{"id":4086,"date":"2016-10-09T08:02:40","date_gmt":"2016-10-09T15:02:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/drunk-driver-hits-ketchikan-welcome-arch\/"},"modified":"2016-10-09T08:02:40","modified_gmt":"2016-10-09T15:02:40","slug":"drunk-driver-hits-ketchikan-welcome-arch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/drunk-driver-hits-ketchikan-welcome-arch\/","title":{"rendered":"Drunk driver hits Ketchikan welcome arch"},"content":{"rendered":"

KETCHIKAN<\/strong> \u2014 An alleged drunk driver damaged the Ketchikan Welcome Arch late Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

Ketchikan police, at approximately 11:40 p.m. Wednesday, responded to the 300 block of Mission Street for a report of a vehicle colliding with the arch\u2019s support poles. Officers contacted the driver, a 24-year-old man, who appeared intoxicated and refused to submit to field sobriety tests, according to a news release from the Ketchikan Police Department.<\/p>\n

The man was taken to the police station, where he allegedly refused to submit a breath sample. The man was charged with driving under the influence and refusal to submit to a chemical test. He was transported to the Ketchikan Correctional Center and released on his own recognizance, according to the release.<\/p>\n

Since the 1930s, there has been a Ketchikan Welcome Arch on Mission Street at almost all times. The current arch \u2014 actually the fourth to span Mission Street \u2014 was installed in 1996 after Historic Ketchikan led a drive to replace the previous arch, which had been damaged in a truck collision, according to information provided by the nonprofit organization.<\/p>\n

The City of Ketchikan is responsible for maintenance and upkeep of the arch, according to City Manager Karl Amylon.<\/p>\n

Workers with the city\u2019s Public Works Department and the Ketchikan Public Utilities Electric Division were coordinating on Thursday to take the sign down to do a full assessment, Amylon said in a phone interview Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have any estimate on time or cost at this point,\u201d Amylon said. \u201cWhat I was told this morning is that the structural elements are probably going to have to be taken down (and) replaced. I guess there was some damage to the sidewalk as well that we\u2019re going to have to investigate further.\u201d<\/p>\n

The driver is scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 12 in Ketchikan District Court, according to online court records.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think that the actual sign itself is OK, but the superstructure that holds it in place took a serious hit,\u201d Amylon told the Ketchikan City Council at its Thursday night meeting. \u201cWe\u2019re going to be assessing the best way to bring (the sign) down and to affect the repairs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amylon added that repairs won\u2019t be covered under the city\u2019s insurance, and that the city likely will pursue action against the driver\u2019s insurance company.<\/p>\n

\u2022 This article first appeared in the Ketchikan Daily News and is reprinted here with permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KETCHIKAN \u2014 An alleged drunk driver damaged the Ketchikan Welcome Arch late Wednesday night. Ketchikan police, at approximately 11:40 p.m. Wednesday, responded to the 300 block of Mission Street for a report of a vehicle colliding with the arch\u2019s support poles. Officers contacted the driver, a 24-year-old man, who appeared intoxicated and refused to submit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[230],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-4086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-state-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4086\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4086"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=4086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}