PEEK AT THE PAST: June 23, 1982

Here’s what made news in the Mat-Su 27 years ago, from the June 23, 1982, issue of The Frontiersman:

Contractor guilty of bribery

It took a Valley jury five hours of deliberation to come back with a verdict of guilty to convict Joe Gabrielle of two counts of bribery and one of extortion.

The contractor was arrested in March after Alaska State Troopers taped a conversation with him and a Chugiak contractor who was wearing a concealed microphone. During that conversation, Gabrielle received $2,000 in exchange for his word that he would give false testimony on behalf of the other contractor in a civil lawsuit.

Gabrielle’s company was hired to complete work on a project for the Iditarod School District that the other contractor was involved with. Gabrielle then contacted the contractor and proposed that he “bury” records that would have incriminated the other contractor.

“Just between you and me, … I don’t know you man,” Gabrielle says on the tape played for jurors during the trial. “After today, I don’t know you, OK?”

Assembly denies lease

The Mat-Su Borough Assembly voted 6-0 to instruct staff to find an alternate location for a proposed camp for deaf and physically disabled people.

A sign language interpreter signed the message to several in the audience unable to hear the discussion leading up to the vote, which told the Silent Environmental Education Kamp (SEEK) organization it could not lease 20 acres of borough land near Mat-Su Community College. The area is used frequently by residents of Palmer and Wasilla and is too close to the college campus, the assembly said.

A representative of SEEK said the vote was disappointing.

“In essence, I feel the borough is not supportive of programs for the disabled,” he said, adding “… there was not other feasible land site.”

The reaction was also surprising, he said, because “in the old days, the residents there would have been out with picks and shovels helping build that road to the camp. It’s very, very said.”

Tragedy at Big Lake

A story on page 2 of the Frontiersman reports that a young girl left unattended drowned at Big Lake.

A 15-month-old child was found floating at the end of a dock and efforts to reviver her failed, the report says. The child’s mother, who is from Anchorage, left the toddler in a cabin and when she returned to check on her, the child was missing, Alaska State Troopers report.

A group of people searching for the girl found her floating in the water. Neighbors administered CPR, as did Valley Hospital staff.

It cost what?

According to advertisements, in June 1982 you could:

• Buy of new blackwall tires for $27.53 each.

• Fly round-trip from Anchorage to Orlando, Fla., for $551.

• Have a metal shop building constructed on your lot for $7,995 to $19,695.

• Buy a Honda three-wheeler for $1,050.

• Buy a whole half beef for $1.98 a pound (about 220-250 pounds).