Sleeping Lynx update; accident blocked by and seen in rearview mirror; those who root for the opposition

Today I drove into Anchorage to do a little work with some young people who had come down from the North Slope to attend the Elders and Youth Conference, held in conjunction with the Alaska Federations of Natives Convention. At lunch, I dropped by Jake and Lavina's where I got to see baby Lynxton.

As usual when I see him, he was asleep.

He is growing and needs his sleep.

I left early, a bit after 3:00 PM, because I have much production work that needs to be done and will have almost no time for AFN this year. As I entered Wasilla, I saw what appeared to be a pretty bad traffic accident. There were a number of vehicles involved, spread over a wide area on and off the highway, at least three ambulances, several police cars and some fire department vehicles.

A victim was being strapped onto a backboard.

Soon, the accident became a shrinking image in my rearview mirror and I drove off toward home - just like we always do after we come upon an accident.

Still, as I drove away I thought of the oft-quoted John Donne line, the one that inspired the title of one of Hemingway's most famous books: "Ask not for whom the siren wails - it wails for thee."

Or something like that.

And yes, it has wailed for me so many times... for my brother Ron, for Margie's father Randy, her sister Melinda, Anil, husband of my soul friend Soundarya followed so shockingly and rapidly by Soundarya herself... and these are just a few. The list is long... long... long... altogether too long.

As usual, I wondered why The Creator of this earth designed things this way. Many people of varying faith claim to know. Me, I don't know.

Tonight, I searched online for some information about the accident, but could not find anything. If there had been fatalities I am certain I would have found something.

Still, lives were undoubtedly changed... I hope not too badly, and I hope not irreversibly. 

Tonight, among others, I began to edit my pictures of the final two Barrow Whalers football games.

I came upon this image of the cheerleaders for Nikiski, running the track just before the championship game.

I know I will not use it in my publication, because if I do, that would be one less picture of the Barrow kids that I can put in and that publication will be for them and their fans.

So I use it here, and will hope that some of the Nikiski cheerleaders happen upon it.

View images as slides

Detoured by death on the highway as I take Margie to the airport; bright, red, fingernails; Kalib rides the escalators

The plan was for me to drop Margie off at the Alaska Native Medical Center so that she could pick up the medications she will need for the nearly four weeks that she will be in Arizona.

I would then drive to Camai Printing where I had a little business to take care of, come back, pick her up, we would get together with the kids for coffee or maybe even dinner, should time allow.

I would then take her to the airport.

But, just before we got to the South Birch Creek exit, traffic came to a halt. There had been an accident ahead.

I knew that if I could get to the exit, we could get off the Glenn Highway, switch to the Old Glenn and go around the accident.

Several other drivers had the same idea, so it was a slow process, but, after close to half an hour, I made it onto the ramp, where traffic was moving maybe one mile-an-hour - but it was moving.

See all those cars still on the highway? They are beyond the exit and they will be stuck there for hours.

Furthermore, if we had been perhaps as little as one mile further back, we would also have been stuck. We would not have been able to make it to the exit.

As we crept along, a bulletin came on the radio. A very serious accident had happened and the highway was closed at this exit.

It is a strange thing when you find yourself in this situation. You are annoyed at the slowdown. You think of the inconvenience and trouble that it is going to cause you - in this case, Margie could potentially miss her flight, or have to go without her medications, which we would then need to get and mail to her.

Yet you know that, up ahead, at the source of the slowdown, someone might be badly injured, in terrible pain, perhaps facing a different kind of life from here on out. Or someone might be dead, or dying, their entire life now behind them. Several people might be.

And yet, you still want to get moving.

As we crept further, a new bulletin said that a helicopter was coming. We knew then that someone had been hurt very badly.

And still I wanted to get Margie to the airport, on time, with her medications, and I wanted to get my business taken care of.

Finally, we got to where traffic was moving and then arrived in town right as the rush hour was beginning. I dropped Margie off at ANMC, then headed to Camai and arrived just before closing. I took care of my business and then returned to get her.

But she had got stuck in another long line - at the ANMC Family Medicine pharmacy. Kalib was there, waiting for her with his parents. Margie had entered an area in which only patients picking up medicine are allowed, so I sat down as Lavina helped Kalib learn how to operate an iPhone.

See how red Lavina's fingernails are?

A friend at work had chosen Saturday to be her wedding day and had asked all her lady co-workers who would be participating to paint their nails bright red. She also wanted them all to wear black dresses.

So Lavina painted her nails red, went out shopping on her one free day and bought a black dress.

Then her coworker changed the wedding date to June.

Kalib watches the movie, Cars.

Lavina had heard an update on the accident - it involved a pedestrian. That seemed pretty strange, since it happened on the freeway.

Later, on the radio, we heard that a man was trapped beneath a vehicle. I hoped he was unconscious. How miserable would that be, to be broken, injured, and have a ton or more of steel sitting atop you, jamming you into the cold pavement?

By the time Margie finally got her medications, there was no time to get together for coffee, let alone dinner. So all of the Anchorage part of the family came to the airport, to see her off.

Kalib and his dad led the entourage toward airport security.

Kalib soon dashed into the area where only ticketed passengers are allowed. Thankfully, he turned right around and dashed back out before he could get arrested and thrown into jail.

Traffic was very light in the security area. Kalib gave his grandma a goodbye hug.

As Rex gives his mom a goodbye hug, Kalib reaches out to hug one of his aunties. Kalib hugged everybody, whether they were traveling or not.

Then he got to ride an escalator going down.

He rode a series of escalators.

At the entrance to the parking garage, we discussed the matter of dinner. Melanie suggested Pho Lena, a Vietnamese - Thai restaurant that was more or less on the way out.

At Pho Lena, the waitress brought a toy over for Kalib's amusement.

But Kalib was more amused by the paper and coloring marker that she also brought him.

After I arrived home in the late evening, I sat down right here, at my computer and found a bulletin from the Anchorage Daily News in my inbox. Robert Marvin, 76, had apparently experienced some kind of car trouble on the Glenn and had pulled over to the side of the road - but not all the way out of traffic. He was standing in front of a Volkswagon van when it was rear-ended and pushed 50 - 60 feet down the road with him under it.

Rescuers managed to get him out without help from the helicopter, but he was pronounced dead shortly afterward. Traffic had been stopped for three hours.

Now, as I write these words, Margie is in Seattle, where she has a seven-and-a-half hour layover before catching her 7:25 AM flight to Phoenix.

How miserable she must be!

I am afraid to call her, though - she might be napping.

Wasilla today: Three dogs act tough from the other side of the fence; Alaska awaits; car crash. Kalib moves out, part 3: Lisa amuses him with the big, red, inflatable ball

As I went walking today, these three dogs bravely threatened me from the safety of the other side of the fence.

Oh, was he angry!

"You're damn lucky there's a fence between us!" he barked.

And then I came to the muzzled dog, who bluff-charged me, then, growling, barking, ran a couple of circles around me, threatening that he would rip me to pieces, if only he wasn't wearing this muzzle!

But you know what? I don't believe any of these dogs. They just act tough, because they think they've got to. Take away the fence, take away the muzzle and they will be whimpering and wagging their tails lowly.

The good thing about living in Wasilla is that, even when you are trapped in a rut like I am right now and you are stuck in the midst of the overrun, wantonly developed, much-marred valley and town and you can't get out and do anything, all you have to do is just lift up your eyes and... there's Alaska, lifting itself up and stretching out in every direction.

Quiet, beautiful, harsh and still.

I can't tell you how good it feels - just to know Alaska is all around you.

As I neared my house, I saw that there are been an accident on the corner of Lucille and Seldon. It did not look that bad, but there was an ambulance, so I don't know.

They flagged me right through and I didn't have to wait at all. Maybe there are some people doing a lot of waiting, right now - maybe these kids, being ushered into the truck. I don't know.

Just another one of life's dramas that one passes by every day, sometimes seeing, sometimes not, not knowing how it happened, never knowing the outcome.

Now, back to Friday night, when Kalib moved out. You will recall that he was screaming and crying, but Lisa helped to cheer him up with this ball. He then followed his mother into the kitchen, but soon turned back toward Lisa and the ball.

He grabbed it and threw it to her.

As she propped herself up on the ball, he began to push his way beneath her.

He emerged with a smile on his face.

Then she lay flat on the floor and he put the ball on her ankles.

He rolled the ball up her legs.

She juggled it on her feet. You will notice a fog over Kalib. That is because as I was taking another picture of him, he reached out and smeared my lens with his finger.

Kalib, for Grandma Mary down in the Navajo Nation: may his image help speed your recovery

There was a car crash on the Navajo reservation Friday and it left Kalib's other grandmother, Mary Fatt, badly injured. She had to be medivaced by helicopter ambulance from just outside of Shonto to Flagstaff. Just to set the record straight, because I know that among those who do not know Mary there will be some who will be wondering, yes, Grandmother Mary is a sober person and was driving sober. 

We do not yet know about the other driver, who apparently was not hurt, nor do we know the details of how the accident happened. Lavina and Jacob were in Anchorage until very late in the evening and out here, Margie and I spent several hours, worried, wondering.

I will not try to detail her injuries, but the last word that we received is that she is stable, her life no longer in danger.

I had taken a few pictures earlier in the day as I took my walk and then later after I drove off on a coffee break, but I decided instead to make a special post, just for Kalib's Grandmother Mary.

So, beginning fairly late in the evening, I shot this series of photos just for her.

I hope that she will be able to see them soon - like today, if Kalib's aunts who are with his grandmother can figure out a way to show her - if she is able to look.

If not, then she can enjoy them later.

Whenever she sees them, I know the face of Kalib will bring her cheer and cheer will help her heal.

Here, Kalib rinses a dish for his Grandma Margie.

He prepares to throw paper into the fire.

Kalib takes a bath, #1.

Kalib takes a bath, #2.

Kalib takes a bath, #3 - he watches the water go down the drain.

His mother dries him off and carries him out.

Mom sits down on the couch to finish the job. The TV is on.

Kalib gets pretty excited by something on the TV.

After he gets dressed in his pajamas, Kalib pays a visit to his Grandma Margie. She usually wears glasses that cover up the mole on her nose. With the glasses gone, Kalib finds the mole to be quite fascinating.

Kalib blows his nose.

Then he tries to blow his grandma's nose - with the same tissue!

Grandma puts her glasses on Kalib. Despite all the nose blowing, a little bit of snot trickles from his left nostril.

He draws, then tries to figure out Margie's crossword puzzle.

Mirror-view of Kalib working the crossword puzzle.

Kalib sees himself. Yes, our house is chaos. We are chaotic people, but, since I got hurt nearly a year-and-a-half ago, followed by Margie's two accidents, the chaos has intensified. We must live with it for awhile yet.

Kalib with pillow.

Kalib sees himself in the clock radio.

On this most difficult night, Kalib gives his mom a hug.

As Kalib's mom sends text messages to her sisters, his dad helps him into his bed. Kalib then turns around and pulls his hair.

Get well, Mary!

Many prayers for you.

A memorial to a mother, fetus and teenage girl killed by a drunk driver is destroyed*

Today I found this little angel reaching out with a flower from the tumble of stones that remain of what very recently was a memorial to a mother and a baby who died in a car crash at this place.

I did not touch the angel, I did not move it. This is exactly how I found it.

This is what the memorial looked like on May 6, 2005. Until I pedaled my bike up to it today, I had never before stopped here. I had taken a few pictures as I zipped by in the car and from my bike as well, but I never stopped. 

Other than that two lives were lost, I have no knowledge of what happened here. I do not recall reading about it in the paper, seeing the story on TV or hearing it on the radio. Perhaps someone who reads this will know and will fill me in. (Three lives, it turns out. Update at bottom.)

All I know is that one day, well before I took this picture, the white cross appeared. I wondered why. A lady who is now dead and who I would often see in her yard and who seemed to know about everything that ever happened anywhere near this neighborhood told me that a young mother and her baby had been killed when she crashed her car here. She thought it was a single-car crash, that she had just gone off the end of Church Road, across Shrock and into the embankment.

This might be correct, it might not be. I did some googling today, but I could not find the answer.

Later, the brown cross, decorated with the engraved bear, appeared.

Throughout the years, the memorial always seemed to be well-cared for.

It was the work of an ever-loving and forever-pained heart.

Only a very different kind of heart could vandalize it.

I chose this photo because it was the only one that my search engine found when I typed in the word, "cross."

One day very recently, as I passed by, I noticed that the white cross had been split and knocked down. It looked to me to be the work of vandals. I do not know for certain. It is possible that another car lost control here and drove over the cross and damaged it.

Perhaps someone driving a four-wheeler off the side of the road too fast after dark did not see it and ran over it.

I do not know.

But it looked like the work of vandals.

I had intended to take a photograph of the damaged cross, but I never did.

And now both crosses are gone.

If you look closely at the upper-left hand corner of the rock pile, you can see the little angel, lying at the junction of three rocks and a leaf.

And if you look to the right, you can barely make out some wilted flowers, and some plastic flowers.

These are the plastic flowers.

Not far from the destroyed memorial, I rode my bike through a blanket of downed leaves as fast as I could without losing control while reaching as far forward with my pocket camera as my arm would extend so that I could photograph the action.

It was hard, but I did it. How about that, Charlie? (Explanation in Wednesday's comments).

Later in the afternoon, as I was returning home from my coffee break, I saw this lady checking the mail. As you can see, the leaves are just about all down now.

Last year, by this day, the snow had set in for the season.

I am still in cocoon mode, but I have gone maybe 15 minutes over my time limit.

I wanted to keep my title short, anyway.

*Update, 8:42 AM: I originally posted this under the title:

A memorial to a deceased mother and baby is destroyed

Mark Dent, editor of the Alaska Newsreader at the Anchorage Daily News, read the post and sent me this ADN clipping from October 9, 1999 - ten years ago today - with an account of the fatal accident:

By S.J. Komarnitsky

Daily News Mat-Su Bureau 

Day:   Saturday 

Page:   E1 

Print Run Date:   10/9/1999 

Dateline:   Palmer -- 

Text:   A Wasilla man with a history of alcohol abuse and driving

illegally was charged with two counts of murder Friday in connection

with an August accident in which a teenager and pregnant woman were

killed.

John F. Magee, 37, was arraigned in Superior Court in Palmer on two

counts of second-degree murder, one count of first-degree assault and

driving while intoxicated. He may also face additional charges in

connection with the death of the fetus, prosecutors said. The woman was

eight months pregnant.

According to court documents, Magee was drunk and apparently driving

with broken windshield wipers in the rain in the early morning hours of

Aug. 15 when he ran a stop sign and crashed into a Subaru driven by

Laura Boles, 20, of Wasilla, at the intersection of Shrock and Church

roads. Boles was headed west on Shrock when she was hit by Magee, who

was headed north on Church, troopers said.

TX: The impact shoved both cars more than 60 feet off the road.

Killed were Boles, the fetus she was carrying, and a passenger, Mary A.

Williquette, 16, of Wasilla. A third passenger in Boles' car - Jacob

Buswell, 18, also of Wasilla - suffered severe injuries. Magee was also

injured.

According to court documents, Magee told troopers he had been drinking

at the Wasilla Bar, and the last thing he remembered was seeing a

stoplight near the Safeway grocery store in Wasilla, several miles from

the accident scene.

He registered a blood-alcohol level of 0.138 three hours after the

crash, according to court documents.

Ira See, an acquaintance who told troopers he was at the bar with Magee,

said the car Magee was driving did not have working windshield wipers

because the wiring had burned out, according to the court papers.

And while troopers said Magee had a valid driver's license when the

collision occurred, that has rarely been the case in recent years.

Over the past decade, Magee has been convicted at least six times for

driving without a license or driving while his license was revoked or

suspended. He also has been convicted of assault, criminal mischief, and

misconduct involving a controlled substance.

In 1980, he was convicted of driving while intoxicated and in 1988, he

was convicted of reckless driving.

Thank you, Mark.