Juneau Empire FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 2019
WEATHER Partly sunny. High of 84, low of 54| B4
SPORTS/OUTDOORS | B1
CROSS COUNTRY BIKER
YOUR GUIDE TO JULY 4th
Bicyclist races 4,200 miles in 20 days. B1.
Parade routes, events & more. C1-C4.
Robbery suspect kicks cane away from teen, steals purse JUNEAU EMPIRE
PHOTOS BY MICHAEL PENN | JUNEAU EMPIRE
Bruno Malecha and his mother, Jen, watch people fish at the Wayside Park on Channel Drive on Tuesday. Bruno, who has Type 1 diabetes, will be traveling to Washington, D.C., this summer to lobby members of Congress to support diabetes research.
Mr. Malecha goes to Washington Local boy with Type 1 diabetes advocates for research funding By BEN HOHENSTATT JUNEAU EMPIRE
B
runo Malecha is going to Washington, D.C. because he wants other youths with Type 1 diabetes to live the same way he does. Malecha, 12, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes — a disease that means the body does not produce insulin — when he was 1 year old. While diabetes means Malecha needs to be aware of what he eats and his activity level, he told
the Empire he is fortunate to be covered by health insurance and have access to medical equipment that allow the Scout to do things like go on overnight camping trips or join his mother, Jen, on lengthy hikes. “I’m pretty lucky with my diabetes,” Malecha said. “I’ve got good management.” But he knows not everyone has access to the care and equipment he does, so he applied to be part of the JDRF 2019 Children’s Congress. Every two years about 160 children with Type 1 diabetes lobby the adult Congress to renew the Special Diabetes Program. “They give money to
companies to develop existing technologies and create new ones,” Malecha said. The Special Diabetes program was created 1997, according to the organization formerly known as Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and now simply known by its initials. The program typically receives bipartisan support. It was last renewed for two years in 2018 at $150 million per year. The Children’s Congress allows youths with Type 1 Diabetes to tell lawmakers about how the autoimmune disease affects their lives. SEE MALECHA | Page A3
SEE ROBBERY | Page A3
Bruno Malecha uses a continuous glucose monitoring system that works with an insulin pump to use real-time data to decide when to administer glucose and the size of the dose.
SEE CHAMBER | Page A4
SEE WATER | Page A3
By BEN HOHENSTATT JUNEAU EMPIRE
Volume 108 No. 151
MICHAEL PENN | JUNEAU EMPIRE
U.S. Forest Service Juneau District Ranger Brad Orr speaks to the Juneau Chamber of Commerce during its weekly luncheon at the Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall on Thursday.
the process,” Orr said during his presentation. “ECI will be scheduling a public scoping meeting.” The date for that meeting
JUNEAU EMPIRE
has yet to be announced. The meeting will offer the public another chance
It will be years before master plan work actually begins
cy develops a proposal to take a major federal action, NEPA requires an environmental assessment. “They’ve already started
Water and soil testing shows signs of contamination A chemical with known health risks if ingested was detected at Hagevig Fire Training Center after soil and groundwater testing, but the contaminant is not near a known source of drinking water. The City and Borough of Juneau completed an initial round of soil and groundwater testing for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), was detected on the property. Drinking water in this area and throughout most of the CBJ is supplied by the CBJ municipal water system — not from individual wells, which could be contaminated. The source of CBJ’s municipal water is from Last Chance Basin and the Salmon Creek Reservoir, both of which are far removed from sources of PFOS/PFOA. Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation requested the soil and groundwater testing because of the historic use of Aqueous Film Forming Foams (AFFFs) at the site during fire training activities. Some types of AFFFs contain PFAS. PFOS/ PFOA testing is ongoing in many communities in Alaska and around the U.S. CBJ hired Cox Environmental to perform the testing and analysis work. Cox Environmental will perform a second round of PFOS/PFOA sampling to define the extent of the groundwater impacts. An initial review of water utility data indicates that all properties with dwelling areas within a half mile of the training center are connected to the municipal water system.
Decisions pending on Mendenhall overhaul
A Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area master plan is in place, but pursuit of its vision will likely move at a glacial pace. A final decision on the expansive planned overhaul for the visitor center and its surrounding area is about a year out, said U.S. Forest Service Juneau District Ranger Brad Orr said in an interview Thursday after a presentation to the Greater Juneau Chamber of Commerce. The earliest work could start on the project is in about three years. In the meantime, ECI Anchorage has been awarded the contract for final National Environmental Policy Act and final design contract. When a federal agen-
Juneau police are searching for a man who allegedly kicked a cane out from under a teenage girl and stole her purse near the Nugget Mall on Wednesday. Police said in a release that the incident took place at about 10:13 a.m. after the 17-year-old got off the city bus behind the mall, located on Glacier Highway. She was headed toward the east side of the shopping center when a man she didn’t know came over to talk to her, the release states. “The female assumed the male was going to ask her for money, so she walked over to him to tell him she didn’t have any,” the Juneau Police Department said. “The female uses a cane to assist with walking, and when she approached the male, he kicked the cane away from her, causing her to fall to the ground. The male then demanded the female’s purse and stated he would stab the female if she didn’t give it to him. The female did not see a knife, but was scared by the man’s actions, and handed over her purse.”