This may sound like a strange question but DID Sarah Palin win the Miss Wasilla contest in 1984? Updated and moved up!

So I was moderating some of my comments and I came across this one from LoveAndKnishesFromBrooklyn:

I was sitting her with time on my hands, and did a Google News Timeline search for Miss Wasilla/The Wasilla Water Fesitval in 1984. Up springs a scan of the ADN dated 7-7-84, reporting all the dish from the Festival, including the Miss Wasilla Pageant (it was actually part of the Festival, it seems). This may be old news since I don't read all the comments on all the blogs, but someone named Katrina Mueller seems to have won the title that year, (author quote "the new Miss Wasilla") NOT SP. No mention of LaPalin at all. (I edited it for space, but you can read the whole thing under my "Mudflats wins best political blog of 2009" post.)

So I visit the link that LoveAndKnishesFromBrooklyn provided, which comes from the "Neighbors" section of the ADN on July 7, 1984, and I read the following: Awards for the various competitions will be provided by the new Miss Wasilla, Katrina Mueller, at 6 p.m. at the Mat-su Resort Pavilion.

So then I think WTF? Did Palin NOT win this title in 1984? And if, not how could that have not been discovered by ALL of the journalists that showed up to dig up the truth about Sarah?

To honest I am not even making any kind of assertion yet, I am just kind of sitting here stunned.

And just to make this information even more surreal. The girl who is listed as the REAL Miss Wasilla 1984, is the sister of my high school girlfriend! I shit you not!

We broke up in 1982 so I had no idea that her sister was Miss Wasilla, but the summer after we graduated they did indeed move out to Wasilla.

And just to let you know what a small place Alaska really is, THAT girlfriend was the one that I attended college in Hawaii with at the University of Hilo. The very same school that Palin attended two years later in 1982! Or did she?

Okay well now I need to look into this because I am very, very curious. Is it even possible that Palin lied about this? Well she DID lie about winning the Miss Congeniality part, and considering all of her other lies, I would not put it past her. The question is how could she not have been exposed?

If somebody finds any information which explains this I will happily post it to clear up any confusion, but as of right now I am definitely confused.

Update: Okay just to clear up a few things. In "Going Rogue" Sarah says she WON the Miss Wasilla contest (she does not definitely state which year, though she does identify it as the summer after her Freshman year of college.) and that she was "crowned second runner-up and Miss Congeniality" in the Miss Alaska contest.

Update 2: So I just talked to a friend about this subject and they asked "What did it say in Trailblazer?", which is ANOTHER Palin book that I had to force myself to read. So I checked and sure enough on P 47 it says that Sarah did indeed win the Miss Wasilla contest in 1984.

I really appreciate all of the help on this, but currently I remain just as confused as when I started.

Update 3: Sarah Palin did NOT win the Miss Wasilla contest in 1984! In this article it clearly lists "Sarah Heath" as running for the Miss Alaska contest in June 26, 1984, which was a little over a week before this article which identified Katrina Mueller as the NEW Miss Wasilla of 1984. Clearly Sarah could not be running for Miss Alaska if the Miss Wasilla contest had not even been held yet. (Here it shows the 1984 Miss Wasilla contest being held on June 30th.)

Now all of this SHOULD simply mean that everybody just assumed that Sarah Palin was Miss Wasilla in 1984, because that is when she competed in the Miss Alaska contest, when in fact she was the 1983 Miss Wasilla instead. Except then how do we explain this woman's statement?

And then something else to ponder is if people simply got the dates wrong for when Sarah Heath actually won the contest, how come she just let it stand? How come she did not correct it while she was running for VP? And how come she did not correct it in her book?

Now some may say this is a small thing, but is it? If EVERY SINGLE THING we investigate about Sarah Palin is in direct conflict with HER version of events, how is that not relevant to her political future? Or her ability to be taken seriously at ANYTHING that she does?

I am bumping this up to today because I have reached out to people who should be able to put this whole thing to rest. If, and when, I hear back I will provide another update.

Update 4: Okay now we know the truth. I just heard back from Katrina Mueller. She left me a message on Facebook. Here is the important part: "And yes, I was Miss Wasilla 1984. Sarah Palin crowned me. Funny that you saw an article."

Okay so now we know the facts. Sarah Palin was Miss Wasilla 1983, and a third runner up for Miss Alaska in 1984. There done!

Now the only questions remaining are WHY did the rest of the MSM get this wrong, and WHY did NOBODY from the Palin camp ever correct it? If you Google Miss Wasilla 1984 it only identifies Sarah as having won. That is completely unfair to Katrina who was the actual winner. So I am glad to have cleared this up, if for no other reason than that the person who won a contest should get the credit.

Update 5: Wow! Katrina has turned out to be a treasure trove of information about Palin back in her pageant days. Here is a new message I received: "Thanks for the clarification, and you are correct in the Blog that Sarah was Miss Wasilla in 1983. After giving up her crown in 1984 she competed in Miss Big Lake and won it, thereby earning a chance to compete in the 1985 Miss Alaska pageant. She won Miss Congeniality that year. I can't believe I remember all this, lol! I'll have to follow your blog. I'm not a fan of Palin either. I'll leave it at that:) Be well! Katrina" (I assume Katrina got the date that Palin won Miss Congeniality incorrect. Easy to see how she would after all of this time, and ALL of these pageants.)

Interesting so Palin DID compete in the Miss Alaska contest twice. Once in 1984 and then again in 1985. By the way it DOES appear that Palin was the current Miss Wasilla when she competed in 1984, since it looks as if the Miss Alaska contest was held before June 30, which was the date of the Miss Wasilla contest that year (See the link above). So really the only thing that turned out to be incorrect was the actual year Sarah won Miss Wasilla.

However we also learn that Palin was not as shy about entering pageants as she wants people to believe. Apparently she competed in, not one, not two, but four pageants altogether. Well now that is a lot of opportunities to practice that "fancy pageant walking" of hers.