LOOKING BACK AT 2013

MAT-SU — We publish a recap each year in the final two editions of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman of the past 12 months’ news stories.

This is the first installment of that Year In Review, which is based on the most popular stories published on Frontiersman.com each month. See the Tuesday edition for more of the top news stories from 2013.

January

Passenger flown to hospital from downtown Wasilla crash

WASILLA — Two cars that collided in an accident Jan. 21 at the corner of Parks Highway and Main Street, sent three people to the hospital, one in a helicopter and closed the intersection for most of the afternoon.

Deputy Central Mat-Su Fire Chief Michael Keenan said crews were called to respond around 1 p.m., that Monday. The accident was paged out as an off-set head-on crash, but Keenan said he’s not sure that’s exactly what happened.

Explosion blows roof

off house

PALMER — It’s been a wild few months for Roger Coffell and his neighbors in the Valley Trails Subdivision across from Palmer High School.

First, a spark from a vehicle accident touched off a wildfire that threatened the subdivision and evacuated Cedar Hills Subdivision Nov. 29.

The neighborhood was again awash in flashing lights and emergency response vehicles Jan. 21 after crews from Palmer, the Butte and Central Mat-Su Fire departments responded to an explosion and house fire on Irene Street that Monday around 6 p.m.

Teen dies of injuries from downtown crash

WASILLA — A teen severely injured in a crash on the Parks Highway Jan. 21 died in an Anchorage hospital of his injuries Jan. 22.

Paul Owens Jr., 33, of Wasilla, was northbound on the highway driving a 2003 Ford pickup when he tried to make a turn onto Knik-Goose Bay Road.

Wasilla Police Chief Gene Belden said Owens turned into the path of an oncoming Expedition. The driver, and the three passengers in the her vehicle, were hurt; most grievously injured was Zacharia Sharlow, 18, who was airlifted to Anchorage and later died of those injuries.

Central Mat-Su Fire Department Deputy Chief Michael Keenan said the crash drove the Expedition into one of the large poles that suspend the stoplights across the highway. He said Sharlow was riding in the rear passenger seat nearest to the part of the car that impacted with the pole.

Scout leader charged with abuse

PALMER — A Wasilla man whose wife said he was involved in Boy Scouts and providing day care at his church is facing charges for sexually abusing a minor.

Matthew Aaron Cross, 36, was arrested Jan. 9. In an affidavit filed in the case against him, Alaska State Troopers Investigator Toma Caldarea writes that the allegations came to light two days prior to Cross’ arrest.

Valley man charged with abuse of 12-year-old

WASILLA — Alaska State Troopers arrested a 28-year-old man Jan. 10, charging him with allegedly sexually abusing a 12-year-old.

According to a trooper press release, Nathanael Bair of Wasilla, was arrested at his home without incident.

He’d been under investigation since Oct. 15, 2012, when a report was lodged against him with the troopers’ Alaska Bureau of Investigation, Child Abuse Investigative Unit.

KeyBank robbed, reward offered

WASILLA — Police and the FBI are seeking information about a bank robbery on Lucille Street Jan. 2.

According to a press release from Mat-Su Crime Stoppers, the robbery was reported to the Wasilla Police Department at 4:46 p.m. at the KeyBank branch on Lucille Street near Parks Highway.

“The suspect wielded a boxcutter and fled on foot with an undisclosed amount of money,” according to the press release.

The suspect is a white male, 5-foot, 7-inches and was wearing a black Carhartt jacket and pants. He had a hood over his head and wore “what appeared to be a cut-out ski mask.”

February

Missing girls return home

WASILLA — A pair of pre-teen girls whose disappearance Feb. 24 sparked a chain of Facebook posts seeking help locating them have apparently returned home.

That Monday afternoon and evening dozens of people — including the Frontiersman’s own Facebook page — spread the news that the two girls, aged 12 and 13, were last seen in the Engstrom Road area at around 11 a.m., the day before.

On the morning of Feb. 26, friends and family posted a note — and Alaska State Troopers confirmed — that the girls had returned home safely.

Valley duo ready for

television debut

PALMER — Kelly Turney’s last year as a cop was a rough one. But that’s not what drove him to retire from the Palmer Police Department.

What led to Turney’s retirement after 14 years in law enforcement — 10 with the Palmer PD — is a new passion.

“Did I ever think I would find something I loved more than being a cop? No,” he said.

But he did. And that something is picking — digging through old things to find valuable stuff he can fix up and resell.

He and his girlfriend, Becky Green, plan to run Alaska Picker from the old Fort Green building on Mayflower just off the Palmer-Wasilla Highway. The plan is to move in Feb. 20 and open Feb. 27. The business also is the subject of a television show, called the “Alaska Picker: Junkyard Crazies,” for The National Geographic Channel.

Palmer-Wasilla Highway expansion beginning

PALMER — You may have noticed the surveyors on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway.

Turns out, they’re one of the first steps toward a widening of that road from two to three lanes.

“We’re expecting the last of the survey stuff here in the next couple of weeks and then we can take the first crack at figuring out what that’s going to look like,” said Jim Amundsen, who’s heading up the project for the state’s Department of Transportation.

The step after that is to take those preliminary drawings out to a series of public meetings to gather input.

“Our biggest concern is that we find out if somebody’s septic tank or water well, or who knows what else, is in the right of way,” Amundsen said.

The third lane will be a center turn lane. Amundsen said a lot of that work has already been done at each of the many recently installed stoplights. Each of those intersections was previously widened. The upcoming project will fill in the gaps.

Valley man jailed for sex with 15-year-old girl

WASILLA — A 44-year-old man is facing felony charges after Alaska State Troopers allege he had sex multiple times with a 15-year-old girl.

Stanley James Edenfield was a friend of the girl’s family. He would often stay over at her house or pick her up from school, troopers report. The girl told troopers the sex began just before Thanksgiving when she was watching a movie on a couch as her mother slept nearby.

There was just something about Mary

WASILLA — After decades of service to the Valley and the state of Alaska, local leader Mary Kvalheim, 68, was found dead at her E. Pullman Drive home of natural causes on Jan. 31.

Friends describe her as a woman of strong conviction who never stopped working.

Kvalheim’s long arms reached far into the community — from her 23 years of service at the Mat-Su Legislative Information Office, work on the Mat-Su Borough Planning Commission, two terms on the Mat-Su Borough Assembly, active with MEA elections, a run for Wasilla City Council and her years-long efforts to see the Valley Community for Recycling Solutions facility built. She also was a member of Toastmasters and an advocate for children, the homeless and the Mat-Su Borough Animal Care and Regulation Shelter.

March

State calls misconduct on coach

WASILLA — The Palmer Grand Jury indicted a longtime Mat-Su teacher and hockey coach last week on allegations he defrauded the Alaska Avalanche Junior A program’s booster club of about $48,000.

James “Jamie” Donald Smith Jr. was served with the indictment on March 1 and summonsed into Palmer Superior Court for a March 18 arraignment on five felony counts alleging he forged documents and defrauded the Alaska Avalanche fundraising arm, the Sprit Booster Club, from June 2008 through December 2009.

In all, Smith faces two charges of second-degree forgery of legal documents, first-degree theft greater than $25,000, scheme to defraud more than $10,000 and fraudulent use of an access device greater than $25,000, according to charging documents filed in state criminal superior court.

DUI for Wasilla

councilman

WASILLA — A city councilman was arrested March 7 on suspicion of drunken driving in the parking lot of a local bar.

Steven Lovell, 56, elected to the council in Wasilla in October 2012, was charged with a single count of driving under the influence of alcohol and jailed at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility.

Woman charged for having sex with teen

PALMER — A 45-year-old woman is being charged with allegedly sexually abusing a teenaged boy.

According to an affidavit Alaska State Trooper Investigator Shannon Fore filed in the case against Rischele Huntington, the situation first came to light Feb. 26 when the 17-year-old boy reported to a bishop at his church that he’d been having a sexual relationship with Huntington since May 2012.

State disposing of nearly 20 tons of Matanuska

Creamery cheese

PALMER — A brief five-year run for Matanuska Creamery was partially built on cheese futures. Now some 40,000 pounds of that cheddar has no future.

State Division of Agriculture officials spent part of the day Feb. 28 disposing of thousands of pounds of cheese that is unfit for human consumption, said Bob McFarland, the lawyer with the Attorney General’s Office who’s in charge of legal proceedings to liquidate the creamery’s assets after the dairy defaulted on nearly $900,000 in state-issued loans.

The remaining assets will be auctioned at 10 a.m., March 16 and the auctioneer — Denali Auction Co. — is “very optimistic” the equipment and vehicles could fetch between $400,000 and $500,000, McFarland said.

Troopers seize 405 pot plants, more arrests may come

WASILLA — A bust on March 14 netted Alaska State Troopers 405 marijuana plants and a gardener, but not the owner of the plants.

Not yet, anyway.

According to court documents penned by Ed Mooney, a Palmer police officer stationed with the Alaska State Troopers’ Mat-Su Drug Unit, a team of officers went to a residence on Captain Circle Thursday to serve a warrant for the grow operation.

When no one answered the door, troopers said they forced entry and located a male inside hiding under insulation about 20 minutes later.

That man was Cleve Clement, and he spoke to officers after being read his rights. But he was just helping tend the grow, he wasn’t the operation’s owner.

April

Palmer man killed in Parks Highway head-on

CANTWELL — Two men died April 7 when the Super Duty Ford trucks they were driving collided nearly head-on at Mile 186.6, Parks Highway.

Alaska State Troopers spokesperson Beth Ipsen said road and weather conditions contributed to the accident that killed David A. Kincaid, 57, of Palmer and Roy K. Ponder, 57, of Fairbanks. Emergency medical personnel at the scene declared the two deceased, she said.

Troopers responded to the call about 4 p.m. and that portion of the Parks Highway was closed until around 8 p.m. when one lane re-opened, Ipsen said.

Two female passengers in the trucks sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

Palmer man charged with molesting 2 girls

PALMER — A 32-year-old man was arrested April 3 on charges he sexually molested two young girls.

Jeremy Holland, of Palmer, allegedly molested one of the girls — now 13 years old — since she was in the fifth grade. The other girl reported being inappropriately touched recently and is currently 10 years old.

According to an affidavit Trooper Investigator Shannon Fore filed in the court case against Holland, the incidents came to light at 12:43 p.m., March 28.

Burglar ditches ankle monitor

PALMER — An accused burglar is again at large after homeowners made him briefly Facebook famous after they caught the break-in on a security camera.

“His behavior is very unpredictable so please stay aware and be safe!” reads an alert those same homeowners put out this week.

James Wolsterman, 30, and Dennis Pickens, 30, were arrested at 10:15 a.m., Jan. 23 at a traffic stop on Seldon Road.

Troopers had been looking for him for just a day at that point after the burglary was reported on Sulatna Bay.

Standoff ends in surrender

MEADOW LAKES — Alaska State Troopers had its first chance to showcase the usefulness of a new armored truck stationed in Palmer April 5 when a call to respond to an assault turned into a standoff with an armed man.

Troopers spokesperson Megan Peters said the incident began early that Friday when troopers responded to an assault reported at the residence and ended around 11:30 a.m., when the man was taken into custody.

Alaska State Troopers asked people to avoid the vicinity of Rainbow Road off Mile 49, Parks Highway for several hours while the standoff was resolved.

Veteran Talkeetna trooper among victims in rescue copter crash

TALKEETNA — A decorated state Department of Public Safety pilot, a veteran Valley Alaska State Trooper and a Talkeetna snowmachiner were killed late March 30 during an attempt to rescue an injured snowmachiner.

Mel Nading, 55, who had been the pilot of Helo-1, AST’s main rescue helicopter, since 2000, and Trooper Tage Toll, 40, had reportedly retrieved 56-year-old snowmachiner Carl Ober and were returning to rendezvous with medics at the Sunshine Tesoro station when Helo-1 went down, Commissioner of Public Safety Joseph Masters said at a April 1 press conference about the crash.

Donlon not guilty of

murder

PALMER — After three days of deliberation, a jury Tuesday afternoon chose to set Lisa Donlon free.

Shortly after the verdict in the month-long trial, Donlon’s attorneys, Zachary Renfro and Windy Hannaman, sat in front of a window in the Palmer Courthouse hallway looking relieved.

“I’m really happy,” Renfro said. “I think they did the right thing and I’m thankful that they gave her the chance of getting her family and her life back.”

May

Body found in lake is man missing since October

PALMER — Alaska State Troopers say they may have found the body of a man missing since October 2012.

According to a press release issued May 28, the body was found in a Palmer-area lake on May 24.

“The deceased was a noted to be a Caucasian male. Preliminary indications are consistent with it being the missing person Shanon Lovell, 30 of Anchorage,” according to the press release.

Troopers said they’re not positive it is Lovell but clothing found with the body and a tattoo strongly indicated it was him.

Lovell, son of Wasilla City Councilman Steve Lovell, was last seen alive Oct. 5, 2012, leaving a party on McLeod Road in Palmer.

Big-game guide faces 6 felonies

WASILLA — A Wasilla-based big-game guide has been indicted by an Anchorage grand jury for allegedly substituting legal horns for an illegal Dall sheep taken during a 2009 hunt.

Chad A. Reel, owner of Reel Alaska Trophy Hunts, is accused of felonies for falsifying a business record, tampering with physical evidence and four counts of perjury in the May 7 indictment, according to the state Attorney General’s Office.

Reel’s client in the hunt, Danny J. Davis of Priest Lake, Idaho, was also indicted for two counts of perjury.

MSBSD awaits plea to make decision on teacher

PALMER — It remains to be seen whether a longtime Mat-Su Borough School District teacher and coach will keep his job after pleading guilty to felony charges last week of defrauding a local junior hockey booster club of more than $48,000.

A plea agreement is in the works for James “Jamie” Donald Smith Jr., said Lisa Kelley, an assistant attorney general with the state Office of Special Prosecutions. It’s that agreement that vacated a trial for Smith that had been scheduled to start this week. Smith instead is expected to change his plea and be sentenced.

Smell, electric bill led to drug arrest of Valley man

PALMER — Court filings reveal it was an inflated electrical bill and a traffic stop that led Alaska State Troopers to search a Wasilla-area home May 10, coming up with an estimated 10 pounds of marijuana.

According to filings Investigator Curtis Vik made in the case against Gregory Tovsen, Vik and Sgt. Mike Ingram went to Tovsen’s house on Sands Drive at 11:31 a.m.

Troopers told Tovsen his electric bill was what led them to suspect he was operating a large-scale commercial marijuana grow operation on his property.

Students resuscitate peer whose heart quit

PALMER — Norman Knaak, 55, thought it was just nervous stress when he began to feel a woozy wave crash over his body during a final presentation in one of his nursing classes at Mat-Su College May 2.

In the intensive care unit at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center on May 3, Knaak said he began to feel like he’d just given blood, then he tipped forward and fell onto the floor during his final presentation.

His classmates rushed to his side and checked for a pulse and breathing. Knaak said he was told that he had no pulse, but was struggling to breathe.

In medical terms, he experienced “sudden cardiac death with witnessed ventricular fibrillation arrest,” Mat-Su Regional Marketing Manager Nicole Caldarea said, reading from his chart.

Surviving a widow-maker heart attack like the one that took down Knaak is unusual — even in a hospital, she said.

Caldarea said a lot of credit goes to students in the nursing and paramedic programs at Mat-Su College who sprang into action, started CPR and used an oxygen bag to keep his blood moving.

June

Child, 2, suffers

multiple injuries

PALMER — Alaska State Troopers report a 37-year-old man was arrested May 30, charged with assaulting a 2-year-old girl.

According to an affidavit investigator Sherry Ferno wrote, the case was reported at 4:06 p.m., Thursday by the Office of Children’s Services, which was making arrangements to bring the girl and her siblings to The Children’s Place for interviews.

Ferno writes that Thomas Youngblood on May 29, upset the girl had wet her pants, allegedly hit her three times hard enough to knock her to the ground.

The girl’s siblings told troopers that Youngblood had hit them before, including the 2-year-old. One spanking was bad enough to draw blood. Another time he broke a hairbrush over the girl’s head.

17-year-old held on rape charges

PALMER — A 17-year-old boy is facing sexual assault charges in adult court after Alaska State Troopers say he raped a 15-year-old girl while she babysat for a family friend.

According to an affidavit Alaska State Trooper Toma Caldarea filed in court, Nathaniel Lebaron, 17, was in Alaska to visit his brother from Mexico. He was in Alaska visiting his brother when the rape allegations were made May 7.

Troopers say the girl was babysitting for Lebaron’s brother on May 5 when Lebaron arrived at the house. They kissed, which she told troopers she thought was OK.

Later, he asked her upstairs and that, she said, is when he raped her. She told him “no” more than once, but he continued, only stopping when his brother and sister-in-law arrived home.

Troopers bust methamphetamine lab in Palmer

PALMER — Alaska State Troopers arrested two people Sunday, charging them with cooking methamphetamines and probation violations.

According to an AST press statement, the home in Palmer — the release doesn’t get more specific — was searched after patrol troopers noticed signs of a lab. Those troopers called in the Statewide Drug Enforcement Unit, which in turn obtained a warrant to search the home.

Investigation identified and arrested two suspects, Carleigh Kaye Fox, 24, of Palmer and Derek Lyle Smith, 38, of Palmer, troopers said.

Borough bans new ‘Felony Flats’

developments

PALMER — With a final amendment targeted at Felony Flats, the Mat-Su Borough Assembly has put to rest months of work on its rules for rental or “multi-family” housing.

The final tweak was to limit the number of rentals classified as “substandard housing units” — cabins without running water, a foundation or electricity — to no more than two, and only one per 40,000 square feet of a lot.

People in Big Lake and Willow were worried that the so-called Felony Flats along the Parks Highway would move to neighborhoods in their communities.

Felony Flats is the colloquial name for the Mile 49 Cabins, some of the cheapest housing available in the Valley, that line the highway near its intersection with Pittman Road. The cabins are being moved now to make way for an expansion of the highway.

Trial call set for accused teacher and coach

PALMER — A longtime Mat-Su Borough School District teacher and coach intends to prove he didn’t defraud the Alaska Avalanche Junior A hockey program’s booster club of more than $48,000.

That’s what Palmer-based attorney Josh Fannon said after a Friday change of plea and sentencing hearing was vacated. Fannon agreed to represent the Mat-Su Career and Technical High School teacher and Colony High head hockey coach late Thursday, taking the case from Smith’s former attorney, Stevan Elliott.