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Monday’s Memorial Day observances in Juneau will begin at 11 a.m. at both Evergreen Cemetery downtown and Alaska Memorial Park in the Mendenhall Valley.

Hosted by Veterans of Foreign Wars Taku Post 5559, the keynote speaker is U.S. Coast Guard Commander Dennis Evans.

He is commanding officer for the Rescue 21 office in Juneau, according to Kip Wadlow of Coast Guard Public Affairs. The office coordinates radio communications improvements for Alaska and is on Mayflower Island.

Flags at the downtown ceremony will be presented by the Coast Guard Color Guard.

Auke Bay American Legion Post 25 is hosting the Mendenhall Valley observance. Coast Guard Commander David Godfrey will be the speaker.

He is commanding officer of the electronics unit in charge of maintaining computer and telephone support in the state of Alaska.

Southeast Alaska Native Veterans Memorial Day Tribute begins at 11:30 a.m., at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall, formerly ANB Hall, at 320 West Willoughby Avenue downtown.

“Flag protocol is of course half-staff until 12 o’clock noon,” says veteran Tim Armstrong. “And at 12 o’clock noon, the American flag should be raised to its full staff.”

Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day and was first observed after the American Civil War.

“A bit of surprise in the forecast for the weekend: a slight chance of light snow expected late Sunday night as arctic air descends on Southeast. That’ll put the brakes on what appears to be the eventual arrival of summer for the Capital City.”

Of course, that’s not true. Besides the potential absurdity of such a late-May forecast for Juneau, you may have been tipped off by a slight change in cadence or inflection in my voice. Or, if you were in the studio just now, perhaps you noticed slight change in my facial expression as I read the forecast.

Recognizing such cues is what Janine Driver does. Called the human lie detector, the former agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms specialized in body language and teaching other officers how to recognize signs of deception.

Driver was in Juneau this week for the Alaska Peace Officers Association crime conference.

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And, of course, to test her out, I asked Driver to do something that she’s probably been asked many times before…

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Janine Driver had presentations scheduled during the Alaska Peace Officers Association crime conference that included a Friday session for the general public.

She highlighted examples of politicians and celebrities caught lying and expanded on her explanation of verbal and visual cues.

www.lyintamer.com

Juneau’s first curbside recycling cart was delivered Monday to Mayor Bruce Botelho by Sen. Dennis Egan.

“Senator, you go ahead and grab it and just wheel wherever the mayor wants it,” said Arrow Refuse General Manager Jeff Riley. He set up the ceremonial delivery as the company this week delivers truckloads of new roll-cart garbage and recycling cans. The new service begins next month.

It will take about two weeks before all users have their new containers. The roll carts are compatible with Arrow’s new fleet of garbage trucks, which use a mechanical arm to pick up and dump the trash containers.

When the roll-cart service starts, Riley says Arrow will no longer collect garbage from traditional cans. Customers will rent the roll cart for $2.75 a month, or $2.95, depending on the size of can.

Curbside recycling will be offered every two weeks at a cost of $3.11 a month, with the 96-gallon roll cart. Paper, cardboard, metal cans and plastic containers will be accepted, but not glass or hardbound books.

Here’s an example of how the recycling schedule will work, based on Sen. Egan’s trash pick-up day of Tuesday.

“So normal refuse is Tuesday then recycle is Wednesday, or every other Wednesday?” Egan asked.

“Correct,” Riley said, “because we want the pick-up day separate.”

Cards will be attached to each can that is delivered. A green sticker will note the day garbage and recycling will be picked up.

Arrow Refuse also begins charging the new rates next month.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Moving Wall is making another tour in Alaska this year.

The Wall is currently located at Vintage Business Park across from Safeway.

The Moving Wall is a half-size replica of the Washington, D.C., Vietnam Veterans Memorial and has been touring the country for more than 20 years. It includes the names of 58,272 U.S. service members killed or missing in action during the Vietnam War.

 

 

The Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs says the Moving Wall went on display for the first time in Tyler, Texas, in October 1984.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two structures of The Moving Wall now travel the United States from April through November, spending about a week at each site. The Wall is scheduled to be on display in Juneau through May 20. Then it will travel to Haines, Fairbanks, Wasilla, Ninilchik, and Anchorage next month.

Peace officers throughout Alaska are commemorating Law Enforcement Memorial Week with services recognizing the 62 Alaska officers who have died in the line of duty in the last century.

Juneau police observed Police Memorial Day on Friday, beginning with a brief noon-time ceremony at Evergreen Cemetery.
In a cold, driving rain and high winds, officers briefly set a large red, white and blue wreath on a stand at the graveside of Richard Adair.

Lt. Kris Sell thanked those who attended for enduring the elements.

“I know that the weather is bad, but it’s always a good day to pay tribute to a hero like Richard Adair,” Sell said.

Juneau Police Officers Adair and James Kennedy were killed in 1979 as they responded to a mentally ill man who had barricaded himself in his home. They are among four Juneau police officers who have died on the job. In 1964, Officer Donald Dull was accidentally shot, and in 1991 Karl Reishus died of injuries received while helping firefighters during a training accident.

The flower wreath was promptly taken away before it could blow apart. It was among a large display of wreaths and bouquets at an evening Police Memorial Day ceremony at Thunder Mountain High School.

“It is an honor and duty for us as a law enforcement community and a city to keep our fallen officers forever a part of Juneau law enforcement community,” Officer Sarah Heib told the audience. “They are our own.”

Heib opened the ceremony with some startling statistics: Last year, 166 peace officers were killed in the Lower 48. So far this year, 36 have died; again none in Alaska.

The most recent deaths to touch JPD were in 2010, when Hoonah officers Matthew Tokuoka and Anthony Wallace were shot to death. Juneau police were among the first to respond.

Heib recalled recent events that put officers’ lives in danger, including a high speed chase last week through the Mendenhall Valley.

“I could speak about the stories where officers put their lives in danger to protect the citizens, during the last year in Juneau,” Heib said. “Earlier this week with the police car chase and the Easter shooting, which was resolved with no one being hurt physically. However, we will carry the emotional scars of that incident forever as those scars do not go away.”

On Easter Sunday, former JPD Lt. Troy Wilson opened fire on Juneau police officers who were responding to a disturbance at his home. He allegedly fired off about 75 rounds at his former JPD SWAT-team colleagues.

Ogden, Utah Police Sgt. William Cragun is a former commander and current adviser to SWAT teams worldwide. He has been pivotal in developing guidelines for police departments Special Weapons and Tactics teams, including Juneau.

Cragun knows well the impact of losing fellow officers. Within 18 months of graduating from the Utah police academy, two of his classmates were killed on duty. An emotional Cragun also told the Police Memorial Day crowd about the most recent loss at the Ogden police department.

“January 5th, 2012 of this year will be etched in my memory for the rest of my life,” Cragun said. “On that day Ogden police office Jared Francom was shot and killed.”

Francom was shot while serving a warrant for arrest. He died soon after of his injuries. He was with the Weber-Morgan Narcotics Strike Force. Five other members of the team were injured in the exchange of gunfire. The suspect was shot and apprehended.

Police officers know every day the danger they could face. The Most Reverend Edward J. Burns, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Juneau, brought the memorial service to an end with this prayer:

“May we never forget the dedication, the self-sacrifice of the law enforcement agents who have died in the line of duty,” he said. “May we never forget their commitment, their loyalty, and their dedication.”

Organizers of the Juneau Maritime Festival say they are postponing Saturday’s big event.

Brian Holst of the Juneau Economic Development Council says it won’t be a fun or safe event with a forecast of high winds. Southeast winds 15 to 25 miles per hour are predicted with gusts increasing to around 40 miles per hour after midnight Friday.

“We have tents in the wind. We’re afraid that a tent could blow down,” Holst says.

He also worries about boats that would be open to visitors at the Seadrome Dock and Goldbelt Dock as Gastineau Channel waters get whipped up into three-foot seas.

“It would be challenging, perhaps even dangerous for people to get onboard those ships,” Holst says.

He is also concerned about the canoeists who, “while very intrepid, it just isn’t reasonable to ask them to take any risks in coming across the channel,” Holst says.

This would be the third annual Juneau Maritime Festival meant to commemorate Juneau’s maritime history, culture, and commerce.

Holst says the event has been rescheduled for Friday, May 18th from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Marine Park and Plaza.

He says the day was selected to minimize conflicts with other community events. Only one cruise ship will be in Juneau that day.