A UFO report in Dyea, a sightseeing sign slapped on a city garbage truck, two penitent rhubarb pilferers — “Best of the Skagway, Alaska Police Blotter,” published by Jeff Brady, former owner of The Skagway News, features the best of small town crime and “crime.”
The first volume, “an Alaskan classic,” was published in 1995. Now, those who enjoy the quirkiness of Southeast Alaska have two volumes to choose from. Together, they span more than 30 years of Skagway’s history. Each volume is unique.
The first volume, “Best of the Skagway, Alaska Police Blotter and Other True Tales from Alaska’s Fun City,” took the best of the police blotter (“Heavy breathing over the 911 line resulted in an obscene phone call investigation. The call was traced to a five-month-old baby”), as well as stories Mike Sica wrote for the Skagway News.
[Read highlights of ‘Best of the Skagway’ police blotter volumes 1 and 2]
One such story features a visiting villain called “The Creep,” who tries, without realizing it, to impersonate well-known former Skagway city manager Skip Elliott in order to steal his ferry ticket — and whom Skagway Police Chief Dave Sexton “also accused… of committing the literary crime of telling bad stories,” according to Sica’s column.
The first volume, which went out of print in 2015, got going at the suggestion of Skagway News readers.
“Mike Sica had a flair for really fun stories and angles to things,” Brady said. “Some of his features are classics.”
For the second volume, Brady collaborated with Dave Sexton, now a police officer. Sexton served as Skagway’s police chief in the 1990s but left to serve as chief in other locations. He returned to Skagway “to finish out his Alaska retirement,” Brady said.
“He has taken over the blotter writing duties again,” Brady said. “He’s a good writer… it’s not just the ‘stick to the facts, ma’am’ kind of thing. He puts his own little flair to it.”
The second volume also includes highlights from “Heard on the Wind,” a column Brady wrote in the persona of “The Windy One,” who overhears outlandish questions from tourists. The column includes gems like: “The northern lights are reflections of the glaciers, right?” and “How old does a deer have to be before you call it a moose?”
“Any Alaskan that goes outside is bombarded with these,” Brady said. The acknowledgements thank people “who taught us how to laugh, and who don’t mind laughing at themselves.”
The books were fun to put together, but they also include “some serious police work,” Brady pointed out.
Chapters are structured chronologically. The first volume covers 1983-1995, with a special section of selections from 1996-2004. The second volume begins in 2005 and continues through 2014.
The cover art is by former Skagway resident Kathy Cooney, and the books are published by Lynn Canal Publishing, Skaguay News Depot & Books’ in-house press.
The books don’t need to be read front to back. Rather, “just crack it open anywhere,” Brady said. “It’s a great gift to hand somebody and say ‘This is what we’re all about. It’s not the typical Gold Rush history book … it’s kind of a window into modern day life in Skagway… dealing with a lot of visitors, and a quiet town that settles down at night unless people are out partying. And people do a lot of that in Skagway…. I just hope people will grab a copy and have fun reading it.”
• The revised edition of the first volume and new second volume are arriving at bookstores around Southeast Alaska, Brady said. They’re also available at Skaguay News Depot & Books and on Amazon.
The books will launch in Skagway from 3-6 p.m. on June 24 at the bookstore. Brady and Sexton plan on coming to Juneau for a book signing in mid to late July, and may do the same in Whitehorse.
