Top 12 of 2012

MAT-SU — Here are the first six of the 12 top stories published in the Frontiersman in 2012. The last six stories will be published Jan. 1. For full versions of these stories, visit frontiersman.com.

• No. 1 — WHS sculpture covered after concerns voiced

• No. 2 — Restaurant chain pulls franchise rights for popular eateries

• No. 3 — Michael Plummer died protecting family

• No. 4 — Wasilla man accused of killing infant

• No. 5 — Details reveal bizarre conflict

• No. 6 — Moose attack hospitalizes Willow man

No. 1

Under wraps: WHS sculpture covered after concerns voiced

Feb. 17

WASILLA — Two days after a Percent for Art sculpture called “Warrior Within” was installed in front of Wasilla High School Jan. 29, Principal Amy Spargo ordered the 12.5-foot-high sculpture covered, after some students and parents voiced concerns that the work resembled female genitalia.

Spargo had the artwork uncovered in time for parent teacher conferences so parents could see the piece and weigh in.

Though school officials said they had considered relocating the Warrior Within, after an educational forum at the school Feb. 24, the controversy died down and the sculpture remains in place near the main entrance to the high school.

The story was pickup by other media from around the state, nation and as far away as Britain.

The most interesting request to reuse the Frontiersman’s photo of the sculpture came from Hustler Magazine publisher Larry Flynt.

“It looks like a shield to me,” Flynt said. “Maybe the people of Wasilla should subscribe to Hustler if they think that’s what a vagina looks like.”

No. 2

Restaurant chain pulls franchise rights for popular eateries

March 6

WASILLA — Several hundred Alaskans are out of work and local businesses are left holding the bag on thousands of dollars in unpaid bills after Chili’s Grill and Bar’s parent company Brinker Investments revoked Duke Investments’ three Alaska franchises.

The Wasilla store closed March 2 and its sister stores in Fairbanks and Anchorage closed March 4.

The closures came swiftly after a mid-February court filing by Brinker International seeking to terminate the franchisee rights previously held by Duke Investments.

No. 3

Fiancée: Michael Plummer died protecting family

March 13

KNIK — A father and son were charged with murder stemming from a home invasion off Knik-Goose Bay Road in March.

Alaska State Troopers arrested Andrew Johnson, 38, on charges of murder in the second-degree and burglary. His son, Spencer Johnson, 19, was arrested March 9 after turning himself in at the Anchorage Federal Courthouse on first-degree murder charges.

March 15, a Palmer Grand Jury indicted Spencer Johnson on additional charges, including two counts of second-degree murder, manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and two counts of first-degree burglary.

The charges resulted from an incident at the home of Steve and Evelyn Smith March 7 when three men, including Andrew and Spencer Johnson, burst into the residence.

Michael Plummer, 43, lived at the Smith home with fiancée Jessica Smith, 27, and her daughters Ivy, 6, and Violet, 1. He was headed to bed when the three men forced their way inside.

No. 4

Wasilla man accused of killing infant

June 19

WASILLA — A former Wasilla High School student was charged in June and pleaded guilty Dec. 11 in Colorado to a charge of child abuse resulting in death, a class-2 felony.

Justin Lee Keel, 26, — a 2004 Wasilla High graduate — will face a range of 24 to 36 years in prison when he is sentenced Feb.15, 2013.

As part of plea agreement with the Mesa County District Attorney’s Office, Keel admitted he inflicted the blunt force trauma to the stomach of 19-month-old Owen Reak, which caused intestinal rupture and fatal internal bleeding resulting in his death April 11.

Keel was arrested May 24 in Grants, N.M., on a warrant alleging one count of child abuse resulting in death, and was held in Grand Junction, Colo., on $1,001,000 bond.

Charges against Keel were upgraded in October to include first-degree murder, but the murder charge was dropped as part of Keel’s Dec. 11 agreement to plead guilty to lesser felony charges.

No. 5

Details reveal bizarre conflict

July 24

WASILLA — A bizarre standoff with a local homeless man caused a stir along the Park Highway, at the north end of town the afternoon of July 16.

According to a sworn statement Officer Rick Manrique of the Wasilla Police Department said he recognized Robert Compton when he responded to a call about a man threatening people with a knife.

The man reportedly “had become enraged for no apparent reason and spit on (his) vehicle, pulling out a large sheath knife and screaming at (the man) and his children as he approached the truck in a threatening manner,” Manrique wrote in a sworn statement.

From the description, Manrique wrote that the person “sounded like Robert Compton, a homeless subject known to me from numerous contacts.”

The officer found Compton walking along the Parks Highway near the Little Miller’s ice cream shop and ordered him to drop the knife. Instead, Compton pulled the knife and threatened to kill Manrique, he wrote.

Manrique called for backup and multiple other Wasilla officers responded and followed Compton three quarters of a mile up the Parks Highway, guns drawn.

“Compton would demand to be shot and lunged at officers several times,” Manrique says in his statement. “Compton was Tasered approximately 15 times, Tasered with 12-guage XREP rounds which he tore out with no effect. Compton was hit with five 12-guage bean bag rounds as well with no apparent effect.”

Compton eventually gave up, tossing down the knife and submitting to an arrest on five assault charges for threatening police and two assault counts for initially threatening the man and his son.

No. 6

Moose attack hospitalizes Willow man

Jan. 20

WILLOW — Other media outlets in Alaska, the U.S., and around the world picked up the story we posted Jan. 20, 2012, on Frontiersman.com about a moose attack involving Alaska old timers George Murphy and Dorothea Taylor.

By the time we updated the story for readers a few days later, an online search for “Alaska Dorothea Taylor” turned up more than a dozen pages of links, most from news outlets around the world that picked up the story of the octogenarian couple from Willow and their near-fatal moose encounter.

“Media from all over called,” said George Murphy, 82. “But they aren’t interested in talking to me, they just want to talk to Dorothea.”

The day after Murphy, who sustained seven broken ribs and gashes to his head and leg, was released from Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage, friends gathered at the Eagles Quest Lodge in Willow to celebrate Taylor’s 86th birthday and Murphy’s recovery from the moose attack that nearly ended his life.

“They told us some friends just wanted to meet us for coffee,” Taylor said. “But when we got there, the whole parking lot was plugged up. I’ve never seen so many people there.”