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Ice at the Door

Last year some area residents had problems with wolves at the door. This year Bill Russell, near Fox, has a worse problem--ice has formed at his door and all around the house.

For the last three months, ground water has been rising up in a heated crawl space under Mr. Russell's new house. Now two to three feet of ice covers his yard and contributes to continued flooding of his attached garage.

A mile or so beyond Mr. Russell's house, Felix Pedro's monument is having a similar problem. Overflow ice forming from ground water has half-submerged the monument. Before spring, the monument may entirely disappear.

Trying to forestall further damage, Mr. Russell uses a large digging machine to cut trenches in the ice covering his yard. This way he hopes to drain away the water trapped beneath the overflow ice. For years, road maintenance crews have had the same problem, especially with the roads leading north from Fairbanks.