By Brad JoyalBJOYAL@NEWSMINER.COM

The starting order for the 35th running of the Yukon Quest 1,000 Mile

International Sled Dog Race is set, and a newcomer, Tim Pap-pas, will lead the pack out of Fairbanks on Saturday.

Pappas, a 28-year-old rook-ie from 17th Dog in Willow, drew bib No. 1 on Thursday night at the Start and Draw Banquet held in the Gold Room at the Westmark hotel.

“It’s my first Quest, and I’m first,” Pappas said. “I’m a little overwhelmed. I wasn’t expect-ing to be No. 1. I’m actually racing a relatively young team of dogs, and because of that I’m going to be resting more than a lot of the veterans will be.

“I’m probably going to be passed by a lot of people, but that’s fine. I’m just looking for-ward to enjoying the trail and having a good time.”

Veteran Torsten Kohnert and rookie Claudia Wickert’s teams will leave Fairbanks behind Pappas. Kohnert was the 10th musher to draw her starting position and picked No. 2, while Wickert drew bib No. 3 after being the seventh musher to take the stage and draw in front of the room packed full of mushers, their families and handlers, Yukon Quest offi-cials, volunteers and fans of the sport.

Hugh Neff, a two-time cham-pion (2012 and 2016), drew bib No. 9. He was the first cham-pion to draw, picking second

after veteran Rob Cooke started things off by drawing No. 5.

The only other two-time champion in the field, Allen Moore, who won the race in 2013 and 2014, drew No. 23. Last year’s champion, Matt Hall, will wear bib No. 7 as he tries to become the first mush-er to repeat as champion since Moore accomplished the feat.

Although Pappas admitted he was overwhelmed by the reality of leaving first, some of the mushers were pleased with their starting positions.

They include veteran Kath-erine Keith from Team Baker Kennel in Kotzebue.

By Amanda BohmanABOHMAN@NEWSMINER.COM

Ice Alaska, the nonprofit group that made Fairbanks into an ice sculpting mecca, has halted plans to hold an ama-teur ice carving competition in March.

A separate plan for a kids ice

park and ice sculpture exhibi-tion is moving forward at the George Horner Ice Park. Dick and Hoa Brickley are host-ing the Kid’s Ice Art Park and International Ice Art Exhibi-tion starting Feb. 19.

The Brickleys were a huge force behind Ice Alaska, but the relationship has soured.

Ice Alaska, host of the World Ice Art Championships since 1989, is taking the year off to regroup — make a new busi-ness plan, find some new sponsors and put on a compet-itive ice carving event, along

with a winter carnival, at the Tanana Valley Fairgrounds in 2019, said Stephanie Clymer, treasurer and vice president of the Ice Alaska board of direc-tors.

“We’re just going to put all of our effort into an awesome 2019 event,” she said.

The board met Wednesday and unanimously agreed to forgo hosting a 2018 event, Clymer said.

In November, the board can-celed the 2018 World Ice Art Championships but had con-sidered hosting a Bill Stroeck-

er Foundation Youth Amateur Classic to keep the momentum of a March ice event going.

“We are going to go right back to the drawing board,” Clymer said. “We want to have absolutely the best event we can have.”

The Brickleys announced in September that they would retire from Ice Alaska after the 2018 carving champion-ships, but Ice Alaska broke with the Brickleys after they failed to reach a rental agree-ment for the George Horner Ice Park.

Clymer said the George Horner Ice Park lacks appro-priate toilet, kitchen and warming facilities to contin-ue hosting an internationally renowned ice carving compe-tition.

A fire in December 2016 destroyed the main lodge building at the park.

The 2017 World Ice Art com-petition went forward, but organizers said facilities for carvers and volunteers were insufficient.

Classified » B6 | Comics » B5 | Dear Abby » B4 | Markets » A7 | Obituaries » A3 | Opinion » A4 INSIDE

Lathrop, Tri-Valley, Hutchison win post-season hockey tournament openers. » B1Inside Today

One dollar newsminer.comFRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2018

T H E V O I C E O F I N T E R I O R A L A S K A

SOURDOUGH JACK:

“I’d go on the trail myself, but I’m a little too husky.”

• • •

The weather.

Clear. Areas of freezing

fog in the morning.

Highs around 10 below.

Tonight: Clear. Lows

around 25 below.

High today .............-10

Low tonight ........... -18

WEATHER » A7

Aurora forecast.

Auroral activity will be

low. Weather permitting,

low-level displays will

be visible overhead from

Utqiagvik to Fairbanks

and visible low on the

northern horizon from as

far south as Anchorage.

This information is provided

by aurora forecasters at the

Geophysical Institute at the

University of Alaska Fairbanks.

For more information about

the aurora, visit http://www.

gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast

GOOD MORNING

Ice Alaska cancels 2018 carving eventNonprofit group vows to come back stronger in 2019

QUEST » A5

ICE ALASKA » A3

Trump likely to approve public release of memoASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Over the strong objections of his own Justice Department, President Donald Trump will clear the way for the publication of a classi-

fied memo on the Russia investigation that Repub-licans say shows improper use of surveillance by the FBI, White House officials said Thursday.

Manley fire chief accused of racial slurBy Erin GrangerEGRANGER

@NEWSMINER.COM

The chief of Manley Hot Springs Volunteer Fire Department is under investigation by the Interior Region Emergency Medical Services Council for reportedly using a racial slur in a public Face-book post Wednesday.

Terry Russell, chief of the fire department and board member of the Interior Region EMS Council, report-edly commented on an article written by Fair-banks journalist Der-mot Cole regarding

the possible renaming of Denali back to Mt. McKinley.

The comment from Russell’s account read (sic), “yes sir its alway been and always will Mt McKinley to me , not n----- Mt .”

The comment was reported by a number of Facebook users and ultimately removed but preserved in a screen-shot.

T h e N e w s - M i n e r contacted Russell on Wednesday afternoon. Russell refused to com-ment on the post before hanging up the phone.

SLUR » A3MEMO » A5

President Donald Trump waves Thursday as he boards Air Force One in Lewisburg, West Virginia. AP PHOTO/ANDREW HARNIK

Rookie Tim Pappas picks bib No. 1 at the Yukon Quest Start and Draw Banquet

Mushers by the numbers

1. Tim Pappas2. Torsten Kohnert3. Claudia Wickert4. Christine Roalofs5. Rob Cooke6. Jason Campeau7. Matt Hall8. Ryne Olson9. Hugh Neff10. Paige Drobny11. Katherine Keith12. Nathaniel Hamlyn13. Laura Neese14. Bernhard Schuchert15. Riley Dyche16. Jennifer Campeau17. Dave Dalton18. Mike Ellis19. Ed Hopkins20. Severin Cathry21. Vebjorn Aishana Reitan22. Ike Underwood23. Allen Moore24. Alex Buetow25. Mark Stamm 26. Luc Tweddell

Beginner’s luck

Top: Those attending the Yukon Quest’s 2018 Start and Draw Banquet were given table names of various checkpoints, as well as American and Canadian flags. Whitehorse, Yukon, is this year’s finish line.

Left: Katherine Keith of Kotzebue was the last musher to draw, and jokingly pretended to be surprised with her starting position of 11th. ROBIN WOOD/

NEWS-MINER PHOTOS

Above: Rookie Tim Pappas of Willow will be the first musher to leave the starting gate Saturday after he drew bib No. 1 at the Start and Draw Banquet. “I think I’m gonna get passed by a bunch of people,” he quipped.