Month: November 2010

The clock is now ticking for the state to appeal its case against Sen. Albert Kookesh and two other men charged with subsistence fishing violations in 2009. Sitka Superior Court Judge David George last Friday (11-26-10), with little comment, denied a motion for reconsideration of his dismissal of the charges. The order triggers a thirty-day period in which the state can file an appeal.

Robert N. DeArmond is being remembered this week as among the foremost of Alaska’s historians, but DeArmond himself might not have seen it that way. DeArmond died last Friday (11-26-10) in the Sitka Pioneer’s Home, where he had resided for the last nineteen years. Friends say the 99-year-old DeArmond was averse to the label “historian,” and instead saw himself simply as a researcher of past events, with no desire to argue for a particular point of view. Whatever the case, DeArmond had a lifelong passion for detail that was likely unequaled in Alaska.

The pastor of St. Gregory Catholic Church in Sitka has been removed from public ministry while authorities investigate questionable material found on parish computers.

Daily Sitka Sentinel editor and publisher Thad Poulson believes Bob DeArmond's "journalism chops" helped forge one of the state's top historians.

Author John Straley discusses how Bob DeArmond influenced the writing of "The Big Both Ways."

George Paul has been removed from the Sitka Tribe of Alaska Tribal Council. Five members found Paul guilty of neglect of duty and gross misconduct after a deliberating a lengthy closed session on Wednesday night at the Sheet’ka Kwaan Naa Kahidi community house.

An attempt to remove Angoon Mayor Albert Howard from office appears to have failed, based on preliminary election returns reported by City Clerk Lillian Woodbury.

A former Sitka resident has admitted to murdering her husband twenty-two years ago, and disposing of his body. Forty-five year old Jane Reth entered a guilty plea this afternoon (Mon 11-22-10) in Sitka Superior Court to a charge of Murder in the 2nd Degree. The charge has been reduced from Murder in the 1st Degree. Additonally, Reth will no longer face a separate felony charge for tampering with evidence.

The Sitka Tribe of Alaska tribal council did not certify election results as planned on Saturday, which resulted in the cancellation of a planned swearing-in ceremony for new tribal council members.

November is Native American Heritage Month, and the occasion was marked by a parade through downtown Sitka on Saturday afternoon. KCAW’s Ed Ronco walked down Lincoln Street as onlookers gathered before the start of the parade, and asked them to reflect on the meaning of heritage. He filed this audio postcard.