Alaska Briefs
Man indicted after alleged airport threats
WRANGELL - A Ketchikan man remained in jail Monday, more than a week after his arrest alleging a terrorist threat at the Wrangell Airport.
Richard A. Tice, 38, was indicted Friday by the grand jury in Juneau on a felony charge of terroristic threatening and a misdemeanor charge of fourth-degree assault alleging a threat against a federal security officer.
Tice allegedly told security agents on Sept. 4 at the Wrangell Airport that he had a bomb in his suitcase, according to the indictment. The felony count alleges Tice told a federal security officer he was going to put a bullet in the officer's head.
Wrangell Police Chief Doug McCloskey said there was no bomb and Tice was unarmed. That doesn't mean the allegations against Tice aren't serious, McCloskey added.
"The people standing there at the counter, they had no idea what he's up to," he said.
Tice was being held in the Wrangell Correctional Center in lieu of $10,000 bail. If convicted as charged, Tice could be sentenced to up to five years in jail on the terroristic threatening charge and up to one year on the fourth-degree assault charge.
Central school stays open after all
FAIRBANKS - Two more children on the rolls at Central means the Interior community's school will not be closed this year.
At the beginning of August, Far North School had eight students enrolled and the community was running newspaper ads, hoping to entice some people to the Steese Highway town.
Without at least 10 students, the state would not fund Far North as a stand-alone school. The decision to close a school remained with the Yukon Flats School District, but administrators said it could not afford the estimated $250,000 needed.
By opening day, though, the school had just enough students.
"We were ecstatic," said Marcy Jasper, the principal and teacher. "It would have devastated our entire school and it would have had a really drastic impact on the community."
Central is a mining community of 120 people near the end of the Steese Highway about 125 miles northeast of Fairbanks.
Police say no change in pot prosecution
FAIRBANKS - Police Department Director Paul Harris says it's "business as usual" enforcing pot laws in the city despite a Court of Appeals decision that said Alaskans may possess less than four ounces of marijuana in their homes.
The ruling, based on the 2-year-old case of a North Pole man found with marijuana in his home, has met with varying responses from local and statewide law enforcement agencies and prosecutors.
Harris said Fairbanks police will continue as before the ruling.
"If you break the law, you end up suffering the consequences," he said. "This Appeals Court decision does not affect how we do business."
Son accused of running over father with truck
NOME - A Nome man was charged Monday with second-degree murder in the death of his father, who was run over by a dump truck.
Robert David Blodgett, 26, and his father, Richard L. Blodgett, 51, had argued repeatedly during the course of the night, court papers said.
At about 5 a.m. Sunday, Police Officer Matt Owens found the elder Blodgett lying in the middle of the Nome Teller Highway.
"Richard Blodgett was very seriously injured and was going in and out of consciousness," the charging papers said. "He was able to tell Owens that he had been run over by his son, Robert 'R.D.' Blodgett, who was driving an orange dump truck."
Richard Blodgett was flown to an Anchorage hospital, but died en route.
Witnesses told police Richard Blodgett had taken away the keys to a vehicle that his son was driving sometime earlier in the night, prompting Robert Blodgett to return to the family home in another vehicle and pick up an orange dump truck.
Robert Blodgett then showed up at a roadhouse where he found his father and they fought, court papers said.
The younger Blodgett took off in the dump truck, followed by his father and another man, Harvey Brown.
Brown told police that once they arrived at the Blodgett home, the dump truck came around a corner, headed in their direction. Brown told police he jumped out of the way, but Richard Blodgett jumped on the dump truck's front bumper.
Several witnesses told police that they saw a dump truck going backward and forward rapidly several times, with someone standing on or hanging from the front bumper.
About an hour after the elder Blodgett was found on the highway, police received reports that an orange dump truck was ramming the front of a house belonging to Karen Blodgett, Robert's mother and Richard's estranged wife.
Chancellor to retire at end of the school year
FAIRBANKS - The chancellor of the University of Alaska Fairbanks will retire at the end of the school year.
Marshall Lind, 67, was appointed chancellor in August 1999. Prior to that, he served as chancellor at the University of Alaska Southeast for 12 years.
As UAF's chief executive, Lind oversees the university's programs in Fairbanks and at community campuses in Bethel, Dillingham, Kotzebue and Nome, as well as a number of learning centers, extension offices and outreach locations for more than 140 Alaska communities.
Lind leaves UAF after four consecutive years of enrollment and program growth and the largest construction period in the university's history.
"I can leave UAF feeling good about the work, the people and the progress we've made," Lind said.