Crime

For the friends and families of 16-year-old Karly McDonald and 18-year-old Kiara Renteria Haist, the spring of 2019 brought unfathomable change and an immeasurable rift of time. May 9 marked the three-year anniversary of a tragic car accident on Unalaska's Mount Ballyhoo that cost McDonald and Renteria Haist their lives. Both died when their classmate drove his truck off the mountain, while they were inside. To honor the memory of the young girls, several dozen Unalaskans gathered outside the Burma Road Chapel on a foggy afternoon, waving signs, chatting softly and offering each other hugs and support. Passersby waved from their cars, honking their horns in solidarity.

On Tuesday, Unalaska declared October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The national campaign was founded in the 1980s as a way to connect people working to end domestic violence and to spread awareness on the subject."[I] urge all citizens to work toward the elimination of domestic violence and all violence within families and within dating relationships of all kinds,” said Mayor Vince Tutiakoff Sr. at a City Council meeting last week.