State Briefs
Musher Jonrowe battles cancer
ANCHORAGE - DeeDee Jonrowe, a 19-time finisher in the Iditarod Trail sled-dog race, is battling breast cancer, and says the fight has made this the toughest year of her life.
"You spend a lifetime taking care of yourself," said Jonrowe, 48, "and something like this just kicks your feet out from under you."
She was diagnosed in July. A week after diagnosis, Jonrowe had a mastectomy. On Aug. 15, she had her first chemotherapy treatment. One wound from the surgery still hasn't healed properly, a hurdle that sent her back to the hospital last week and delayed her third chemotherapy session.
"That was an all-time low. I was so discouraged," Jonrowe said. "It had been two months, and I felt like I was going backwards."
A perennial Iditarod contender who has placed second twice, Jonrowe has landed in the top five eight times and finished among the top 10 on 11 occasions.
But on the Iditarod Trail in March, she felt something amiss. The exhaustion she felt when she reached Golovin Bay, 1,000 miles into the 1,100-mile marathon, was more draining than ever before. "In retrospect, (the cancer) is probably what happened to my endurance out on the bay," Jonrowe said of the physical crash that caused her to drop from among the race's leaders. She finished 16th.
Jonrowe said she has received a steady stream of encouraging phone calls, letters and cards from family members, friends and strangers since she announced her condition.
"It's my friends and fans. They're really sponsoring my life," Jonrowe said. "Some days, I feel like a freak. I'm bald, and I don't feel all that attractive. To have this amount of support - it really makes me feel normal."
She also has set a goal of contending in the 2003 Iditarod in five months.
Voters keep Kotzebue damp
ANCHORAGE - Kotzebue voters have said no to bars and liquor stores.
The unofficial tally in Tuesday's election was 507-293 against a measure to allow the sale of alcohol for the first time in 15 years.
As a result, Kotzebue will remain damp, allowing alcohol import and consumption - but not the sale of liquor. The final vote will be certified Monday, according to the Kotzebue city office.
Kotzebue narrowly voted to go damp in 1987.
The Alaska Legislature empowered communities to restrict sales and importation of alcohol in 1979, and to ban possession in 1986. More than 100 towns and villages have limited alcohol in some manner, according to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.
Anchorage man pleads guilty to identity theft
ANCHORAGE - An Anchorage man has pleaded guilty to fraud and identity theft.
Donald Briscoe, 40, will serve three years in prison and has agreed to return $10,490 stolen from the federal government. Briscoe pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in Anchorage to one charge of fraud against the federal government and one charge of identity theft.
Prosecutors say Briscoe tried to get more than $250,000 from the Internal Revenue Service by stealing the identities of prisoners and dead people to file false tax returns.
Under a plea agreement, 24 other charges of fraud and 22 counts of identity theft were dropped. Briscoe agreed to a jail term of 30 to 46 months.
Briscoe had no comment after the hearing and was released under electric monitoring.
Woman dies in highway crash
ANCHORAGE - A Seward woman died and another was seriously injured Wednesday in a traffic accident on the Seward Highway near Moose Pass, Alaska State Troopers said.
Barbara Barnes, 52, died in the single-vehicle crash at Mile 23.3 of the highway. Troopers and other rescuers were called to the scene at 9:30 a.m.
Barnes was a passenger in a pickup truck driven by Francis Moncrief, 52, of Seward. Moncrief lost control of the truck on black ice while trying to pass a motorhome, troopers said. The truck slid off the roadway and struck a tree on the passenger side.
Barnes died at the scene. Moncrief was taken to a Seward hospital with serious injuries. Troopers said both women were wearing seat belts.
Compiled from wire service reports.