Northwest Digest
City OKs $300,000 for gravel quarry
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JUNEAU - The Juneau Assembly on Monday approved $300,000 to improve a new gravel quarry in Lemon Creek and ready it for operation as the city's current gravel source reaches the end of its useful life.
The money would empty the city lands fund for a short while.
City Manager Rod Swope said the money will fund an access road to the new gravel source, build drainage structures and create a "quarry wall" at the six-acre site adjacent to the Lemon Creek Correctional Center, on land previously owned by the state.
The Planning Commission approved a conditional use permit for the project in October. The city expects the new quarry to provide 4 million cubic yards of gravel to city and state development projects during a projected 20-year life span.
Trucks leaving the new gravel quarry are expected to use the Hidden Valley haul road and Anka Street to access Glacier Highway.
To protect nearby property values, use of compression brakes is prohibited along the route except when required by emergency.
Blasting and rock crushing are expected at the new site eventually.
From January to September, 1,700 truckloads of material left the current Lemon Creek site. During the Planning Commission meeting in October, some Lemon Creek residents voiced concern about dust and mud debris from hauling trucks as well as quality of life issues affected by the proposed quarry project.
World Affairs Council to host journalist
JUNEAU - The Nation magazine's United Nations correspondent Ian Willams will present "An Insider's Critique of the United Nations" at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Assembly Chambers.
The presentation is sponsored by the Juneau World Affairs Council.
In addition to his work for the magazine, Williams frequently comments on world events on a wide variety of radio and TV outlets, including "Hardball," "The O'Reilly Factor," "Scarborough Country," UN TV and others. He is the author of "Rum: A Social and Sociable History of the Real Spirit of 1776," "The Deserter: Bush's War on Military Families, Veterans and His Past," "The Alms Trade" and "The UN for Beginners."
Replacement named for fishery council
JUNEAU - An Anchor Point man's appointment to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council has been approved by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez.
A charter boat operator for more than 23 years, Robert Dersham has been an active participant on the Alaska Board of Fisheries for more than eight years.
Dersham has been appointed to fill the remainder of the term of former council member Ed Rasmuson, who resigned Jan. 1. He will serve until 2009.
Kenai man pleads guilty to wire fraud
ANCHORAGE - A Kenai man has pleaded guilty to wire fraud for falsifying documents related to bypass mail.
Forty-five-year-old Michael A. Spisak faces up to 20 years in a federal prison when he's sentenced in March.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Retta Randall says between July 2003 and February 2004, Spisak, doing business under Bellair, Inc., falsified data to the government to receive increased mail payments.
Spisak admitted inflating the amount of freight service Bellair hauled in its markets, specifically to Anaktuvuk Pass, Huslia, Galena, Kaltag, Nulato, Point Hope, Shungnak and Selawik.
The report was transmitted via e-mail to the government. As a result, Bellair received payments from the U.S. Postal Service for the delivery of mail for which it did not qualify.
Court denies trial delay for Jim Hayes
ANCHORAGE - The trial for the former Fairbanks mayor accused of diverting federal grants will not be delayed.
A federal court order issued Monday denied Jim Hayes' request to delay the Jan. 17 trial until after his wife and co-defendant is sentenced.
Jim and Murilda "Chris" Hayes are accused of diverting funds from the charity to help complete construction of the new Lily of the Valley Church of God in Christ, where he is pastor, and for personal use.
Chris Hayes last month pleaded guilty to two felony charges of theft and money laundering. Her plea agreement notes her conduct during her husband's trial will affect her sentence.
In a court filing last week, Murilda Hayes' lawyer says her client would assert her Fifth Amendment privilege if her husband's trial was not moved back.
Joshua Wade trial moved to Fairbanks
ANCHORAGE - The bank fraud trial for an Anchorage man also facing federal firearms and contraband charges will be moved to Fairbanks.
U.S. District Court Judge Ralph Beistline agreed to move the bank fraud trial because of the amount of publicity in Anchorage. However, Joshua Wade's other proceedings - for charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm, illegal drug user in possession of a firearm and possessing contraband in prison - will still be conducted in Anchorage.
He was been charged with bank fraud for allegedly using the ATM card of Mindy Schloss, an Anchorage nurse whose body was found six weeks after being reported missing Aug. 6.
He has not been charged in her death.
An indictment claims he had .45 caliber semiautomatic pistol in July and August, when he used marijuana. Officials also claim he had pot in jail after his Sept. 2 arrest for bank fraud.
Fire marshal stops Kenai management
KENAI - The state fire marshal's office has served notice it will no longer manage the Kenai fire training center.
The Alaska Division of Fire Prevention contracted with the city of Kenai to manage the Pacific Rim Institute of Safety Management training facility in February.
"Our mission is to prevent loss of life and property from fire and explosion, and managing that does not go in line with that mission," Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Megan Peters said Monday.
However, Kenai City Manger Rick Koch said, "the financial performance hasn't been what they expected."
The fire marshal's office gave a 120-day notice, meaning it will be done before April 30.
Alaska Old Believers prepare for funerals
ANCHORAGE - The Old Believer community in Razdolna on the Kenai Peninsula is recognizing the Russian Orthodox Christmas, while preparing for four funerals.
Funerals are planned Tuesday for two sets of brothers who died Saturday when the plane they were riding in crashed soon after take-off from Kodiak Island.
Ivan Basargin lost two younger brothers - 36-year-old Stefan and 30-year-old Pavel.
Basargin's cousins, brothers Zahary Martushev, 25, and Iosif Martushev, 15, also were killed in the crash. The other two victims were passenger Andrian Reutov, 22, and the pilot, Robin Starrett, 50. Four people survived.
Basargin says people in the community attended morning Christmas prayers on Monday, but now are focused on burying their loved ones.
Disease kills bighorn lambs in Oregon
ENTERPRISE, Ore. - Disease killed about 80 percent of the lambs born last spring to the bighorn sheep in Hells Canyon, and biologists call it the worst die-off since the breed was reintroduced there in the early 1970s.
Researchers believe the deaths were triggered by one bacterium that inhibits the bighorns' ability to fight off another bacterium that leads to bronchopneumonia. Lambs appear to be most vulnerable because of undeveloped immune systems, said Vic Coggins, an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist.
"This was the worst year I've ever seen for lambs," said Neil Thagart, spokesman for the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep in Cody, Wyo.
The canyon of the Snake River is home to about 900 Rocky Mountain bighorns.
The die-off appears to have spared a big share of the wild adult rams and ewes, Coggins said.