MOUNT BALLYHOO

A new judge overseeing a criminal case involving a fatal 2019 car crash in Unalaska has granted the defense extra time to solidify a new trial date. In a status hearing on Feb. 8, Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews allowed Julia Moudy, the lead counsel for the defense, another month to go through discovery materials, gather experts and find a trial date that will fit her schedule. That comes after several delays and complications in the case – the latest being a change in lead counsel for the defense, which led to the appointment of a new trial judge.

Diana Renteria has been attending hearings, arraignments and trial calls for nearly five years, in hopes of eventually finding justice in a criminal case involving the death of her 18-year-old daughter Kiara R. Haist and another Unalaska teen. In May 2019, Dustin Ruckman, a high schooler at the time, drove his truck off of Unalaska’s Ulakta Head Cliff. Haist and 16-year-old Karly McDonald were ejected from the vehicle and killed as the pickup descended nearly 1,000 feet down the mountain. From that time on, Renteria says she has been in limbo, trying to adapt to her new life without the child she used to call “Kiwi.” “You just try to live in the world as that other person you're supposed to be,” Renteria said. “But at the end of the day, you go home and you wonder, ‘Are you okay? Are you hungry? Are you cold? Can I see you in the moon if I stare at the moon long enough?’” Jan. 17 would have been Haist’s 23rd birthday.

The trial for a criminal case involving a fatal 2019 vehicle crash in Unalaska won't happen this summer.

In honor of the two girls and in an effort to create something productive from the tragedy, McDonald organized the scholarship fund Angels Over Ballyhoo.It’s been nearly four years since Alyssa McDonald lost her daughter Karly in a tragic car crash on Unalaska’s Mount Ballyhoo — a fatal incident that also took the life of teenager Kiara Renteria-Haist.

A trial is set for late summer in the criminal case involving two Unalaska teenagers who died in a car crash on Unalaska’s Mount Ballyhoo nearly four years ago. At a hearing Jan. 28, Superior Court Judge Herman Walker Jr. scheduled the trial for late August in Unalaska.

The annual Ballyhoo Mountain Run was this Saturday. Over 20 runners raced up and down the grueling 1,600 foot peak in the blustery wind.

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.

Since late June, Unalaska's Museum of the Aleutians has been publishing a series of Instagram posts about historically and locally significant places on…

The Ballyhoo Mountain Run wrapped up last Friday, and—while no records were broken this year—according to Chris DiGiro, sports coordinator for Unalaska's…

Unalaska's Department of Parks, Culture, and Recreation is holding a virtual Ballyhoo Mountain Run. The event started July 18 and goes through the end of…