Top 12 of 2012

Mat-Su — Here are the last six of the 12 top stories in a list published in the Frontiersman in 2012. The first six stories were published Dec. 31. For full versions of these stories, visit frontiersman.com.

• No. 7 — Former Palmer man arrested for murder

• No. 8 — Matanuska River claims house

• No. 9 — Driver named in collision with coffee stand

• No. 10 — Valley teacher wanted in Idaho

• No. 11 — Flash flood strikes Wasilla neighborhood

• No. 12 — Wind whips up fire, threatens Palmer subdivision

No. 7

Former Palmer man arrested for murder

Feb. 28

PALMER — A local man with a lengthy petty criminal history in the Valley could face the death penalty after being arrested for allegedly murdering a California man.

According to the Merced Police Department in Merced, Calif., Evan James Lovett first came to police attention at 11:25 p.m., Feb. 20 after dispatchers received a call from a local motel.

The caller said Lovett was shirtless, covered in blood and asking for help because he’d just killed someone, and was telling people he was headed to Mexico.

A half hour later, police in Merced got a call about an accident. A gray Chrysler involved in the crash, driverless when police arrived, matched the description of the one Lovett was seen driving away from the motel. Lovett was found nearby, hiding in some bushes.

“Officers discovered that Lovett had blood on his pants and boots, but he did not appear to have any injuries from the collision. Lovett did not say anything to the officers regarding him killing someone,” according to the Merced Police.

Police ran the registration of the Chrysler and went to the home of its owner. They found him dead and bloody in his bedroom.

No. 8

Teetering house swept away, Little Su encroaching

Aug. 28

BUTTE — After dangling like a loose tooth in the maw of the Matanuska River for more than a week, a cabin at Mile 15, Glenn Highway washed into the river around 11:30 a.m., Monday.

When it left its precarious perch along the eroding riverbank, the cabin belonged to Chris and Daina Mirsch Wenner. The family evacuated the property at 1150 N. Old Glenn Hwy. July 23 when the river began chewing through their land.

“We’ve lost 10 to 15 feet just overnight,” Mirsch-Wenner said July 23. “They were out there last night and trees were falling along the shore.”

For now, the remains of the cabin have come to rest off the backside of Pat Huddleson’s property at Mile 14, Old Glenn Highway. A gravel bar near her house also is where a septic tank thought to have washed from the Wenner property earlier this month came to rest.

“The cabin is right there on the sandbar where she was reporting the septic tanks,” said Casey Cook, Mat-Su Borough Emergency Manager.

Huddleson said since this round of destruction began an airboat, septic tank and now a cabin have washed ashore near her house along the river.

No. 9

3 injured in crash at Miller's Express on Bogard Road

April 24

PALMER — A briefly airborne pickup on Bogard Road demolished one corner of an ice cream and coffee stand Monday afternoon.

On scene, the pickup lay on its roof amid the wreckage of the southwest corner of the stand, which most people know as Miller’s Express. Officials on scene said that the driver of the pickup and two of Miller’s employees were transported to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center.

Central Mat-Su Fire Chief James Steele said the rescue was straightforward.

“We took both doors off and were able to access her,” he said.

He pointed out a green Mitsubishi Lancer yards from the Bogard/Seldon intersection with a broken rear bumper. Steele said the pickup apparently hit the vehicle before it impacted Miller’s Express. Troopers say the driver of the Mitsubishi was a 17-year-old Palmer boy.

No. 10

Valley substitute teacher wanted in Idaho

Dec. 11

MAT-SU — A Mat-Su Borough School District substitute teacher was arrested Dec. 6 over allegations he sexually abused a minor in Idaho.

Tyler Fishback, 18, was arrested at 2:30 p.m.

“The warrant was stemming from two charges of lewd conduct with a child under 16 year of age, felonies in the state of Idaho,” Alaska State Troopers say in a press release about the arrest. “Fishback is being held in Mat-Su Youth Facility on a $50,000 bail pending his extradition back to Idaho.”

AST spokeswoman Megan Peters said Fishback was jailed at the youth facility because he was 17 when the crimes allegedly happened. She said the facility can hold people who are as old as 19 if they committed crimes as minors.

No. 11

Flash flood strikes Wasilla neighborhood

Sept. 21

WASILLA — When the 911 call came in — waist-deep water in homes on Marilyn Circle — first responders were skeptical.

“There isn’t really a creek nearby,” said Rich Boothby with Central Mat-Su Fire Department.

Actually, there might be, but not anything big enough to have a name or to cause that kind of trouble. Responders arrived and, sure enough, found themselves in waist-deep water. Soon after, the water rose two more feet.

“It was the most bizarre thing I’ve seen in a long time,” Boothby said.

No. 12

Wind whips up fire, threatens Palmer subdivision

Nov. 29

PALMER — A grass fire sparked by an enclosed trailed that flipped in strong winds was driven by gusts to 60 mph toward the Cedar Hills subdivision, along the Glenn Highway outside of Palmer.

Sparks from the trailer hit the road touched off a grass fire, which spread into nearby trees, threatening homes, closing roads and darkening the skies north of town Nov. 29.

At least one Mat-Su Borough firefighter was injured, but although outbuildings such as tool sheds and green houses burned, no homes were destroyed.

Surrounded by flames on three sides, Cedar Hills subdivision residents were evacuated and directed to the Palmer Senior Center, where the Red Cross set up a shelter.

Rick Allen said the fire was burning just across the street from his home. His neighbor, Officer Bill Rapson of the Wasilla Police Department, was there evacuating people when Allen arrived. Rapson told Allen he could go inside, but to be quick.

“It’s a pretty surreal,” Allen said. “If you have five minutes to grab something, what do you grab?”

He grabbed warm clothes for his kids, medications and the family dog before heading to his parents’ house.

The Mat-Su Borough reported that 40 of Allen’s neighbors sought shelter at the Palmer Senior Center, some of them with pets the borough put up in crates in the center’s garage.