I’m up early every weekday morning pulling together all the news and information you need to start your day. I find the stories unique to Juneau or Southeast Alaska that may linger or become food-for-thought at the end of your day. What information do you need from me to give your day some context?
State investigators say they’ve made a break in a cold case, finally pulling together enough evidence to charge a man for homicide fifteen years after it allegedly happened.
They say a Juneau Grand Jury on Friday returned with an indictment against 50-year old Robert D. Kowalski, charging him for first and second degree murder. The case has not yet been assigned to a particular judge, but bail — according to Alaska State Troopers — was set at $1,000,000.
Troopers believe that Kowalski, then a Washington State resident, traveled to Yakutat for a vacation with his then girlfriend, 39-year old Sandra M. Perry.
The incident, initially reported as an accidental shooting, was at the Glacier Bear Lodge in July of 1996.
Troopers say that a man staying in the next room at the lodge reported hearing an argument, then a gunshot, followed by silence. Kowalski told Troopers that he armed himself with a shotgun after he and Perry heard a bear outside their room. But Kowalski said he tripped onto the bed and fell on top of Perry and the gun discharged when he got up.
Kowalski was never charged for Perry’s death. The prosecutor assigned to the case apparently determined that there was not enough evidence then to disprove Kowalski’s claim of an accidental shooting.
The Alaska Bureau of Investigation’s Cold Case Unit reviewed the Yakutat incident after Kowalski was convicted in Montana of killing another girlfriend there, 45-year-old Lorraine Kay Morin in March of 2008. The Kalispell Daily Inter Lake newspaper in Montana reported that the incident included the arrest of Kowalski after a 31-hour standoff at his home that involved SWAT teams from three jurisdictions. The gun used in the shooting was recovered from his home. Kowalski told investigators the gun accidentally went off as he was falling backward into a chair.
Alaska investigators say they’ve initiated proceedings to extradite Kowalski so that he can face murder charges here.
Randy Wanamaker says he served in the Alaska and Washington National Guard — briefly activated, but never deployed during the Cuban Missile Crisis and start of Vietnam — followed by a stint in the Army Reserve. During World War II, Wanamaker’s father was an infantryman.
“My a dad was a professional soldier,” says Wanamaker. “He survived it all from the very first day of the invasion of North Africa to the last days in Czechoslovakia.”
And then, there was his uncle in the Coast Guard in the Pacific.
“He was one of the guys who survived the invasion of Tarawa. He went ahead of the first wave.”
Because of that connection, he says he’s continued volunteering for activities or taken to heart issues important to veterans and Southeast Alaska natives.
“My grandfather was Kiksadi from Sitka, of the Frog clan, and my grandmother was Killer Whale, Kaagwaantaan of Sitka.” Wanamaker says they moved to Juneau in 1922 to help set up ANB Camp 2 in Juneau.
Wanamaker calls himself a grandchild of Angoon; tracing his family to Killisnoo as well as through two lines to civil rights activist Elizabeth Peratovich. Born in Juneau, Wanamaker grew up in Seattle and eventually returned to Juneau after the National Guard and college studying physical geology. One of his first jobs as a young geologist included monitoring Mt. St. Helens before and during the big explosive eruption of 1980. He later worked as a subsurface resource manager for Sealaska corporation. Today, he runs a vocational training and outreach service that prepares potential employees for work at the Kensington Mine, and he serves as vice-chairman of the Goldbelt corporation board of directors.
His wife is a teacher and he has four children either in college or recently graduated.
After three consecutive terms on the CBJ Assembly, Wanamaker was required to step aside a year ago.
“I enjoy public service. I enjoyed my time on the school board, and I enjoyed my time on the various city and state committees that I’ve served on.”
Wanamaker says others have encouraged him to run again because of issues like the CBJ budget and solid waste management, even so far as possibly reclaiming the landfill and turning waste into energy.
“We need an amendment to the regulatory act to allow us to have (regulatory) responsibility.”
Wanamaker also says residents are worried about a potential collapse of property values, to the point that they could be underwater on the mortgage.
“We can work to diversify our economy and employment base so that any downtown in any particular area isn’t very damaging to our community.”
That includes holding NOAA to an earlier commitment about employing new researchers at the Point Lena fisheries laboratory, and foster more cooperation with regional health organizations.
Wanamaker says the AJ Mine should be allowed to open if it’s determined that it would be economically and environmentally viable.
“If there’s a need to protect, move or supplement our water supply system,” says Wanamaker, “the city can do that because it will have the funds to do it.”
Wanamaker will vote for the extension of the 3-percent sales tax, but he would like to see an exemption for food and doesn’t want to make the temporary taxes permanent.
“I think we need to find other ways of raising revenue or increasing revenues,” says Wanamaker, who wants to focus on starter home development to increase the property tax base.
And he won’t vote for the plastic bag tax.
“I applaud them for bringing this issue to the surface so that we can discuss it.” But Wanamaker says it’s going to hurt most those with the least amount of money.
He favors the city alternative to state financial disclosure rules. Wanamaker believes there’s too much potential for fraud and abuse for publically-posted information, and state requirements would discourage good, competent candidates.
“This seems to single out a category of people and – say – we will take away your right to privacy here,” says Wanamaker. “I think that’s wrong.”
Randy Wanamaker is the only candidate running for the assembly representing District 2. That includes the Mendenhall Valley and all of Juneau north of the airport.
Stories include a seafood processor penalized for water violations and former Juneau fishing guide continues to defend himself against bird and wildlife violations.
When Senator Lisa Murkowski’s fisheries aide pulled out from consideration for an influential job in the Obama Administration two years ago, he said it was because the process was taking too long. It turns out Arne Fuglvog was under investigation by the very agency he would have run. Fuglvog pleaded guilty last month to breaking commercial fishing law before joining Murkowski’s staff, and resigned from his Senate job right before the charges became public. His admission to falsifying catch records shook the commercial fishing industry in Alaska, where Fuglvog had served on influential councils. Now former crew members are coming forward saying they tried to turn Fuglvog in to authorities for illegal fishing for years, and felt like they were ignored. APRN’s Libby Casey reports.
