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P E N I N S U L A
Vol. 49, Issue 111
In the news Measure funding Native language programs supported in Alaska FAIRBANKS — Native studies officials at the University of Alaska Fairbanks are praising efforts to reauthorize federal legislation funding immersion programs for Native American languages. Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and others this week have introduced a measure reauthorizing the funding for Native language learning initiatives, including immersion programs, language teacher training, and additional teaching materials and curriculum, the Fairbanks Daily NewsMiner reported. It would also maintain two national programs and expand programs to smaller tribes, as well as lengthen grant periods. The reauthorization measure is a positive step for Alaska Native languages, said Sandra Kowalski, the university’s director of Indigenous Programs for Rural, Community and Native Education. “There are 20 distinct and formally recognized Alaska Native languages that are in various states of decline,” Kowalski said. “Decades of colonialism and recent globalization have created chasms between older first language speakers and younger generations.” But language education is on the rise, giving hope for a more culturally connected future, Kowalski said. “Alaskan Native individuals whose first language is English have, through immersion programs, master-apprentice partnerships and some working individually, become proficient in their own Alaska Native language,” Kowalski said. “These second language speakers’ stories have inspired interest and demand for opportunities for other Alaska Natives to learn to speak their own language at home and throughout the community.” Culture is intertwined with language, making the revitalization of Native languages important, Murkowski said. “We understand our past, ourselves and our relationships with our family and community through our language,” Murkowski said in a statement. “For Native peoples, language is truly the foundation of their cultures and their identity.” — Associated Press
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Contract negotiations stalled
Kenai asks Board of Teachers, unions frustrated by lack of progress Fish to rescind Teachers and representatives from the unions that meeting represent them are speaking up about their frustrations decision with the current contract neBy MEGAN PACER Homer News
gotiations with the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, a negotiation that has left teachers working without a contract for more than 100 days. District educators and classified staff (teacher support positions) have been without a renewed contract since July 1. That means they are currently working without knowing exactly what they will end up making for the year because a new contract hasn’t been negotiated yet. Initial offers were made last year by both the school district and the two unions representing staff: the Kenai
By KAT SORENSEN Peninsula Clarion
A group of teachers gather outside the entrance to West Homer Elementary and Big Fireweed Academy wearing “red for ed” Wednesday in Homer. Teachers around the Kenai Peninsula demonstrated this week to bring awareness to the contract negotiation situation with the school district. (Photo by Megan Pacer/Homer News)
Peninsula Education Association and the Kenai Peninsula Education Support Association. Leaders of those unions have accused the district representatives of not being communicative or willing to
come to the table. The district made a proposal in October 2018, said KPBSD Media Liaison Pegge Erkeneff in an email. It was a Memorandum of Agreement to use one-time funds to increase employee
compensation in current year FY19, without increasing the salary schedule. That was rejected by both associations. At this point, both sides have declared an impasse, See Ed, page A3
Kasilof woman writes and illustrates her 1st children’s book By BRIAN MAZUREK Peninsula Clarion
Longtime Kasilof resident Ann Mercer has just published her first children’s book, “Miss Lucy Moose Fell Down in the Swamp.” As the title suggests, the story is about a moose who falls down in some swampland during a slushy Alaska winter and is unable to get out, but after some significant effort manages to free herself. It hit the digital shelves of Amazon as well as the actual shelves of Soldotna’s River City Books in December of last year. Mercer is a retired nurse practitioner, and at 77 years old it had never occurred to her to write a book of any kind, let alone a children’s book. Like so many great ideas, her story of Miss Lucy Moose seemingly hit her out of nowhere. Mercer said she
Local author Ann Mercer poses with her book, “Miss Lucy Moose Falls Down in the Swamp” at River City Books in Soldotna on Wednesday. (Photo by Brian Mazurek/ Peninsula Clarion)
was out in her yard last winter when inspiration struck. “Last winter around this time it was really mushy and we’d been freezing and
thawing … And suddenly, I could picture the story. So I went in the house and wrote it down within an hour and a half or so.”
Mercer ended up only changing a few words here and there from the original story, adding more alliteraSee BOOK, page A2
Kenai City Council has joined the chorus of peninsula voices asking the Alaska Board of Fisheries to rescind their decision to move the Upper Cook Inlet 2020 Finfish meeting. At Wednesday night’s council meeting, the council passed a resolution encouraging the Board of Fisheries to rescind their decision due to a lack of reasonable public notice. In January, in an unexpected vote, the board decided to move the regulatory meeting from the Kenai Peninsula to Anchorage. The meeting was originally going to be held in Anchorage, but a March 2018 vote moved the meeting to the KenaiSoldotna area. The Kenai City Council joins the city of Soldotna, the Kenai Peninsula Delegation to the Alaska State Legislature, Kenai City Manager Paul Ostrander, Soldotna City Manager Stephanie Queen and Borough Mayor Charlie Pierce in requesting the board revisit their decision. The resolution states that prior to the Jan. 18 ArcticYukon-Kuskokwim finfish meeting, there was no advance notice given to the public that the Upper Cook Inlet 2020 meeting location would be revisited. Beyond the bureaucratic failures, the resolution also claims the vote was taken despite personal assurances from Board Chairman Reed Moriskey See FISH, page A3
Amazon now collecting borough sales tax By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
Amazon.com is among the first online vendors collecting sales tax for the Kenai Peninsula Borough since the borough progressed efforts to establish a system of collecting sales taxes from online merchants.
At the Jan. 22 assembly meeting, the borough passed an ordinance appropriating $10,000 to support the Alaska Municipal League in setting up a workgroup, which would find efficient ways of collecting sales tax from online sellers. The borough estimates online tax collection could produce an annual
$1.5 million in additional sales tax revenue. A recent decision by the United States Supreme Court known as the Wayfair Case allows municipalities that fulfill certain requirements to tax remote vendors through online sales. At Tuesday’s assembly meeting, assembly member
Willy Dunne said concerned constituents have been reaching out to him after Amazon began collecting taxes on purchases “Folks want to know if the tax being collected by amazon is being transferred back to the borough,” Dunne said. Borough Financial Direc-
tor Brandi Harbaugh said Amazon voluntarily registered with the borough. “We have contacted and discussed, with (Amazon), our code and the intricacies of it, our cap and the various rates throughout the jurisdictions in the borough,” Harbaugh said. “They are regisSee TAX, page A2
Opioid crisis costs $1.2 billion a year Alaska tops list of most By ALEX MCCARTHY Juneau Empire
Senate Finance Committee meetings generally are heavy on numbers, but Co-Chair Sen. Natasha Von Imhof began Thursday morning’s meeting with a comment that went beyond statistics. Von Imhof, a Republican from Anchorage, said she knows a family that lost a 42-year-old father of three to an accidental drug overdose recently. “They’re planning his funeral now,” Von Imhof said, “so this is very real.” For the next two hours, she and other senators listened to a presentation and asked questions about the
costs of the opioid epidemic in Alaska. The main takeaways from experts at Thursday’s meeting was that this problem isn’t going away, and there isn’t an easy fix. The overall economic impact of the opioid epidemic in Alaska, according to the McDowell Group, is about $1.2 billion per year. The largest portion of that ($542 million), according to the 2017 McDowell study, is due to the “loss in productivity” due to drug use. The largest portion of that loss in productivity, $391 million, is due to premature death. Other major costs, according to the study, included traffic crashes ($396 million), criminal justice and protective services ($136 million), and
health care ($134 million). The state’s opioid overdose death rate increased by 77 percent from 2010 to 2017, according to a State of Alaska Epidemiology Bulletin released in August 2018. From 2013-2017, the state’s opioid overdose death rate was 11.3 deaths per 100,000 people, according to the Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS). Director of the DHSS Office of Substance Misuse Andy Jones — one of the presenters Thursday — has become one of the faces of the state’s response to the opioid epidemic, as he’s traveled all over the state leading informational sessions and gathering feedback. Sen. See COSTS, page A2
reports of snowmobile thefts ANCHORAGE (AP) — Three areas in Alaska topped the list of most reports of snowmobile thefts in the U.S., according to an analysis of national crime figures. The analysis by the National Insurance Crime Bureau shows Alaska recorded 128 snowmobile thefts from 2015 to 2017, about 8 per cent of all reported snowmobile thefts from across the country, the Anchorage Daily News reported Wednesday. Anchorage recorded the most thefts in the U.S. with 46, followed by the Fairbanks North Star Borough with 44. The MatanuskaSusitna Borough recorded 23, tying for third with
Anoka County outside Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Illinois-based bureau has tracked thefts of other vehicles, but this is the first report on snowmobiles, said Frank Scafidi, the non-profit’s director of public affairs. “We wanted to see what would happen if we looked at snowmobiles,” Scafidi said. “Would we find anything weird, like a bunch of thefts reported in Florida?” The results were as expected: Snowmobiles were mostly reported stolen in places where they are typically used. Following Alaska, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin and Washington had the See THEFT, page A2