’s community relations director, says the city has reconsidered its position.

“I think it was requested by different media outlets and citizens and after a review, the city decided that there was a need to be fully transparent and wanted to make it available to read through and use as needed,” she said.

The Operating Procedures Manual — or OPM — is based on operating procedures used by the Alaska State Troopers.

Lance Ewers is a former trooper and now serves as one of two lieutenants in the Sitka Police Department.

“I think what we’re literally living through is an evolution in law enforcement,” Ewers said.

Ewers believes that allowing people to fully understand police procedures is important to understanding why we created police forces historically, rather than giving police duties to the military.

“So what we’re seeing here is a giant step — a beautiful step — backward in time, where we’re remembering that there is no us versus them. There’s only us, and we are the people, and the people are the police,” he said. “So why wouldn’t we want the people to know what the rulebook is?”

The 342-page manual covers everything from wearing the uniform to the operation of police vehicles, to bioterrorism. In the aftermath of the tasing video, many people will probably be turning to Chapter 104, which covers the use of force.

The specific levels of force demonstrated in the Hoogendorn video aren’t spelled out in detail in the Operating Procedures Manual. Ewers says this where police training comes into play.

“We can’t punish someone in the use of force,” he said. “You can’t bring punishment on them. You can use force to gain safe control, but once safe control is obtained you have to de-escalate the amount of force that you’re using.”

Sitka police chief Sheldon Schmitt has defended the conduct of the officers in the video, saying the arrest was in line with police procedures, and that Hoogendorn was combative with officers from the moment they confronted him outside of a Sitka bar.

“Some people might look at a situation where there are three police officers … and they might look at that and go, ‘… It’s three-on-one; that’s not fair.’ But in reality, by having three officers, you can use less force than having one officer. Because one officer by himself has to use more force and is actually legally justified in using more force to ensure that they win safe control in a certain engagement,” Ewers said.

The Operating Procedures Manual requires any use of force by police beyond routine handcuffing to be documented. The FBI is conducting an investigation into the Hoogendorn arrest to determine if procedures were followed. Among them: Section 402 of the OPM describes searching uncooperative prisoners and placing them in lockdown until they become cooperative. Section 102 governs the conduct of police during arrests and states, “His office gives him no right to prosecute the violator, nor to mete out punishment for the offense.”

The Sitka Tribe of Alaska recently wrote a letter to the Anchorage Division of the FBI about the questionable arrest and detainment of an 18-year-old man.

On Sept. 6, 2014, Franklin Hoogendorn was stripped, held down and then tased in his cell. The letter alleges that prejudice exists within the Sitka Police Department and asks the FBI to consult with the tribe during the investigation.

The letter asks for a few things. The first is to consider racial bias as a factor in the case.

The letter reads, “This incident is symptomatic of other actions by the Sitka Police Department which have alarmed citizens of this Tribe for many Years. Many of our citizens believe such prejudice does exist within the local police department.”

The tribe also asks in the letter to be consulted on any further changes to the Sitka Police Department’s policies. The letter cites the Clinton-era Executive Order 13175, which requires federal agencies to consult tribal governments when considering policies that would impact tribal communities.

“The Sitka Tribe of Alaska is ready, willing and able to do government-to-government consultation,” reads.

Tribal Chairman Mike Baines wrote the letter. He says, “I’ve heard of a lot of Natives getting assaulted by the police and that kind of thing. It’s pretty common. That’s one of our main concerns and it’s been coming out nationwide. … We want to do what we can to stop it growing locally.”

The tribe currently has 4,000 enrolled tribal citizens. Hoogendorn is a citizen of the Native Village of Koyuk, outside of Nome. Baines would not give details about the incidents described in the letter, nor would the Tribe’s attorney.

Baines did say that while he’s had some “respectful” and “successful” interactions with the Sitka police, he’s still bothered that the police chief said no department rules were broken during the incident.

“I think that’s a pretty big concern that the policies allowed for them to (tase) a young man is a pretty big issue,” he said.

After the arrest, Sitka Police Chief Sheldon Schmitt reviewed the footage and determined that the actions of the three officers complied with department policies. Despite that, some policies were changed. KCAW’s public records request for those policies was denied.

Schmidt the video does not depict Hoogendorn’s alleged level of resistance before being taken into custody.

City Administrator Mark Gorman and Lieutenant Jeff Ankerfelt said the City and the Police Department would not comment on the case, citing the pending FBI investigation.

Gorman previously said that the police department informed the city of the event shortly after it happened.

The FBI also would not comment on the tribe’s letter, but said that the agency follows up on all leads.

The Anchorage FBI office will be taking a leadership role in the investigation of the 2014 stun gunning of a teenager in a Sitka jail cell. Franklin Hoogendorn, age 18, was a student at Mt. Edgecumbe High School when he was arrested and stun gunned by three officers, while in custody of the Sitka Police Department.

The FBI has 56 field offices throughout the country, and one of them is in Anchorage. Part of the bureau’s mandate is to investigate color of law abuses. Color of law describes someone given authority by a local, state or federal agency.

“And excessive force, which is something we would term ‘color of law,’ falls under that civil rights violation, so that’s how the FBI gets involved,” said Staci Feger-Pellessier, the public affairs specialist for the Anchorage office.

As of Friday, their office took the lead in reviewing the use of force in Franklin Hoogendorn’s arrest, along with the Alaska State Troopers. Feger-Pellessier said this type of review is within the Bureau’s job description.

“People always think, ‘Oh, FBI is involved’ — people always think that makes it more serious or kind of takes it to a different level. It’s just that this falls within our jurisdiction. We have the authority to investigate violations or potential violations of civil rights,” she said.

In 2012, 42 percent of the FBI’s civil rights caseload involved color of law issues — 380 cases. Last year, it was 307 cases. Feger-Pellessier could not discuss the details of the investigation, but said that when the case concludes, standard procedure is to submit the findings to the U.S. Department of Justice for further action.

“We do not make the final decision on whether or not the case is going to move forward. We investigate. We gather the facts and we hand that information over to the U.S. Attorney’s office and the U.S. Attorney makes the final decision,” Feger-Pellesier said.

Sitka Police Chief Sheldon Schmitt reviewed a videotape of the arrest last fall and said that while it, “didn’t look good,” he concluded it did not violate Sitka’s policies at the time, and that Hoogendorn’s resistance to arrest was not captured in the video. KCAW-Sitka has filed a Freedom of Information Act to obtain the arrest policies of the Sitka Police Department. The request is pending.

When a local teacher posted a video of the arrest on YouTube in late October, generating over 36,000 views and concern from the community, Chief Schmitt requested the Alaska State Troopers conduct an independent review. Col. James Cockrell, who oversees the Troopers, said the FBI’s involvement brings more objectivity to the investigation.

“The FBI has a federal nexus. They’re not as intimately involved with the (Sitka Police Department) as the Alaska State Troopers were and we think having another agency involved with it seems like the most reasonable and defendable approach we could take,” Cockrell said.

Col. Cockrell could not say how long the investigation would take, but that it would likely stretch for months.

“Because I know there are some witnesses out of state now, so it will probably take several months. Tracking down witnesses for a case that’s over a year old will take some time. This isn’t going to be resolved overnight,” he said.

Officials with the city of Sitka could not be reached for comment.

Meet Brandi, Peaches, Bamboo, Hunter, Chuckles, and Boomer.

There’s also Taffy, James, Bearhood, Chip and Spot. The fluffy cargo safely arrived at the Sitka Rocky Gutierrez Airport on Thursday and were promptly whisked away to the animal shelter.

The dogs are a long way from home. They are a part of a larger group rescued from a residence in Ketchikan last month after their owner passed away leaving 40-plus animals. After being recovered by Alaska State Troopers, the dogs were taken to the crowded shelter there until Sitka Animal Control Officer and shelter director Ken Buxton went to get them. And he wanted to get them collared and taken care of as soon as he got on the ground.

Buxton mobilized Sitkans to raise money to relieve the Ketchikan shelter. As of Thursday, he gathered some $1,400 to help pay for a chartered Harris airplane, but it didn’t quite cover the cost. Buxton says he hopes to raise some more funds now that he has the pups here.

“Pictures of cute dogs always help,” he said.

And they are adorable.

“The ugliest one is the cutest dog I’ve ever seen,” Buxton said.

He says the pooches are most likely terrier mixes. Some may have a touch of dachshund.

“They’re mutts,” he said. “So are we.”

Buxton says it’s hard to know their ages, but some may be around 1-year-old.

“Can’t cut them open and count the rings,” he said, “but whatever life they have left is certainly meaningful.

The dogs are related, but a few have shaggier hair. A couple short-haired, black ones have matching white tufts of diamond-shaped fur on their chests.

Some of them have skin, eye, ear and teeth problems, but Buxton is treating them with medication.

“The people in Ketchikan started their recovery and we’ll finish these particular dogs recovery over here.”

Buxton says the dogs are surprisingly well-behaved considering the circumstances. They get along well and don’t fight over food. The dogs will be open for adoption on Tuesday and ready to take home after getting spayed and neutered.

“We don’t have a dog problem the way the other all the Southeast communities do,” Buxton said. “And I’ve theorized on it and I’m a firm believer is that part of the reason is the vets around here performing that spay or neuter regardless of somebody’s financial standing.”

Trish and David Durham were part of a team of volunteers who picked up the dogs from the airport. The whole story is a comfort to animal lovers,” David Durham says.

“It’s nice to know that in a situation such as this communities can get together to provide homes for perfectly adoptable pets whose pet owner just happened to have a health issue,” he said.

Even better than that is the animals will be going to grateful homes in Sitka,” Trish Durham said.

“There will be lots of happy families pretty soon,” she said.

At this time, Buxton says he is not looking for foster homes for the dogs. He just needs to figure out a walking schedule.

The Sitka Animal Shelter already has a waitlist of people who want dogs. If you’re interested in adopting, call the shelter at 747-3567 to set up an appointment.

It’s been called the greatest high seas rescue in the history of the Coast Guard. 35 years ago on October 4th, the luxury cruise liner Prinsendam caught fire in Gulf of Alaska, between Yakutat and Sitka. Despite an incoming typhoon, 30-foot seas, and 100-meter visibility, every one of the more than 500 passengers and crew escaped before the ship burned and sank.

Earlier this month members of the US Coast Guard and Air Force, and their Canadian counterparts, gathered in Seattle for a reunion. In Part 1 of a three-part series on the Prinsendam anniversary, KCAW’s Rich McClear headed south to join them – and reflect on his own role in the emergency. 35 years ago, McClear, was about to leave KTOO in Juneau to start the public radio station in Sitka.

Oct. 4, 1980, was Juneau’s 100^th birthday and the city was in the mood to party. The Coast Guard Cutter Boutwell was in town, up from Seattle, to help with the celebration. The bars were full of Coasties.

Sitkan Doris Bailey was in Juneau and remembers how her husband, Roy, first learned that the party was over. “Some boat started tooting blasts on the horn and Roy jumped out of bed and said “Oh My Gosh, every coastguard person is being called back to the ship, all leave is canceled,” Bailey said.

That was around 1 a.m. in the morning. The Boutwell’s captain, Lee Krumm, was scheduled to be the Centennial Parade Grand Marshal. He was enjoying himself in a Mendenhall Valley tavern when he was called to the phone.

Lee Krumm:  I went up and got the microphone from the band and said, ‘Anyone from the Boutwell in here get yourselves downstairs. We’re heading back on the ship. We have a cruise ship on fire.’ We had people actually sitting in the trunks of cars with their legs hanging out the back getting them back to the ship.

The Juneau police and volunteer fire department went to every bar rousting out crewmembers.  Seaman Dan Long was on the ship helping load the crew back on board. Long remembered the process. “One guy take the arms, one guy take the legs, haul them on board and dump them on the flight deck – those guys who couldn’t walk under their own power,” he said.

But in two hours the Boutwell was ready to sail with only nine crew members missing. In Sitka, the Woodrush was also underway and two helicopters from Air Station Sitka were heading to the ship.

Aboard the Prinsendam, the fire spread. She was dead in the water. The captain gave the order to abandon ship. John Graham was the ship’s lecturer and recalled, “In the beginning the seas were relatively calm. We were put into the lifeboats in the middle of the night. It was kind of an adventure. People did sing along to old campfire songs.”

At daybreak, the helicopters started hoisting passengers. They ferried the survivors to the Exxon Williamsburgh, which heard the SOS. Fortunately, the tanker had a helipad and was fully loaded with crude oil, making it stable in the rising seas.

Every few trips the helicopters had to refuel, so they carried their passengers to Yakutat.

Pete Torres was on the crew of one of the Kodiak choppers and said, “The people had been sitting cramped in a lifeboat for up to 10 to 12 hours. By the time they got into the helicopter, they couldn’t get themselves out of the basket. We would actually have to pick them up and move them back to the back of the helicopter.” He added, “There weren’t enough troop seats in the helicopter, so after a while a lot of the passengers would actually have to sit on the deck in a pile.  I think on our last run we had up to 16 survivors on our helicopter.”

The Prinsendam passengers who flew to safety may have been the lucky ones. As the day wore on, the weather deteriorated.

Passenger John Graham said this is when survivors in the lifeboats began to feel desperate. “Finally the typhoon hit us full force. Winds gusting up to 60 knots. 30 foot seas. And we were all hypothermic. We were all seasick. At about 5 o’clock, the storm was so bad that the helicopters couldn’t fly anymore.  So our only hope was that there something out there on the sea that could rescue us,” he said.

Graham’s boat was eventually found by the Boutwell. She had arrived from Juneau and began taking survivors aboard. It wasn’t easy.

First they sent a launch to transfer survivors from the lifeboats to the ship. That didn’t work so well, Dan Long recalls. “We went out and got to the first lifeboat. Well, the crew from the Prinsendam, they were just panicked. We wanted to take the elderly on board first. They were climbing over the elderly and climbing onto our boat because they were so afraid. It was this total mayhem. Our boat quickly filled up and we couldn’t get the elderly off the lifeboat.”

Instead, the launch towed the lifeboat to the Boutwell, but most were not able to climb the 40-foot Jacob’s ladder to the ship. Their hands were cold, and they could not grip the rungs. Long said, “We just sent a man down with a horse collar and manually hauled them up one by one,” using a hand winch.

And that’s the way the Boutwell brought all the survivors from the remaining lifeboats aboard – or so they thought.

Lt. Colonel Dave Briski, the pilot of an Air Force C-130, was unwilling to call it a day.

Lt. Dave Briski:  I called the Coast Guard and I said, “What’s the status of the mission?’ They said, ‘Well, everybody’s been picked up. We’re closing down the mission down.’ And I said, ‘Are you sure you’ve got everybody picked up?’ And they said, ‘Yes everybody’s picked up.” And I said, ‘OK, the last I heard, the Air Force helicopter, the boat they were picking up people from, had two of our PJs, or pararescue men, and about 18 to 20 people from the ship.  Can you confirm those people were picked up?” They said ‘Yeah, they’re all picked up.’ I said, ‘Well give me the names of the two PJs and then I know you’ve got ‘em. They insisted they were going to close the mission.  I called the Rescue Coordination Center back at Elmendorf and I said ‘Hey, I don’t think they’ve got everybody picked up.’

Briski was right. The Boutwell and Woodrush sailed search patterns in the area where the lifeboat was last reported. Just before 2 a.m., the Boutwell found the missing lifeboat and hauled its passengers aboard. The mission was closed, but for the residents of Yakutat, Sitka and Valdez, the rescue of the Prinsendam was just beginning.

The end of the mission at sea was the beginning of the rescue on land, as the more than 500 passengers and crew of the Prinsendam were brought ashore with only the clothes on their backs. In Part 1 of this series tomorrow, KCAW’s Rich McClear talks with Sitkans who lent a hand – and much more – to the survivors of the Prinsendam.

This story is Part 2 in a series to commemorate the 35th Anniversary of the Prinsendam Rescue. Here is Part 1 and Part 3. Click here for more historic photographs of the Prinsendam sinking, courtesy of the Alaska State Library.