Shoppers 'swing' into season at Wal-Mart

WASILLA — Black Friday took a swing toward Boxing Day at Wal-Mart when a scuffle broke out between two men over a $60 ping-pong table.

Wasilla Wal-Mart manager Terry Voorhees said that, overall, Black Friday was very successful and the ping-pong table incident was more a case of a few bad apples than anything.

“Wasilla police were called and both parties left the store,” he said. “It was very peacefully taken care of.”

Facebook posts to the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman page allege shoppers at the store Friday also scuffled over vacuums and food storage containers.

Voorhees said the store had sales starting at 10 p.m., midnight and 8 a.m., which helped to spread out shoppers.

“I think we had everyone in Wasilla here,” he said. “People get excited about Christmas shopping. It was a good event.”

Pam Papasodora said her 17-year-old son, Nicholas Abernathy, was waiting in line for the 10 p.m. sale to buy a ping-pong table when he wound up in an altercation with an adult male and the police were called.

She said she wasn’t at the store with her son, but by the time she got there, the police were already on scene.

Papasodora said her son lost a fingernail and sustained a concussion during the fray.

She said when she asked why no charges were filed, police told her witness statements were conflicted about which man had started the fight. But she said witnesses told her later that her son did not instigate the fight.

“Everywhere I went yesterday, people were talking about it,” Papasodora said.

Papasodora said she is interested in hearing from anyone who witnessed the altercation. Contact her at wasillawild@yahoo.com.

Contact Heather A. Resz at heather.resz@frontiersman.com or 352-2268.