This should strike fear in all of us. Look a the comment posted by his wife (below) and tell me he is not the victim of a militarized justice system. How many other fed, state and local agencies have the right of seizure that we come into contact with when we fly? It just takes a court order obtained by any of them.


Mary Ames · Fairbanks, Alaska
I am Ken Jouppi's wife, Mary Ames. Since April 3, 2012, we have had our primary source of income taken, been forced to defend Ken and our business by hiring two attorneys, been under bail conditions to not sell any assets or file for bankruptcy without permission from the prosecutor, and been forbidden to fly alcoholic beverages in any plane, including flights where that would be legal and accepted such as hunting and fishing trips. We had our phones tapped since November 2011—under highly disputable warrants. My husband and I must hold a Guinness Book Record for length of time our phones were, and possibly still are, being monitored.
The allegations against Ken were, from the beginning, that he “turned a blind eye” to alcohol carried by his passengers. This is absolutely not true. On several occasions, my husband reported his suspicions about some passengers to either airport police or Alaska State Trooper dispatch. For some mysterious reason, there was either no response or stunningly belated response. Law enforcement allegations were that he did not give them enough information. All they had to do was have a VPSO at his destination seize the cargo, apply for a search warrant and proceed from there depending on what they discovered. Or they could have come to Ken's tie-down and perform the same action. In reality, they turned a blind eye to Ken's reports.
I can trace the deliberate targeting and hunting of my husband by troopers through Court records. I have found every affidavit signed by Joshua Michael Moore to be riddled with lies, innuendo, and unsubstantiated allegations. Every judge and magistrate who signed Moore's affidavits turned a blind eye to truth, reason, and justice.
My husband and I used to believe that, while there are a few bad cops, basically most police officers are honest, hard-working people. We now know, and all our friends know, that if there is such a thing as an honest cop, he has to turn a blind eye every day to the graft, greed, conspiracies and over-reaching authority of his fellow officers.
Let's look at the motives of the troopers and the prosecutor in this case. Mr. Olson’s current job was created and funded specifically to prosecute alcohol and drug crimes in rural Alaska. Seeing the same number of importation charges year after year, about 66 single-spaced pages annually, he has job security playing Whack-a-Mole. He takes so much pride in his position that he had his own name posted on a DPS dispatch after winning a Nome trial on June 20.
It was obvious to everyone in Fairbanks except the jury that the troopers lied on the stand. They lied to enrich their Detachment, which will profit from our possessions or from their sale. They will get promotions and celebrate the destruction of a good man's life. They perjured themselves. That's how they make money.
We who care about Alaska and about justice cannot allow this policy to continue. It provides financial incentive for corruption, destroys the lives of its citizens, and puts a chill on police relations with civilians. No matter what this Court decides about Ken Jouppi and KenAir, I will continue to fight for a return to a societal norm of a free society, not 1933 Berlin.

http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/2 ... ommunities

The confiscation laws were allowed to help in the war on drugs , which with research shows it to be a total scam. We the honest tax paying citizen are the ones who live in fear of criminals and criminal cops. We need to speak loudly and pressure our elected officials. It is scares me when I see the moral quality of the people we have elected. As a constitutional republic we had a chance. As a democracy we are screwed.
Sorry for the rant. Jess

You guys can discuss the practical aviation law aspect of this, or go full political on it in Hot Air.

I don't think any of us disagree on the the matter, but I'd rather keep the rants behind closed doors and not in Google.

There have been a few of those smelly cases like that here in the north country. Another was the alleged murder of a young lady by a police officer I believe in '03 in Nome. Many things don't add up in a number of these cases. Small town stuff I guess.

The guy gets to keep his plane now. Still working on clearing his name though.

http://www.adn.com/2013/12/21/3241459/pilot-gets-to-keep-plane-after.html

Hey, don't any of you watch "Alaska State Troopers" on TV? They are Gods, or is that "God Like"?

Actually, the anti bootlegging laws in Alaska place a HUGE burden on air carriers regarding the transport of alcohol to villages. That said, alcohol and bootlegging are a HUGE problem in bush Alaska, and there's lots of $$$ to be made in that business. I for one think there are some Constitutional issues in those bootlegging regs that have yet to be tested. I'm glad the judge overturned the seizure of the plane, since this was a case of "attempt" as opposed to "did" the deed, and the seizure statute doesn't include an attempt, as do many game laws, for example.

I'm glad to hear Ken got his airplane back...he's a true gentleman, at least in my experience, and this sounds like a case of over zealous prosecution.

That said, bootlegging is serious stuff in AK.

MTV

mtv wrote:Hey, don't any of you watch "Alaska State Troopers" on TV? They are Gods, or is that "God Like"?

Actually, the anti bootlegging laws in Alaska place a HUGE burden on air carriers regarding the transport of alcohol to villages. That said, alcohol and bootlegging are a HUGE problem in bush Alaska, and there's lots of $$$ to be made in that business. I for one think there are some Constitutional issues in those bootlegging regs that have yet to be tested. I'm glad the judge overturned the seizure of the plane, since this was a case of "attempt" as opposed to "did" the deed, and the seizure statute doesn't include an attempt, as do many game laws, for example.

I'm glad to hear Ken got his airplane back...he's a true gentleman, at least in my experience, and this sounds like a case of over zealous prosecution.

That said, bootlegging is serious stuff in AK.

MTV

MTV I agree with you on that one wholeheartedly!!
But it sure makes a difference where you are and who is bitching about it!!
I have seen cases of whiskey come off 135 aircraft marked from Brown Jug!!
There are Places (Buckland for 1 where if you have to much yeast in your position you can go to jail!!)
Then others where the whole place except 2 people drink and the troopers won't even come when you call repeatedly.(SVS)
I called after the WTP operator's wife stuck him in the gut with a butcher knife after he threw her out the living room window!!
He went to the Hospital and the troopers came out 10 days later, walked around the empty village and then told me that if no one calls they really don't care!!
Been in others that have a liquor store and limit purchases and take it pretty serious, same village you can get a DUI for snow machine,wheeler, boat, car!!
Just like everywhere else, just depends on where you are and what time!!And who you are dealing with!
With my own plane up there I have had many good lots of money offers to bring some back with me, never did it because I would be the one to get caught!!

Too bad Cloudy never never quite finished The Baron and the Bootlegger.
-DP

Been in others that have a liquor store and limit purchases and take it pretty serious, same village you can get a DUI for snow machine,wheeler, boat, car!!
Just like everywhere else, just depends on where you are and what time!!And who you are dealing with!
With my own plane up there I have had many good lots of money offers to bring some back with me, never did it because I would be the one to get caught!! [/quote]

Yeah, Stevens was always a little hairy. The Fort just upstream has a liquor store, and their annual sales basically pay for all city services....population 500 or so. And just up the Chandalar is Venetie...totally dry, and where you actually see villagers out and about before noon....

I'm pretty glad I don't have to work that country any more.

MTV

Booze, and Pepsi, will eventually eliminate the race up there.

A couple of us that made our living hauling triple-mailers of pop sat down one day and did the math. In the Eskimo villages we flew to, every man, woman, and child had to drink about 18 cans of pop a day. Every day. Seven days a week, 365 days a year. When the sun is out and you're flying in, the villages have a huge sparkle about a mile in diameter around them. Pop cans. Thrown on the ground, glistening in the sun.

Breaks the Elder's hearts seeing it happen, and some of us feel bad for helping it along.

I searched lots of bags, and dumped a lot of high dollar bottles out on the ground. But you sure could tell when the booze plane would hit a village. Place turned into a ghost town for a few days until every drop was gone. Then folks would pop out a few at a time, apologize for missing work or wanting to fight, and life would get back to village normal.

Gump

GumpAir wrote:Booze, and Pepsi, will eventually eliminate the race up there.

A couple of us that made our living hauling triple-mailers of pop sat down one day and did the math. In the Eskimo villages we flew to, every man, woman, and child had to drink about 18 cans of pop a day. Every day. Seven days a week, 365 days a year. When the sun is out and you're flying in, the villages have a huge sparkle about a mile in diameter around them. Pop cans. Thrown on the ground, glistening in the sun.

Breaks the Elder's hearts seeing it happen, and some of us feel bad for helping it along.

I searched lots of bags, and dumped a lot of high dollar bottles out on the ground. But you sure could tell when the booze plane would hit a village. Place turned into a ghost town for a few days until every drop was gone. Then folks would pop out a few at a time, apologize for missing work or wanting to fight, and life would get back to village normal.

Gump

Did you ever do the math an Chips?

The numbers are spectacular....

Gump

Did you ever do the math on Chips?

Problem with chips is they take up all your room with no weight. And when you get paid by the pound to haul shit, that's not a good combo.

The perfect set-up was 18 triple mailers of pop for 1152 pounds, which made a nice, compact load, then stuff as many boxes of chips in as you could squeeze without crushing too many of 'em.



Gump