Peek at the Past

Here’s what made the news in the Dec. 20, 1989, edition of the Mat-Su Frontiersman:

Buses fail safety check

Schools in the Mat-Su Valley were unexpectedly closed after Alaska State Troopers found safety and maintenance problems in dozens of school buses. Troopers said the biggest problems found were too much wear on brake pads and drums, worn parts on the steering mechanism of one bus, broken suspension springs, and cracks and signs of metal fatigue in bus engine mounts. Superintendent Ell Sorenson said the maintenance discrepancies were not putting students’ lives in danger. “That’s a tight judgment call; I don’t ever want to visit the life-threatening line. Our concerns stopped short of that.” As far as resolving the issue, Sorensen added there would be a “continuing inspection” before school resumes in January and the final sign-off will be left to the Alaska State Troopers.

Troopers confiscate pot plants from home

Marijuana with a potential street value of more than $4 million was seized in Willow last week in a bust narcotics officers are calling one of the largest ever from a single home in the Valley. Mike Stickler, head of the Alaska State Troopers’ Mat-Su Narcotics Unit, said 2,006 live marijuana plants were found growing inside the residence near Mile 74 of the Parks Highway. “The entire house was a garden,” Stickler said. A 6-foot by 8-foot cubbyhole was left as a living area for the plants’ caretaker and included a couch, hotplate, cellular phone and three television monitors for surveillance cameras. Stickler explained that the bust was the result of joint efforts between his unit and the Palmer Police Department.

Valley mail slowed by ash

It may well be that neither rain nor snow nor dark of night will stay the post office from its appointed rounds; but nobody ever said anything about volcanic ash. A recent eruption of Mount Redoubt volcano has seriously disrupted mail service to and from Alaska. U.S. Postal Service spokeswoman Nancy Cain Schmitt said 130,000 pounds of mail destined for Alaska was backed up at the Seattle airport.

The jets usually commissioned to carry the mail are unable to fly because the gritty, abrasive ash generated by the volcano can clog jet turbine engines. In an effort to keep mail moving during the busiest time of the year, the post office has taken a leap backward in technology and chartered a fleet of DC-6 planes – piston-driven propeller aircraft. Schmitt explained, “Sometimes you go back to the old ways, and it works.”