Rosemarie Alexander

December 28, 2011 8:50 am update
Juneau police say they’ve arrested 29-year old Joseph A. Allen on charges from unrelated crimes and taken to Lemon Creek Correctional Center. Allen is being charged with felony burglary and felony theft.

In a statement issued Wednesday morning, Juneau Police did not say when or where Allen was arrested.

Officers say the investigation is continuing.

December 27, 2011 5:12 pm
Juneau Police are still searching for an armed and dangerous suspect, who they believe is responsible for two burglaries and a stolen car Monday.

Police spokeswoman Cindee Brown-Mills says the suspect is described as a Native or Asian male, between 20 and 30 years old, 6-feet tall, with short black hair. He may also have a mustache.

“Witnesses described him as wearing a black hoodie, black pants, snow boots and a black mask, which he may or may not have on,” she says. “He’s considered armed and dangerous, which is something we really want people to understand. If you see somebody like this, don’t approach him, don’t contact him. Just call the police and let them take care of it.”

About noon Monday, police say the man, armed with a rifle, entered a house in the 8000 block of Thunder Street. He pushed a woman onto the floor and pointed the gun at her, but she escaped to a neighbor’s and called police. Witnesses say they saw the man get into the woman’s car and leave, reportedly with her purse.

Just after 4 p.m., a woman returning to her home in the 4500 block of Wood Duck Avenue found a man in the house. She ran out and called police. When they arrived, they found a chair pushed up against a back window, the screen removed, and the house rifled. A handgun was missing, but the burglar left behind the items stolen from the Thunder Street house.

The stolen vehicle also was located on Wood Duck.

At 8:30 p.m. Monday, a resident of the 4400 block of Columbia Boulevard told police he found a man sleeping in his garage, but when police arrived the man was gone.

Juneau police believe all the incidents are related. Brown-Mills says if anyone sees a man matching the suspect description, they should call police at 586-0600, or 911 if he’s acting in a threatening manner.

The snow just keeps coming at Eaglecrest. Juneau’s city-owned ski area boasts more snow than any other ski area in North America, a distinction it has held since November.

The snow stake Tuesday morning read 140 inches at the top of the Ptarmigan lift and 63 inches at the lodge. Alyeska Ski Resort in Girdwood is also doing fine, with 38 inches at the base and 105 on top.

By comparison, Aspen Mountain, Colorado, had a base of 16 inches of snow; Sun Valley, Idaho had 20. Magic Mountain in Southern Vermont has 10 inches and two of 40 trails open. That’s where Eaglecrest’s general manager Matt Lillard recently worked.

Many ski areas across the continent are hurting for snow during this holiday season when they stand to make up to 20 percent, sometimes more, of their winter revenue.

A database of ski areas indicates 366 areas have opened, out of 469 in the U.S. and Canada. Many are running partial operations.

On those days when it’s raining at sea level, it’s probably snowing at Eaglecrest. According to the Juneau Forecast Office of the National Weather Service, temperatures decrease about three degrees for every one-thousand feet this time of year.

Bail has been set at $20,000 for Kenneth Edward Nalan, accused of shooting a man at a party Tuesday night in Juneau.

Nalan was arraigned Wednesday afternoon in Juneau District Court on charges of first degree assault. He was originally arrested on a second degree assault charge. Both are felonies.

Judge Tom Nave prohibited Nalan from contacting others at the party, including the victim, 33-year-old John Nicholas Duran. Nalan has been assigned a public defender.

Juneau Police say Duran was shot in the face with a handgun during a party hosted by Nalan at a home in the 3000 block of Glacierwood Drive. Alcohol was involved.

Duran remains at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, reportedly in stable condition.

Lt. Kris Sell says Duran was an invited guest at the party. She says police are still gathering details of the shooting.

“We still have plenty of work to do on this investigation, including talking to the victim, who we hope recovers well enough to do that in the near future,” Sell says. “What we’ll do is ask Seattle PD to help us out with this. We have a good relationship with them and have done that before.”

Nalan is being held at Lemon Creek Correctional Center. A preliminary hearing has been set for Dec. 30th, unless a Juneau grand jury returns an indictment before that date.

A Juneau man who was shot in the face Tuesday night has been medevac’d to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

Juneau police say the 33-year-old unnamed man was shot at a home in the 3000 block of Glacierwood Drive in the Mendenhall Valley.

Police responded to the home at 10:39 p.m. to find the man with a gunshot wound to his face. He apparently was shot with a handgun.

Capital City Fire and Rescue transported the shooting victim to Bartlett Regional Hospital. He was subsequently evacuated to the Seattle trauma center.

While police say alcohol was involved in the incident, circumstances of the shooting are still unclear.

This is a developing story. Check back for details.

Ketchikan Superior Court Judge Trevor Stephens is the new presiding judge for the First Judicial District, which encompasses Juneau and the rest of Southeast Alaska.

Alaska Supreme Court Chief Justice Walter Carpeneti yesterday (Tuesday) appointed the presiding judges for the state’s four judicial districts.

Superior Court Judge Ben Esch has been named presiding judge for the Second Judicial District covering the most northern areas of the state, including Barrow, Nome and Kotzebue superior courts.

Superior Court Judge Sen K. Tan is the presiding judge for the Third Judicial District for Southcentral Alaska and the Aleutian chain; and Superior Court Judge Douglas Blankenship will preside over the Fourth. The huge district is administered from Fairbanks, and extends from the Canadian border west to the Bering Sea.

Three of the four presiding judges have served in their district for more than a decade. Stephens was appointed to the superior court in the first district in 2000. Esch has served in the second district since 1996, and Tan has been a superior court judge in the third district since 1996. Blankenship was appointed to the bench in the fourth district in 2005.

In addition to regular judicial duties, presiding judges are administrators, business managers, and must make sure their district trial courts follow statewide court objectives and policies. The one-year terms begin in January. Incumbents can be reappointed.