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P E N I N S U L A
Monday, December 10, 2018 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 49, Issue 61
In the news Ketchikan couple charged in felony heroin, meth case KETCHIKAN — State prosecutors in Ketchikan have charged a local couple with possessing illegal drugs with an estimated street value of more than $250,000. The Ketchikan Daily New reports 35-year-old Jason Simpson and 33-year-old Angelina McDonald face two felony counts of drug misconduct. They are represented by the public defender’s office, which did not immediately respond to an email request for comment. Alaska State Troopers say Simpson and McDonald were found last week in possession of 175 grams of heroin, valued at $175,000, and 121 grams of methamphetamine, with a street value of $80,000. Investigators say they also recovered a digital scale covered in drug residue, heroin packaged for distribution and a large amount of cash. Trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters declined to say where the arrest occurred, citing an ongoing investigation.
Author Jon Krakauer sues over adaptation of ‘Into the Wild’ BOULDER, Colo. — Author Jon Krakauer has filed suit over a musical adaptation of his 1996 book “Into the Wild.” The Boulder Daily Camera reported Friday Krakauer originally agreed to let playwrights Nikos Tsakalakos and Janet Allard use his name and the book title but changed his mind because he objected to their script. The lawsuit asks a judge to stop the playwrights from using his name and the title. His attorneys say the agreement allows him to withdraw his permission. The lawsuit was filed Nov. 30 in state court in Boulder, where Krakauer lives. The newspaper says the playwrights didn’t respond to requests for comment. “Into the Wild” recounts Christopher McCandless’ death in the Alaska wilderness. Krakauer’s lawsuit also names the Christopher Johnson McCandless Memorial Foundation, which had also agreed to the adaptation. — Associated Press
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Top House Dems raise prospect of impeachment, jail for Trump By HOPE YEN Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Top House Democrats on Sunday raised the prospect of impeachment or almost-certain prison time for President Donald Trump if it’s proved that he directed illegal hushmoney payments to women, adding to the legal pressure on the president over the Russia investigation and other scandals. “There’s a very real prospect that on the day Donald Trump leaves office, the Justice Department may indict him, that he may be the first president in quite some time to face the real prospect of jail time,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, the incoming chairman of the House intelligence
incoming chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, described the details in prosecutors’ filings Friday in the case of Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, as evidence that Trump was “at the center of a massive fraud.” “They would be impeachable offenses,” Nadler said. In the filings, prosecutors in New York for the first time link Trump to a federal crime of illegal payments to buy the silence of two women during the 2016 campaign. Special In this Dec. 1 file photo, President Donald Trump speaks to me- counsel Robert Mueller’s ofdia at the G20 summit, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (AP Photo/ fice also laid out previously undisclosed contacts between Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File) Trump associates and Russian intermediaries and suggested committee. “The bigger par- has to determine whether to the Kremlin aimed early on to don question may come down pardon Donald Trump.” influence Trump and his ReSee DEMS, page A2 Rep. Jerry Nadler, the the road as the next president
Students work on dignity, kindness with Heritage Place residents By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
On Friday, kindergartners from K-Beach Elementary School visited residents at Heritage Place, a continuing care facility for seniors and the disabled, for a Dignity Mission. Dignity Missions offer the power to heal, Aud Walaszek, Heritage Place activities coordinator, said. “We do a Dignity Mission with them so they can take this back with them to their school and their families and they can learn how to treat other people,” Walaszek said. Friday’s Dignity Mission divided the students and residents into three separate groups. One group was working together to make Dignity Mission T-shirts, another group had residents reading to students and another had Residents from Heritage Place help kindergarten students make Dignity Mission T-shirts during See PLACE, page A3 a visit Friday in Soldotna. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)
Survivors, moms get tattoos for suicide prevention By BEN HOHENSTATT Capital City Weekly
JUNEAU — People wearing hats and coats huddled and chatted, sending condensation from their breath and words into the air. The small crowd was waiting for Taku Tattoo to open its doors at 10 a.m. and begin scheduling appointments for a suicide prevention tattoo special. For Friday, Nov. 30, business card-sized tattoos were $50 with half of the proceeds going toward Juneau Suicide Prevention Coalition. “The response has been incredible,” said shop manager Amy Ridle. Kathryn Beers was part of the morning crowd, and she planned to get “Be Kind ;” tattooed in honor of her friend’s deceased brother, Tommy Weeks. “It’s a reminder to be kind to myself as well as others,” Beers said.
In this photo taken Nov. 30, “Salty” Jack Reed Jr. puts the finishing touches on Davina Cole’s formline semicolon tattoo at Taku Tattoo in Juneau. At Taku Tattoo recently, business cardsized tattoos were $50 with half of the proceeds going toward Juneau Suicide Prevention Coalition. (Ben Hohenstatt/The Juneau Empire via AP)
The semicolon included with the simple phrase is in reference to the punctuation mark’s status as a suicide prevention symbol. The mark shows that an author could have ended a
sentence, but chose instead to continue. The planned tattoo is Beers’ second. She received her first in August. See TATTOO, page A3
Kenai bluff stabilization project moves forward By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
A project seeking to stabilize Kenai’s bluff has seen development in the last month. On Nov. 16, a director’s report was finalized by the Alaska branch of the Army Corp of Engineers, a project partner with the City of Kenai. The report is a feasibility study. “It looks to see if it makes sense and if the project is feasible,” Kenai City Manager Paul Ostrander said. The objective of the project is to stall the 3-feet-peryear erosion on a 1-mile stretch of land starting from North Beach, past the senior center and ending where the original canneries were. The idea is to install a mile-long rock berm, using anchor rocks that would halt the erosion of the ground beneath Old Town Kenai. This is the first of three milestones in a project the city has been tackling for more than 30 years. The most recent efforts to get the project completed began in 2011. “It’s been a long effort,” Ostrander said. Ostrander grew up in the area and said he’s seen the area erode over time. “There are several buildings that used to be there that are now long gone,” he said. Besides protecting current properties and buildings in Old Town Kenai, Ostrander said one reason the city is looking to stabilize the bluff is to increase investment opportunities in the historic district, which Ostrander said have been limited in the last few decades. Now that the feasibility report has been finalized, efforts on the next milestone, the design phase, can begin. The design phase can be tricky, Ostrander said, because federal funding is needed for the $1 million See BLUFF, page A2
High cost keeps earthquake insurance coverage down ANCHORAGE (AP) — With Alaska’s history of earthquakes, you might assume most homeowners have earthquake insurance. That’s not the case, the Anchorage Daily News reported. Only about 15 percent of Alaska homeowners buy earthquake insurance, according to an estimate provided by Lori Wing-Heier, director of the state’s Division of Insurance. “It’s not a great number,” she said. Lenders do not require earthquake insurance. It also carries a high price tag. And after a major quake, like the magnitude 7.0 quake that shook southcentral Alaska on Nov. 30, homeowners may find that the damage is less than the deductible on their policy. Deductibles vary but can be about 20 percent of the value of the dwelling, said Tracey Parrish, owner of Alaska Pacific Insurance
Agency. “If your home is $100,000, people probably don’t have that ($20,000) sitting around,” she said. “And if they do, they may only have $5,000 worth of damage.” The longer the time span between big earthquakes, the less likely people are to pay a premium for it, WingHeier said. Earthquake insurance typically covers repairs such as cracking and may cover structures such as garages as well, said Janet Ruiz, a West Coast representative for the Insurance Information Institute, a trade group. It also usually insures personal property and may cover other costs. John Lane and his family moved into an Eagle River home three months ago. Their homeowner’s policy cost $1,300 to $1,500 and he could not justify spending another $1,000 for quake See QUAKE, page A2