Frontiersman looks back at 2013: Part 2

Each year the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman publishes a recap of the past 12 months’ news. This is the second installment of the Year In Review, which is based on the most popular stories published on Frontiersman.com each month. Part I was printed in the Dec. 29 edition.

July

Man suffers crushing injuries while moving house

PALMER — A man was injured July 8 while helping move a house to make way for the Bogard Road extension.

Palmer police, Alaska State Troopers and local emergency crews responded to the accident on Trunk Road between Tern and Forestwood drives around 3 p.m.

The house was heading up Trunk Road after being moved out of the neighborhood at the end of the current Colony Schools Way to make way for the new Bogard Road.

AST spokesperson Megan Peters said Paul Wolski, 50 of Palmer was helping move the house when he tripped and was run over by a tire supporting the house. She said Wolski was transported by emergency helicopter to Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage for treatment.

Robbery attempt is epic fail

WASILLA — A man’s attempt to rob a gas station last week was foiled when the clerk first didn’t believe she was being robbed, and then refused to cooperate.

Wasilla police were called to the Chevron gas station on the Parks Highway at 10:36 p.m., June 24. The initial caller was a man engaged to marry one of the store’s clerks. He was following the suspect as he walked along the highway to the Mug-Shot Saloon.

Wasilla Police Department Officer Bobby Rader writes in papers he filed in court that he was at the store five minutes after the call went out.

The clerk told him “the male suspect came into the store and bought a pack of cigarettes. Immediately afterward, he said, ‘this is a stickup,’” according to Rader’s account.

The clerk wasn’t sure if he was serious and asked him to repeat himself.

Rader wrote, that the suspect repeated himself, but the clerk “was confused and asked where his gun was, because she would have given up the money because she didn’t want to get shot. The suspect replied that he didn’t have one (a gun) but he knew how to ‘blow the place up.’ (The clerk) locked the cash register, placed a closed register sign up and walked outside.”

City mourns one of its leaders

WASILLA — A city councilman and longtime business owner was crushed by his own piece of heavy equipment and died of his injuries the evening of June 30.

Councilman Steve Lovell was 56 when he died.

“He was making a jump for a little dirt bike and he had the blade up on a little Cat, and when (he) drove off of the little jump it catapulted him out of the Cat and the Cat ran over him before he could recover,” said Wasilla Police Chief Gene Belden, who described the incident as “just a bad accident.”

Woman arrested again with lots of pot

PALMER — A traffic stop on a BMW sedan that failed to stop or signal before leaving the parking lot of an Alaska State Troopers post landed the driver in jail after she was allegedly found in possession of marijuana products and in violation of the terms of her release on previous felony drug charges.

Alaska State Troopers with the Bureau of Highway Patrol conducted the traffic stop at 4:35 p.m., July 2. When she was stopped, Adrienne L. Schenfele, 43, of Talkeetna was turning out of the parking lot in front of the Palmer trooper post on Valley Way, which shares a block with the Palmer Police Department and the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility, where she was eventually remanded.

Troopers say they found Schenfele was in possession of a gun, $14,954 in cash, and 9.5 pounds of THC-laden consumables in the form of marijuana, brownies, cookies, hashish oil and gel capsules containing hashish for sale.

‘Not-so-Superman’ popped for heroin

WASILLA — Motorists were treated to an impromptu appearance from Superman on Friday.

Alaska State Troopers say they contacted a man dressed as the DC Comics character standing in the middle of the Parks Highway near Crusey Street waving at traffic around 10:40 p.m., July 19.

Superman — aka Patrick Campbell, 23, of Wasilla — was found to be in possession of heroin and was arrested for fourth-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance.

August

Comedian not intimidated by Alaska’s politics

MAT-SU — You might think a comedian who has gotten a lot of mileage out of making Alaska and Alaskans the butt of jokes would be a bit reluctant to bring his act here. But Bill Maher is not your typical comedian.

The veteran comic and host of HBO’s “Real Time With Bill Maher” brings his unique brand of socio-political humor to Alaska for two shows this month. The performances, Aug. 23, at the Blue Loon in Fairbanks, and Aug. 24 at the Dena’ina Center in Anchorage, will be Maher’s first here since 1996.

A favorite whipping boy of the political right, Maher says he has no concern about performing his act in Republican strongholds like Alaska.

“It’s always more fun for me in the red states,” he said in a recent telephone interview. “I will go anywhere and prove that I can bring those people out to the shows.”

Troopers arrest 3 at Wasilla motel

WASILLA — Three people were arrested early Saturday morning after Alaska State Troopers responded to a motel along the Parks Highway.

Troopers contacted Echo Seagren, 23, of Wasilla, Scheulr Shadbolt, 21, of Wasilla, and Jeffery Stephens, 34, of Wasilla around 4:30 a.m., Aug. 3.

Troopers say their investigation found outstanding warrants for Seagren and Shadbolt.

Seagren was arrested on a warrant for failure to comply with conditions of probation and Shadbolt was arrested on a warrant for first-degree burglary.

Seagren’s bail was set at $1,000, Shadbolt’s bail was set at $5,000, and Stephens’s bail was set at $10,000.

Pot shipment busts itself

PALMER — To the trained investigator, there are a few ways to tell if a package contains marijuana.

You can bring in a dog to smell it. If it’s marijuana, often you can smell it yourself. Sometimes, though, it’s even easier. Like on Aug. 13, when investigators checking packages at FedEx found a box with five pounds of weed inside.

“Hand written on the side was, ‘I am full of dope,’” recounted Alaska State Trooper Shayne Calt in documents filed in a court case against David Botelho, 54, of Wasilla.

And that little note, as it turns out, led troopers to five or maybe 10 pounds of marijuana. Calt wrote that the trooper checking boxes actually first

Longtime WPD officer tagged with DUI

WASILLA — A late-night taco craving in Anchorage landed a longtime Wasilla police officer in jail, arrested for allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol.

Lt. Jean Achee was driving from the Anchorage airport a little before 1 a.m., May 28 when the city-owned Ford Explorer he was driving was called in as driving erratically, according to charging documents filed in Anchorage District Court.

Achee, a 20-year veteran of the Wasilla Police Department who recently retired following his arrest, blew a .170 blood alcohol content, more than twice the legal limit of .08, said Anita Shell, a public information officer with APD. She said that according to the arrest report, Achee said he had just debarked a plane returning from Mexico and that he finished his last drink about two hours prior to being stopped.

A bypass for Wasilla? Maybe

WASILLA — With all the transportation projects on the near-term horizon — Parks Highway, Glenn Highway and Knik-Goose Bay Road are all getting fixes, just to name a few — it can sometimes be hard to keep an eye on the long term.

The long term is where the Wasilla Bypass is now. Actually, scratch that; the state prefers to call it the Parks Highway Alternative Corridor. It’s an idea that’s been bandied about for decades.

“The possibility of bypassing Wasilla by routing the Parks Highway around Wasilla has been a controversial topic for a number of years. Discussion of an alternative highway corridor was met with stiff resistance in the 1970s and again in the early 1990s,” says the project’s website.

September

Tenants, landlord frustrated over conditions

WASILLA — Aside from rubbing the sleep from his eyes after an early afternoon nap, the diaper-clad toddler seems happy enough, even if his torso is dotted with raised red welts. His young sister is still weak as she battles respiratory ailments.

Laurie Luzader’s grandchildren are the youngest of nine people living in their three-bedroom apartment at 345 E. Victor Circle. Two of Luzader’s other school-aged children were sent home from school because they had gnats on them. And all of them, Luzader claims, have been living without heat since they moved into the place in October 2012. The children’s health and sanitation problems are the result of their environment, she said, an environment caused by an alleged neglectful landlord.

“We’ve told him several times about the black mold in the carpet and in the (communal) laundry room,” she said during a Frontiersman visit Thursday to view the living conditions. “I just don’t think it’s safe for any kind of family to stay in this situation. This little guy right here, he has got welts all over his body from the water. He can’t take the water here. You see how bad he is?

“It’s not safe, it’s not. Our kids have already gone to the hospital because they’re sick — runny noses, coughs, they can’t breathe because of that mold that comes running up the wall.”

Fire destroys Wasilla-area home

WASILLA — Nobody was hurt in a fire that destroyed a house Sept. 21 on Duke Dale Circle.

The home, in a neighborhood off of Wasilla-Fishhook Road north of Wasilla, was 80 percent involved with fire by the time the first fire crews arrived on scene shortly at around 1 p.m., Central Mat-Su Fire Chief James Steele said.

“No one was home, so it was a delayed discovery of the fire, which then equates to a delayed reporting of the fire,” Steele said.

Man smoked drugs before killing puppy

HOUSTON — Witnesses said a man who beat a puppy to death before trashing a home had run out of the synthetic drug Spice before his rampage began.

Kory Campbell, 22, of Houston, was arrested on Squire Drive Friday where Alaska State Troopers found him hiding in a bathroom. Troopers charged him with criminal mischief, cruelty to animals and violating his probation.

According to an affidavit Trooper Joshua Varys filed in the case against Campbell, troopers first heard about the incident with the puppy at 11:06 a.m., Sept. 12.

Motion: Investigator misled grand jury in case against hockey coach

PALMER — The prosecution of a longtime Mat-Su Borough School District hockey coach and teacher is built around the misleading and inaccurate testimony of a state investigator, according to a motion to dismiss the five-felony indictment of James D. Smith.

Smith was indicted in February on allegations he defrauded the Alaska Avalanche Junior A hockey program’s booster club of more than $48,000. Smith held multiple front office positions with the club from 2005 to 2009, including president of the Spirit Booster Club.

The motion, filed Tuesday by Smith’s attorney, Palmer-based Josh Fannon, claims the grand jury indictment was based largely on the testimony of state investigator Kristian Heikkila.

Boy hit by truck celebrates ‘an amazingly happy ending’

PALMER — Layton Dunham was just a few hours old the first time he was featured in the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.

He was featured in the Frontiersman as the first baby born in the Valley at the change of the new millennium on Jan. 1, 2000.

He and mom Susan Dunham returned to the Frontiersman’s pages this year to celebrate his recovery from a serious June 26 bicycle accident.

The two had been home about an hour after returning from a 250-mile canoe trip from Carmack to Dawson City. Layton didn’t see the truck approaching as he crossed the road on his bicycle that afternoon. The young driver in the truck didn’t see him either.

“It happened terribly, incredibly fast,” Susan said.

The vehicle hit Layton and knocked him unconscious, she said. He was taken by air ambulance to Providence Alaska Medical Center. He sustained a compound fracture to his left leg, skull and facial fractures, a broken collarbone, a collapsed lung and a punctured spleen.

For the next 2.5 weeks, Layton was in a coma. In total, he spent six weeks in hospitals in Anchorage and Seattle this summer. He was released from Seattle Children’s Hospital Aug. 2.

“He’s made amazing progress,” Susan said.

Friends have organized a fundraiser for the family at 5 p.m., Sept. 21 at Palmer Junior Middle School.

October

Family still seeks answers

MAT-SU — It’s been well over a year since Chelsi Baun and Tobias Siegel died at a home off of Hyer Road, both from gunshot wounds. While Alaska State Troopers say they have run out of room to investigate and have been forced to conclude that either one or both slayings were accidental, it’s not quite settled in the minds of the families.

“No, we’re not settled. We’re not comfortable with this story. We absolutely feel that there’s more to the story and we don’t know what that is,” Baun’s father Mark Cox said by phone from Colorado, where he lives.

He and his family have set up a Facebook page — “Who Murdered Chelsi Cox Baun and Tobias Siegel” — and are offering a $10,000 reward to anyone who comes forward with information leading to prosecution.

Palmer man jailed for videotaping sex with children

PALMER — Alaska State Troopers have arrested a 28-year-old Palmer man, charging him with molesting three girls, all about age 6, and videotaping one of them in a sexual act.

According to an affidavit Alaska State Troopers Investigator Sherry Ferno filed in the case against Christopher Byers, the allegations came to light when two of the girls, who live in Anchorage, spoke to police there on Sept. 26.

The girls, now middle-school-aged, said that when they were 5 or 6 years old, Byers had preyed on them.

Troopers ID 2 bodies found in the Valley

MAT-SU — Following autopsies by the State Medical Examiner’s Office, Alaska State Troopers have released the identities of two bodies found in the Valley this month.

Fingerprints confirmed that the human remains found by a hunter along a trail Oct. 20 are those of Jeffery A. Davis, 50, according to troopers.

Also identified were the remains of Brendon Twitchell, 24, of Palmer. The State Medical Examiner’s Office determined that the manner of his death was consistent with suicide, troopers say. Twitchell’s body was found near Moose Creek Oct. 11 in the same area where his vehicle also was found nearby in mid-August.

JBER firefighters build fire truck chair for Palmer boy

JBER — Eric Edwards, 6, has a few obsessions — Christmas trees, the U.S. flag and fire trucks, to name a few.

But lately, his focus is fire trucks and related things like smoke alarms, sprinklers and fire hydrants.

So after spending the summer enduring major surgery and then recovering in a body cast, his mom Judy Edwards said she wanted to do something really special for her son’s Halloween costume. She had an idea to decorate his wheelchair as a fire truck, but she needed help to make it happen.

That’s when firefighters with the 673rd Civil Engineer Squadron at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson stepped up and created Engine No. 7, a brother to the department’s six full-sized trucks. The red fire engine fashioned to fit around Eric’s wheelchair mesmerized children and had adults pulling out cellphones for photos Friday at the JBER hospital’s trick-or-treat event.

Wasilla says no to Kohring, library too close to call

WASILLA — Seven consecutive times, Mat-Su voters elected Vic Kohring to the state House of Representatives. On Oct. 1, however, the former state House rep ran into a wall in his bid to revive his political career as a Wasilla City Council member.

Kohring, who resigned for the House in 2007 and subsequently was convicted, incarcerated, retried and accepted a plea to taking money from former VECO executives, could only muster less than 32 percent of the vote against incumbent Seat F councilman Brandon Wall.

“I think we did really get the word out that I was looking for a second term, not a second chance,” said Wall, who was appointed to fill the seat after the recall of former councilman Steve Menard. “I’ve done a good job on the council for the last year and a half. I don’t think this was a vote against Vic Kohring, it’s a vote that says we’ve go someone on the council who’s a conservative and making sure the city’s being run efficiently.”

In hindsight, Kohring said he has not regrets following the first defeat in his political career. Kohring also said this election was different in that he felt he was campaigning as much against his past as another opponent.

November

Freezing rain results in mayhem on Valley roads

WASILLA — It was Super Hero Day at Snowshoe Elementary, but that’s not what had kids “flying” on the way to school today in the Mat-Su Borough School District Nov. 22.

Freezing rain began to fall while elementary students were in transit Friday morning, according to school district spokesperson Catherine Esary.

Several bus accidents occurred after the rain began around 9 a.m., she said. One accident on Edlund Road in the Knik-Fairview area closed the road this morning while emergency crews and First Student responded.

Wasilla resident Michelle Overstreet was behind the bus on Edlund when it began a slow-motion slide into the ditch and tipped onto its side.

“It just slid like the road was glass,” she said.

‘Another 10 more minutes and we would have lost all three of them’

WASILLA — That Joseph Hubbard, 28, is punctual may have saved his life.

When the young man was a few minutes late to work Nov. 7, his employers Mark and Spencer Kotter from Wasilla Woodworks in Wasilla knew immediately something was wrong.

Kotter was worried when he couldn’t reach Joseph or his wife, Angela, on the phone and called a family member who lives nearby to hurry over and check, according to Angela’s father, Rick Townsend.

“When he was 15 minutes late for work he had everyone heading to the house because they knew something was wrong,” he said. “Another 10 more minutes and we would have lost all three of them.”

After the Kotters’ call, Donna Eng said she rushed to her granddaughter’s house where she found Joe and Angela unconscious inside. She hurried her great-granddaughter outside and called 911, she said. Becca, then 4, was inside, but was still conscious, Eng said.

Angela, 24, died of severe carbon monoxide poisoning, and Joseph, Becca, Eng, both Kotters and the Hubbards’ dog Hunter also were treated for CO poisoning.

Indictment against coach dismissed

PALMER — A Superior Court judge has tossed out a five-felony grand jury indictment of a longtime Valley teacher and hockey coach.

Judge Vanessa White on Nov. 8 granted a motion to dismiss the case against James D. Smith, who state prosecutors have alleged defrauded the Alaska Avalanche Junior A hockey program’s booster club of more than $48,000. In her ruling, White agreed with Smith’s attorney, Palmer-based Josh Fannon, who argued in his motion that the state’s case was built around misleading and inaccurate testimony of a state investigator.

“I’m very pleased with the ruling and I think it’s the appropriate ruling,” Fannon said of the dismissal.

Pair of family members charged with abuse

WASILLA — Two members of the same family unit were arrested Nov. 8, charged with abusing multiple children over the course of decades.

According to a press release from Alaska State Troopers, Shawn O’Shea-Grantham, 71, of Wasilla, was charged with four counts of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor and one count of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor. Maliea O’Shea-Grantham was charged with three counts of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor.

2 found shot to death

MEADOW LAKES — Alaska State Troopers are investigating the shooting death of a man and a woman discovered early Nov. 3 morning.

According to an AST press release, the bodies of Anthony Torres, 41, of Wasilla and Natasha Clark, 32, of Wasilla, were found at 8:57 a.m., Nov. 3 inside a home in Meadow Lakes.

AST spokeswoman Megan Peters said the two had a relationship with each other, but the nature of their relationship is still unclear to troopers.

“Investigation revealed both parties suffered apparent gunshot wounds to the head. A pistol was found at the scene next to Torres,” according to the press release.

December

New youth center taking shape in Palmer

PALMER — For years the space at 105 S. Valley Way in downtown Palmer served as the showroom for Hartley Motors. Now the 1940s-era building is getting a face-lift in preparation for a new life as The YAK, a new youth center for youth ages 11 to 18 spearheaded by Lazy Mountain Bible Church.

Andy Miller has been a full-time youth worker in the Valley for 12 years. He’ll manage the youth center once the remodel is complete and its doors are open, which won’t be until summer 2014.

Now the focus is on rewiring the space, installing a new heating system and bringing the whole space up to code, Miller said. The renovation will cost about $35,000, he said.

Troopers seeks public’s help to ID video of suspect

WASILLA — Alaska State Troopers are seeking the public’s help in identifying a man caught on camera stealing from a person’s yard.

According to troopers, the video was taken Dec. 16, around 1 p.m. on East Melrose Court just north of Seldon Road near Wasilla.

The man in the shot grabs one gas can, walks forward to get another, then walks back with his face visible to the camera.

A second camera also captures him trudging through snow and up onto a porch where his face is even more visible as he tries a doorknob.

View the video online at bit.ly/1fX4gam.

Anyone with information is asked to call troopers at 745-2131 or Mat-Su Crime Stoppers at 745-3333.

8 responders treated after Maud Road fire

BUTTE — The state fire marshal is investigating an early morning fire in an airplane hangar off Maud Road that sent eight emergency responders to the hospital.

Otto Feather, the deputy director for firefighting of the Mat-Su Borough’s Department of Emergency Services said that eight responders suffered from smoke inhalation.

“In the initial crew to go in and make entry, a couple of the responders were feeling the effects of smoke inhalation, so we got them out,” Feather said. “The team that helped get them out, they started to feel the effects as well.”

That accounts for seven of the eight. The last one was a medic who was helping evaluate those seven.

PHS cheer to perform at Holiday Bowl in San Diego

PALMER — A phone call out of the blue has led to an opportunity of a lifetime for a group of girls who spend their fall cheering on Palmer blue.

A dozen Palmer High School football cheerleaders will perform during the National University Holiday Bowl at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, Calif., Monday. As her team was set to depart Thursday evening, PHS cheer coach Ashley Harman said the chance to be part of the college football festivity started with a surprise phone call earlier this year

“At first I was kind of shocked. I didn’t know. I was super surprised and wanted more information,” Harman said.

Troopers call nets 6 arrests

WASILLA — One little call about a suspicious vehicle in a parking lot led to six arrests for everything from hindering prosecution to failure to appear in court to drug misconduct.

According to a press release from Alaska State Troopers, the suspicious vehicle was reported at 3:14 a.m., Nov. 29 in a parking lot on Quiet Circle.

The driver, Marjorie Labriola, 30, of Wasilla, was arrested for possessing “multiple controlled substances with the intent to distribute,” according to the report.

Her passenger, Joseph Henson, 23, of Wasilla, was also charged with drug misconduct and possessing a concealed weapon while also intending to distribute drugs.

In a nearby home, troopers arrested Christopher Harris, 39, of Anchorage, on a warrant for failing to appear in court on felony drunken driving and attempted vehicle theft charges.

Troopers say that in their attempts to arrest Henson, Cyndee Weeg, 25, and Rachel Tyree, 24, both of Wasilla, attempted to hide Henson from troopers. They were arrested for hindering prosecution.

Also in the home was Ryan Bentley, 29, of Wasilla, who was arrested on a warrant for failing to appear in court on a drunken driving charge.