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P E N I N S U L A
Vol. 49, Issue 3
Wednesday, October 3, 2018 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
In brief Emergency alert test today
$1 newsstands daily/$1.50 Sunday
Voters reject K-Selo proposition
A test of the Presidential Alert system will take place Wednesday, Oct. 3. At 10:18 a.m. cell phones on participating wireless carriers will make a loud alert tone and receive a message that will read “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.” Two minutes later at 10:20 a.m. local television and radio stations will broadcast an Emergency Alert System test message. — Staff
Troopers say 4 killed on Parks Highway ANCHORAGE — Alaska State Troopers are investigating a collision on the Parks Highway that left four men dead and injured others, including a 2-year-old boy. Troopers say the men killed Monday afternoon were among five people who had been traveling in a van that passed a commercial vehicle in a no-passing zone. According to troopers, the driver of the van and a passenger died when their vehicle crashed into a truck traveling in the opposite direction. Two other passengers from the van died while being transported to a hospital. The fifth person in the van sustained critical injuries. — Associated Press
VOTER REGISTRATION WINDOW CLOSING
The deadline to register for the 2018 Nov. 6 general election is 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 7. Voters can check their registration status online at voterregistration.alaska. gov or by viewing their voter registration cards or contacting the Division of Elections regional offices. Anyone interested in registering to vote or those who need to update their registration information may do so in person at one of the division’s offices or on the Division of Elections website.
Index Opinion .................. A4 Nation .................... A5 Alaska .................... A6 Food ...................... A7 Sports .....................A9 Classifieds ........... A10 Comics................. A14 Check us out online at www.peninsulaclarion.com To subscribe, call 283-3584.
Candidates running in the Kenai Peninsula Borough municipal elections and their supporters hold signs and wave to passing motorists along the Kenai Spur Highway on Tuesday in Kenai. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion) By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
Peninsula voters shot down a controversial proposition to fund a new school, passed another to move the border between the Central and South Peninsula Hospital Service Areas to the true midway point, and elected some fresh faces to both the borough assembly, school board and city councils. Tuesday night’s unofficial results, with all 28 precincts reporting, show Proposition 1 failing by nearly 60 percent and Proposition 2 succeeding by 65 percent. Many candidate races on the central peninsula were uncontested, while some were more competitive. In Kenai, three candidates, Robert Peterkin II,
Teea Winger and Bob Molloy were running for two vacant city council seats. Carol Baumer, a retired Kenai resident, said voting for Teea Winger for the Kenai City Council brought her to the polls Tuesday. “It’s a chance to sort of do something different,” Baumer said. “We’re all aging. It’d be nice to kind of get newer people in as the rest of us age-out.” Newcomer Peterkin II was elected to the Kenai City Council, along with incumbent Molloy. Winger fell short by only 49 votes. “I certainly appreciate the confidence of the voters and congratulate both Robert Peterkin and Teea Winger on a really good race,” Molloy said. “I’m looking forward to working
with Peterkin and the other city Kenai Peninsula Borough preliminary results council members.” In Soldotna, all three candidates ran unopposed for the As of 9:56 p.m. Tuesday, with 28 of 28 precincts three open council seats. reporting, the municipal election preliminary results Todd Paxton came out on top in the Nikiski Fire Ser- were: vice Area board member race against Peter Ribbens. In the contentious southern Borough Assembly Candidates peninsula Borough Assembly race, incumbent Willy Dunne beat out Troy Jones with 626 Candidates Vote Total Vote share votes against 541 votes. In the central peninsula, District 1 t Kalifornsky both borough assembly candi426 89.68% dates ran unopposed. District 1 Brent Hibbert candidate Hibbert came in with District 6 t Seward, Hope, Moose Pass, 426 votes for the Kalifornsky area. For District 6, which inCooper Landing, North Sterling cludes Seward, Hope, Moose Pass and north Sterling, Kenn Kenn Carpenter 669 96.40 Carpenter received 669 votes. See CENTRAL, page A6
Homer gets new mayor, same assembly member
City Council races Candidate
Vote Total
Vote share
Kenai City Council
By MEGAN PACER and MICHAEL ARMSTRONG Homer News
In unofficial election results for the lower Kenai Peninsula elections, Ken Castner is the apparent winner for Homer Mayor, defeating three-term former city council member David Lewis. In borough elections, Kenai Peninsula Borough District 9 Assembly member Willy Dunne is the apparent winner over East End Road pioneer Troy Jones. Incumbent council members Donna Aderhold and Heath Smith easily won election in a three-way race. Candidate Deb Lowney had actively withdrawn from the campaign last month for family reasons. Homer Mayor Ken Castner: 666 David Lewis: 576 Homer has a new mayor in Ken Castner, who won the seat for a three-year term according to preliminary results released Tuesday night. Caster won by a margin of 90 votes and with 53
District 9 t South Peninsula Willy Dunne 626 53.37% Troy Jones 541 46.12%
Robert Peterkin II 449 Bob Molloy 374 Teea Winger 325 Soldotna City Council Paul Whitney (A) 316 Jordan Chilson (C) 318 Justin Ruffridge (F) 320
38.81% 32.32% 28.09% 92.67% 93.81% 93.02%
School Board Candidates Candidates Nancy Lord, left, and Donna Aderhold, right, wave signs on Pioneer Avenue on election day in Homer. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)
percent, while contender David Lewis received 576 votes or 46 percent. There were also 19 write-in votes. With 1,261 votes cast out of 4,972 registered voters, turnout was about 25 percent. “I’m happy about that,” Castner said Tuesday night. “Nobody lost in this election with me being mayor.”
Castner explained that because he ran on a unity campaign of being a citizen mayor and on a pledge to not vote to break a tie, Homer has a mayor with no agenda. “I ran to bring both sides together. I was only interested in the product of government,” he said. “As a nation and a town See HOMER, page A13
Vote Total
Vote share
District 2 t Kenai Matthew Morse 372 52.54% Tim Navarre 329 46.47% District 5 t Sterling, Funny River Greg Madden 275 47.74% Martin Anderson 112 19.44% Nissa Fowler 101 17.53% Karyn Griffin 84 14.58% District 8 t Homer Mike Illg 1249 98.89%