FAIRBANKS — A Central man will face federal disorderly conduct charges in Fairbanks this morning in a case that has received attention from Gov. Sean Parnell and Alaska’s congressional delegation.
On trial is Jim Wilde, 70, who was arrested by National Park Service rangers Sept. 16, 2010 for allegedly not cooperating with a safety inspection of his boat on the Yukon River between Circle and Eagle.
In the last few months the case has been a vehicle in a long dispute about whether the state or federal government has authority over rivers in federal parkland. Parnell, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and U.S. Rep. Don Young have all said the Park Service did not have the authority to stop Wilde’s boat for a safety inspection in the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve.
In January, the state government joined Wilde’s attorney, Bill Satterberg of Fairbanks, in asking Magistrate Judge Scott Oravec to dismiss charges based on the argument that the river-bottom under where Wilde was arrested is state land, But Oravec rejected this argument, leading to the scheduled trial to begin today.
In addition to the overriding jurisdiction battle, the facts of Wilde’s arrest are contested.
According to charges filed in federal court, Wilde threatened, resisted, intimidated and intentionally interfered with a park ranger during an official duty, fled when ordered to halt, and recklessly created “a risk of public nuisance and violence by engaging in threatening and violent behavior in the form of maneuvering his boat toward the path of a law enforcement vessel, and in other ways.” He also was cited for having an unregistered boat.
Satterberg has said Wilde refused to let rangers board his boat for safety reasons and told them he would pull over to the riverbank. He said the “badge-heavy park rangers” pointed a shotgun at him and rolled him in the mud before putting him in handcuffs.
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