Rosemarie Alexander

Juneau Representative Beth Kerttula has filed a letter of intent to run for re-election in 2012 — though the makeup of House District Three is still unclear.

When the Alaska Public Offices Commission asked where she would run:

“I put down all of the places that I know could potentially be in it. Petersburg, Gustavus, Tenakee, Skagway and Juneau. So wherever I wind up, I’m going to run,” she says.

The Redistricting Board has re-drawn the district to include those communities, but a pending lawsuit could change it. However it turns out, Kerttula says she is looking forward to an expanded district.

“I just think it is exciting to get new issues and new people and to think about in a holistic sense how Southeast itself operates,” she says. “When I think about what this district means it really would kind of be the glue to the whole of Southeast.”

Kerttula says it’s especially important for Southeast Alaska communities to pull together since the region is losing representation in redistricting.

“If we can get all of those communities working together we can be a little more powerful.”

Kerttula, a Democrat, is in her seventh term for House District Three, which currently is downtown Juneau; Douglas; Lemon, Salmon and Switzer Creek areas; and the Juneau airport area. She’s also in her fourth year as minority leader for the state House of Representatives.

A letter of intent is only the first step to running for office. She still has to file with the Alaska Division of Elections. That’s not required until next spring.

Breakfast programs at four Juneau elementary schools will help fill the void left by the upcoming closure of early morning child care programs.

The school district’s RALLY director is working with the parents of 22 youngsters enrolled in the 7 to 8 a.m. sessions at five schools.

Wayne Hixson says it will be hard to replace RALLY for the first half hour, but breakfast programs begin at Mendenhall River, Glacier Valley, Riverbend and Gastineau at 7:30 a.m. School starts at 8 o’clock.

Hixson says there’s been a steady decline in students enrolled in the program since 2003, with a big drop off when Juneau grade schools switched from a
9 a.m. start time to 8 a.m.

“We used to have elementary school starting at 9 a.m. and during that time we had about 160 some kids in the morning program across the district. Then with moving it up to 8 o’clock we see what the fallout is where we 20-some kids in service,” Hixson says.

As previously reported, the RALLY program is designed to pay for itself. But early morning enrollment at each of five schools ranges from two to six kids. Hixson says it takes 12 students for a RALLY session to be cost-effective. Only the downtown Harborview RALLY — which has 16 students — will be saved, because it breaks even.

He says eliminating the first hour at the other schools will help stem the loss.

“Right now we’re hjoping to get to a break-even status. Currently we’re losing about $11,000 a month,” Hixson says.

Hickson says it costs one-point-two million to one-point-three-million dollars a year to operate all the RALLY programs in the district, including summer sessions.

RALLY stands for Recreation, Arts, Learning and Leadership for Youth. It has before and after-school sessions for kindergarten through fifth graders.

No changes will be made in the program until January.

Ketchikan City Council member Jack Shay has resigned his seat, after being arrested on 10 counts of possession of child pornography.

Shay is a former mayor of both the Ketchikan Gateway Borough and City of Ketchikan, a former member of the Ketchikan School Board, and a past president of Alaska Municipal League. He also served for a time as head of the Alaska Division of Employment Security.

The 80-year-old Shay was arrested Friday night after a computer shop worker contacted Ketchikan police about images he reportedly found on Shay’s computer. The business was required by law to report the child pornography to police.

Deputy Chief Josh Dossett says Shay had taken the computer to the shop because it would not print.

“The tech put the computer and printer together and turned it on and the printer began to printout out pictures that were already queued in the computer,” Dossett says. “Several of those pictures were of child pornography.”

Dossett says police officers obtained a warrant and searched Shay’s computer and residence. He says child pornographic images were found on top of a printer in a home office. Officers also found other media.

“I have a detective and two officers working this case full time,” he says. “They’re basically working their way through the different media.”

Shay was arraigned in Ketchikan Superior Court Saturday morning and pleaded innocent. He was released on $30,000 bail.

Ketchikan City Mayor Lew Williams III says Shay was not forced to resign his seat. He says Shay told him he thought it best to do so.

Williams says the Ketchikan City Council will appoint a replacement and expects the city to begin advertising for applicants soon.

Shay is a well-known figure in Ketchikan, who has steeped himself in the city’s political establishment. He is a founder of First City Players and has been a Grand Marshall of the community’s Fourth of July parade.

Alaska legislators hope to bid on the old Unocal building in Anchorage for legislative office space.

The Legislative Council on Friday voted 10 to 2 to authorize a bid on the building on West Ninth Street, along the Delaney Park Strip. It would replace the West Fourth Avenue building, long deemed cramped and inadequate, with little parking.

The council has been looking at the Unocal building for some time, but postponed a vote in August. Now it appears the legislature is second in line. Owners already have a bid, reportedly from an unnamed Alaska Native corporation. If the two cannot reach agreement by the end of the month, the Legislative Council has authorized negotiations to begin.

Juneau Senator Dennis Egan, a Democrat, is a member of the bipartisan group that represents both houses. He says most of Friday’s discussion was in executive session, as members worked through the issues. He says he reluctantly voted “yes.”

“We’re leasing the current facility in Anchorage – the legislative offices — and it costs us a lot of money every year, and for the state to own something just makes a heck of a lot of sense,” Egan says. “It’s just like the buildings in Juneau.”

The six-floor, 55,000 square foot Unocal building would have enough offices for Anchorage lawmakers and visiting legislators. Egan says he takes comfort in the fact that the utility corridor is straight up the middle of the structure, so it could not be renovated into a legislative hall.

“The utilidors, the elevators, the restrooms, all that stuff, is in the middle of the building,” he says.

The $6.7 million building is 40 years old and in need of renovation. It was previously owned by Chevron Corporation. About 18 months ago the legislature put in a bid, which failed. Now it’s owned by a limited liability corporation headed by Anchorage businesswoman Janice Ellsworth.

Egan says the owners are currently doing abatement of asbestos and other hazardous materials.

Merrill Sanford is the Juneau Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year.

The former three-term Assembly member was honored this weekend at the chamber’s annual dinner.

During his nine years on the Assembly he was twice elected deputy mayor by his peers. He also served on the Juneau Planning Commission.

Sanford is a retired career firefighter for Capital City Fire and Rescue, who graduated from Juneau-Douglas High School. He enlisted in the U.S. Marines and served in Vietnam, then returned to Juneau.

Citizen of the Year is the Juneau chamber’s highest award and has been given since 1977.

It was a busy weekend for local high school sports as precious medals were procured, champions were crowned and a team swept into action.

SWIMMING:

In the pool, Juneau-Douglas High School finished fourth at Saturday’s ASAA/First National Bank Alaska Swimming & Diving State Championships in Anchorage.

Nathan Messing stroked his way to two gold medals in the 100 butterfly and 100 yard backstroke and Haley Mertz, Dakota Isaak, Auri Clark and Ciera Kelly earned silver medals in the 200 medley relay for the Crimson Bears.

VOLLEYBALL:

The ASAA Region Five Volleyball champions were crowned on Saturday at JDHS.

The double elimination tournament started on Thursday as the Ketchikan Lady Kings grounded the TMHS Falcons in a thrilling five game match winning by scores of 25-20, 25-16, 16-25, 20-25, and 15-13. After a loss on Friday to JDHS the Lady Kings downed Thunder Mountain High School in an elimination match, winning 25-21, 16-25, 25-10, 25-21.

In the finals, the JDHS Crimson Bears stonewalled “Kayhi” enroute to the Large School 4A championship by scores of 25-6, 25-5 and 25-18.

JDHS Crimson Bears Krista Bontrager, Carly Gunnersen, and Chelsea Peterson were named to the 4A all-tournament team. Other selections included Ketchikan’s Jayley Taylor and Thunder Mountain High School’s Kylie Ibias and Kendra Wittwer.

In the 3A small schools division the top seeded Mt. Edgecumbe Lady Braves triumphed over Petersburg High School, winning the championship match in four games by a score of 25-14, 25-15, 22-25 and 25-19.

JDHS, Mt. Edgecumbe and Petersburg will travel to the state tournament to be held November 10th through 12th in Wasilla.

HOCKEY:

The Juneau Douglas High School Hockey team opened its 2011-2012 season at Treadwell Arena with a sweep of a two game series against the Delta Junction Huskies.

Freshman Jonathan Weston and Junior Tod Baseden netted hat tricks on Friday night as JDHS iced Delta Junction. Senior Center and Captain Bill Holbrook had four assists. Junior goalie Colter Pritchard stopped 27 shots in the 11-6 victory over the Huskies.

On Saturday, JDHS dumped Delta Junction by a score of 7-3. The Crimson Bears doubled up against the Huskies, taking 33 shots and limiting them to 16 attempts on goal. Juneau Goalie Griffin Bozarth had 13 saves.

JDHS will look to stay unbeaten as it hosts East Anchorage High School on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. and Friday at 8:00 p.m. Both games will be played at Treadwell Arena in Juneau.