Recent News

Alaska’s U.S. Senators are part of a congressional effort to stop the Postal Service from closing branches in rural areas. APRN’s Libby Casey reports on the “Protecting Rural Post Offices Bill.”

The Juneau Douglas Crimson Bears football team narrowly won a defensive battle in their first playoff game Saturday, edging the East Anchorage Thunderbirds 7-6 at Adair-Kennedy Field.

With all-state senior starting quarterback Philip Fenumiai sidelined with a leg injury, the Bears were forced to turn to freshman backup Brady Mallinger.

Head Coach Rich Sjoroos kept the offense simple for Mallinger, sticking to the ground for most of the game. The Crimson Bears only touchdown came on a two-yard run by Lah Fafita in the first quarter. Adam Soto kicked what would prove to be the decisive extra point.

East scored its only touchdown in the second quarter on an eleven yard pass from quarterback Jesse Vanilau to Tyler Rowles. But the extra point failed.

Both teams sputtered offensively in a scoreless second half.

The Crimson Bears take on top-ranked Service next Saturday in the semifinals of the state’s large-school division. The undefeated Cougars got a scare from the Palmer Moose in their opening round playoff game Saturday. Service needed a late touchdown run from quarterback Amu Aukusitino, and a game clinching interception from Alan Busey to squeak past Palmer, 34-32.

South Anchorage will take on West in the other semifinal matchup.

Meanwhile, an injury-plagued season is over for Thunder Mountain.

The Falcons lost their opening round playoff game to Homer Friday night 46-6 in front of a home crowd. It was the first time Thunder Mountain had hosted a playoff game. Unfortunately it came against the Mariners, who earlier this season trounced the Falcons 84-20.

The score was closer this time, but the result was the same. Thunder Mountain’s only touchdown came in the second quarter when quarterback Camden Thomas hit Ben Jahn for a 15-yard scoring strike. A two-point conversion attempt failed.

Homer running back Dyllan Day had three touchdowns for the Mariners, who will take on Kenai next Saturday in the inaugural championship game for the newly formed medium-school division.

A newly-seated judge – who successfully defended a Yakutat lodge operator from murder charges years ago – will preside over a separate case of another alleged homicide at a nearby lodge that very same year.

Juneau Superior Court Judge Louis Menendez has been the assigned the case of Robert D. Kowalski, who is now in a Montana prison awaiting extradition to Alaska.

Kowalski was never charged in the death of Sandra M. Perry at Yakutat’s Glacier Bear Lodge in July of 1996. Prosecutors say they did not have enough evidence then to counter Kowalski’s claims that it was an accidental shooting.

After Kowalski was convicted of killing another woman in Montana in 2008, Alaska cold case investigators took another look at the Yakutat incident. A Juneau grand jury last Friday returned with a bill of indictment charging Kowalski with first and second degree murder in connection with Perry’s death.

Court documents indicate that Paul Miovas, an attorney from the Office of Special Prosecutions who’s assigned to cold cases, will prosecute the case. No attorney has been named for Kowalski’s defense yet. A $1,000,000 warrant was issued for Kowalski until extradition proceedings formally get underway.

Louis Menendez just started working on the bench in September. While he worked as a defense attorney, one of Menendez’s clients was Donald Richmond, operator of the Harlequin Lodge in Yakutat. Richmond was accused of murdering his cook Rick Watson in December of 1996. Archived news reports indicate a Juneau jury hung during the first trial in 1997 and Richmond was acquitted during a retrial.

Walter Carpeneti, now the chief justice of the Alaska Supreme Court who administered the judicial oath to Menendez last month, presided over both of the Richmond trials.

The Harlequin Lodge was renamed the Bayview Lodge after the shooting.

An Arkansas judge is considering motions to hold separate trials for three Arkansas teenagers charged with second degree murder and violent group activity in connection with the death of Kevin Thornton, of Juneau.

In motions filed in Hot Spring County Circuit Court Wednesday, the teens’ attorneys say a joint trial would violate their rights of due process and a fair trial.

Richard Shelby Whybark and Timothy Tyler Norwood, 17, and 16-year-old Clinton Lavon Ross – all of Malvern, Arkansas — have been charged in a single case in adult criminal court.

If they are tried together, according to the motions, one would be forced to testify against the other.

The court also has been asked to order a mental examination for Ross, the youngest of the trio. A motion was filed yesterday (Wednesday) stating an evaluation is necessary to determine if Ross has the capacity to “appreciate the criminality of his conduct at the time of the alleged offense.”

In charging documents filed with the court, the boys told Hot Spring County Sheriff’s investigators they had been drinking beer at a nearby river then drove along Traskwood Road where they saw Thornton walking with 20-year-old Jerry Haines of Malvern.

The charges indicate that Ross got out of the truck, took a swing at Haines then chased him, but stopped.

Norwood is alleged to have hit Thornton on the side of his face. He fell to the ground and appeared to be having a seizure. Whybark is alleged to have kicked and hit Thornton, then drag him into the ditch.

The charging documents indicate that each teen waived his rights with a parent present and provided signed statements about the incident to investigators.

Late last week, defense attorneys filed motions to suppress those statements. They also petitioned the court to dismiss the case or transfer it to juvenile court.
Those motions were heard by Judge Phillip Shirron on Monday. He has not yet ruled. No date has been set to hear the motion to separate the case and try each teen individually.

Thornton was allegedly beaten on July 20th while he and Haines were walking along Traskwood Road. The 19-year-old Thornton died of his injuries on July 27th. Sheriff’s investigators have called it “completely random violence.” Thornton, a 2010 graduate of Thunder Mountain High School, had been visiting friends in Arkansas.

City and Borough of Juneau officials are scrambling to apply for a state grant that could pay for at least half of a new library in the Mendenhall Valley.

The original deadline to apply was in January, but the Division of Community and Regional Affairs moved it up to November 4th.

Ten Alaska communities had projects funded in the first two years of the library construction grant program. City Library Director Barbara Berg says Juneau is in line to get money this year. She says a new branch in the valley won’t happen without it.

“If we can’t get the grant, then we’re not going to move ahead with anything. That’s integral to making this work,” Berg says.

The plan is to build a new 13- to 15-million dollar library on city property at Dimond Park. With the state grant picking up half the cost, Berg says the city’s contribution would be less than 7.5 million. That can include the value of the land, local fundraising, and other grants. She says the nonprofit Friends of the Juneau Public Libraries has already raised about a million dollars for the project.

“This is an opportunity to do something that has been planned for many years, and we will get something that can serve as the civic heart in the valley,” says Berg. “Improved access to meeting spaces for people, and above all better service to the people in the valley.”

The valley branch is currently located in the Mendenhall Mall, which was supposed to be a temporary site when it moved in there in 1983. Berg says the city pays about 192-thousand dollars a year in rent for the space, and special events are limited to times when the mall is open.

The branch is the busiest of Juneau’s three public libraries. Berg says it gets 53 percent of all visits system-wide and 46 percent of all checkouts.

Library officials will meet with the CBJ Assembly Public Works and Facilities Committee on Monday. They’re hoping to get assembly approval of the grant application on Monday October 17th.

Link: Juneau Public Libraries

Sentencing is planned for December 8th for the Juneau man who attempted to rob a bank and then promptly gave up.

66-year old Kenneth Montoya pled guilty on Wednesday to a single count of robbery in the second degree. He was originally charged with theft and robbery in the first degree.

Juneau Superior Court Judge Philip Pallenberg carefully and methodically explained to Montoya the rights he’d be giving up by changing his plea.

Defense attorney David Seid says his client is legally competent, but he intends to explain at the sentencing hearing how “mental health issues influenced his conduct.”

Montoya was arrested minutes after he allegedly used a toy or fake gun to rob a teller at First National Bank on Front Street minutes after it opened for business on May 31st. He allegedly asked bank employees to call police during the robbery.

During a court hearing following his arrest, Montoya repeatedly maintained that he did not need or want a lawyer.

The maximum sentence for robbery is ten-years in prison with a $100,000 fine. But Montoya will likely be ordered to served one- to three-years in prison and will spend fifteen-years on probation.