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P E N I N S U L A
Vol. 49, Issue 74
In the news Passengers aboard diverted flight land safely in Seattle SEATTLE — Passengers who were aboard a Delta Air Lines flight that made an emergency landing on a remote Alaskan island have arrived safely at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Delta spokesman Drake Castaneda said in an email Tuesday that the customers took off on an alternative aircraft from Shemya and arrived in Seattle at about 10 p.m. Monday Pacific time. The original flight from Beijing to Seattle carrying 194 passengers was diverted to a military base on the island in Alaska’s Aleutians chain due to a potential engine issue. Delta sent another aircraft with maintenance technicians, airport customer service agents and a new crew to operate the flight to Seattle to pick up the stranded passengers. Castaneda did not respond to questions Tuesday seeking details about the engine problems.
McGrath man dies in crash of snowmobile MCGRATH — A McGrath man died in the crash of a snowmobile. Alaska State Troopers say 38-year-old Christopher Woosley died Sunday morning. A wildlife trooper shortly after 5 a.m. took a report of the crash. The trooper found Woosley near his crashed snowmobile at the intersection of two streets. The trooper started CPR. Emergency medical responders rushed Woosley to the McGrath clinic, where he died. An autopsy is planned in Anchorage. Troopers are investigating the single-vehicle crash. McGrath is a village of 300 along the Kuskokwim River about 269 miles southwest of Fairbanks. — Associated Press
Inside ‘We were locked inside. The car was swaying in the waves and we thought we would all die’ ...See Weather, A2
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Wednesday, December 26, 2018 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
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Tyonek, rescued inlet beluga, School board being treated around the clock to offer remote By KAT SORENSEN Peninsula Clarion
Tyonek, the stranded baby beluga whale rescued in 2017, is under constant care at SeaWorld San Antonio. “Tyonek, the endangered beluga calf found abandoned in Western Cook Inlet, Alaska, has been under treatment for persistent digestive challenges since he was rescued more than a year ago,” according to SeaWorld. “For the past several days he has been treated for inflammation and continued digestive issues by our team of veterinary and beluga specialists at Sea- In this October 2017 file photo, volunteers at the Alaska SeaLWorld San Antonio. He appears ife Center feed beluga calf Tyonek, who was rescued on Sept. to be responding to treatment 30, 2017, after he was stranded in Trading Bay. (Photo courtesy See INLET, page A13 of Alaska SeaLife Center).
testimony in 2019 By KAT SORENSEN Peninsula Clarion
The new year is bringing a new feature to Kenai Peninsula Borough School District meetings. Starting at the Jan. 14, 2019 6 p.m. Board of Education meeting, the public in Homer and Seward will be able to remotely submit public testimony. Seward Elementary School and Homer Middle School will be open during school board meetings for public testimony via video, according to a release from the district.
Japan stocks plunge, other Asia markets fall after US losses By JOE McDONALD AP Business Writer
BEIJING — Japanese stocks plunged Tuesday and other Asian markets declined following heavy Wall Street losses triggered by President Donald Trump’s criticism of the U.S. central bank. The Nikkei 225 fell by an unusually wide margin of 5 percent to 19,155.14. The Shanghai Composite Index ended off 0.9 percent at 2,504.82 after being down as much as 2.3 percent at midday. Benchmarks in Thailand and Taiwan also declined. Markets in Europe, Hong Kong, Australia and South Korea were closed for Christmas. Wall Street indexes fell more than 2 percent on Monday after Trump said on Twitter the Federal Reserve was the U.S. economy’s “only problem.” Efforts by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to calm investor fears only seemed to make matters worse. U.S. stocks are track for their worst December since 1931 during the Great Depres-
A man walks past the day’s losses, of Nikkei stock index, left, and of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, right, on an electronic stock board at a securities firm in Tokyo, Tuesday. Japanese stocks plunged Tuesday and other Asian markets declined following heavy Wall Street losses triggered by President Donald Trump’s attack on the U.S. central bank.(Yohei Fukai/Kyodo News via AP)
sion. Shanghai is down almost 25 percent this year. Tokyo, Hong Kong and other markets are on track to end 2018 down more than 10 percent.
Markets have been roiled by concerns about a slowing global economy, the U.S.-Chinese tariff battle and another interest rate increase by the Fed. Trump’s Monday morning
State board finds Homer physical therapist didn’t violate regulations By MEGAN PACER Homer News
Two complaints made against a physical therapist at South Peninsula Hospital to the state’s licensing board for therapists have been reviewed and closed. An unidentified board member found the therapist did not violate statutes or regulations governing the practice.
Therapist Douglas Westphal was placed on administrative leave from the hospital in December 2017 following allegations made by several female staff members of the rehabilitation department that he had acted inappropriately. The women alleged Westphal, who at the time was director of the department and their direct supervisor, had bullied, sexually harassed or otherwise harassed
them at work. Following an internal hospital investigation, Wesphal returned from his administrative leave and went back to work as a physical therapist, but is no longer the rehab department’s director. That’s a position he had served in since 2009. One former patient alleged Westphal had touched her in-
See BOARD page A3
tweet heightened fears about the economy being destabilized by a president who wants control over the Fed. Its board members are nominated by the
See LOSS, page A13
Those interested in testifying are required to sign up by 3 p.m. the Friday before the meeting by calling or emailing Debbie Tressler at 907-714-8836 or dtressler@ kpbsd.k12.ak.us. “If no one signs up in advance for video testimony, remote participation will be canceled in that location,” the release states. There are four opportunities during a meeting to address the board — during public presentations on nonagenda items, hearing of delegations, public comments on action items and public See 2019, page A3
Ketchikan man sentenced to 10 years for assaulting woman KETCHIKAN (AP) — A Ketchikan man who authorities said bashed a woman’s head into a car door before running over her foot was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Lapairs Shaw, 26, was sentenced last week in Ketchikan Superior Court after pleading guilty to second-degree assault in the attack on the woman in March, the Ketchikan Daily News reported . Shaw smashed the woman’s head into a rental car door three times, according to court documents. She then fall back and was hit by the car door as Shaw reversed the car, prosecutor Timothy McGillicuddy said. “He drove off, leaving the See YEARS, page A13
Anchorage Assembly sends alcohol sales tax to April ballot ANCHORAGE (AP) — A proposal to set a 5 percent sales tax on alcohol to fund services that address homelessness and substance abuse will go before Anchorage voters next year. The Anchorage Assembly voted last week to send Mayor Ethan Berkowitz’s alcohol tax proposal to the city’s ballot in April, the Anchorage Daily News reported . Berkowitz’s administration expects the tax to raise
about $13 million, which could be used to fund homeless shelters, storage for property seized at illegal camps, a mobile intervention team and a treatment center. The tax would add about 40 cents to the price of a six-pack of beer and about 50 cents to cost of a mixed drink. Berkowitz and assembly members have said that declining support from the state is forcing the city to See TAX, page A13
Poor runs prompt southeast salmon fleet buyback By CRISTY FRY For the Homer News
The Southeast Alaska Seiners Association is spearheading another effort to reduce the size of the salmon fleet with another buyback, similar to the one in 2012 that resulted in 64 permits being retired. The funds that will be used
if the referendum passes, $10.4 million, are what remains of an original $23.5 million loan approved by Congress in 2011. SEAS executive director Susan Doherty said that this time the goal is to buy back 36 more permits, out of the 315 remaining. “You have to have enough permits (removed) to make
a significant difference,” she said. “Anything under 10 (percent of the fleet) it would be very unlikely they would approve a referendum.” National Marine Fisheries Service administers the referendum, and letters have gone out to permit holders asking them to vote on the buyback. Doherty said that poor wild
runs have made it difficult for the fishery to support the fleet at its current size. “If it wasn’t for enhancement of chums in our fishery, a lot of folks would have already gone under,” he said. “If you look at time and area that fishermen have been given, it’s been decreasing and decreasing because of concerns that
we’ve become more efficient, with bigger boats and more powerful skiffs, and also the sockeye, with our treaty with Canada — we’ve had big cuts in our time and area.” The funds are repaid by a landing tax not to exceed 3 percent, but for the original buyback from 2012 it has been See RUN, page A13