Police use teenage informant to nab drug dealer
By KIAL News
Tuesday, May 29 2007
Unalaska, AK – A 23-year-old man who was arrested last week for allegedly selling drugs near the Unalaska City School was released on bail today.
Jason Tungul is free on $18,000 bail following his arrest on Thursday on four charges of third- and fourth-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance. Tungul was caught following a sting operation in which he allegedly sold a Department of Public Safety informant $600 worth of marijuana on four separate occasions, in Town Park and on the basketball court behind the Unalaska City School.
NO KIAL NEWS UNTIL MAY 29
By KIAL News
Thursday, May 10 2007
Unalaska, AK – Check in with us again then for your local news from Unalaska.
City and public safety employees stall in contract negotiations
By KIAL News
Thursday, May 10 2007
Unalaska, AK – Unalaska's public safety employees and the city administration remain at an impasse in contract negotiations following an attempt at mediation late last month.
Both city officials and representatives of the public safety union say that attempts to negotiate the employees' contract, which expired on June 30 of last year, will most likely go to arbitration. At the executive session following Tuesday's meeting the Unalaska City Council voted to reject the most recent offer by the Public Safety Employees Association, the union that represents the department employees.
DEC consultants want local advice on anchoring ships in trouble
By KIAL News
Thursday, May 10 2007
Unalaska, AK – Next week Unalaskans will have a chance to weigh in on where ships should be taken if they run into trouble around Unalaska Island.
Consultants from Nuka Research and Planning Group will be in Unalaska on Wednesday night to get feedback from local residents on what the best places of refuge in the area are. The idea is to compile a plan that local, state and federal authorities could use in the event of a maritime emergency, and this is an opportunity for Unalaskans to make sure local concerns and knowledge are included in it.
Crew member pleads guilty in observer sexual harassment case
By KIAL News
Wednesday, May 09 2007
Unalaska, AK – A factory trawler crew member was sentenced to a brief prison term and a $1,000 fine after pleading guilty Monday in federal court to sexually harassing a fisheries observer last spring.
Eduardo Ornelas-Morales will serve 15 days' jail time and one year of probation for the incident, which took place onboard the trawler Unimak in April 2006. An affadavit filed in court alleges that Ornelas tried to kiss the observer on multiple occasions. He later pulled at her clothing and tried to grope her, at which point she reported the incident to the captain and the deck boss, according to the affadavit.
Work begins on South Channel bridge
By KIAL News
Monday, May 07 2007
Unalaska, AK – Work has begun in earnest on construction of a new South Channel bridge. Local contractors and state Department of Transportation personnel are in Unalaska doing preliminary work for the project, which is scheduled to be completed in three years. ADOT Project Manager Shaun Combs said they'll probably finish sooner than that.
"Weather permitting, we're shooting for a two year project," he said. "Hopefully we'll be wrapping things up around October 2008, and removing the existing bridge."
Gardening workshops this week in Unalaska
By KIAL News
Monday, May 07 2007
Unalaska, AK – Although it's great for wildflowers and heather, the Aleutian environment isn't exactly hospitable to other types of plants, as anyone who's ever looked at one of the tortured spruce specimens around town knows. If you've experienced frustration trying to garden here, you'll want to show up for a couple of talks being given by University of Alaska Fairbanks development agent Bob Gorman in Unalaska this week.
Medical examiner says recovered body is Joseph Arop
By KIAL News
Friday, May 04 2007
Unalaska, AK – The body found in Udagak Bay last month has been positively identified as the fishing processor who disappeared off the Northern Victor in February.
State Medical Examiner Franc Fallico says his office made the match this week after a search effort by investigators from his office and the Alaska State Troopers turned up dental records for 23-year-old Joseph Arop in Amarillo, Texas. Arop had immigrated to Texas from Sudan before moving to Seattle and taking a job as a processor on Icicle Seafoods' Northern Victor.
From Bering Sea crab boat to Ketchikan tourist trap
By KIAL News
Thursday, May 03 2007
Unalaska, AK – A crab boat that spent nearly four decades in the Bering Sea will begin a second life as a tourist attraction in Ketchikan later this month.
For a fee, visitors to the Southeastern port can get a tour of the fishing vessel Sea Star, which appeared on the first season of the Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch" before the boat was retired from the crab fishery following crab rationalization in 2005.