LIGHT STIR . . . Former Rep. Tom Anderson, the only corruption defendant still doing time -- and not even part of the big, sexy case -- is spending his sojourn at Club Fed doing good, according to former Anchorage Times editor Tom Brennan.
In a post on Dan Fagan's Web site, Brennan said Tom A., a family friend, is "running the penal camp's law library and tutoring prisoners for their high school diplomas." Earwigs report he also writes a lot of letters.
But, opines Tom B., Tom A's time "could be better used if he went home to his family."
A QUESTION . . . And, speaking of defendants who are not in prison, who were those people moving furniture out of Ted Stevens' infamous Girdwood chalet Thursday? Were they sending it back to Bill? Did they manage to unhook the grill without blowing anything up? Will Catherine finally get to sell the place?
Does anyone care?
INCOMING . . . Wags are calling the incoming Sullivan administration "Back to the Future," but it's not necessarily a snipe. An earwig reports former Assembly chair and popular Midtown legislator Larry Baker has been spotted at City Hall several times in past weeks. Word is the new mayor has recruited him for a top position. The earwig is betting his office will be very close to His Honor's.
And, from another earwig, is Alaska Standard writer Sarah Erkmann in line for the new mayor's media mouth job? Ear remembers her from Bernholz & Graham. Lately, she's been a staff writer for Fagan's site thealaskastandard.com.
ELDER ABUSE . . . Yes, that really was Walt Parker kicking young Alaska butt at a pool table at Atomic Billiards, a hipster pub in D.C.
A Hammond DOT commissioner, chair of the Exxon Valdez spill commission and a zillion other things over his long career, Walt went east for the U.S. Arctic Research Commission meetings last week. Earwigs report Fairbanks resource attorney Harry Bader, now with the State Department, was there, as was Rachel Kleinfeld, daughter of UAF professor (and ADN columnist) Judith and federal Judge Andrew Kleinfeld. She runs something called the Truman National Security Project.
WE'RE NO. 1 . . . Business Week has declared Anchorage the No. 1 city in America to start over. Meaning, people who want to start over, not that the city needs to start over. At least, that how the Omniscient Orifice reads it.
The ranking is based mostly on jobs being available. It quotes Alaska economist Scott Goldsmith, so Ear is inclined to give it some weight. Check it out at adn.com/ear.
DO SEND A FONDU . . . To legislative staffers Joe Hardenbrook (Senate) and Anna Sorensen (House), who were married June 20 on the bride's family farm outside Delta with maybe 200 guests, many of whom camped out for the weekend.
Ear is told the groom's 82-year-old grandfather manned a pit barbecue until 4 a.m. OOPS . . . The number of people who called to correct Ear on the name of the new downtown bakery is a sign of how popular it's become in its short life. Yes, the correct name is Fire Island, not Fireweed. And it wasn't just a typo. After easily a dozen visits over weeks, Ear firmly believed the name was Fireweed.
Blinded and blissed out from eating the scones, no doubt.
OUT AND ABOUT . . . An episode of the cable "Urban Fishing" show that aired earlier this month featured former ADN photog Jim Lavrakas, aka "The Fishing Dude," taking Larry Csonka, Audrey Bradshaw and the show's "camp cook" host SmokeeJo Barkoskie on a silver fishing expedition on Ship Creek.
Jim, now a sportfish guide for Baranof Skiff Excursions in Ketchikan, was not happy when they got skunked, but said everyone was nice about it. Didn't Jim win the Ship Creek derby a few years ago?
ON THE MOVE . . . Local greenies gathered at Crush on Thursday night to wish Deborah Williams well in her new job at director of the Alaska Democratic Party. Deborah is a former assistant to the secretary of the Interior for Alaska.
FUN FACTOID . . . The president of the Fairbanks Dog Park is named Peggy Beagle.
That's as good as Cathy Sage, the herb lady, and ceramic artist Carla Potter. And whatever happened to Hunter Fisher, the local taxidermist?
Compiled by Sheila Toomey. Contact Sheila at stoomey@adn.com. Find Ear online at adn.com/ear.