Recent News

Services are planned this week for a young Juneau man who died recently in Arkansas from injuries suffered in a random assault.

A Rosary will be said for Kevin Thornton on Monday, Aug 8th, at 7 p.m., at St. Paul’s Catholic Church in the Mendenhall Valley.

A funeral Mass is Tuesday, Aug 9th, at 7 p.m., also at St. Paul’s Catholic Church. A reception will follow.

The 19-year-old Thornton died last week in a Little Rock hospital, apparently the victim of a beating.

Hot Spring County sheriff’s officers say Thornton was walking with a friend in the Malvern area when he was attacked. Four teenage boys ages 14 to 17 have been charged with murder and are lodged in separate juvenile detention facilities outside the county.

Thornton is the son of Bill and Darlene Thornton of Juneau.

Organizers of a citizens’ initiative in Juneau to tax plastic shopping bags at certain retailers have collected the required number of signatures to put the measure on the ballot. But it might have to wait a year before going to voters.

The 15-cent “plastic bag tax” would be levied at the point of sale, and apply to all retail outlets with annual gross sales of 15-million dollars or more. It’s aimed at reducing the use of plastic bags by encouraging people to go with re-usable shopping bags. Organizers collected more than the required 2,271 signatures to put the initiative on the ballot.

The CBJ Charter gives the assembly the option of adopting an ordinance bypassing a citizens’ initiative, as long as the ordinance doesn’t change the substance of the proposal. If the assembly fails to act in 45 days the measure goes to voters as is.

The plastic bag tax initiative is on the agenda for tonight’s regular assembly meeting. Because of the deadline for preparing this fall’s municipal election, if the assembly delays action beyond August 22nd, the measure would appear on the October 2012 ballot.

Also on the agenda for tonight’s assembly meeting is a public hearing on an ordinance asking voters to extend the CBJ’s temporary 3 percent sales tax another five years. The tax is due to expire July 1, 2012. The current 5 percent CBJ sales tax has three components – the temporary 3 percent tax, a temporary 1 percent tax, and a permanent 1 percent tax. Among the city functions covered by the 3 percent tax are police, fire, street maintenance, parks and recreation, libraries, and some capital improvement projects.

Tonight’s meeting starts at 7 p.m. in City Hall Assembly Chambers. It can be heard live on KTOO.

The Juneau Assembly tonight (Monday) will settle a simmering controversy over a zone change request in the Mendenhall Valley.

At issue is a property on the corner of Atlin Drive and Loop Road, and whether it should go from medium density residential to light commercial. Homeowners in the neighborhood, along with the city’s Community Development Department and Planning Commission oppose the change. The property owner says it’s warranted, but has yet to say what he wants to do with the land.

Casey Kelly has more.

A former Juneau police officer initially accused of sexual abuse of a minor could still face as much as two years in prison.

Prosecutors dropped the three felony abuse charges on Friday, just before Brian Ervin’s jury trial was to start on Monday, August 8th. But the 38-year old former downtown officer pled “no contest” to a new charge of interfering with a witness.

Ervin did not say anything aside from answering routine questions from Superior Court Judge Trevor Stephens, who participated telephonically from Ketchikan. Ervin’s attorney Louis Menendez made a short statement on his behalf.

“It ends the state’s relationship with the Mr. Ervin as to any charge or uncharged crimes of sexual misconduct or any other crime involving D.E.,” said Menendez. “He stands by the statement that he specifically and emphatically denies the allegations of D.E.”

Ervin’s prison term for felony interference with a witness may be well above the presumptive minimum sentence of a year because the crime occurred while he was out on release.

The accuser was present in the courtroom, but she declined to make any comment during the short change of plea hearing.

Menendez declined to comment further after the hearing on Friday.

District Attorney Dave Brower also declined to comment or explain what happened with the state’s case until after Ervin is sentenced in November.

Ervin started as a police officer in April 14, 2008, according to City and Borough of Juneau records. Even before the charges were lodged against him last September, Ervin had been reassigned away from the Juneau Police Department to other CBJ positions unrelated to policing. Human Resources Director Mila Cosgrove says it mostly was clerical and other tasks related to human resources or other administration projects. Ervin left CBJ employment on May 22, 2011, but Cosgrove declined to say whether he resigned or was terminated.

The jury trial scheduled to start August 8th was expected to be one of the very last cases handled by Menendez as a private defense attorney. He had delayed his installation as Superior Court judge until the Ervin case was resolved. One of Menendez’s colleagues will represent Ervin during the sentencing phase.

Like most Juneau tourists, shopping, the Mendenhall Glacier, and whales were the highlights of a recent visit for 18 middle-school students from northern Japan. Amanda Compton tagged along for part of their 3-day trip.

The full US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will not take up the State of Alaska’s latest petition in the Juneau Access case.

In May, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit upheld a lower court’s order for a new Environmental Impact Statement for the road project. The state petitioned to have all 11 members of the appeals court hear the case, but not one judge asked for a hearing.

In light of this latest defeat, Alaska Department of Transportation Spokeswoman Brenda Hewitt says the state is looking at its options.

“We’ll be meeting with the Federal Highway Administration, because they’re actually key in this,” said Hewitt. “So, we’ll be meeting with them and discussing alternatives. So, we’re not giving up.”

In 2006, the highway administration issued a record of decision approving the project. But in 2009, the federal agency declined to participate in the state’s appeal over the EIS decision.

Juneau Access would extend the road north of the Capital City to a ferry terminal at the Katzehin River, where a boat would shuttle passengers the rest of the way to Skagway.

A citizens group is already urging the state to appeal to the US Supreme Court. Citizens Pro Road Chairman Dick Knapp says the project has been studied enough, and a new environmental impact statement would be a waste of time and money.

“Let’s be realistic. You’re going to go back and do a supplemental EIS, okay? That takes time, probably more time – running through the hoops again – than it would take to go to the Supreme Court,” Knapp said. “Not only that, we’ve been at this now, for what? Twenty years. What do you think has been happening to the cost of construction with all the delays?”

The Southeast Alaska Conservation Council challenged the original EIS, saying it didn’t adequately consider improvements to existing Lynn Canal ferry service. SEACC Communications Director Dan Lesh says if the state wants to move the project forward it should do another EIS.

“What we want is investment in the ferry system. But if the state thinks the road needs further study and wants to a full Environmental Impact Statement that looks at all the options, that’s fine with us. I think it’ll show that ferries are a cheaper and better way of moving things around in Lynn Canal and throughout Southeast Alaska,” Lesh said.

The latest estimates put the project cost at 500-million dollars. It’s been a regional transportation priority of the past three state administrations.