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CLARION
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P E N I N S U L A
Vol. 49, Issue 5
Friday, October 5, 2018 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Municipal vote results to be finalized Tuesday Official results from the Regular Municipal Election will be finalized Tuesday. At Wednesday’s Kenai City Council meeting, the clerk reported to the council that the city’s three precincts had 125 absentee ballots left for the borough to count. Soldotna city clerk reported 61 absentee ballots, with one questioned ballot. Unofficial results from the election can be found on the Kenai Peninsula Borough’s website. — Staff
Coast Guard investigates Kodiak members in illicit drug case KODIAK (AP) — A number of U.S. Coast Guard members in Kodiak have been removed from duty status as authorities investigate allegations of illicit drug activity, the Coast Guard said. Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Raymond Reichl said the investigative service’s probe has “only been going on for a very short period of time” and will continue for several weeks, the Kodiak Daily Mirror reported Tuesday. “A couple of weeks would be the minimum,” Reichl said of the investigation. “It’s not something that we’re going to do haphazardly.” The probe involves members from “a variety of units,” but Reichl declined to give the number of people involved or what prompted the investigation. It could deal with anything from drug possession to the wrongful use of prescription medication, said Reichl, an external affairs officer. “Drug use does not align with the core values of the Coast Guard and is illegal,” said Capt. Melissa Rivera, 17th Coast Guard District Chief of Staff. “The Coast Guard takes reports of illicit drug activity seriously and fully investigates these reports to determine an appropriate level of accountability.” The members under investigation have been removed from duty status, which includes security watches, aircraft or boat duties, and other routine activities performed by Coast Guard personnel. The lack of these members is not affecting the coast Guard’s ability to perform search and rescue operations or its other responsibilities, but if the investigation is prolonged, it might need to request additional personnel, Reichl said.
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Future of Kenai bowling alley in limbo By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
Members of the public came out Wednesday night to urge Kenai City Council members to support Charlotte Yamada’s effort to reopen Kenai’s bowling alley. Yamada updated the council on recent actions she’s taken to gather funding for the bowling alley, which would help fund equipment updates. Yamada has been working towards reopening the bowling alley since it closed in late 2015. “It is taking a long time to get this process done,” Yamada said. “It’s a very specific business we are trying to get back up and on its feet, and that in and of itself is kind of what we are fighting against.” Because of the specificity of the business, and because there are so few bowling alleys in the state, getting funding to update the building to code and to buy equipment is proving difficult. The Kenai City Council held an executive session at the end of their Wednesday meeting to discuss a request for renegotiation of terms regarding the
sale of the bowling alley property. The council unanimously passed a motion authorizing the city manager to renegotiate the terms of the bowling alley opportunity. The administration came to no decision but said at the meeting they are going to continue negotiating with the owner of the building, Sue Chang, and her business partner Yamada. Yamada said Thursday that progress with the bowling alley is up in the air. At Wednesday’s meeting, she was optimistic about the bowling alley’s potential. “It does lend itself to being just what our community needs,” Yamada said. “I’m just crazy enough to jump on board.” The bowling alley was built in 1984 as Kenai Bowl. It sat on city-owned land in Kenai’s airport reserve, and the owners paid an annual lease, which went to support the Kenai Municipal Airport. Most recently, Ken Liedes, who operated the business as Alaskalanes, owned the bowling alley. The Clarion previously reported his annual lease to the city was $27,000,
Alaskalanes bowling alley is photographed on Thursday in Kenai. New owners have asked Kenai City Council to help reopen the business, which closed in 2015. (Photo by Erin Thompson/ Peninsula Clarion)
which he defaulted on before shutting the alley’s doors in late 2015. The city reclaimed the building and sold it for $450,000 in February of last
year to Anchorage-based commercial real estate consultant Dean You. Kenai resident Teea Winger also spoke to the council in sup-
port of the bowling business. She said bowling league dues alone would offer a significant profit to the bowling alley. See BOWL, page A3
PFD plays central role in governor’s race By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
JUNEAU — Tension over changes to Alaska’s famed oilwealth checks hangs over this year’s governor’s race, threatening Gov. Bill Walker’s chances for re-election. For decades, residents have shared in the state’s oil wealth, eagerly anticipating the muchhyped reveal of the annual check’s amount and dreaming about how they’d use their portion. The checks go to every man, woman and child who meets residency requirements, peaking at $2,072 in 2015. But since 2016, the excitement has been muted and, for some, replaced with anger as Walker and state legislators capped the payout in response to what had become a multibillion-dollar state budget deficit. This year’s $1,600 check — or $6,400 for a family of four — being distributed Thursday is nothing to sniff it. But the payout, by some revised estimates, would have been about $2,980 — or $11,920 for a family of four — if it had not been capped.
Walker, an independent elected in 2014, stands by his decision to halve the amount available for checks in 2016, when oil was in the $40-a-barrel range and lawmakers were deadlocked on addressing a deficit deepened by low prices. But it could cost him re-election. While some Alaskans defend his decision as politically courageous and a way to preserve the program for the future, others have cast him as a thief. The check, along with crime and the economy, are major issues in this year’s governor’s race. There are people who say they’re upset, “but let’s see if they vote,” said Juanita Cassellius, who is with a group that supports putting the original formula for calculating the dividend into the state constitution. The annual dividend checks were widely seen as sacrosanct until Walker halved them in 2016, a move upheld by Alaska’s highest court. That opened the door for lawmakers, who had burned through billions of dollars in savings before this
In this Monday, Sept. 21, 2015, file photo, student Shania Sommer of Palmer announces that nearly every Alaskan will receive $2,072 from that year’s oil dividend check during a news conference in Anchorage. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)
year deciding to use earnings from the oil-wealth fund, the Alaska Permanent Fund, to help pay for state government. Dividends also are paid with fund earnings. Lawmakers capped the
check at $1,100 last year. This year’s dividend amount was set by what could pass the politically divided state House, not by the formula in law, which some argued would be fiscally reckless to adhere to.
The dividend program’s future remains unsettled. As it stands, the check will have to compete with schools, roads, troopers and other services paid using fund earnings. See PFD, page A3
Dixon the sea otter continues Tsalteshi seeks grants recovery at the SeaLife Center By KAT SORENSEN Peninsula Clarion
By KAT SORENSEN Peninsula Clarion
Dixon the male sea otter pup is continuing his recovery at the Alaska SeaLife Center two months after he was found in Homer — dehydrated, malnourished and barely responsive. The sea otter, named after Dixon Glacier, has gone through extensive treatment since he was admitted to the SeaLife Center on Aug. 9 with bacterial infections, anemia and severe intestinal issues, according to a release from the SeaLife Center. “The prognosis for this otter looked grave,” said Veterinarian See DIXON, page A3
The Tsalteshi Trails Association is hoping to add 4 miles to the trail system and has applied for a two-year Recreational Trails Program grant to make the additions a reality. The $50,000 grant would fund construction of four new miles of ski, skijor, snowshoe and single-track trails south of Isaak Road. At their Sept. 27 meeting, the Soldotna City Council expressed their support for the grant. The trail system is on land leased from Kenai PeninDixon, a male sea otter pup, is pictured in this undated photo sula Borough, but adjacent to provided by the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward. Dixon was the City of Soldotna. “The Tsalteshi Trails sysfound dehydrated, malnourished and barely responsive in tem provides valuable outdoor Homer in August. (Photo courtesy Alaska SeaLife Center) recreational opportunities, on a year-round basis, for Kenai
Peninsula residents as well as in-state and out of state visitors,” said Soldotna City Manager Stephanie Queen. “City of Soldotna residents, due to the trail system’s close proximity, enjoy easy access to all the benefits the trail system has to offer.” According a recent post on their Facebook page, the Tsalteshi Trails Association has also applied for a Recreational Trails Program grant to extend lighting to the uphill section of the Rabbit Loop and the eastern edge of the Skyview Middle School soccer field. “This lighting is needed to better facilitate the Tsalteshi Ski Program, KPBSD school ski team training and events as well as the growing number of nighttime community trail users,” according to the grant application.