Plettner files for restraining order against dog musher Straub

TRACY KALYTIAK/Frontiersman staff

PALMER - A veteran Iditarod competitor on Thursday filed a request in Palmer District Court for a restraining order against former Iditarod competitor David Straub, accusing him of hitting her right cheek with his fist at last weekend's Knik 200 sled dog race.

On Thursday, District Judge Gregory Heath granted an order barring Straub, 44, of Willow, from contacting Lynda Plettner, 54, of Big Lake, in any way until a hearing on Plettner's request for a long-term protective order takes place at 1:30 p.m., Feb. 16. Until then, Straub may not approach Plettner in any way or go within a mile of her residence.

Troopers at the Knik 200 race did not arrest Straub and assault charges were not filed.

"Two troopers interviewed both parties and several witnesses," Alaska State Troopers spokesman Greg Wilkinson said Friday. "They determined that an assault most likely did not occur. That's what they got at the scene and that's why nothing happened."

Wilkinson said the troopers advised Plettner to file a request for a restraining order.

Straub, in a phone interview, acknowledged a confrontation at the Knik 200, but said Plettner was the aggressor.

Plettner said in her civil action that she is a witness against Straub in an animal-cruelty case Mat-Su Borough Animal Care and Regulation brought against him last year, in which the borough seized 28 of Straub's dogs. He faces 17 animal cruelty infraction charges, which, because they were brought by the borough, are classified as violations rather than criminal offenses.

Plettner testified in proceedings that ended in the revocation of Straub's kennel license and was a member of the mushing community who came out in support of the borough's decision to seize Straub's dogs.

The next proceeding in the animal-cruelty case has been set for March, because a Jan. 26 hearing was postponed.

In her complaint, Plettner said Straub "grabbed me by the front of the jacket and struck me in the face with his fist, in public at the Knik 200 sled dog race."

Plettner said others saw Straub hit her, including a man from Italy she is training, his female friend, Plettner's dog handler and the dog handler's boyfriend.

"I see the man, David, hit her in the face, my friend Lynda, in the Knik 200," Maria Rita Menichelli said Friday. Menichelli was with Plettner and saw the incident.

Straub gave his own version of the confrontation.

"She came over and assaulted me at Knik Lake," he said Friday. "I just recently had a bi-level fusion surgery on my neck after falling off the roof of the Wasilla Senior Center. She ran over and grabbed hold of me."

Menichelli said Plettner did not hit Straub.

Plettner, in a Thursday phone interview, said her problems with Straub began after she bought a sled from him for $300 and then refused to sell it back to him on a $5-a-week payment schedule he'd requested.

She said Straub began acting hostile to her in 1999, at the start of the Iditarod that year. The alleged Jan. 22 confrontation convinced Plettner she had to do something.

"I decided enough is enough," she said Thursday. "There's the Willow Winter Carnival, and a mushers' meeting tonight. I took [the restraining order request] over today because I have had enough."

Plettner, in her complaint, claimed the Jan. 22 incident was not the first clash she has had with Straub, who, she said, worked for her for less than a month in 1995 or 1996.

On Nov. 23, Plettner said, she held a press event at her home, which is located across from Houston High School.

"The uninvited respondent parked at my driveway and attempted to photograph guests and get them to talk to him through a microphone," Plettner's complaint alleged. "I called troopers that day to get his [harassing] my guests stopped. Troopers advised me to file this order."

Plettner claimed Straub telephoned her that day "at least a dozen times pretending to be somebody else, ignoring my repeated requests for him to stop calling me."

Straub said someone from Channel 11 had asked to meet him that day at the entrance of Houston High School for an interview about his dogs.

"We were parked on the road minding our own business and she tried to reach in over the driver to try to assault me," Straub said. "I have it on a cassette recorder. I'm going to file that as evidence that she is constantly harassing me."

Plettner, in her request for the order, also stated that during the 2004 Iditarod Sled Dog Race, Straub yelled, "F—k you" at her as she passed with her dog team.

"Over the last six years I can recall at least ten occasions where the respondent has approached me in public, got in my space, and said "F—k you" to me making me uncomfortable and fearful," Plettner stated in her complaint. "I have repeatedly told him to leave me alone, to no effect."

Plettner said Straub's behavior alarms her because she sees an escalation of hostility.

"The respondent has absolutely demonstrated a pattern of invading my space more and more aggressively," she stated in the complaint. "First it was 'F—k you's' Then it was phone calls, then it was actual, personal physical violence in public. I am afraid of the next step… ."

Plettner has asked for Straub not only to stay away from her, but to keep away from her children, renters, clients and any helpers residing on her property as well.

She also wants Straub barred from dog-sled racing events, "especially Iditarod & Iditarod banquet & meetings," as well as from Wal-Mart and other local stores where she claims he has harassed her.

Straub said he did not ever work for Plettner. He said he came up to Alaska to run sled dogs and work as a carpenter - not to harass Plettner.

"I'm constantly in the media. All I want is to be left alone," he said. "I've been more harassed in Alaska than in the 36 years I lived in Kansas City. I hold the fastest last-place finish in the Iditarod - maybe she's jealous I hold a record finish in the Iditarod. I'm just

tired of it."