Fair adding extra duty for Palmer police

PALMER — The first weekend of this year’s Alaska State Fair was busy for the Palmer Police Department.

But then that’s nothing new.

“The fair is the fair,” said Palmer Police Department Lt. Tom Remaley.

He said the weather has been nice, which generally brings out more fairgoers. But he’s got no complaints there.

“We’re all going to be busy whether it’s nice or not so it might as well be nice,” Remaley said. “This is kind of the last blast of the year to have a good time.”

He said the crowds have only caused one minor problem: At some point over the weekend the parking attendants ran out of change.

“Everyone came to a screeching halt and backed traffic up,” he said.

But that problem seems to have been worked out.

As of Monday, his department’s Web site had a half-dozen fair-related press releases:

• Before the fair even started, on Tuesday the window of a building on the grounds was broken out and a second building was burglarized, sustaining $250 damage with $150 in cash stolen from inside.

• On Thursday, Richard D. Setters, 30, of Seward was arrested on a warrant for not completing alcohol screening on a theft charge.

• On Rebarchek Road, also on Thursday, Andrew Saxton, 28, of Anchorage, backed his International box van into a Honda CRV driven by Theresa Lucas, 49, of Eagle River.

• On Sunday a Palmer woman reported her $50 cell phone had been stolen while she was at the fair.

• Also on Sunday, police were called to a report of a drunken driver in the red parking lot, where they arrested Jessica Marie Wall, 18, of Palmer, for underage drinking and on a couple of warrants for failure to appear in court on underage drinking charges. During the same call, Jordan Levey, 21, of Palmer, was arrested for disorderly conduct and Dustin Martin, 20, was handed a summons for underage drinking.

• Again on Sunday, a Wasilla woman reported her 1996 Oldsmobile was the victim of a hit-and-run in the purple parking lot.

Remaley said most of the calls thus far have been traffic-related.

“We had a lot of that and there’s just us and the Bureau of Highway Patrol out doing a lot of the traffic enforcement.”

But, he said, the fair has been doing a very good job helping them out on that front with folks out at the entrances directing traffic.

“They were trying to get them off the roadway as soon as possible,” he said. “They do a good job.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.