Construction certificate signed to start work on 1,536-bed prison

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Curt Menard

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Joe Schmidt

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Gov. Sarah Palin

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Keith Rountree

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Bob Stevens

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John Duffy

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WASILLA -- Mat-Su Borough Mayor Curt Menard, along with Gov. Sarah Palin and state Department of Corrections Commissioner Joe Schmidt, signed a certificate last week allowing Neeser Construction to begin construction of the 1,536-bed medium-security prison near Point MacKenzie.

The prison, which will be the state's largest, is being built to bring incarcerated Alaska men now being housed at a private prison in Arizona back to the state and to deal with overcrowding in Alaska prisons.

Borough Manager John Duffy said the prison project is expected to create 600 jobs during its three-year construction term. Once open, the prison is expected to employ 350-400 people. The $250 million prison is financed with Mat-Su Borough-issued revenue bonds. The state has agreed to repay the bonds over a 25-year period and will own the prison when the debt is paid off.

Two Palmer men are charged with sexual abuse of a minor

PALMER -- Two Palmer men were arrested Monday and charged with sexual abuse of a minor after a 13-year-old Big Lake girl said she had sex with them, according to Palmer police.

The girl's mother called authorities after her daughter ran away early last Sunday, according to an affidavit filed by Palmer police Det. Sgt. Kelly Turney.

The girl turned up at a house in Palmer. She told her mother she had sex with 18-year-old Derek Burkett and 22-year-old Nicholas Nickoli, both of Palmer.

The girl told police Nickoli paid for a cab to bring her to Palmer, then all three drank beer at Burkett's house, the affidavit said. The girl said she had text-messaged Burkett about her age, and the mother said she had told Nickoli to stay away from her daughter because of her age, according to Turney's affidavit.

Burkett corroborated the girl's report, Turney said. Nickoli refused to make any statements beyond saying he knew the girl was about 14, the officer said.

Both were jailed at Mat-Su Pretrial Facility, Burkett in lieu of $10,000 bail and Nickoli in lieu of $25,000 bail.

Seatbelt violation leads to arrest, indictment by Palmer grand jury

WASILLA --It was a seat belt violation that led police to stop a Wasilla man, but the drugs in his car that got him arrested, police said.

Andrew R. Berndt, 24, was arrested Feb. 1 on charges of possessing methamphetamine and planning to sell fake black tar heroin. Wasilla Police Officer Don Ridge spotted Berndt not wearing a seatbelt as he left the Wasilla Carr's store just before 2 a.m., according to an affidavit Ridge filed in Palmer court. Asked for his driver's license, Berndt opened his center console to find another ID and exposed several plastic gram-sized baggies, the affidavit stated.

Ridge stated that he found a small amount of methamphetamine in the car. Berndt also pointed out a black zippered pouch containing five to eight grams of a shiny black substance he called fake tar, the affidavit stated.

A Palmer grand jury on Feb. 6 indicted Berndt on fourth-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance and delivery of an imitation controlled substance.

Assembly votes down plan to improve employee restrooms

WASILLA -- Mat-Su Assembly members in a split vote decided not to spend about $15,000 to redesign bathrooms in the borough information technology department.

Borough public works director Keith Rountree has described the bathrooms as impossible to clean, with plywood partitions, broken shower stalls and bad floors.

He pitched a plan to redo the bathrooms into two single bathrooms, convert the unused shower room into a conference room and turn leftover space into a storage area.

Although Assembly members are discussing whether to turn the borough gymnasium into office space, Rountree said the computer and other servers housed in the offices make it unlikely the information technology department would move.

Rountree last week sought design funding for the project. Construction was estimated at another $180,000, he said.

Mark Ewing, who voted against spending the money along with Assembly members Michelle Church, Rob Wells and Cindy Bettine, said he preferred the borough continue looking at other available office space instead of investing in renovations to the aging borough office building.

Former Fish Heads bar owner loses liquor license appeal

WASILLA -- Former Wasilla bowling alley and Fish Heads bar owner Robert Stevens has lost his appeal of a state decision to not renew his liquor license.

Anchorage Superior Court Judge Sen Tan issued the decision last week.

In his appeal, Stevens wanted the court to overturn a decision by the state Alcohol Beverage Control Board denying Stevens the right to sell alcohol at the bar. Stevens, who now lives in Las Vegas, no longer owns the bowling alley.

The state took back the bar's liquor license in 2005 after complaints about noise, and after the borough cited Stevens after a Chippendale's show was held at the bar.

Reached by cell phone Feb. 5, he said he plans to appeal Tan's decision.

"I will never stop. What the borough did was so evil and beyond reason it (the court case) will never stop," he said.

Stevens' dispute with the ABC Board and the Mat-Su Borough dates back to 2005 when the board originally denied his request to continue selling alcohol.

The denial was based largely on a request from the Mat-Su Borough. Stevens and the borough had been battling for more than a year over noise emanating from his bar, which his neighbors said shook their windows and disrupted their lives.

Stevens was also slapped with two borough citations when he held "a ladies' night show featuring the Chippendale Dancers" without a permit for operating an adult cabaret.

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