Combs scheduled for arraignment today

PALMER — Wasilla’s former Recreation and Cultural Services manager is scheduled for an arraignment Tuesday morning in Palmer District Court on allegations of DUI and possessing a controlled substance.

John C. Combs, a former Palmer mayor, resigned the afternoon of Oct. 9, hours after he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence following an event at the Curtis C. Menard Memorial Sports Center. Witnesses observed Combs consuming alcohol during the weekly Tuesday Night Fights at the complex, and he was later the subject of a Report Every Dangerous Driver Immediately (REDDI) call Alaska State Troopers received following the event, according to an affidavit by Trooper Gary Cox filed in support of the charges.

Combs was initially suspended without pay by Mayor Verne Rupright pending a city investigation into allegations Combs was consuming alcohol while on city time. Combs came into his office later Oct. 9 and resigned, the mayor has said.

Combs is set for an 8:30 a.m., arraignment at the Palmer Courthouse on a pair of charges, the DUI and one count of possession of a controlled substance 5, a class A misdemeanor. The controlled substance charge stems for a single Xanax pill found in Combs’ possession during his arrest, according to Cox’s affidavit.

“A small plastic container was found on Combs’ person during the search incident to arrest that, due to poor lighting, appeared to be a container of white cream,” Cox writes.

When they got back to the troopers post, however, it was discovered the substance was not cream, but “a single 1 mg tablet of Xanax,” the affidavit says. Cox continues that Combs did not present a prescription for the drug, nor did he state he was prescribed Xanax during previous questioning about medications he was taking.

In documenting the DUI charge, Cox wrote that Combs blew a .081 in a preliminary breath test taken at 12:15 a.m., Oct. 9, about 15 minutes after the REDDI was called in. About 45 minutes later at the troopers post, at 12:59 a.m., he blew a .06. The affidavit also says Combs had watery eyes and exhibited behavior consistent with being intoxicated, including being wobbly, swaying and failing several field sobriety tests.