Federal prosecutors’ case against a former Juneau fishing guide initially accused of illegally selling bear and bird parts may be coming to an end.
37-year old Michael Patrick Duby is expected to plead guilty Monday, October 31st to violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in U.S. District Court in Juneau. All other charges against him are being dropped as part of an agreement with prosecutors.
The single remaining charge concerns sale of at least eleven black-billed magpies on eBay from February of 2008 through June of 2009. That’s even after being warned by eBay officials that such sales could be illegal. Prosecutors say he sold the parts under the screen name of “Shortraker.”
Duby, who worked out of Juneau as a charter boat captain in his company “FishHunter Charters,” could be sentenced to as much as two years in prison, pay a $250,000 dollar fine, and spend three years on supervised release.
He’ll also forfeit fourteen magpie skins, four snipe skins, one crow, a black bear shoulder mount, and a compound bow and arrows used on illegal bear hunts.
Court documents indicate that the plea agreement was reached inlaate September, almost immediately after a federal grand jury returned with a superceding indictment against Duby.
In addition to selling as many as twenty-seven magpies, the more-recent six-count indictment also listed the illegal sale of two common snipes, one American crow, and parts of a black bear hide. All of the parts were allegedly sold as fly-tying supplies to buyers in Washington State. Sale of the birds is considered a violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
Duby was given a 20-year suspended sentence in September for illegal hunting in Montana. He was also ordered to pay $15,500 in fines and restitution. Duby pled no contest in April to felony charges of illegal possession of game animals related to the taking of at least two bull elk, eleven deer, and thirteen antelope.
Other hunters, including Duby’s father and a friend from Washington State, were also charged in connection with the poaching. They were either sentenced to suspended jail time or probation.
No compromise following a meeting earlier this week (Wednesday) of Juneau and Petersburg officials over a land dispute between the two communities. But the discussion between city leaders is being described as productive.
The City of Petersburg wants to form a borough that includes lands previously identified for annexation by Juneau. Petersburg Deputy Mayor Mark Jensen and Juneau Mayor Bruce Botelho met Wednesday to discuss the possibility of a compromise boundary.
Botelho called the meeting cordial, but said Juneau still wants to make its case in writing to the state’s Local Boundary Commission before further talk of compromise.
“We thought it would be most valuable for Petersburg to have a chance to review the basis for our assertion,” Botelho says.
That assertion is that the area in question, which is largely unpopulated, most appropriately belongs in the City and Borough of Juneau. It includes all land from the CBJ’s southern boundary and east to the Canadian border, as far south as Cape Fanshaw.
Juneau filed a 74-page brief with the boundary commission Wednesday, opposing Petersburg’s claim over those lands. On Monday, the CBJ Assembly plans to approve an annexation petition, seeking to officially stake Juneau’s claim to the area. But Botelho says that doesn’t rule out some sort of compromise in the future.
“Certainly we’re going to be prepared to have discussions as would be appropriate between neighboring communities,” says Botelho.
In its brief, Juneau argues that various state and federal agencies have historically included the disputed area with the CBJ for administrative purposes. Petersburg argues that its residents have historical hunting, fishing and recreational ties to the area. Jensen says the talk with Botelho was “constructive.”
“Expressed our concerns and why we thought we had a leg to stand on – the fishing interests in that region and the use over the years. And they’ve got their points as well. So, I guess the boundary commission will be making some decisions here,” he says.
Jensen also met Wednesday with officials from Juneau Native Corporation Goldbelt. The company owns 30-thousand acres at Hobart Bay in the contested area. In his latest comment to the boundary commission, Goldbelt Vice President Derek Duncan said the company prefers the land remain outside any incorporated borough. He said Goldbelt would continue to study its options and make its borough preference known soon.
As of Thursday afternoon, no further statement from the company had been posted on the commission’s website, and Duncan could not be reached for comment.
Two Vancouver-based mining companies say they’ve finished this year’s test drilling for gold and silver deposits at Herbert Glacier. Both companies have also finalized their joint venture agreement for development of a mine.
Quaterra Resources in June of last year partnered with Grande Portage for exploration and development of the area. Grande Portage committed to spending $1.25 million dollars in exploration costs before next June in exchange for a 65-percent interest in the project.
In late 2007, Quaterra Resources acquired the 1700 acre property, now with as many as 91 federal mining claims either staked or leased from three local prospectors. There are at least four to five significant veins that strike east-to-west and dip sharply to the north around the Herbert Glacier about 18-miles north of downtown Juneau.
In a statement issued Wednesday by both companies, the agreement appears to differ little from when it was first announced last year. It includes a new provision that if any party does not contribute their proportionate share of development costs, then a dilution formula will be invoked if any party’s interest is reduced to 10-percent or less. The partner’s interest will be automatically converted into a 1-percent net smelter returns royalty, which may be acquired by the other party for $1 million.
Field test drilling at Herbert Glacier is now over for the season. Both companies announced that they completed 46 drill holes from 9 platforms totaling 6532 metres of diamond drilling.
Some of that drilling has included high-grade concentrations of gold from 2- to 6-ounces per ton. One test drill revealed nearly 39-ounces of silver per ton.
Assays from the latest set of test drilling are still pending from a laborartory.
Grande Portage President Ian Klassen said in a printed statement that they’re delighted with the significance of the results. He says they intersected five separate high grade bodies, four of which are new discoveries.
“A new vein which was previously only hypothesized now shows as much potential for gold as our other big veins,” wrote Klassen.
A test drilling schedule for 2012 that will help define the ore bodies is expected to be submitted for permitting during the last quarter of 2011.
Admiralty Enviromental of Juneau has been hired to do baseline water studies that are required under State of Alaska’s Large Mine permitting requirements.
It’s Red Ribbon Week in the Juneau School District, and students are marking the occasion by pledging to live drug-free lives. At a Floyd Dryden Middle School assembly yesterday (Wednesday), Juneau Police officers talked to students about how Red Ribbon Week began, and reminded them to say no to drugs. Casey Kelly has more.
What inspires a person to twist a balloon into the shape of a moose? Or take photos of someone vacuuming a glacier? Or run for mayor in a gorilla suit?
Those questions come to mind when you’re talking about Jeff Brown. The Juneau artist, musician, author and entertainer was recently recognized for his lifetime achievements as part of the Governor’s Awards for the Arts.
Jeff Brown is a longtime Alaskan, who entertains kids, produces radio shows, writes how-to books, puts out parody post cards and publications, volunteers with community groups … the list goes on.
“Where does he come up with those ideas? He’s constantly filled with funny ideas and constantly filled with just amazing connections,” says Juneau Arts and Humanities Council Executive Director Nancy DeCherney.
She’s known Brown for years, as have hundreds, even thousands, of others around the state.
“I don’t think there’s everybody in this town who can summarize everything that Jeff did. Because you know him from a different perspective and I know him from a different perspective,” she says.
Brown says it all started in high school when he heard the experimental comedy group Firesign Theatre.
“They made it possible for me to think it would be possible to go to a radio station and start volunteering,” he says.
He moved to Juneau as a Coast Guard medic in 1975. Soon, he came across fledgling public radio station KTOO.
“They were having a fund-raising marathon and I asked if I could help out and they said, ‘Sure.’ And they asked for volunteers to be on the radio and I said ‘Sure.’ And I’ve been saying ‘Yes’ ever since,” he says.
Brown went on to work for the station and its TV affiliate. He also became a key member of an improvisational theater group, a historical play for tourists and a news parody show.
As time passed, he also became a recognized artist, working with stained glass, manipulated photographs and assembling found objects. He’s even created museum exhibits of Alaska mazes and board games.(Read about the exhibit Vinyl Resting Place., which Brown created.)
“He’s one of those rare individuals who seem to have no boundaries in regard to medium. It’s Jeff. You can see it. His signature’s there,” says Bob Banghart, chief curator of the Alaska State Museums.
He’s also a musician and founder of the Alaska Folk Festival, another place Brown has been active.
“In any various year he was engaged in putting together programming or doing the newsletter or organizing the workshops or organizing M.C.s or being the M.C. or being on stage playing. He’s done everything there is to do, probably with the exception of selling of hot dogs, but we’ve never sold hot dogs,” he says.
Then there’s the kid-focused efforts. Brown’s produced a nationally-distributed children’s radio program, toured an Alaska magic show, and was half of the kids’ music duo The Wigglers.
He also became king of balloon animals, organizing a worldwide celebration. It brought him to the attention of then-Governor Wally Hickel.
“He would come down on a monthly basis to do his call-in show. And being a fresh balloonist, I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun to have a title called balloonist laureate. And they agreed with me and gave me a certificate to prove that,” he says.
Following governors named him minister of merriment, commissioner of mirth, professor of play, and now, master of cheerful smiles.
One of Brown’s most recent efforts has been Real Alaskan Magazine. The 64-page, full color, glossy humor publication parodies images and stories from the north.
He says people have been more than willing to help.
“I can call up somebody up in Sitka and say, ‘Can you find a couple ballet students and put them up in tutus and rubber boots and have them posing at Swan Lake?’ and they say, ‘No Problem.’ I talk to people like Martin Buser, will you pose with a can of dog mush? ‘Sure, no problem,’” he says.
A third edition is due out on April Fools’ Day.
In fact, he took a side trip from his recent awards ceremony to create a new visual pun.
“When I was in Anchorage I convinced the head of the Alaska Zoo to have my friend Karl Ohls pose inside a cage as ‘The Wild Alaskan Bureaucrat.’ And I photo-shopped some kids looking at him as well as the executive director of the zoo,” he says.
Brown continues as program director of KTOO and its sister station KRNN. And his next project? A series of radio programs of Alaska poets and authors reading their own works.
Brown’s lifetime achievement award comes at a time when he’s having to slow down. He has Parkinson’s disease, a brain disorder that causes shaking, stuttering and makes movement difficult. But he’s still being creative.
“I can do the same things I’ve done before but it takes a lot longer. It’s kind of discouraging that way but you just have to muscle through,” he says.
He’s a little self-conscious about the lifetime achievement arts award, and says lots of other people have done as much or more. And it hasn’t changed his goal.
“I guess it all centers around making people happy. And that’s kind of what I’ve given myself as a job in life, is to make people’s lives a little bit better. And making them laugh, making them smile and making their lives just a little bit easier to live,” he says.
Friends and colleagues are planning a community celebration of his award and works. It’s from at the Juneau Arts and Culture Center, from 5 to 7 p.m., on Monday, October 31st.
Kip Knudson photo courtesy of SOAThe Parnell Administration has named Kip Knudson as the state’s new director of state and federal relations in Washington D.C.
The 47-year old Knudson, currently the external affairs manager for Tesoro Alaska, will take over from John Katz when he retires at the end of the year. Knudson also worked as a legislative aide, director of marketing for Era Aviation, and deputy commissioner of aviation for the state Department of Transportation
The 68-year old Katz earlier this year announced that he was leaving after nearly 30-years as the director of state and federal relations.
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