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Atlanta player’s dog meets Aussie regs
Cowboys can’t defend their star
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CLARION
Partly cloudy 33/23 More weather on Page A2
P E N I N S U L A
Tuesday, November 6, 2018 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 49, Issue 32
Campaigning and resultsviewing events ★District ★ 29 writein candidate Ron Gillham will host a results-viewing event beginning 6 p.m. at the Caribou Family Restaurant in Soldotna. ★Cook ★ Inletkeeper will host an Election Day Happy Hour from 5-6 p.m. at Kenai River Brewing Company in Soldotna. ★Supporters ★ of Republican Party candidates will campaign at the Y in Soldotna from 7:30-8:30 a.m., 12 -1 p.m. and 4:30-6 p.m. ★Supporters ★ of Democratic Party candidates will campaign between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. at the Y in Soldotna, at the intersection of the Sterling Highway and K-Beach Road, and at the intersection of Bridge Access Road and Kenai Spur Highway in Kenai.
Correction District O write-in candidate Ron Gillham’s name was misspelled in a voter information box that appeared in Monday’s paper. The Clarion apologizes for the error.
Index Local ...................... A3 Opinion.................. A4 Sports..................... A5 Classifieds............. A6 Comics.................. A8 Pets ...................... A9
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Alaskans go to polls By JAMES BROOKS Juneau Empire
After a marathon season of door-knocking, advertising and campaigning, it’s time for the final vote. Alaskans across the state will go to the polls today to decide who will replace Bill Walker as the state’s chief ex-
ecutive. They’ll decide if the longest actively serving U.S. Representative will get another term. They’ll decide control of the Alaska Legislature. They’ll pass verdict on judges across the state. And they’ll choose whether or not to support a ballot measure that has become the most expensive state-level campaign in Alaska
history. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. across the state, with first results expected by 9:15 p.m. and last results after 2:30 a.m., the Division of Elections said. More than 56,000 Alaskans had cast votes before the start of the last day of early voting on Monday, with advance turn-
out on pace to finish behind only 2014 among state midterm elections. Today’s vote will decide whether turnout tops that year overall. Four years ago, more than 285,000 Alaskans cast votes in the election that legalized recreational marijuana, raised the minimum wage and made Bill Walker the only
independent governor in the United States. Now, Walker has withdrawn from his re-election bid, leaving the outcome in doubt between Republican Mike Dunleavy and Democrat Mark Begich. Libertarian candidate Billy Toien is also on the ballot.
See VOTE, page A2
Before You Vote This Election Day What to know
★ Despite withdrawing from the race, Gov. Bill Walker and Byron Mallott’s names will still appear on the ballot. The withdrawal deadline was Sept. 4, and Walker decided to withdraw in October. A vote for any candidate for governor or lieutenant governor appearing on the 2018 general election ballot will be counted as a vote for that candidate ★ State Sen. Peter Micciche’s name will be the only one listed on the ballot for District O, but two candidates, Ron Gillham and Willow King, are waging separate write-in campaigns.
Where to go
★ Polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day. ★ Not sure of your polling place? You can visit elections.alaska.gov or call 1-888-383-8683 to find out.
What to bring
★ Voters will need identification to vote. You can bring a voter ID card, driver’s license, state ID, military ID, passport, hunting or fishing license or other current or valid photo ID. ★ Voters can also bring a current utility bill, paycheck, government check, bank statement or other government-issued document if it contains the voter’s name and current address.
What to expect
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
The election worker at your polling place will ask for your identification. They will look up your name on the percent register. They will check your residence address and ask if there have been any changes. You will sign your name and be given a ballot card to give to the ballot-issuing election worker. You will then be given a ballot. When voting, completely fill in the oval next to your choices. If you make a mistake while marking your ballot, return to the election worker and request a new ballot. Do not mark or cross any votes out. You will be given a secrecy sleeve to place your ballot inside. You will then place your ballot in the ballot box or into an optical scan voting unit.
SoHi’s ‘Chicago’ set to razzle dazzle By JOEY KLECKA Peninsula Clarion
This week, the Soldotna High School theatre department is putting on the razzle dazzle with the three-day showing of “Chicago” — one of its edgier productions in recent years. With two months of work behind them now, stage director Sara Erfurth, a SoHi drama and English teacher, said the cast and crew is ready to thrill the audience with a story that she has held dear to her heart for a long time. “This is one of those plays I remember seeing in high school, and it really resonated with me,” Erfurth said. “It was one of those plays that I couldn’t get out of my head. Soldotna theater students (left to right) Katie Schwartz, Sophie The music’s so iconic and the Warth, Zaiyd Puryear and Olivia Davis practice a musical numstoryline was so engaging.” ber during rehearsal Friday of “Chicago” in the Soldotna High See SOHI page A3 auditorium. (Photo by Joey Klecka/Peninsula Clarion)
Forestry to host beetle workshop By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
The Division of Forestry and Cooperative Extension will host a spruce bark beetle workshop Thursday. The event is being offered because of increased spruce bark beetle activity on the Kenai Peninsula, Jessie Moan, statewide integrated pest management program technician for the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service, said. She has been helping coordinate the workshops so people in affected areas can have access to information regarding their lands, and specifically trees. The workshop was also offered in Houston and Palmer last month. An estimated 52,000 acres of the Kenai Peninsula has been
damaged this year, according to the Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Forest Service. Agency representatives will be at the event to discuss spruce beetle activity, focusing on what landowners can do to protect their trees. “We’ll be covering everything from basic biology and life cycles of a spruce bark beetle, status of the current outbreak, what to do when your trees are already affected and more,” said Jason Moan, who is Division of Forestry’s forest health program coordinator. He said the event will be an all-encompassing effort to teach people about how landowners can take care of their trees. The event is 6-8 p.m. at the Cook Inlet Aquaculture Building, 40610 Kalifornsky Beach Road.
Justices seem favorable to Alaska hovercraft hunter WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court sounded skeptical Monday of the National Park Service’s authority to prevent an Alaskan moose hunter from using his motorized rubber boat to access remote areas of the state. The justices heard arguments in a case that tests the
limits of the federal government’s authority in a state in which more than 60 percent of the land is federally owned. The state and moose hunter John Sturgeon are arguing that the Park Service cannot enforce a national ban on amphibious vehicles known as hovercraft on a river in Alaska for which
the state claims ownership, even though it runs through a national conservation area. Sturgeon won an earlier round at the Supreme Court. The case stems from Sturgeon’s 2007 encounter with three park rangers who ordered him off the Nation River within the Yukon-Charley Rivers Na-
tional Preserve in northeast Alaska. The rangers told him it was illegal to operate the noisy craft that can navigate shallow water or even mud. He sued in 2011. The issue is whether a federal law enacted in 1980 to protect undisturbed land but also allow Alaska residents to main-
tain their way of life provides an exception to Park Service regulation of rivers that pass through national parks. “Well, but, I mean, the waters are very important to Alaskans’ way of life in the way they aren’t elsewhere,” Chief Justice John Roberts said, voicSee COURT, page A2