When a young Seward woman was being cuffed and arrested on a charge of Driving Under the Influence while stopped on Herman Leirer Road June 30, at approximately 2:30 a.m., her passenger, John Spiers, slipped over into the drivers’ seat, and made a getaway race down  Exit Glacier. The Seward Police called for assistance from state troopers in the area. He was later caught and transported to the Seward Community Jailhouse. It turns out Spiers had several reasons to try to evade the law, futile though the attempt was. Spiers, who was charged with DUI, DWLR, and vehicle theft, also had several warrants on him from Soldotna and Anchorage law enforcement including a couple of warrants for failure to appear on an original charge and making a false report, one that carried a $500 fine, another with a 10- day sentence, plus another driving with a revoked license charge.

Spiers was by no means the only person being stopped and caught driving with a revoked license, or DUI. The police Journals have been chock-filled with them lately, and that’s likely to continue this busy Independence Day period.

Police inform us that State Troopers are on temporary detail at the Breeze Inn to cover the July 4th festivities in Seward.

Troopers Press Release: Also, beware drivers, be law-abiding this Independence Day. Alaska State Troopers have stepped up their efforts. They will mostly be out on the roads enforcing traffic laws and responding to calls for service. Meanwhile, the Alaska Wildlife Troopers will focus on contacting people out hunting or fishing.
Regardless of what your ultimate plans are for the weekends or holiday on Wednesday, Troopers encourage you to always practice safe driving behaviors on the roads while traveling to and from your destination. AST believes highway traffic will be particularly heavy on the Seward Highway and Sterling Highway due to numerous events on the Kenai Peninsula, such as the Girdwood Forest Fair and Mount Marathon in Seward, and people heading to popular fishing spots. The Alaska Bureau of Highway Patrol will be conducting overtime patrols to keep the expected traffic influx moving safely up and down the highways. Troopers will be looking for aggressive, distracted and impaired driving. The enhanced enforcement starts this weekend and runs to July 8.
Troopers encourage people to make safety their number one priority. Driving with headlights on at all times is an effective way to ensure you are seen.  Headlight use is required when within safety corridors or where posted. Please move over for emergency vehicles during traffic stops and pull over to allow vehicles to pass when five or more are behind them while driving under the posted speed limit.