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All the dead voters will have to wait for justice until after the primary

THE ANCHORAGE DAILY PLANET

It is tough being a dead person in Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux’s House District 15. They are left to wonder: Are we supposed to vote? Are we not? They never know.

For now, it looks as if they are back in the game.

LeDoux, who stands accused of election fraud, was saved by the pandemic. She will not be in court on those charges until after Alaska’s Aug. 18 statewide primary because the court system delayed, for a second time, her pre-indictment hearing, this time until Aug. 20.

That is great news for the dead folks.

LeDoux was charged in March with one felony and nine misdemeanors relating to her 2014 and 2018 campaigns for office.

A staunch Republicrat and the District 15 incumbent, LeDoux was absolutely gobsmacked after election officials in the 2018 District 15 GOP primary election found problems. They discovered seven absentee ballot applications — seven — from dead people, not to mention absentee votes cast in the names of at least two very much alive people who said they had not voted.

In all, officials yanked 26 ballots because of residency or legitimacy questions. All those ballots, it is worth noting, were for LeDoux.

A two-year probe by the state culminated with charges against LeDoux, her former chief of staff Lisa Simpson, and Simpson’s son, Caden Vaught. None of the current charges appears to involve the dead voters.

LeDoux is facing a Republican challenger, David Nelson, in the Aug. 18 primary.

All of that is good news for the dead folks in LeDoux’s district who are just dying to vote.

Read more at the Anchorage Daily Planet.

Berkowitz cracks down on masks, not rampant crime

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By DAN FAGAN

There’s a theory floating around by some infectious disease specialists that COVID-19 is losing its virulence, potency, and ability to kill.

The media doesn’t typically like good news so many of you may not have heard of this. Media types may be reluctant to report on such things, worried you’ll stop wearing a mask, stop distancing, or stay home. They’d prefer you remain in a fetal position in the corner of your bedroom shivering and shaking, terrified the coronavirus will get you next.

Most media types lean left. If we know anything about leftists it is this: they don’t trust you and have appointed themselves your protector and are constantly trying to save you from yourself. Google “Anchorage Rep. Jennifer Johnson, dividend check, and Bush, Alaska.” You’ll see what I mean.  

The media fearmongers are trying to get us all worked up about the increase in COVID-19 positive tests. 194,190 tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, June 16. That was the highest number of positive tests in one day so far. 

But it’s important to note that also on that Friday, the COVID-19 daily death rate was close to half of what it was globally at its peak two and a half months ago on April 17. On that day, the virus killed 8,470 souls in one day. The global daily death toll average has decreased considerably since its peak on April 17.

We’ve gone from a one-day high death toll of 8,470 to Friday’s number of 4,893. And that number has consistently dropped over the past two and a half months despite positive tests steadily increasing.  

We still have too many fatalities and each one is a tragedy. But the important point is many more are testing positive and yet the daily death toll continues to plummet. I’m sure you haven’t read that in the Anchorage Daily News or heard it reported on KTUU.  

[Read: Follow the science? Anchorage COVID-19 rate is stunningly low]

We are also seeing the declining global COVID-19 daily death rate in America even though positive tests continue to rise here too. On Friday, a whopping 47,341 people tested positive for the coronavirus in America. That was the highest total in our country of positive tests so far. Compare Friday’s 47,341 positive tests to June 1, when 22,420 tested positive in one day. Positive tests have doubled this month thus far. 

The daily COVID-19 death toll peaked on April 21, when 2,749 died of the virus that day in America. On Friday, the day the U.S. saw the most positive tests to date, the CDC reported 663 deaths from the coronavirus. That’s a 75% decrease in the COVID-19 daily death toll from its peak on April 21 in the U.S. 

Some may argue the increase in positive tests may eventually lead to the daily death toll going back up. But Italian Dr. Alberto Zangrillo says the virus’ potency has diminished compared to when it hit his hospital earlier this year. Zangrillo was right in the middle of the coronavirus outbreak when it overwhelmed hospitals in Milan, Italy. 

“In reality, the virus clinically no longer exists in Italy,” Zangrillo told Reuters News service. “The swabs that were performed over the last 10-days showed a viral load in quantitative terms that was absolutely infinitesimal compared to the ones carried out a month or two months ago.” 

Dr. Matteo Bassetti, a Yale graduate and one of Italy’s most prominent infectious disease experts agrees with Zangrillo.  Bassetti described the virus as an aggressive tiger dwindled into a wild cat.

“Even elderly patients, aged 80 or 90, are now sitting up in bed and they are breathing without help. The same patients would have died in two or three days before, “said Bassetti. 

14 Alaskans have lost their lives to the coronavirus, four out of state. All four of the ones who died out of state were residents living out of state in long-term care facilities.

So, that means Alaska has had one in-state COVID-19 death since May 9, which is 49-days ago. The last COVID-19 fatality was a patient at the Providence Transitional Care Center in East Anchorage. Close to 40% of all U.S. COVID-19 related deaths came from nursing home and long-term health care facilities. 

As of this writing, 883 Alaskans have tested positive for the virus. 348 patients are still active, with the rest recovered.

As of Sunday there were a total of 7 people hospitalized in Anchorage hospitals suspected of having the coronavirus. Anchorage has 1,100 hospital beds with close to 40% empty. The city has 121 ICU beds, more than half are empty.  (These numbers are dynamic, changing daily).

Meanwhile, Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz is using the full force of government to require you to wear a mask.

This, from a leader with the propensity to target drivers going three miles over the speed limit and soak them with costly tickets. He’s the same guy who gives a pass to the drug- and alcohol-addicted to trespass, defecate, publicly fornicate, and steal to support their habits. Berkowitz also does not seem interested in arresting the drug dealers who prey on the ever-growing addicted living on the streets of Anchorage. 

[Read: Descent into depravity, as Summer of Love, lawlessness comes to Anchorage]

Berkowitz’s so-called “emergency order” requires people to wear masks beginning Monday. You must wear a mask at restaurants, grocery stores, salons, and while riding on public transportation. The mayor did not specify whether, while wearing a mask at a restaurant, you would have to reapply it between bites and sips of your wine. 

As mayor, Berkowitz has looked the other way as street people live a lawless existence destroying their own lives and ruining neighborhoods they invade and occupy. The mayor describes them as victims as he virtue signals his compassion which is nothing more than disguised cruelty. 

But get caught without a mask? Berkowitz transforms into Wyatt Earp. 

Dan Fagan hosts a radio show on Newsradio 650 KENI from 5:40 to 8 A.M. 

Follow the science? Anchorage COVID-19 positive rates are stunningly low as more tests administered

CHARTS YOU HAVE NOT YET SEEN MAY SURPRISE YOU

Anchorage, as with all of Alaska, has had great success in keeping the COVID-19 virus at bay.

As expected, the state is seeing rising numbers of cases across Alaska as the summer season led to an opening of the economy and particularly with an influx of seafood workers.

But according to a new chart, the successes are striking. As the number of tests go up, the actual rate of positive tests is declining in Anchorage.

Early in the pandemic, the rate of positives was over 2.6 percent. But today, the rate of positives is down to 1.16 percent as more people are tested in Alaska’s largest city.

Alaska right now has the second-lowest total number of COVID-19 cases in the United States, with Montana as the state with the lowest. As of Saturday, 333 Alaskans are known to currently have the virus in a state with a population of 730,000. That is 0.045 out of every 100 Alaskans.

Mayor Ethan Berkowitz, throughout the pandemic, repeated that he would follow the science in his decisions about shutting down or opening the economy of Alaska’s largest city.

Earlier last week he told the Anchorage Assembly that he had a mask mandate ready to go, and on Friday, he said that people in Anchorage were flouting the mask recommendations. He enacted his emergency order.

On Monday, June 29, nearly everyone in the municipality will need to have a face mask covering their airways if they are in a public building or facility with other people. Exemptions include under two-year-olds and those with accepted medical conditions.

The actual number of cases of COVID-19 has risen in Anchorage since May, as shown in the chart above. It was expected as the hunker-down order was lifted.

But the chart below shows the ratio of positives to all tests conducted in the municipality is nearly half of what it was in the spring, as testing increases and restrictions on those who can get tested are loosened.

When Mayor Berkowitz “opened” Anchorage’s economy, the rate of positives was 2.30 (per 100 tests completed). He said that his goal is to “flatten the curve,” and he has expressed grave concerns about hospital capacity.

It appears the curve of cases is actually flat and dropping as a percentage pf tests conducted, but there isn’t a scientific measure that says what “flat” really means to the Anchorage mayor.

Today, there are 11 people in Alaska hospitals who have COVID-19, and just one is on a ventilator, indicating that the person is having serious trouble breathing.

There have been no additional hospitalizations since June 18 — a 10-day period when no COVID-19 patients were admitted to an Alaska hospital:

As for hospital capacity, 822 beds are available in the state, mostly in Anchorage, 113 of the 198 intensive care beds are available, and 320 ventilators are available.

Coronavirus cases world-wide have now exceeded 10 million, according to Johns Hopkins University, and deaths from the virus is close to half a million. Cases across the country are surging, and some states and localities have reversed their steps on reopening their economies.

Descent into depravity, as summer of love, lawlessness comes to Anchorage

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Between rampant street drug addiction and a laissez faire attitude toward policing by the Ethan Berkowitz Administration, Anchorage’s urban center may have hit a new low during the COVID-19 pandemic.

So says at least one person — the man who snapped the photo above during his morning commute through midtown Anchorage, when he witnessed two people with their pants down around their knees, copulating along the side of Benson Blvd. They were oblivious to the hundreds of people in cars driving by.

“This is your legacy, Mr. Mayor,” wrote the man who snapped the picture and sent it to Mayor Berkowitz.

” It is clear that your administration is completely ignoring this problem.  The blight that has descended on our city since you have taken office is unbelievable!”

The roadside attraction was taking place not far from where tents are now lined up along the sidewalk and inebriates commonly block the pedestrian rights of way.

“The retailers in this city are being robbed wholesale by these ‘urban campers, and you do nothing.  The rest of us are paying the price for your lack of effort. 2021 can’t come fast enough, so we can hopefully elect someone who actually cares for our city,” the photographer wrote.

Midtown has become an epicenter of lawlessness since the city cleared out the tent city at 3rd Avenue and Ingra Street, after the public staged visible protests. The mayor has created two homeless shelters in the Sullivan and Boeke Arenas in midtown, but many of the lawless street people are not willing to stay in them, due to the rules.

Citizen Judy Eledge said she is furious that Berkowitz is spending his time enforcing mask mandates, but won’t deal with the crime in Anchorage,

“As soon as you put a mask on every vagrant on the street and get this crap off our streets I might pay attention,” she said.

Or at least a condom.

Democrat politician suggests trick to Democrats to help Rep. Knopp win Kenai race

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Hal Smalley, a retired teacher and current Kenai Borough Assembly member, is using social media to try to get Republican Rep. Gary Knopp reelected to the Alaska House of Representatives.

That would normally be thought an odd move, since Smalley is a Democrat.

Knopp has been censured by the Alaska Republican Party and his district GOP activists have asked him to not run as a Republican again, after he helped engineer a coup in the House that gave Democrats control.

[Read: Knopp responds: ‘I am a Republican, will run as one]

Democrat activists have come out in force for Knopp, but Smalley is the first to openly request that Democrats change their voter registration to nonpartisan or undeclared, so that they may vote in the Republican primary and help Knopp beat challengers Ron Gillham and Kelly Wolfe.

On Facebook, Smalley wrote last week:

“I would encourage voters that are not able to vote in the Republican Primary to re-register as an independent or non-declared and vote in the Republican Primary supporting Gary Knopp for State House, then re-reister for the general in your party and vote again for Gary.”

Smalley, who was elected to serve as a House member in 1998, served just one term before being defeated by Republican Mike Chenault. He has run since, losing to both Republicans Kelly Wolfe and Kurt Olson. He has served on the Assembly Borough and on the Kenai City Council. His current term on the Borough Assembly ends in October.

The Democrats on the Kenai did not put forward a candidate for House District 30 this year, because Knopp has really met all of their needs. Last week they had a sign-waving event for Knopp, which oddly collided with a “Fire Knopp” event put on by the Republicans nearby.

The Republicans have endorsed Knopp’s primary challenger Gillham, who in 2018 ran against Sen. Peter Micciche and came closer than anyone would have predicted. Republicans in the party say they think Gillham has the temperament and will represent them better than Wolfe, who served just one term in the House.

Unlike Democrats, Republicans keep a semi-closed primary. Those who are registered with another party — be it Democrat, Libertarian or Alaska Independence — cannot vote in the Republican Primary.

Dueling petitions want Seward statue to stay

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A petition at Change.org that demands the statue of William Seward come down from the plaza in front of the Alaska State Capitol has been answered by another petition — this one to keep the statue.

On June 23, Richard Showalter of Palmer started the petition, and within four days over 500 people had signed it.

The first petition, which says the statue should be removed, was created June 10 and, as of this writing, has over 1,700 signatures.

It’s impossible to say where the signers are from in these online petitions or if they are even Alaskans. Change.org petitions can be influential, however.

In the “Seward Must Go” petition, Seward is described as “a colonizer who contributed to the disenfranchisement of Alaska Native peoples.

“In this current climate, where other monuments depicting racists and representatives of slavery are being taken down across the country, Juneau should honor our Indigenous hosts whose land we stand upon and remove William H. Seward from the capital courtyard,” the petition says.

Seward was an abolitionist who worked to free the slaves.

The second petition, “Seward Must Stay,” describes Seward as a “determined opponent of the spread of slavery in the years leading up to the American Civil War, he was a prominent figure in the Republican Party in its formative years, and was praised for his work on behalf of the Union as Secretary of State during the Civil War.

After the original “Seward Must Stay” petition, two others wanting to keep the statue popped up at the website and are starting to gain signatures.

All the Seward Statue petitions are at this link.

State Offices exempt from Berkowitz mask mandate

Attorney General Kevin Clarkson on Friday sent a notice to the State of Alaska workforce that once they are inside State office buildings or facilities in Anchorage, the Anchorage mayor’s mask mandate does not apply, and they may wear them if they are comfortable, or not wear them.

“The Governor supports State of Alaska employees that want to voluntarily wear facemasks or face coverings to assist in the mitigation of COVID-19,” Clarkson wrote in a memo, referring to the Wuhan coronavirus that has become a global pandemic and which has created a patchwork of myriad changing government policies.

As expected on Friday, Mayor Ethan Berkowitz enacted a mandate, something he made clear is an “order” that all people inside the municipality of Anchorage wear masks when in public places. He said it is not a mandate.

That is a distinction that is difficult for the public to understand, especially because his press release specifically says “Mayor Ethan Berkowitz issued Emergency Order EO-13, mandating the use of cloth face coverings or masks in the Municipality of Anchorage. EO-13 takes effect at 8:00 a.m. on Monday, June 29, 2020, and remains in effect until July 31, 2020.”

The mandate/order is the Berkowitz response to people not wearing masks voluntarily, and the increase in COVID-19 cases in recent days. He has scolded the public for flouting the good practices that have been guidelines to prevent the spread of the extremely contagious virus.

“To support the increase in economic activity following the lifting of the Hunker Down order, and to protect public health, everyone in Anchorage must wear a face covering when in a public space such as a grocery store, pharmacy, restaurant or bar, retail store, and other common indoor areas,” the mayor said.

“COVID-19 is spreading rapidly in the Lower 48 and case counts have risen in Anchorage,” said Mayor Berkowitz. “Unfortunately, not enough people are practicing the distancing needed to keep the curve flat, so we have a choice between doing nothing, hunkering down, or masking up. Masking up makes a difference. When enough of us do it, we can flatten the curve, keep our businesses open, and our community safe.”

Exceptions to his order include:

• children under two years old 
• individuals with health conditions who are unable to tolerate wearing a face covering or mask due to a physical or mental disability 
• individuals performing an activity that cannot be accomplished, or accomplished safely while wearing a mask

Berkowitz’ order says employers are responsible to provide masks or cloth face coverings to employees who have direct contact with others. Additional details are outlined in the Emergency Order, the mayor said, but the order was not posted on the city’s website, nor is not something most people will be able to easily find. The entire emergency order is at this link:

“Face coverings do not replace physical distancing (staying at least 6 feet away from other people), frequent hand washing with soap and water or using hand sanitizer, and routine cleaning and disinfecting of regularly touched surfaces,” Berkowitz said.

U.S. House votes to make Washington DC the 51st state

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DON YOUNG VOTES AGAINST IT

In an historic vote, U.S. House of Representatives today voted in support of statehood for the District of Columbia.

U.S. Congressman Don Young voted against the measure, but the House is controlled by Democrats and for the first time in history the perennial effort to create the 51st state passed, 232-180. Just one Democrat and one independent voted against it. Republicans voted against it, as DC would be a powerful Democrat-controlled state. Also, there were constitutional reasons cited.

Congressman Don Young

“Our founders never intended for Washington, D.C. to become a state. Our Nation’s Capital was meant to be an independent federal district, and for that reason, our Capital was moved from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. in the eighteenth century,” said Rep. Don Young.

“The bill passed out of the House today is very flawed. First and foremost, the bill violates the Constitution’s enclave clause, which requires Congress to retain control of the federal seat of power. Secondly, and most crucially, the bill shrinks the federal district without immediately repealing the 23rd Amendment. Without its repeal, the smaller federal district still retains its three electoral votes, effectively giving the remaining residents – the First Family – three Electoral Votes for president. My Democrat colleagues have dedicated a lot of time to antagonizing President Trump; it is ironic then that their flawed statehood bill would give him de-facto control of electoral votes that could swing a presidential election.”

Young said that the framers of the Constitution intended for states to become eligible for statehood. He has authored the only statehood bill for Puerto Rico to ever pass the House and he believes Puerto Rico has been treated unfairly because of its territorial status.

“Statehood for Puerto Rico would give it the tools, resources, and power necessary to get its fiscal house in order so that taxpayers are not on the hook to bail out the island. The people of Puerto Rico have voted twice in the past eight years to become a state, and I continue working closely with Congresswoman Jenniffer González-Colón and other advocates to help make their admission to the Union a reality. The House should be bringing her statehood legislation to the Floor instead of wasting time and resources on this partisan D.C. bill.”

The bill, HR 51, sponsored by Rep. Eleanor Norton Holmes, the nonvoting House member from the district, now goes to the Senate.

Although the Republican-controlled Senate is unlikely to pass the bill, if the Senate flips blue in November, the bill will have a real chance of passage. If Joe Biden wins as president, he has already said he will sign the bill making Washington, D.C. a state.

Fairbanks Four wins at Ninth Circuit Court for a civil case

THEIR LAWSUIT AGAINST FAIRBANKS POLICE, PROSECUTORS, CITY CAN GO FORWARD

The Fairbanks Four are evidently going to get their day in court in their civil case against the City of Fairbanks and Fairbanks police for a case dating back to 1997.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today denied the City of Fairbanks’ request for a review of a decision that reversed Judge H. Russel Holland’s dismissal of a claim against the City of Fairbanks brought by the four convicted murderers. The four are currently free.

District Court Judge Holland had tossed out the claim the four made that their rights had been violated during prosecution and that there was misconduct by investigators.

They filed appeal to Ninth Circuit, which reversed Holland’s order to dismiss. Now, the court has refused the City of Fairbanks request for another look.

The four men, convicted of beating 15-year-old John Hartman to death in 1997, had signed an agreement they would not sue the city of Fairbanks or police or prosecutors; this agreement was part of a deal that Gov. Bill Walker made through his Attorney General Craig Richards to drop all the charges and allow the men to walk.

After the murder, one of the Fairbanks Four, George Frese, sought treatment for injuries to his foot, telling medical staff that he injured his foot kicking someone in a fight the night before. The tread of his boot matched the shoeprints on John Hartman’s forehead. Frese later confessed to participating in the murder.

Eugene Vent was questioned by police and made several statements indicative of guilt. While incarcerated, he allegedly told another inmate that, “We didn’t mean to kick [JH] to death.”

Kevin Pease admitted to a fellow inmate that, “[I] did it for the punk’s money.” Another inmate asked Pease if he had committed the murder, and Pease responded, “I was f****d up, and it was bad.”

The alibi presented by Marvin Roberts was rebutted by other witnesses. Tire tread marks also placed the men at the scene of the murder.

Three separate juries found the men guilty. Marvin Roberts and Kevin Pease were tried together, while George Frese and Eugene Vent were tried separately.

(The underlying facts are outlined in several written appellate decisions, including Vent v. State, 67 P.3d 661 (Alaska App. 2003); Pease v. State, 54 P.3d 316 (Alaska App. 2002); Frese v. State, 2002 WL 31376010 (Alaska App. Oct. 23, 2002), 2004 WL 178953 (Alaska App. Jan. 28, 2004).

This was not the first time the four men had gathered to threaten and endanger Fairbanks citizens.

Just two weeks before John Hartman’s murder, the four accosted a group of people walking from a hotel to a nearby restaurant. They made insulting remarks and left only after one of the men chased them away. Minutes later, George Frese returned on his bicycle, pulled out a gun, pointed it at the man, and announced he planned to shoot him. Frese was convicted of assault and his conviction was upheld on appeal. Frese v. State, 2001 WL 1090749 (Alaska App. Sept. 19, 2001).

Just hours before Hartman’s murder, the four allegedly beat and robbed a man leaving a wedding reception. Other than the fact that the injuries were not fatal, the assault was remarkably similar to the attack on John Hartman.

Despite ample evidence of guilt, the four claimed they were unfairly treated because of race, and the Alaska Federation of Natives called for the men’s release.

The Walker Administration acceded to the political pressure, dismissing all charges and freeing the four murderers under the condition they would not sue. Later, Walker named the attorney for the Fairbanks Four as his Attorney General. Jahna Lindemuth served in that role after Craig Richards resigned and is now one of the lead attorneys trying to recall Gov. Mike Dunleavy.

Apparently unconstrained by their contractual obligations, the four sued the City of Fairbanks and several Fairbanks police officers.

Judge H. Russel Holland dismissed the claim on the ground that the four could not prove they were wrongfully convicted.

Roberts, Frese, Vent, and Pease then filed an appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Two members of a 3-judge panel voted to send the civil claim back to the trial court, while the third member argued the dismissal should be upheld.

The City of Fairbanks asked for either a rehearing or review by a full panel of the Ninth Circuit. On June 26, the Ninth Circuit declined the request. 

Judge Lawrence VanDyke, a former editor of the Harvard Law Review, joined by Judge Sandra Segal Ikuta, a former clerk for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, published a blistering dissent explaining that the two members of the 3-judge panel had so far departed from Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477 (1994), as to create new law unprecedented in the federal courts. 

According to Judge VanDyke:

The split panel decision in this case created an additional exception to the Heck bar that, as far as I can tell, is unprecedented – not only in our circuit, but across the federal courts. It did so by reinterpreting Heck’s favorable termination requirement into something less than even a neutral termination requirement. In doing so, it expressly refused to apply the “hoary principle[s]” adopted from the malicious prosecution context that were the express basis for the majority’s decision in Heck. Now, in every situation where a criminal defendant’s conviction is ministerially vacated without any judicial determination that the conviction was actually “invalid,” this new exception casts into doubt the Heck bar’s applicability. This includes in the many states in our circuit that have statutes that automatically vacate some convictions once the defendant has served his sentence. Heck is a quarter-century old, and its better-established exceptions already bedevil federal courts across the country, including this one. The fact that no other court has conceived or applied the panel majority’s new exception in over 25 years of applying Heck should be reason enough for this Court to rehear this case en banc before cracking this lid on Pandora’s box. 

A copy of today’s decision is at this link:

https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2020/06/26/18-35938.pdf<https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2020/06/26/18-35938.pdf

The defendants have not proven to be model citizens since their release. In 2018, Kevin Pease was arrested and charged with DUI and assault. He entered into a plea bargain wherein he pled guilty to DUI in exchange for dismissal of the assault charges.

In 2020, George Frese was arrested in Palmer and charged with vehicle theft, DUI, and reckless driving and failure to stop at the direction of an officer. He pled guilty to DUI and felony failure to stop/reckless driving. Last month he was arrested in Fairbanks and charged with assault, disorderly conduct, and criminal mischief. He pled guilty to criminal mischief.