Juneau

Gov. Bill Walker is carrying on the annual community picnic tradition in Juneau on Friday.

Gov. Walker, first lady Donna Walker, Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott, second lady Toni Mallott and members of the administration will be mingling and serving up salmon and hot dogs at Friday’s free picnic, which runs from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for people to get to know our state leadership and for them to get to know Juneau better,” says Bruce Botelho, who’s part of the volunteer team organizing Juneau’s picnic.

Unlike in years past, the picnic will be held on the campus of the University of Alaska Southeast. Botelho says the venue change from Sandy Beach is to showcase the university and put more emphasis on education and children.

“It’ll be primarily outside, though there will be booths located inside in the Egan Library,” he says. “There’ll be some children’s activities, various state departments will also have booths, as they have in the past. Outside, we’ll have an opportunity for gold panning.”

Besides the food, which is all donated by local businesses and organizations, he says costumed mascots like Smokey Bear will be there.

Alaska’s governors have held annual summer picnics for at least 20 years, usually only in Anchorage. Walker’s predecessor, Gov. Sean Parnell, was the first to make it annual in Juneau when he took office in 2009.

Picnics in Fairbanks and Anchorage have already been held this summer.

Photos from the Fairbanks Governor’s Picnic on June 6.

Friday was the last children’s storytime at a Juneau library branch that’s been in the Mendenhall Mall for over 30 years. The days of checking out books and grabbing a slice of pizza are over because the branch is moving to a new location at the end of the month.

About 15 kids are sitting crisscross applesauce listening to Amelia Jenkins read a picture book. She works at the Mendenhall Valley Library.

Her audience is sometimes captive, sometimes not. But she knows how to handle the crowd by breaking into song and dance.

“There’s some weeks when everybody wants to sit on a lap and listen quietly and these other weeks like today when everyone wants to do the hokey pokey straight for half an hour,” Jenkins says.

Kids can check out the books at the end of storytime, which is exactly what library staff want. Left behind materials have to be transported to the new location so patrons are encouraged to check out up to 40 books.

You can check out all the Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Hunger Games and Fifty Shades books and you’d only be halfway.

M.J. Grande, the youth services librarian, has worked for the library for 15 years and is excited about the new 20,000-square-foot space at Dimond Park.

It cost $14 million to build, paid for by a grant from the state and city sales tax. Another million was contributed by the Friends of the Juneau Public Libraries.

Of all the perks, there’s one Grande says she’s looking forward to the most.

“Space. We are almost doubling our footage here so the kids programing is a really dominant part of the library,” Grande says.”We have these wonderful reading cubicles that are extra padded and cozy.”

There’s also wheelchair accessible reading nooks and a room that has its own teen advisory committee to decide function and decor. But probably the biggest difference is it won’t be sandwiched between a restaurant and a tanning salon.

Grande says not too long ago, it wasn’t uncommon to see a library in a mall.

“You know, kind of in the 70s when malls were really getting established as a one-stop shop, you can do your shopping, you can do your library, you can do your other business. That role in the evolution of malls has changed.”

For Letha Bethel, the old location has been convenient. She’s a stay-at-home mom with two kids and another one she watches during the day.

She says the kids love dancing and singing at the reading circle, the toys in the children’s section and of course the books.

They walk to the Mendenhall Mall on sunny days and Bethel says she’s sad the library will be closed for a few months as it moves to its new location.

“It’ll be nice though that it’ll be bigger hopefully and more space to run around. They’re excited to see it and it’s right by the pool,” Bethel says.

But will she check out 40 books?

“For their sake, probably not. Because I don’t know if they’d last at our house.”

Bethel says she might consider checking out one or two before the Mendenhall Valley Library closes on Aug. 31, opening back up at Dimond Park sometime in November.

Without any leads or suspects, the Juneau Police Department has closed an investigation on a vandalism case that involves racial slurs.

Spokeswoman Erann Kalwara says the department received at least three reports of graffiti on Mendenhall Loop Road on Wednesday morning. The Juneau Empire reports the vandalism began on Haloff Way and continued toward the Mendenhall Glacier to Back Loop Road.

Kalwara says there were 10 separate instances of words and phrases found on fences, electrical panels and other private and public property.

“Some of them were racially influenced. Some of them, honestly, I don’t know what they mean. They were a little bit nonsensical, perhaps initials. But a few of them were definitely racially influenced,” Kalwara says.

Kalwara says officers responded to the scene, took photographs and interviewed multiple people in the neighborhood. No one came forward with any information on suspects.

“It’s pretty common for this to be activity that’s conducted by teenagers. There can be different motivations for it – someone looking for attention, someone who’s bored, acting out. There are times when it is racially motivated and there’s times when it’s just somebody with nothing better to do with their time,” Kalwara says.

The graffiti totaled more than $900 in damage. Kalwara says most of it has been cleaned up by the homeowners and the state Department of Transportation.

Kalwara says JPD will further investigate the case if any new information comes forward.

A drive-by shooting occurred at a Juneau couple’s home early Thursday morning near Point Lena Loop Road. No one was hurt, but an item close to the home was struck. It has left the family shaken up, and wondering if it may be a form of intimidation.

Brian Weed received a panicked phone call from his wife while he was working at Lemon Creek Correctional Center and immediately dialed emergency dispatch.

He says his spouse, Mareta Bates Weed, was too shook up to comment, and he feels like the night shift patrol dropped the ball.

When Juneau police did arrive, they searched the area but didn’t check in on Weed’s wife or take evidence photos.

“Didn’t do what they were supposed to,” he said. “This would have been nice being a correctional officer. You know, you get death threats from inmates often. They threaten to hurt your family and stuff and as a fellow law enforcement officer and I’m stuck at work, it really would have been nice if they would have supported my family.”

Lt. David Campbell says an officer followed up Thursday afternoon after Weed complained on Facebook about the response.

“In talking to the sergeant who went out and talked to the homeowner, we did have a report of a white Jeep in the area that was driving erratically,” Campbell said. He couldn’t confirm it was related to the gunshots.

 

But Weed is concerned that, several hours after the crime, any evidence was washed away by the morning rain. He’s offering a cash reward to anyone who can identify the suspect.

“I’d be willing to give several hundred dollars to whoever else was in that vehicle who knows who pulled that trigger at my house.”

Weed intends to turn that information over to the cops. Juneau police are conducting their own investigation.

Editor’s Note: The Facebook complaint to police response was made in the comments section of the post.

A Southeast health provider has adopted what may be the most progressive parental leave policy in Alaska. At least two experts say they don’t know of another employer in the state with a comparable benefit.

The Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium’s isn’t as far-reaching as Netflix’s new 1-year paid leave policy, but it may start a trend.

Ann Stepetin is due to deliver her fourth child in February. She and her husband had already decided she’d only take two weeks off from her payroll job at SEARHC.

“Because I didn’t think we could afford to be off any longer,” Stepetin says.

Then, she went into work one day and that plan drastically changed.

“You can see me getting emotional, I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ It was such a blessing,” she says.

SEARHC’s new parental leave policy lets Stepetin take eight paid weeks off instead of using her accrued leave.

“Having that in place does give me more of a relaxed feeling to prepare emotionally more or less for the baby rather than stressing about the finances,” Stepetin says.

And that’s exactly what SEARHC executives hoped the new policy would do.

“We want that family to be really focusing on the new child, the new addition to their family, and to not have to worry about any of the other issues,” says Peggy Kadlec, SEARHC’s interim head of human resources. “It’s an important time of bonding.”

SEARHC has about 650 employees in communities throughout Southeast Alaska; most are concentrated in Juneau and Sitka. Kadlec says the health organization wants its employees to have work-life balance.

“We believe our employees that are healthier, happier, will be here at work more frequently, provide the better kind of service into our community and at the end, (it) saves money,” Kadlec says.

She says people who take an active role in health and families have less health issues.

“If our employees are out less for medical reasons, our costs are reduced and we can transfer those dollars to programs to help them as well.”

Kadlec is excited about the new parental leave policy. So is Joy Lyon.

“Because that might pave the way for other organizations to see how successful that is,” says Lyon, executive director of the Association for the Education of Young Children in Southeast.

She says it’s critical for the time after childbirth to be as stress-free as possible.

“When you add the extra stress of trying to get back to work, find childcare, figure out your feeding schedule, that just adds such a layer of stress,” Lyon says. “Babies are little sponges for stress, so they’re going to be feeling that stress. Continuous stress inhibits the child’s ability to learn and grow so it has a really long-term impact.”

Ironically, AEYC does not offer paid parental leave to its employees.

The federal Family and Medical Leave Act requires most employers with 50 or more workers to guarantee up to 12 weeks of unpaid time off for a new child, among other reasons.

AEYC only has 10 employees, but follows these guidelines, like many other employers.

“Being a small nonprofit we just don’t have the ability to pay the extra the whole time,” Lyon says.

Most state and municipal employees are entitled to up to 18 weeks of unpaid leave for a new child. People who take family medical leave often use accrued time off to get paid.

Dan Robinson, head of research and analysis for the state Department of Labor, says the agency doesn’t have any research on paid parental leave in the state. That could change. The department has applied for a federal grant to look into it.

“It’s very possible that there will be state legislation, that a legislator will say we want to require employers to pay for parental leave, we want to make that paid. In that case, those questions could likely come our direction,” Robinson says.

At SEARHC, parents of new children can still access 12 weeks of Family Medical Leave after the eight weeks of paid parental leave. Ann Stepetin isn’t sure if she’ll dip into it.

“I haven’t thought that far yet. Eight weeks is a blessing compared to the two that I was planning on doing,” Stepetin says.

She says she’ll start with that and see how it goes.

A local firefighter’s stolen gear — including his red fire helmet — is the subject of this week’s Juneau Crime Line.

The gear was taken from the firefighter’s locked pickup truck.

“The suspect or suspects took firefighter bunker gear with a red fire helmet,” the Crime Line announcement says. “The suspect also took about $3,300 worth of tools. The stolen tools include a Craftsman black took box filled with tools, a Milwaukee impact driver and heat gun, and a diesel compression kit, to name just a few items.”

All together, the stolen goods were worth about $6,300. The theft occurred while the truck was parked around mile 15 of Glacier Highway the weekend of July 18 and 19.

Report tips to JPD at 586-0600 or at juneaucrimeline.com. You may be eligible for a reward.