Alaska Digest
Police looking for information on threat
JUNEAU - Police are seeking information about an incident early Saturday in which a man with a knife allegedly threatened a man who was walking with a woman on Third Street downtown.
Police said the male victim, 55, reported the incident at about 2:45 a.m.
He described the suspect only as a man with a knife. The suspect reportedly threatened the victim because he was with the woman, whom the suspect seemed to know. The suspect and the woman left the area on foot.
Coast Guard rescues two hunters
JUNEAU - The U.S. Coast Guard found two hunters who were reported late to Thanksgiving dinner Thursday.
The men, identified by the Coast Guard as Jerry Hughes and Grady Putman, had been scheduled to return before sunset, according to the agency. They were reported overdue a short time later.
The crew of a 47-foot Coast Guard motor lifeboat reportedly found the men stranded on a beach on the north side of Douglas Island, in an area accessible only by boat. They had anchored a skiff during the ebb tide, and the ensuing flood tide made it inaccessible.
The men were picked up from shore by a smaller boat launched by the Coast Guard, according to the report. No injuries were reported.
North Slope mayor: Breath test invalid
FAIRBANKS - The drunken-driving case against North Slope Borough Mayor George Ahmaogak will continue following a failed attempt to persuade a judge to dismiss primary evidence.
District Court Judge Winston Burbank rejected Ahmaogak's argument Friday that Alaska State Troopers violated his constitutional right for an independent blood test to check the validity of a chemical breath test.
Ahmaogak, 54, is charged with driving under the influence of alcohol.
Troopers arrested Ahmaogak on July 19 during an early-morning traffic stop in Fairbanks. Ahmaogak's attorney, Mike Kramer, conceded in court Friday that the troopers' breath-test machine recorded Ahmaogak's breath-alcohol level at 0.163, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08.
Kramer asserted that troopers did not obtain from Ahmaogak a proper waiver of his right to have a blood sample taken.
According to testimony Friday, Ahmaogak indicated to troopers after he blew into the breath-test machine that he wanted to have the blood sample taken.
By law, the state is required to pay for a defendant's blood sample in a DUI case. Defendants also can choose to pay for their test and Ahmaogak indicated he wanted to pay.
But when troopers brought Ahmaogak to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, Kramer said, he changed his mind and wanted the state to pay for the test. Troopers eventually took Ahmaogak away from the hospital without having the sample drawn.