Troopers busy over long holiday weekend

PALMER — Alaska State Troopers stayed busy over the Fourth of July weekend handing out boating tickets and arresting drunken drivers.

“The Alaska State Troopers conducted enhanced enforcement efforts to ensure the safety of Alaskans while they celebrated the Independence Day holiday and following weekend. Local law enforcement agencies also participated in the enforcement efforts on the days surrounding the holiday,” according to an AST press release announcing the results of those enforcement efforts.

The statistics were provided on a statewide basis. Troopers say, between July 3 and July 7, they netted 18 misdemeanor and two felony drunken driving arrests, 16 drivers charged with driving on a suspended license and 132 people pulled over after they were reported to be possibly driving drunk, but who turned out not to be.

Though the statistics weren’t broken out by region, AST reports from the long weekend seem to indicate the Valley accounted for nine of those arrests — nearly half of the drunken drivers troopers busted. Here they are in order:

• 6:30 p.m., on the Fourth on Talkeetna Spur Road.

• 12:48 a.m., Friday at the corner of Parks and Palmer-Wasilla highways. The driver was underage and so was his passenger, who also had a fake I.D.

• 1:12 a.m., Friday at Parks Highway and Main Street. The driver was stopped for an equipment violation.

• 3:28 a.m., Friday on the Matanuska Bridge of the Old Glenn Highway. The driver was stopped for not staying in his lane and also picked up a weapons misconduct charge for possessing a gun while drunk.

• 12:32 a.m., Saturday on Talkeetna Spur Road near Birch Creek Boulevard. The driver crossed the centerline and was stopped.

• 6:49 p.m., Saturday at Birch Harbor Road and Binnacle Drive. A man in a four-wheeler hit a sedan, landing himself in the hospital charged with reckless driving, child endangerment and violating a license limitation in addition to drunken driving.

• 9:35 p.m., Saturday on Hornung Road in Palmer. A member of the public reported a man drove drunk to an area home. He was arrested.

• 12:36 a.m., Sunday at Seward Meridian Parkway and Meridian Loop. The driver was stopped for speeding.

• 5:26 a.m., Sunday in the Jim Creek area. The driver in this case wound up charged with weapons misconduct, assault, reckless endangerment and refusing a chemical test in addition to drunken driving.

Wasilla police reported no DUI arrests last Wednesday or Thursday. Information for later in the week wasn’t available as of press time. Palmer police likewise reported no DUI arrests on either of those days.

In addition to the blue-shirt patrol troopers watching the roads, brown-shirt wildlife troopers were plying the waters of area lakes.

Three tickets for not registering a powerboat were handed out Thursday and Friday on Big Lake and a fourth ticket was issued on Saturday on Nancy Lake.

Troopers also cited boaters who didn’t have enough life jackets on board. On Thursday and Friday, they handed out two of these on Big Lake. And Nancy Lake drew one more ticket on Saturday.

Last but not least, wildlife troopers cited two people for fishing violations on Saturday. One was on the Little Susitna River, the other on Big Lake.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.