Daily Sitka Sentinel from Sitka, Alaska • Page 3

Daily Silka Sentinel, Sitka, Alaska, Monday, April 23,1990, Page 3 Peel Seeks Damages Over Murder Trials -Police Blotter ANCHORAGE (AP) John Kenneth Peel, the Washington boat builder who was tried twice and eventually acquitted of killing eight people aboard the fishing vessel Investor, has filed a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against the state seeking compensation for malicious prosecution. Attorney Phillip Paul Weidner, who won Peel's acquittal two years ago this week, said then the family was considering a civil suit to compensate for "years of horror" stemming from Peel's 1984 arrest on murder and arson charges. The suit was filed Friday in Anchorage Superior Court. It asks $100 million for Peel, $25 million for his wife, Catherine, and $20 million their son, Another $30 million would be divided among Peel's paichts, Earl and Marilyn Peel of Bcllingham, and his sister, Kelly Pcrram and her' The suit also seeks unspecified punitive damages. Peel claims that as a result, of false arrest, he endured public ridicule, lost wages) incurred heavy debt and lost Juror Says Hazelwood Verdict a Compromise ANCHORAGE (AP) The foreman of the jury in the Joseph Hazelwood case says'the former skipper of the Exxon Valdez never should have been tried for a crime.

Lori Wing says she not only regrets having convicted Hazelwood of negligent discharge of oil, but said the jury compromised to reach a verdict "In all honesty, I -hope it's overturned," Wing told The Anchorage Times in an interview. "In all honesty, I think we put the wrong man on trial." Hazelwood was, convicted last month of the misdemeanor charge and sentenced to perform 1,000 hours of community service by cleaning the shores of Prince William Sound. He also was ordered to pay a $50,000 fine. Hazelwood's lawyers have notified the Superior Court he will appeal the, conviction. Last month the jury acquitted Hazelwood of two more serious charges, driving the oil tanker while intoxicated and reckless cndangcr- ment.

Within minutes of beginning delib- erations it was clear that of the 12 jurors in the Hazelwood case, eight jurors wanted to acquit him of all charges, two jurors thought he was guilty of the negligence misdemeanor and two others thought he was guilty of all charges. Wing said. The eight compromised and voted he was negligent, she said, in exchange for the two guilty-on-all- counts jurors agreeing to acquit him on the more serious charges. "If I had it to do over again, I would have tried a little harder to get him off," Wing said. "I did vote negligent I will give you that," she said.

"But in my heart, I am not convinced of it." She said she believes the Coast Guard was more guilty than Hazelwood and said the Coast Guard throughout the trail tried to cover up its liability. And she said the jurors were surprised by the harshness of the sentence handed down by Judge Karl Johnstone. Wing criticized Johnstone, and said the; harshness was a response to politics and the public. Two Men Charged in Death of Woman Dancer in Anchorage ANCHORAGE (AP) Two men have been charged with first-degree 1 murder in the shooting death of a i woman whose body was found dumped in an alley Sunday, police say. Prosecutors rushed.

to file murder charges Sunday night against Shay Boziel, 19, and Edward Voglcr, 18, because they were being fie violations amTwould be t'rcedif they could raise' about in bail, said Anchorage Police Capt. Tom Walker. Magistrate Roy Williams later set bail at $250,000 cash for each man. The victim was identified in court documents as 23-year-old Dcadria Rcncc Marotla. She was a dancer at a local nightclub and recently had come to Anchorage from Fairbanks, Walker said.

"The guys have done an awful lot of talking, but they're not talking motive," Walker said. The woman was shot three times, once through 'the heart, with a pistol, Walker said. The gun and shell casings were found in a car Walker says was driven by Vogler, and in which Boziel was a passenger. Police also found one of the woman's shoes and a bloody backpack in the car. Judicial Council Member Picked ANCHORAGE (AP) Mark Ashbum, of Anchorage, is the newest member of the Alaska Judicial Council.

He was sworn in for a six-year term last week by Chief Justice Warren Matthews. Ashbum has been a practicing attorney in Alaska for the past 18 years, background in criminal and civil law. He began his legal career in Alaska in 1973 as a law clerk for Justice Jay' Rabiriowitz. The Judicial Council screens applicants for state judicial positions and nominates candidates to the governor. Photo Contest Winners! A special thanks to all of those who helped make Martin latHace $500 Photo Dept.

Gift Certificate our 13th annual photo contest a success! Ann Be Place $300 Photo Dept. Gift Certificate elen Raschlck aid Place $200 Photo Dept. Gifti Certificate All who ntered" will receive Free developing Si printing for one roll of print film. Ruth Jones 4th Place Kodak Explorer Camera Remember: One Hour Processing and next day processing McCUIn kl TthPUeeTte PatArvln lOthPlaee SO Photo Dept. Gift Certificate PatArvIn Bth Place $50 Photo Dept.

Gift Certificate MdrjlFoit MhPtact 950 Photo Dept, Gift Certificate the chance to bond with his son. According to the suit, Peel was arrested one day after his child's first birthday. There have been no other arrests in connection with the 1982 mass killing, which shocked the Southeast Alaska fishing village of Craig. Skipper Marie Coulthursl, his and two children and four teen-age crewmen were shot aboard the seiner which was found in a cove, engulfed inflames. Peel had once' worked for Coulthurst.

He denied any involvement in the crime. Peel's first trial in Ketchikan in 1986 ended in a hung jury. Weidner, a well-known Anchorage criminal defense attorney who was contracted as a public defender, called no witnesses after the state presented three months worth of evidence at the retrial in Juneau. The case against Peel was circumstantial! No motive was suggested. After the acquittal, a juror said the only thing Peel was guilty of was being in Craig the weekend the murders happened.

The suit names as defendants Anchorage Assistant District Attorney Mary Anne Henry, who prosecuted the case, and then-Attorney General Grace Schaible, who reviewed and approved the decision to go ahead with a retrial. It also names four Alaska State Troopers: James Slogsdill, Roy Holland, John QIass and Glenn Flolhe; Assistant District Attorney Blasco and Assistant Attorney General Dean Guaneli. Peer is suing authorities as private citizens and as public officials. He has asked for a jury trial. The 33-page complaint alleges Peel was falsely arrested and wrongly imprisoned for eight months, and then put up with three years of "severe re- strictions" while free on bail.

Friends and family in Bellingham raised more than $1 million for a property bond to keep Peel out of jail while awaiting trial. The suit claims the state abused the legal process by going ahead with a retrial "to save face, and to advance and protect its own aims and interests." Weidner said Peel was retried because "certain of the defendants" did not like Weidner himself. "Therefore, it became more important to said defendants to defeat (Weidner) than to do The suit accuses officials of misrepresenting or omitting evidence that led to an improper arrest warrant naming Peel. "If the true facts had been known to the magistrate, a warrant would not have been issued (since) probable cause did not Weidner wrote. He also alleged that a romantic relationship between Henry and Glass kept Henry from properly evaluating evidence presented to her a claim Weidner says amounts to malpractice.

The suit calls for a new investigation into the murders. It also revives the Peel family's request for repayment of legal fees. The suit asks $2 million for defense costs. Juneau Superior Court Judge Walter Carpeneli in 1988 rejected defense that the state pay several hundred thousand dollars to the Peels to reimburse.them for money spent on the case over the years. Guancli, the assistant attorney general, argued the request was unjustified because the slate had spent about $1 million on Peel's defense by paying for his public defenders.

State figures indicate the cost of prosecuting Peel was at least $3 million. Rangers Gear Up for Busy McKiiiley Season ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -Park rangers at Mount McKinley are gearing up for what may be one" of their busiest mountaineering seasons yet, and the first in nearly a.decade without: the services of the Denali Medical Camp. Rangers" also face what has become a perennial sanitation problem on the nation's tallest mountain, and potential difficulties posed by volcanic ash from Mount Redoubt on the-airstrip 'where many'mountaineers begin and -end their trips'. "It's shaping up to be another very busy season. I wouldn't be surprised if records were set," District Ranger Bob Seibert said Friday.

The medical camp, operated 14,000 feet up the peak for the past eight years, has helped hundreds of climbers stricken by altitude sickness and has been a center of research into such illnesses. But Dr. Peter Hackett, the Anchorage emergency room physician and mountaineer who created and operated the camp University of Alaska, has decided to take a year off. "We have quite a backlog of research, and we needed to put a lot of work into writing up all of our old data," Hackett said. "And I needed a personal break as much as anything else." The camp lacked grant funding this, year, something Hackett says it will have next year.

It costs about $50,000 annually, he said. The National Park Service plans to fill the void by setting up its own emergency camp at the same location, to be used as a base for search and rescue operations. Some of its mountain patrols will have doctors along, and Hackett is lending park rangers some of his medical equipment. "And I'll be available by radio telephone the entire time," he says. "We've proven beyond a doubt that you can save lives with a presence there.

A camp there is indispens- able." Seibert says the camp's absence -puts an extra load on rangers. year, Peter's group has nipped many altitude-sickness cases the bud, before they necd.cd/rcscue. And they've assisted in, conducting of the rescues. That whole opei- is 'now falling on our shoul- said Seibert. climbers are supposed to arrange for their own rescues and rely on the park service only when those people than usual have registered for the more difficult and remote approaches to the mountain this year, Seibert said.

And guides have reported increased reservations for summer trips. The climbing season reaches its height in late May and June. About 25 people were on the mountain Friday, although nighttime temperatures in April routinely dip to -20 to -50 degrees. Last a record 1,009 people climbed McKinley, One-third of them from other countries, Seibert said. Rangers are waiting to see whether ash from the Redoubt eruptions will affect the melting of the snow pack at the airstrip used by many pilots at Mount McKinley.

The dark ash, when exposed to sunlight, absorbs heat and leads to uneven melting which can make the airstrip unusable and the mountain less accessible. Cowper Tells State Agencies To Make Push for Recycling Start talcing next year's winning photos today! Harry Race Photo Next to Castle Hill on Lincoln JUNEAU (AP) Gov. Steve Cowper says voluntary recycling is good, but it could be better, and Friday he ordered all state agencies to step up their recycling efforts. The governor ordered each department to appoint a recycling coordinator, and he encouraged the purchase of products-made from recycled materials. Cowper announced his administrative order at a press conference, at which he was presented with a petition from school children asking that the state help promote, recycling efforts.

The petition contained more than 5,600 signatures from 52 communities throughout the slate. The signatures were collected by students from a private school in Juncau. Winter Games Chamber Topic The 1994 Arctic Winter Games will be discussed Wallace, a member of the group's board, during Wednesday's noon Chamber of Commerce luncheon meeting at the Wcslmark Shcc Alika. The board is seeking a site for the 1994 games. The meeting is open to the pubjic.

Cowper made note of Earth Day observances planned for Sunday in accepting the petition, while he pi- dcrcd an aggressive state recycling program. "With the 20th anniversary of Earth Day upon us," he said, "It's appropriate that government lead the way in implementing practical methods of recycling and reducing the of waste produced." Although several state offices already are recycling paper products, Cowpcr's order makes 'it mandatory whenever possible. The purchase products made with recycled materials would be required, as long as agencies could afford the higher costs. House members took similar action two weeks ago when they passed a package of four recycling and waste reduction bills. The measures 'are awaiting Senate.action in the final two weeks of the session.

House Dill 481 would require suite agencics.lo use more recycled materials, and would grant suppliers of recycled materials a 5 percent bidders preference on suite contracts. The legislation would require' that 15 percent of all paper products purchased by slate agencies must be made of recycled material. That requirement would increase to 25 percent in 1994. The following calls were received by Sitka police by 8 a.m. today: April 20 9:25 a.m.

police impounded a male cat found at Ml. Edgecumbe High School. A resident took a dog to the animal shelter to be put up for adoption. A resident turned over lo police a bike that had been left on the Sheldon Jackson College campus for several days. A car left alongside the Nelson Logging Road was to be towed to the dump if not claimed by its owner.

A resident reported he had found an 18-speed bike near Swan Lake. A resident reported her neighbor was out of town and there was somebody in the house, but police determined it was the house sitter. A resident asked that a stray cat that had been bothering his rabbits be impounded. At 9:01 p.m. a resident reported that a man and a woman, both of whom had been drinking, were having an argument on the street, but the couple left in a cab before officers arrived.

At 9:50 p.m. a woman said a man had smashed a window on her car during an argument. April 21 At 12:27 a.m. a Shee Atika security officer asked for help dealing with an intoxicated man. The man agreed to leave after officers arrived.

At 1:53 a.m. a resident reported that his 14-year-old son had not come home. At 2:58 a.m. a woman said a man assaulted her with a knife. Police said she received a superficial wound to her hand and other minimal injuries.

Officers are investigating, police said. At 3:15 a.m. police checked on a domestic dispute and found that a woman and her boyfriend had been fighting. The man collected some of his belongings and officers drove him to a friend's house. A man and his son having a loud argument were calmed by police at about 4a.m.

At 6:07 a.m. a resident reported that her neighbors were fighting. After police arrived, a man agreed to leave the residence. At 8:57 a.m. a woman reported that someone had broken out the back window of her car while it was parked on Charcoal Island.

At 11:20 a.m. a landowner told police a tenant had told her to stay off the 'property and she needed to go there to check oh some electrical service. Police said she had a civil piob- 1cm. At 5:03 p.m. a dog reported to be running at large' on Halibut Point Road was'caught'and turned over'to itsbwner; who was cited for letting the animal run loose.

At 8:10 p.m. a lesident reported that a skiff from a fishing boat Emergency Calls At 6:38 p.m. Friday a fire truck was sent to Verstovia Elementary School after a worker accidentally tripped the motion detector and set off an alarm. At 2:59 a.m. Saturday an ambulance took a person from 230 Kog- wanton Street to Mt.

Edgecumbe Hospital. At 1:56 p.m. Saturday an ambulance was sent to 103'Cathcdral Way and a person who fell was transported to Silka Community Hospital. At 5:30 p.m. Saturday a person was transported from the airport to ML Edgecumbe Hospital.

At 1:06 a.m. Sunday a tire truck was sent to the Centennial Building after a caller said there was a fire. There was none, police said. At 4:54 a.m. Sunday a man reported from a Harbor Drive pay phone that he might have taken an overdose of pills.

He was taken to Sitka Community Hospital, and was in good condition today, a hospital spokeswoman said. At 4:30 p.m. Sunday a person was transported from Bcllair to Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital, Sitka Police Dwayne Reid Lee, 19, was charged with assault in the third degree. Police said Lee's neighbor at Vcnnetti's Trailer Court accused him of pointing a rifle at the neighbor's trailer while his family was inside.

Lcc was being held today and was to be arraigned this afternoon. Raymond J. Smith, 44, was charged with driving while intoxicated. He was released on his own recognizance, police said. Tercnty Mcrculicf, 18, was cited for driving with a suspended license.

He was released on his own recognizance, police said today. A 17-year-old girl was charged with minor consuming and violating curfew, driven home and released to a guardian. moored at the' Thomson Harbor breakwater had broken free. The skiff was retrieved and secured, employees said. A juvenile reported to be 'drinking beer in.

a car on Seward Street, at 10:49 p.m. was gone when officers went to check. At 11:01 p.m. a bar employee reported a man was causing a disturbance, but he was gone when officers went to April 22 Officers were unable to find a man reported to be driving erratically on Katlian Street at 12:55 a.m. At 1:06 a.m.

police received a report of a fire at the Centennial Building, but there was no enwrgency. At 2:02 a.m. a resident of Cqlejs Trailer Court reported loud music being played, but things had quieted when officers arrived. A Barker Street resident agreed to quiet his party after police said complaints had been received at 3:42 a.m. At 5:31 a.m.

a resident asked police to help remove an intoxicated man from a trailer. The man left after officers arrived. A man told police he had been assaulted aboard a fishing boat during the early morning hours. At 7:45 a.m. a resident of the 4600 block of Halibut Point Road reported that someone had run over his garbage can and broken it into four pieces.

At 9:15 a.m. a resident reported, a car in a ditch at Granite Creek. Police said they could not locate the owner and that the car was not blocking the road. Also at 9:15 a.m. police reported that someone kicked down a wall in the ANB Hall men's rest room.

At 12:13 p.m. a merchant reported receiving bad checks. Police traced the checks to a 16-year-old boy, who admitted taking blank checks from his mother and passing them. Kids reported to be riding all-terrain vehicles on Lance Drive agreed to stay off the road, after police told them complaints had been received at 12:25 p.m. At 3:25 p.m.

a man found asleep by Kcttleson Memorial Library was awakened and driven to his mother's home. At 3:50 p.m. a resident -reported kids riding an electric car in the street near Arrowhead and Monslery Street. Police talked to the children's mother, who put the kids and their car inside her fenced yard. At 10:02 p.m.

a Sawmill Creek Road motel reported a man causing a disturbance in one of the rooms. The man's skipper said he would pay 'for the damage and the offending man left the area 4 Jlj cat reported to be running at large near Mt. Edgecumbe High School. April 23 At 12:48 a.m. a girl was reported to be gone from a Silka youth home.

Police were to contact her. At 4: 14 a.m. an Arrowhead' Trailer Court resident, her, loud music was disturbing the neighbors, said' she was just testing out her new stereo system. Officers told her she would face charges of disorderly conduct, 'if she persisted making noise and she agreed to be quiet. Beta Sigma Phi Luncheon Sunday Beta Sigma Phi will hold its annual Founders Day luncheon 1:30 p.m.

Sunday at the Swan Lake Senior Center. The luncheon is open to all Beta Sigma Phi members, members' on leave and members-at-large. For further infomation- call Beth Reynolds at 747-8568. Preservation Program Slated In honor of National Library Week, and ongoing efforts to preserve human record, the Silka Chapter of the Alaska Library Association will present an evening of education and discussion with Artemis Bona Dea of the Alaska Slate Library, 7 p.m. Monday in the Sitka High School library.

Artemis works in conservation and preservation of library collections and will share a brief history of the written word. Artemis said that ordinary use, pollution in the air and sunlight coming through the window can all cause damage to public and private book collections. Participants are invited to take books from their personal library' for discussion and evaluation. Sitka Hospital Diana Smith and her baby boy were discharged from Silka Community Hospital Friday. Juneau Foot Ankle Clinic Dr.

Frank Mesdag will hold a clinic on Saturday, April 28 in room 201, Westmark Shee Atika. For an appointment, call Debbie at 747-4758..