Alaska Digest
Investigation continues in drug seizure
JUNEAU - State and local drug-enforcement officers Wed-nesday were still investigating last week's seizure of cocaine, marijuana and marijuana growing equipment from a residence near Lena Loop Road.
Alaska State Troopers reported Wednesday that the Southeast Alaska Narcotics Enforcement Team - SEANET - had made no arrests in the case, although suspects have been identified.
On Dec. 8, the mulitagency drug-enforcement task force and Juneau police served a search warrant at the residence and seized about a gram of cocaine and about one pound of marijuana, according to trooper reports.
Trooper Sgt. Tim Birt of SEANET said officers found only a personal-use amount of cocaine, comparable to the amount of powder in a packet of artificial sweetener.
The residence also showed evidence of a commercial marijuana growing operation. Other items seized included grow lights, fans and ballasts, troopers reported.
Woman injured in Egan Drive accident
JUNEAU - A 20-year-old woman was transported to Bartlett Regional Hospital with injuries after her red 2000 Dodge Avenger was t-boned by a green Toyota Camry shortly before 5 p.m. Wednesday near Egan and Channel drives.
Both vehicles were totaled. Police provided no further information by presstime.
Pilgrim family member found guilty
ANCHORAGE - A man living inside Wrangell-St. Elias National Park was found guilty of taking an undercover ranger on a paid horseback excursion without a permit.
Federal magistrate Harry Branson said Joshua Hale - who is part of the 17-member Pilgrim family embroiled in a dispute with the government over park access - knew that Bonanza Mine was part of the national park and that he needed a permit to guide there. But his family accepted $200 from the ranger and Hale took him on a horseback trip to the mine above Kennecott, the magistrate said.
In the nonjury trial, Branson found Hale, 23, guilty of the misdemeanor crime of doing business on federal land without a permit.
"This was strictly an illegal commercial venture on Joshua's part ... and he knew it," Branson said.
John Quinley, spokesman for the National Park Service, said 400 businesses are licensed to provide services in national parks in Alaska. The decision is an affirmation of their rights, he said.
Monday's decision was the latest in an ongoing fight the family is having with the National Park Service. Four members of the family were in court Monday.
State predicts higher prices for Cook Inlet gas
KENAI - Industrial, commercial and residential consumers will see steadily rising prices for Cook Inlet natural gas for the foreseeable future, according to the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas.
Simple supply and demand are putting upward pressure on the local price of gas, a trend that reflects market conditions in the Lower 48, said Will Nebesky. He spoke Tuesday to the Alaska Support Industry Alliance.
Adding to the local upward pressure is a revised method of pricing to be used in a new contract between Unocal and Enstar Natural Gas that goes into effect in January.
Based on a 36-month moving average of a pricing index used in the Lower 48, called the Henry Hub, the new contract means higher prices for Enstar, which has filed with the Regulatory Commission of Alaska for a tariff revision to increase what it charges commercial and residential customers.
Board wraps up bear attack review
ANCHORAGE - A panel that examined the circumstances of the deadly October brown bear attack in Katmai National Park and Preserve is recommending a review of the park's camping and bear management policies, federal officials said Wednesday.
The Technical Board of Investigation has wrapped up its inquiry in the deaths of Malibu, Calif., bear activists Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenard and plans to submit its final report to National Park Service officials within a week.
The four-page report also sums up likely contributing factors in the deaths of Treadwell, 46, a wildlife author who spent the past 13 summers tracking brown bears at the Alaska Peninsula park, and Huguenard, 37, who joined him in recent years. Treadwell was known and sometimes criticized for getting too chummy with brown bears - as coastal grizzlies are called in Alaska - without any kind of protection, such as bear spray.
The partially eaten bodies of the couple were found in heavy bear-feeding grounds at the shore of Kaflia Lake on Oct. 6 when a pilot arrived to pick them up and saw a large brown bear standing over human remains.
All the evidence - including a six-minute audio recording of a frantic Treadwell being attacked - pointed to a single scenario, that the campers were killed by a bear, contrary to early rumors that poachers might have been involved, said Larry Van Daele, a state wildlife biologist.