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Two Chugach Electric board members ineligible?

Top News

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May 3, 2018

Two Chugach Electric board members ineligible?

A former board member of Chugach Electric Association is alleging that two of the seven current board members of the electric cooperative are ineligible to serve on the board because they live outside the service area.

Alex Gimarc last month posted a column in APEonline, a political web site, saying that the board chair, Bettina Chastain lives at 1777 Forest Park in Anchorage. “This is in the ML&P Service Area. Director Chastain has her mail from Chugach Electric sent to this address. Director Chastain is registered to vote at this address,” he wrote.

This week, he said that he discovered a second board member, Sisi Cooper, also lives outside the electric cooperative’s service area, making her ineligible to serve as well.

Gimarc is concerned that the board is making decisions about the purchase of Municipal Light & Power, the city-owned utility, with an illegal board in place.

Gimarc cited the Chugach Bylaws, Article IV, Section 3. Qualifications

7) Maintains i) his or her membership and ii) bona fide residency in the area served by the association throughout his or term in office

(c) Upon establishment of the fact that a director is holding office in violation of any of the foregoing provisions or violated the disclosure provisions of Article III, section 9(b) Subsection (2), the board of directors shall remove such director from office unless the basis for disqualification is remedied within thirty (30) days of notice of disqualification by the board of directors.

(e) “Bona fide resident is hereby defined to mean: 1) a person whose primary residence is in the area served by the Association, and who actually lives at this primary residence with the intention to remain there permanently or indefinitely and 2) a non-natural entity who chooses as their authorized representative a person who is a “bona fide resident” as defined in 1).

“Primary residence” shall mean the residence that is the chief or main residence of the person and where the person actually lives for the most substantial portion of the year. “Intention” shall mean the unequivocal intention of the person as evidenced by that person’s acts and words and by the circumstances.

The failure of a director to meet the qualifications for service shall not affect the validity of any action taken at any meeting of the board of directors.

ANOTHER BOARD MEMBER NOT ELIGIBLE?

Gimarc said he contacted the board this week to notify them that he believes he has discovered yet another board member lives outside the Chugach service area.

“As much as it pains me to do so, I have uncovered yet another Board Member, Sisi Cooper who is no longer a member of the Association, and as such, not eligible to serve on the Board of Directors. As before, I have to the best of my ability verified that this is accurate and am submitting this concern to the Board for its immediate action,” Gimarc wrote.

“This really reflects badly on the professionalism and integrity of both the Board and management, right at the point where you are negotiating a billion dollar merger. I want you guys to get that merger right. But with this and Ms. Chastain, I have my doubts precisely whose interests you are representing,” Gimarc wrote.

Chugach Electric is in the process of acquiring ML&P in a deal that has had numerous questions raised, mostly concerning the lack of a competitive process for buying the Anchorage Municipality’s electric provider.

The power company is buying ML&P after voters approved the sale in the April municipal election.

Legislature gets closer to solving fiscal gap

Politics

Suzanne Downing

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May 2, 2018

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Legislature gets closer to solving fiscal gap

The Senate and House Conference Committee today is considering a new version of Senate Bill 26 that is a potential compromise to resolving the state’s fiscal problems.

The draft is the result of ongoing negotiations between the House and the Senate to bridge differences in their versions of SB 26, which creates an endowment model for the Permanent Fund, and a structured draw that will cover 80 percent of the State’s current deficit.

The draft limits the amount of money the Legislature may withdraw from the Permanent Fund’s Earnings Reserve Account each year.

“The structured draw in the bill will support the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation in making prudent investment decisions, providing the necessary tools to maintain a healthy fund and dividend program. The draft does not address how the money will be spent and does not change existing law governing the dividend,” according to a statement from the Senate Majority Press Office.

The conference committee draft:

Limits, for three years, an annual draw the Permanent Fund Corporation has testified is sustainable – 5.25 percent (effective rate of 4.35 percent in 2019) of the five-year rolling average of Permanent Fund’s value. After three years, the draw decreases to 5 percent;
Removes the statutory split and annual dividend amount in previous versions of SB 26;
Maintains the statutory dividend calculation in existing law;
Conforms statute to a recent Alaska Supreme Court decision.

“Transitioning to a structured, rules-based withdrawal mechanism to allow some Permanent Fund earnings to help support state government and essential services is widely acknowledged to be the single most important action we can take to resolve our state fiscal problems,” said Sen. Anna MacKinnon. “This action alone will solve more than 80 percent of our deficit.”

Rep. Neal Foster commented, “This work draft does not change, in any way, the existing law governing the Permanent Fund dividend. The bill focuses instead on one key change: using an endowment model to protect the Permanent Fund and future dividends.”

Work requirement for some Medicaid enrollees?

Suzanne Downing

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May 2, 2018

7

Work requirement for some Medicaid enrollees?

WALKER ADMINISTRATION SAYS THAT WILL BE ANOTHER $79 MILLION

The Walker Administration testified it needs up to 53 new employees at the Departments of Health and Social Services and Administration to ensure Medicaid-enrolled able-bodied adults seek employment, enroll in school or training, or become volunteers.

The expanded state workforce would include administrative judges to hear appeals from those who challenge eligibility decisions based on the work requirement.

SB 193, a bill that would require able-bodied Alaskans enrolled in Medicaid to obtain a modest level of employment was heard in Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday and the hearing will continue on Wednesday.

With SB 193, no more than 20 hours of work-like activity would be required of this “Medicaid Expansion” population, which is estimated to be 25,000. These are the people who enrolled when Gov. Bill Walker expanded Medicaid in 2015 to able-bodied adults without children who are under 138 percent of the federally set poverty level.

There are numerous exceptions in the work requirement for those who are parents of minors, who are caregivers, or who are over the age of 64, victims of domestic violence, or pregnant, for example.

The Walker Administration says the requirement would cost the State budget almost $79 million. That amounts to spending $3,160 on each of the Medicaid enrollees that lawmakers want to see making an effort to work or contribute to society. With the administrative law judges included, it represents the creation of a significant new bureaucracy in order to impose a work requirement.

The sponsors of SB 193 say they want Alaskans who can work to wean themselves off of state benefits when possible and not make a lifestyle of collecting benefits. A job is the quickest way to get on the road to self-sufficiency. Sen. Pete Kelly of Fairbanks is the bill’s prime sponsor.

Upon hearing the Walker Administration’s cost estimate for the program, which the Administration says could also cost it federal funding, Senate Finance Co-Chair Anna MacKinnon hit the proverbial buzzer:

“Deputy Commissioner [John] Sherwood, I just would say that this is one of the most interesting fiscal notes I’ve seen. I appreciate the detail that you have and it appears the department does not want to do this.” – Sen. Anna MacKinnon

Later, MacKinnon said that she’d been on Finance for a long time and had heard many fiscal notes, but never had seen one like this.

“Fifty positions is a round number that the department continues to give us in multiple fronts trying to get more bodies in the Department of Health and Social Services for Medicaid expansion,” she said.

*Monica Windom and John Sherwood testify.*

The fact that Commissioner Valerie Davidson was not the one on the hot seat in front of the committee made it clear that this was not the Administration’s idea of a good plan, and it was the mission of Sherwood and Monica Windom, who directs the Division of Public Assistance, to fend off the requirement. That’s a signal that the governor is unlikely to sign such a measure, even if it makes it through the Democrat majority House.

SB 193 follows the Trump administration’s ruling that allows states to place expectations of work on Medicaid beneficiaries who are able to work.

The state already has a work requirement for the Alaska Temporary Assistance Program, which provides cash assistance and work services to low-income families with children to help them with basic needs while they work toward becoming self-sufficient. ATAP is a subsection of the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant.

SB 193 would have the state request a “waiver” from the federal government to start a 20-hour-per-week requirement. The Trump administration has approved similar waivers for Indiana and Kentucky, and several other states have work requirements pending.

Flags at half-staff for JBER soldier killed in Afghanistan

The 907

Suzanne Downing

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May 1, 2018

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Alaska flags are lowered for Spc. Gabriel D. Conde, who died Monday of small arms fire in the Tagab District of Afghanistan in support of Operation Freedom’s Sentinel.

Conde, who was raised in Loveland, Colo., was with the 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson — the Spartan Brigade. He deployed to Afghanistan in 2017.

Conde ran track in high school and attended the Colorado School of Mines before enlisting in the U.S. Army in 2015.

According to the Loveland Reporter-Herald, Conde’s nine-month deployment was coming to an end and his division was headed home to Alaska within weeks, and he was excited to be returning home.

“He had the greatest heart; he loved people,” is how one of his fellow high school track teammates described him.

Pentagon officials said Conde’s death occurred during combat but provided no details about the mission, in which one unidentified American soldier was also wounded. That soldier is in stable condition at Bagram Air Field and is expected to survive. The attack left several Afghan troops also killed and injured.

Conde is the first combat death of the Spartan Brigade’s current deployment. Staff Sgt. David Thomas Brabander died in December when a vehicle he was in crashed in Nangarhar Province in December.

Gov. Bill Walker lowered Alaska and U.S. flags in Alaska until Friday at sunset.

To be clear: These wildlife refuges are for hunting, too

Politics

Suzanne Downing

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May 1, 2018

5

To be clear: These wildlife refuges are for hunting, too

HB 130 – HUNTING LANGUAGE ADDED TO EDUCATE PUBLIC

The governor offered a bill this session to adjust survey definitions and correct old information about game refuges and critical habitat areas.

HB 130 did that housekeeping matter without fuss, something that the Department of Fish and Game had requested. When the bill arrived at the Senate, it accomplished a little bit more: In Senate Natural Resources, the bill received a slightly changed title, which added the word “hunting” to wildlife refuges around the state where hunting is permitted:

Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge “and Hunting Preserve”
Yakataga State Game Refuge “and Hunting Preserve”
Mendenhall Wetlands State Game Refuge “and Hunting Preserve”
Susitna Flats State Game Refuge “and Hunting Preserve”
Minto Flats State Game Refuge “and Hunting Preserve”
Trading Bay State Game Refuge “and Hunting Preserve”
Creamer’s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge “and Hunting Preserve” — allows moose hunting with archery and muzzle-loader firearms. Hunting with guns is disallowed in the part of the refuge and hunting preserve within Fairbanks city limits.

It was a small gesture, but in an era where environmentalists are increasingly aggressive about insisting humans not disturb nature, the Senate majority wanted to make it clear that hunting is an acceptable and traditional use of these areas. It’s a case of “just in case.”

The language was added by Sen. Cathy Giessel, who is an avid outdoorswoman, who also changed the word “protect” to “conserve,” so that anti-hunting groups cannot weaponize that part of the bill to hurt the access of hunters.

“America’s hunting tradition is an important way of life that is quietly eroding,” Giessel said. “Recognizing areas that allow hunting, and were created with hunting support, and are financially backed and preserved by hunters — this is an essential recognition.”

The bill is also important for public safety: To some non-hunters, a game refuge is synonymous with a hunting-free zone. Giessel’s revised terminology helps newcomers understand that hunting is allowed in parts of the state that are urban — Anchorage coastal Southcentral and Juneau’s Mendenhall wetlands, for instance. This reduces user conflicts while reminding people about the importance of hunting to Alaskans.

Sen. Bill Wielechowski was opposed to the Senate Natural Resources Committee substitute language, and was among the four Democrats who voted against it. He spoke against it on behalf of those who had contacted him and said they were opposed to the measure.

House Bill 130 goes back to the House for concurrence.

Robert Mueller oversaw witch hunt against Sen. Ted Stevens

The Social

Suzanne Downing

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May 1, 2018

6

Robert Mueller oversaw witch hunt against Sen. Ted Stevens

CONGRESSMAN LOUIE GOHMERT LAYS OUT THE CASE AGAINST FORMER FBI DIRECTOR

The following is an excerpt from “Robert Mueller: Unmasked,” a report published by Congressman Louie Gohmert of Texas, in which he makes several claims about a number of witch hunts conducted by the former FBI director.

Here’s the section of his report pertaining to Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens:

Ted Stevens had served in the U.S. Senate since 1968 and was indicted in 2008 by the U.S. Justice Department. One would think before the U.S. government would seek to destroy a sitting U.S. Senator, there would be no question whatsoever of his guilt. One would be completely wrong in thinking so when the FBI Director is Robert Mueller.

Roll Call provides us with General Colin Powell’s take on Ted Stevens:

“According to former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who had worked closely with the senator since his days as President Ronald Reagan’s national security adviser, the senator was ‘a trusted individual …someone whose word you could rely on. I never heard in all of those years a single dissenting voice with respect to his integrity, with respect to his forthrightness, and with respect to the fact that when you shook hands with Ted Stevens, or made a deal with Ted Stevens, it was going to be a deal that benefited the nation in the long run, one that he would stick with.’”

Such a glowing reputation certainly did not inhibit Mueller’s FBI from putting Stevens in its cross-hairs, pushing to get an indictment that came 100 days before his election, and engaging in third world dictator-type tactics to help an innocent man lose his election, after which he lost his life.

As reported by NPR, after the conviction and all truth came rolling out of the framing and conviction of Senator Stevens, the new Attorney General Eric Holder, had no choice. He “abandoned the Stevens case in April 2009 after uncovering new and ‘disturbing’ details about the prosecution…”

Unfortunately for Ted Stevens, his conviction came only eight days before his election, which tipped the scales on a close election.

[Read: Prosecutors hid evidence in Stevens case]

Does this sound familiar yet?

The allegation was that Senator Stevens had not paid full price for improvements to his Alaska cabin. As Roll Call reported, he had actually overpaid for the improvements by over twenty percent. Roll Call went on to state:

“But relying on false records and fueled by testimony from a richly rewarded ‘cooperating’ witness… government prosecutors convinced jurors to find him guilty just eight days before the general election which he lost by less than 2 percent of the vote.”

After a report substantiated massive improprieties by the FBI and DOJ in the investigation and prosecution of Senator Stevens, the result was ultimately a complete dismissal of the conviction.

At the time there was no direct evidence that Director Mueller was aware of the tactics of concealing exculpatory evidence that would have exonerated Stevens, and the creation of evidence that convicted him in 2008. Nearly four years later, in 2012, the Alaska Dispatch News concluded:

“Bottom line: Kepner (the lead FBI investigator accused of wrongdoing by Agent Joy) is still working for the FBI and is still investigating cases, including criminal probes. Joy, the whistleblower (who was the FBI agent who disclosed the FBI’s vast wrongdoing, especially of Kepner), has left the agency.”

[Read: Why the FBI agent who botched the Stevens investigation is still employed]

Director Mueller either did control or could have controlled what happened to the lead FBI agent that destroyed a well-respected U.S. Senator. That U.S. Senator was not only completely innocent of the manufactured case against him, he was an honest and honorable man. Under Director Mueller’s overriding supervision, the wrongdoer who helped manufacture the case stayed on and the whistleblower was punished. Obviously, the FBI Director wanted his FBI agents to understand that honesty would be punished if it revealed wrongdoing within Mueller’s organization.

Further, not only was evidentiary proof of Senator Stevens’ innocence concealed from the Senator’s defense attorneys by the FBI, there was also a witness that provided compelling testimony that Stevens’ had done everything appropriately. That witness, however, was who agents sent back to Alaska by FBI Agents, unbeknownst to the Senator’s defense attorneys.

This key exonerating testimony was placed out of reach for Senator Stevens’ defense. Someone should have gone to jail for this illegality within the nation’s top law enforcement agency. Instead, Senator Stevens lost his seat, and surprise, surprise, Mueller’s FBI helped another elected Republican bite the dust. Unfortunately, I am not speaking figuratively.

In August of 2010, former Senator Stevens boarded his doomed plane. But for the heinous, twisted and corrupt investigation by the FBI, and inappropriate prosecution by the DOJ, he would have still been a sitting U.S. Senator. Don’t forget, one vote in the Senate was critical to ObamaCare becoming law also. If Senator Stevens was still there, it would not have become law.

In the following month after Senator Stevens’ untimely death, in September of 2010, a young DOJ lawyer, Nicholas Marsh who had been involved in the Stevens case, committed suicide at his home as the investigation into the fraudulently created case continued. The report expressed, “no conclusion as to his (Marsh’s) conduct,” given his untimely death. Robert Luskin, an attorney for Marsh, said, “he tried to do the right thing.” [https://www.npr.org/2012/03/15/148687717/report-prosecutors-hid-evidence-in-ted-stevens-case]

If you wonder what happened to the valuable FBI agent who was an upstandingwhistleblower with a conscience, you should know that in Mueller’s FBI, Special Agent Joy was terribly mistreated. Orders came down from on high that he was not to participate in any criminal investigation again, which is the FBI management’s way of forcing an agent out of the FBI. On the other hand, the FBI agent who was said to have manufactured evidence against Senator Stevens while hiding evidence of his innocence was treated wonderfully and continued to work important criminal cases for Director Mueller.

If you wonder if mistreatment of an FBI agent who exposed impropriety was an anomaly in Mueller’s FBI, the Alaska Dispatch noted this about another case:

“Former FBI agent Jane Turner was treated much like Joy (the whistleblower agent in the Stevens case) after she blew the whistle on fellow agents who had taken valuable mementos from Ground Zero following the 9-11 terrorist attacks. She took the FBI to court over her treatment and ended up winning her case against the agency after a jury trial. When you blow the whistle on the FBI, ‘it’s death by a million paper cuts,’ she told Alaska Dispatch. Turner said that agents who violate the FBI’s omerta [code of silence] — those who internally challenge the agency — are undercut and isolated. ‘They (Mueller’s FBI supervisors) do everything they can to get you to quit’ she said.”

[Read the entire report by Gohmert here: Gohmert_Mueller_UNMASKED]

Republicans to challenge Elections Division decision

Suzanne Downing

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April 30, 2018

13

Republicans to challenge Elections Division decision

WILLING TO TAKE THEIR PRIMARY INTO CONVENTION NOMINATING FRAMEWORK

The executive committee of the Alaska Republican Party has unanimously authorized chairman Tuckerman Babcock to protect the Republican primary and move forward with a lawsuit, or injunction against the Division of Elections, if necessary.

The meeting was called Monday after the party had notified the Division that three incumbent Republicans were no longer qualified to run in the party’s primary in August. The Division of Elections Director Josie Bahnke disagreed, and said unless the court orders her, she will allow any declared Republican to be on the Republican ballot.

Reps. Gabrielle LeDoux, Paul Seaton, and Louise Stutes had been the subject of a series of increasingly specific sanctions from the Republican Party due to their direct involvement in turning over the power of the House of Representatives to Democrats and indie-Democrats, even though a majority of Republicans had been elected in 2016.

*Reps. Paul Seaton, Gabrielle LeDoux, and Louise Stutes.*

After the three defected from their party to flip the control of the House, their district Republicans voted to sanction them, and those sanctions then went to the State Central Committee, which voted to withdraw all support for their candidacy. The committee later voted to deny them access to the Republican primary ballot.

But Bahnke has denied Republicans the power to control their primary ballot, although a Supreme Court decision upheld Superior Court Judge Philip Pallenberg’s decision to allow Democrats to control their ballots by allowing non-aligned candidates to run in their primary.

*Josie Bahnke, Director, Division of Elections*

Bahnke ruled that allowing candidates to run is a different matter than disallowing candidates to be on a party’s ballot. She wants another court ruling before she can allow Republicans that authority. Apparently, Bahnke has concluded that ballot control applies mainly to Democrats.

Republicans in Alaska have a closed Republican Party primary ballot, unlike the Democrats, which allow anyone to vote on their primary ballot.

ARP Chairman Babcock said the unanimous decision of the executive committee authorizes “any and all appropriate action by the chair to enforce our rules with respect to the integrity of our primary election. The authorization includes the filing of an injunction or a lawsuit to compel the state to follow the constitution. We recommend the chair proceed with all due speed. Legal expenditures by the ARP may not exceed those available in the ARP Legal Trust Fund.”

The executive committee then voted to approve a special committee to study an alternative to a state-run primary: Nomination by convention. That is the method parties use at the national level to nominate Republican candidates for president, and other states use the convention method to determine their candidates for state office: Connecticut, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Utah, for example.

A nomination by convention would necessitate the party paying for it itself, rather than participate in the state’s primary election on Aug. 21.

[Read: Republicans assert rule: No LeDoux, Seaton, Stutes allowed in primary]

Walker says his approval rating are at a ‘two-year high’

Top News

Suzanne Downing

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April 30, 2018

10

Walker says his approval rating are at a ‘two-year high’

A PRESS RELEASE HOPING TO BOLSTER HIS ODDS

The Walker campaign today said that two different polls show that he and Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott are set to win against the man they have picked as their opponent: Mike Dunleavy.

The Walker campaign’s press release says Walker is enjoying a two-year high in the polls and holds a “commanding lead with independents, rural Alaskans, and likely voters.”

“The Walker-Mallott campaign today released in-depth analysis of multiple polls taken over the last two months showing strong and growing support for the unity ticket over candidate Mike Dunleavy. Dunleavy is a State Senator from the Mat-Su who resigned his position at the beginning of the 2018 legislative session in order to campaign. The research memo can be found here. “

The “multiple” polls are two, and they have weaknesses associated with them. The polls are one that Patinkin conducted in February and one that Ivan Moore did in March, when it appears the Walker campaign bought a few questions on the Moore Alaska Research Survey poll, which is a grab-bag poll, with questions for hire.

The “here” is a crafted message from the Walker campaign’s polling firm, Patinkin Research.

The analysis is far from in-depth, but shows the governor favorably, as campaign operatives would expect.

[Read: Ivan Moore poll changes rifle term to “assault weapon”]

The problem they have is that a Morning Consult poll from February that shows Walker as the least liked governor in the nation. Morning Consult is not associated with a campaign.

WALKER CAMP’S WORRY

But the release of the information from the Walker camp so soon after the release of a summary of the first poll is also seen as the campaign further settling on who it thinks is Walker’s main opponent and attempting to define that in the mind of the media. Walker is going to try to appeal to the swing voters now, rather than waiting until the Republican field shakes out.

Walker is still worried that Mark Begich, a well-known Democrat, will get in the race, another reason for releasing another polling-related press release. A recently leaked poll from the Begich camp shows that he would beat Dunleavy, 53-42. Begich has been shopping that poll around with potential supporters, and it’s from the same Ivan Moore grab-bag poll.

Dunleavy, too, can boast some strong poll numbers that show something entirely different: “Dunleavy for Alaska,” a political action committee that formed to run a parallel effort supporting his candidacy, says Dunleavy is beating Walker, 47-41 percent, with “unsure or someone else” winning 12 percent.

That poll was done by Dittman Research, which has accurately predicted the winners of Alaska gubernatorial and senatorial races 100 percent of the time for the last 50 years.

Not so, says the More poll: Walker approval ratings are improving. Only 35 percent of Alaskans have an unfavorable view of the governor.

“The poll has 44 percent offering a positive perception of Governor Walker. Only 35 percent have negative perceptions. Positive reviews for the Governor are now the best he’s received since March of 2016,” the white paper reveals. But the Ivan Moore poll measures favorability on a three-point, instead of a four-point scale, which skews his results to the “neutral” category.

And yet, Morning Consult’s poll in March showed Walker’s disapproval rating at 52 percent, and his approval rating at just 29 percent.

Patinkin soldiers on with the message that there’s even “more good news for the Walker/Mallot campaign, Democrats (44%) and independents (40%) are the two partisan subgroups most likely to be undecided. The centrist coalition spear-headed by the Governor will have an easier time appealing to these voters than the more conservative Dunleavy campaign.”

And yet, by his own numbers, Walker has just half of the votes from Democrats. The other half have not come back to him since he ran under the Democrats’ banner in 2014 and won all the Democrat votes, since the Alaska Democratic Party pulled its candidates at the last minute and replaced them with Walker/Mallott.

Other candidates running for governor in 2018 are Scott Hawkins, who is a businessman based in Anchorage, and Rep. Mike Chenault, of Nikiski. Both are Republicans.

Must Read Alaska welcomes civil comments on these Walker polls and the analysis given by the Walker campaign consultant.

Spenard palm tree was not the first in Anchorage

The 907

Suzanne Downing

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April 30, 2018

1

Spenard palm tree was not the first in Anchorage

AN EARLIER PALM TREE GRACED DOWNTOWN’S 4TH STREET

The saga of the neon-lit palm tree that once graced the Paradise Inn in Spenard jogged the memories of some old-timers, who were reminded of a time before Statehood when a similar palm tree was on Fourth Avenue in downtown Anchorage.

Denali Disposal owner Bernadette Wilson was instructed by the U.S. Marshal last year to dispose of the Spenard artifact however she wanted — and she wanted to keep it. She went to great pains to preserve it.

That palm tree salvage operation led to a protracted legal battle with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which culminated with a judge awarding the tree back to the U.S. Marshal. After all, if the tree had value to Wilson, it must have value to the U.S. taxpayer, the judge surmised.

[The story with the unhappy ending is here]

On a tip from a reader, we dug up some photos of the South Seas Nite Club, and sure enough, there was the Spenard palm tree’s older sister, on 4th and G Streets.

The club was a popular hangout for military personnel stationed in Anchorage in the 1940s and 50s. These photos and more are found at the Alaska Digital Archives.