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A 200-year old Sitka cemetery was severely vandalized by an unknown party last weekend. It’s the third time the Russian Orthodox Cemetery was targeted in the past two months. In this most recent incident, one or more individuals knocked over 25 headstones.

Lance Ewers, the Sitka Police Lieutenant who has been working on the case since the first report in September, is at a loss for words. “I cannot wrap my mind around why somebody would be compelled to tip over a tombstone repeatedly. over and over, on many occasions. It’s sickening,” he said.

Alaska State Law designates cemetery desecration a Class C felony.

Bob Sam, who has spent the last 30 years restoring the cemetery, declined to comment at this time. Sam reported the first two vandalisms to the police on Sept. 13 and Sept. 22. Both times, cadets from the Public Safety Training Academy volunteered to set the headstones upright within 48 hours. At the time, Sam told KCAW he was very touched by their actions.

With this most recent attack, Ewers estimates that one-third of the toppled tombstones are now permanently damaged to the tune of several thousand dollars.

“A number of the tombstones we put up last time were put together with rebar or had a cross on top. [Now] the cross is broken or pulled out of the rebar,” he said.

Ewers says the Police Department is intent on catching the vandals and wants to take steps to prevent future episodes. That includes offering a reward to those with information and setting up night vision cameras that detect motion with infrared.

Cameras were set up in the aftermath of the second vandalism, to catch perpetrators in the act, but taken down by the Police Department when the footage turned up blank. Ewers regrets not keeping them up.

“Not only are we going to put them back up, we’re going to put them up permanently,” he said. “We’re always going to be filming now. This isn’t going to happen again with nobody getting caught.”

 

The Alaska Rural Communication Service, which provides free TV programming in much of rural Alaska, is switching its stations from analog to digital in the coming months.

The Federal Communications Commission started requiring stations to switch to digital in 2009, but Alaska is one of the last places to get around to it.

Steve Hamlin is the technical manager for Alaska Public Broadcasting, Inc. When ARCS stations make the switch, he says viewers will need either a digital TV or a “set top box converter” for their analog set.

“That is a digital television receiver that has outputs that you then hook up to your television, similar to the way you would have hooked up a VHS machine in years past,” Hamlin explained. “It would allow people to keep their older analog TV set and still be able to use it to watch the newer digital signal.”

Some people may have a converter box tucked away from back in 2009 when the government issued coupons for them. If not, Hamlin says, converters can be purchased for $35 to $50 on Amazon or eBay.

Once ARCS goes digital, Hamlin says viewers will notice not only an improvement in sound and video quality, they’ll also have more channels to choose from.

“Right now, we’re pushing four channels of television through the ARCS digital trans system that are out there,” said Hamlin. “Those channels are the ARCS variety channel, which people who watch ARCS are already used to; the statewide Public Broadcasting Service channel called Alaska Public Television; University of Alaska television; and the fourth channel is 360 North, which comes up from KTOO in Juneau, which features a lot of Alaska programming and also features the Alaska Legislature in action.”

Hamlin says ARCS will convert to digital in 185 communities, many in Western Alaska, over the next nine months.

Aleknagik is set to go digital on Nov. 1. Then within the next three months, stations will switch in 30 more communities, including Chignik Lake, Igiugig, King Cove, Kokhanok and Nondalton.

The Dillingham ARCS station will switch over later on.

 

Plans for a whale park were suspended recently after contractor bids came in millions of dollars over budget. Now a new project called the Juneau Ocean Center wants to offer the whale a different home and provide a hub for marine science.

The Juneau Ocean Center could be a space to hear lectures on marine mammals and climate change, relax and eat lunch or take in an IMAX movie on whales.

In the design plans, the glossy 7,000-square-foot building overlooks the Gastineau Channel from Egan Drive.

“The front is two stories of windows looking out at the channel and roof is actually a sod roof, a green roof rather, that’s a park,” said Linda Nicklin. She’s one of the organizers for the $12 million project proposed on Alaska Mental Health Trust land.

The center will be open year-round and geared toward “citizen scientists” and tourists.

“We’re going to have an electric powered boat … (to bring) people in the summer to the cruise ship piers so that we’re reducing congestion and bus traffic in downtown,” she said

Not too far away from Nicklin’s proposed center is the future site of Bridge Park. The park recently hit a development snag. The contractor bids came back way over budget — more than 25 percent over the city engineer’s estimate.

That park, near the Douglas Bridge, is supposed to be the home to a lifesize bronze whale statue. Bids are slated to go back out, but Nicklin says the ocean center might be a better spot for the whale.

“The sculpture and the ocean center are a great pairing. I think that both would benefit for being in the same location,” she said.

Nicklin and other organizers presented the plan to the Juneau Assembly Monday.

Assemblymember Mary Becker asked why the ocean center couldn’t be built at Bridge Park, where the permitting is already complete. Organizer Bob Janes said it comes down to location.

“I’ve looked at that property right on the edge of the water, looked down the channel,” Janes said. “Unfortunately it does not have all the stuff and that’s why we’re not interested in that property. And I think that will be a failure with the whale placed down there as well.”

Organizers hope to fund the ocean center with a national campaign kicking off in the spring, when the humpback whale comes off the endangered species list. Cruise ships passenger fees could supply another source of funding.

As for the whale statue, they say they want to move forward with or without it.

Update | Oct. 21, 2015 3:25 pm

Juneau police have identified Christopher D. Strawn, 32, as the shooter. Strawn was arrested for first degree murder and transported to Lemon Creek Correctional Center.

Update | Oct. 21, 2015 2:48 pm

Juneau police have identified the victim in Tuesday night’s shooting as 30-year-old Brandon C. Cook.

Cook was fatally shot at Kodzoff Acres Mobile Home Park around 10:30 p.m. Police responded to a 911 call about a disturbance and found Cook on the ground. He was pronounced dead by Capital City Fire/Rescue.

Police spokesperson Erann Kalwara said officers sprang into action to find the shooter.

“Conducted a search of the residence for the suspect and then started searching other areas for the suspect,” she said.

Police have yet to name the 32-year-old suspect who fled the scene. Kalwara said he was located just a few blocks away at his residence on Stephen Richards Memorial Drive.

A SWAT team was organized to take him into custody.

“They waited until 8:30 to execute the plan because we wanted to make sure morning’s traffic, kids on their way to school, those kinds of things were taken into the consideration,” Kalwara said. “When they did make entry, he was taken without much further ado and then brought back to the police department.”

Kalwara said the motive for the shooting is under investigation. The suspect’s name is expected to be released later today.

Original story | Oct. 21, 2015 10:59 am 

Juneau police are investigating the murder of a 30-year-old man, whose identity has not been released. Police responded to a call Tuesday night that a male shot another male at the 2800 block of Mendenhall Loop Road.

When officers arrived, they found the victim severely injured on the floor. The suspect had fled the scene.

Police detained the 32-year-old suspect on Wednesday morning but have not released his identity. The investigation is ongoing.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

The kitchen at Faith Lutheran Church caught on fire Tuesday afternoon. It started after cooking oil was left unattended on the stove.

By the time Glacier Fire Station crew arrived, Assistant Chief Ed Quinto discovered that the fire had been put out but smoke was still wafting through the doors.

“The flames had gone up to the tongue and groove ceiling, so the ceiling itself is all charred up. There are holes in the walls where we had to check for extension and there’s dried chem — not only in the kitchen itself but the adjacent rooms because it got all over the place,” Quinto said.

That’s dried chemical, the solution that comes out of a fire extinguisher. No one was hurt during the fire. The Head Start program that meets at the church had just let out.

Quinto said the program will have to relocate as the church is cleaned up and repaired. Damages are estimated to be around $40,000.

Editor’s note: Ed Quinto’s title has been corrected. Quinto is assistant chief, not chief. 

About 300 people heard Dr. Astrid Pujari’s talk at Centennial Hall on Saturday during this year’s Cancer Connection Health Forum. The Seattle-based doctor spoke about mindfulness being both a way to prevent and live with cancer.

“Stress is a fear response to life and we have a choice about how we react to an event; we don’t have to automatically react with fear. Mindfulness is the process by which we become aware of that choice and then choose something else. But in order to achieve that, you have to practice,” Pujari said.

She led the audience through a series of breathing exercises and a short meditation. Pujari showed scientific data supporting how doing these practices can make a difference in physical health and cancer prevention, not just mental well-being. She presented preliminary research linking telomeres – DNA at the end of chromosomes – and aging. She said new studies suggest meditation and other lifestyle changes can prevent the shortening of telomeres and, in turn, many diseases.

“So that’s actually pretty profound – that we might be able to do something psychologically to affect our physical DNA is a big deal,” Pujari said.

Alaskans, she said, may be ahead of the curve when it comes to mindfulness.

“People in Juneau, people in Alaska, because they’re in a place that’s so naturally beautiful, they’re going to care more about lifestyle in a way that perhaps isn’t accessible to someone who doesn’t live in nature in the same way. Because of that, they have the potential to become more aware of what their thoughts and their feeling and how those things are affecting their inner state, but also their physical health,” Pujari said.

Cancer Connection has been holding health forums in Juneau for about 17 years. The nonprofit’s mission is to provide support to Southeast residents dealing with cancer and connect them to resources. It offers support groups, counseling and travel assistance.

President Ruth Johnson said the forum allows people to access information on cancer prevention, treatment and intervention resources. And she hopes it fulfills the organization’s mission set by founder Mike Miller, who was diagnosed with a terminal form of prostate cancer at age 42.

“He flew out of town. This highly energetic man in the prime of his life was terrified. He was very lonely, he was very afraid and he thought, ‘If I survive this thing, no one in my community is going to deal with this alone again,'” Johnson said.

So far this year, Cancer Connection has provided travel assistance to 37 individuals and fields about a hundred calls a month on inquiries for support and service.