Alaska News

AK Beat: Septic truck rolls, closes Seward Highway with filth

Septic truck dumps, closes Seward Highway: A septic truck rolled over Tuesday evening on the Seward Highway, closing the thoroughfare at Mile 27, between Moose Pass and Seward. The accident caused no serious injuries. The Alaska State Troopers say the septic truck spilled some of its smelly cargo onto the highway, forcing a temporary closure of the road and making nearby noses quiver. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has been called in to decide how to clean up the mess, and traffic is now trickling past the accident scene in five-car groups.

Gone missing: Anchorage police report that they are looking for 81-year-old Anchorage man Wallace Wilkinson Dunn, who they say was last seen on Thursday, July 11 near Waldron Lake in midtown Anchorage attending a soccer game. Police said that Dunn's family believes he may have returned to his home on Lakeway Drive on Friday, before heading toward his cabin in the Big Lake area in his grey 1998 Ford F-150 -- license plate 8676DR -- though he hadn't been located at that property either. Dunn is described as a "white male adult, approximately 5'7" and around 165 pounds. He is bald, but sports a gray mustache and beard." Anyone with information is asked to call police at 907-786-8900.

Big, red wall charges up the Kenai: Ding, ding, ding! The sonar counter on the lower Kenai River is ringing like a Las Vegas slot machine that just hit the jackpot. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game says almost 100,000 sockeye salmon ran up the river on Monday. And they kept coming. By 8 a.m. Tuesday, the counter had already logged 64,000 fish -- a rate of more than 11,000 per hour.

Little free libraries: Midtown traffic scare you away from ZJ Loussac? There could be a little free library next door, according to a KTVA report about a Wisconsin phenomenon that's apparently taken hold in Alaska's largest city. David Kanaris built one in front of his Westchester Lagoon home, where neighbors can take a book, leave a book -- no worrying over fees or fines, return bins or awkward Assembly meeting run-ins.

Where can we get that deal?: The Anchorage Fire Department announced that it has sold two of its reserve fire engines to a couple of Southeast Alaska volunteer fire departments, at the low, low price of $1 apiece. The South Tongass Fire Department will receive a 1996 Freightliner capable of pumping out 1,250 gallons of water each minute, while the Hollis Fire Department on Prince of Wales Island will get a 1983 Ford capable of dispensing 450 gallons per minute. The smaller departments are responsible for getting the vehicles to their stations in Southeast, but that's still a heck of a deal.

Body found: Anchorage police report that a body was discovered early Tuesday morning in the woods near Sullivan Arena. "When police responded they discovered a deceased Native male in his 30s or 40s," APD wrote in a release. "The identity and cause of death is unknown at this time." The body was sent to the state medical examiner's office for an autopsy.

Whistler cull survivors still need homes: Remember the British Columbia mushing tour company that triggered public outrage when an employee culled 56 of its sled dogs in April 2010, claiming he was ordered to thin the pack after the Vancouver Olympics tourism boom ended? Well, the non-profit rescue group that pledged to care for and find homes for the remaining dogs has folded. Its board voted to stay in operation only as long as it takes to find homes for the remaining 86 sled dogs in its care, most of which came from the controversial tour company.

Fairbanks fire shifts, changes evacuation watch: The Stuart Creek 2 wildfire, burning east of the Interior city of Fairbanks, shifted to the east and away from the community of Two Rivers on Monday, changing evacuation watches for the area. The original watch from 16 Mile to 27 Mile Chena Hot Springs Road, issued earlier this month, was lifted at 8 p.m. Monday, but a new watch was quickly added. An evacuation watch was put in place for 27 Mile to 39 Mile Chena Hot Springs Road. As of Monday, Chena Hot Springs road remains open, but State Park Recreation Areas along the road are closed. A total of 733 firefighters were working on the 85,475-acre blaze, which was 57-percent contained on Monday night.

Craig Medred

Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

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