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CLARION
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P E N I N S U L A
Tuesday, September 18, 2018 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 48, Issue 301
In the news Suspect in Anchorage shooting death arrested in Israel ANCHORAGE — A man wanted on an Alaska murder charge has been detained in Israel. Anchorage police announced Monday that 21-year-old Haitim Taha was arrested. State prosecutors are seeking his extradition. Taha is charged in the death of 17-year-old Leroy Lawrence, who was mortally wounded as he walked on a northeast Anchorage street. A second suspect, a 17-year-old boy, is charged as an adult in the shooting. Police say Taha and the teenager on April 7, 2017, got into a dispute with some individuals and followed their car. The first car stopped and people got out. Police say Taha and the teenager opened fire, striking one intended victim in the legs and hitting Leroy Lawrence, who was walking to a friend’s house, in the head. Lawrence died four days later.
Seismic activity increases at volcano in Aleutian Islands ANCHORAGE — The Alaska Volcano Observatory is keeping watch on a remote volcano that’s showing signs of erupting. The observatory Monday increased the alert level from “advisory” to “watch” at Semisopochnoi in the Aleutian Islands. The volcano is on an uninhabited island between Attu and Adak near the west end of the Aleutian chain. The observatory detected elevated seismicity Sunday. Activity at Semisopochnoi intensified Monday afternoon. Tremor signals suggest that the volcano may have emitted ash or could soon. No eruption has been detected in satellite, lightning or infrasound data. Ash sent above 20,000 feet can threaten airliner flights between Asia and North America. — Associated Press
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Borough elections 2018: What you need to know about the upcoming contests By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
In between primary elections and general elections, borough residents have the opportunity to elect new leadership next month. Polls will be open for the Kenai Peninsula Borough Regular Municipal Election 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Oct. 2. Early voting began Sept. 17. Any U.S. citizen at least 18 years of age who has registered to vote as a resident of the Kenai Peninsula Borough at least 30 days before the election is eligible to vote. For the central peninsula, the ballot will hold elections for Borough Assembly, Board of Education, Kenai City Council, Soldotna City Council, service area board candidates and borough ballot propositions. Borough Assembly Candidates Brent Hibbert is running unopposed in the District 1 (Kalifornsky). Hibbert is the owner of Alaska Cab, Inc. and has served on the Borough Assembly since 2017. Kenn Carpenter is running unopposed in District 6, which
Campaign signs for Bob Molloy and Robert Peterkin, who are running for Kenai City Council in the Oct. 2 municipal election, stand among the many electoral signs lining the Kenai Spur Highway on Monday in Kenai. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)
encompasses Seward, Hope, Moose Pass, Cooper Landing and north Sterling. He was appointed to the assembly in 2017. Carpenter was raised in
Eagle River and has been living in Alaska for more than 30 years. Willy Dunne and Troy Jones are running for the District 9
(south peninsula) seat. Dunne has been serving on the assembly since 2015 and is a retired marine biologist. Jones is a business owner and is the presi-
dent of East Road Services, Inc. in Homer. Board of Education Candidates Matthew Morse and Tim Navarre are running for the seat in District 2 (Kenai). Morse has lived in Alaska for 32 years and is a business owner in Kenai. He graduated from Kenai Central High School and attended University of Alaska Fairbanks where he received a degree in biology. Navarre has been serving on the school board since 2009. He is currently a council member for the city of Kenai and a business owner. There are four candidates running for the District 5 (Sterling/Funny River) seat. Karyn Griffin has lived in Alaska for 17 years and is a stay-at-home mom. Greg Madden is a chiropractic physician and has experience teaching in elementary school and college. Marty Anderson has been on the school board since 2003 and is the president of the North Peninsula Chamber Board. Nissa Fowler is an accountant and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in accounting. See VOTE, page A2
Man charged in connection with Kotzebue girl’s death By RACHEL D’ORO and MARK THIESSEN Associated Press
ANCHORAGE — An Alaska man found with the cellphone of a missing 10-year-old girl was charged Monday in connection with her death after GPS coordinates of where the phone had traveled led authorities to the girl’s body. Peter Wilson, 41, of Kotzebue, was formally charged Monday with making false statements as police tried to find Ashley Johnson-Barr, who had been missing since Sept. 6. The girl’s body was found Friday just outside the remote town located on Alaska’s
This undated file photo shows Ashley Johnson-Barr. The 10-year-old Kotzebue girl was found dead Friday. (Courtesy Photo | Alaska State Troopers via AP File)
northwestern coast. Wilson, 41, will make his
first appearance in U.S. District Court in Anchorage on Tuesday. Online court records do not list an attorney for Wilson. An affidavit filed by FBI Special Agent Michael Watson says it appears the girl’s death was a homicide, but it remains under investigation. U.S. Department of Justice spokeswoman Chloe Martin said further charges would depend on what other evidence develops. The girl was playing with friends between 5:30-6 p.m. on Sept. 6 at Rainbow Park in Kotzebue, according to the affidavit. She had her cellphone with her. Her parents tried to call multiple times, but her phone rang unanswered.
Police interviewed a woman they identified only as JJ in the affidavit. She told investigators she found a cellphone in the pocket of a jacket belonging to Wilson, who occasionally stays with her. JJ said that late in the evening of Sept. 6, she and Wilson were at her home. She heard a cellphone ringing repeatedly, and she followed the sound to his jacket. “When she picked up the phone and tried to unlock it, she said Ashley’s name displayed on the screen,” the document says. She knew the girl and her family and called Ashley’s parents, who told her the girl was missing. The girl’s father retrieved the phone and later
gave it to police. According to the affidavit, Wilson told the girl’s father and police that he found the phone a half mile away from the park. JJ also told investigators that she and Wilson had been at her mother’s house through the day Sept. 6. About 5:20 p.m., JJ’s mother asked him to take the four-wheeler and pickup up JJ’s child and another child, who was not Johnson-Barr. JJ told investigators that Wilson was absent with the four-wheeler for two hours, and he didn’t have any children with him when he returned. Johnson-Barr’s parents told officers that the girl was relatSee DEATH, page A3
International 10-year salmon Juneau poet wins preservation plan advances national award By GILLIAN FLACCUS Associated Press
By BEN HOHENSTATT Capital City Weekly
PORTLAND, Ore. — Canada and the U.S. states of Alaska, Oregon and Washington would all reduce their catch of fragile salmon species under the terms of an updated international agreement that, if approved, will spell out the next decade of cooperation between the U.S. and Canada to keep the migratory fish afloat in Pacific waters. Members of the Pacific Salmon Commission on Monday recommended a conservation plan that stretches to 2028 after two years of intense negotiations involving fishermen, tribes on both sides of the border and state and federal officials. It must be approved by both the U.S. and Canadian governments. The international commission first met in 1985 to create more cooperation between Canada and the U.S. on pro-
Miriam Wagoner never thought her poems would be published, let alone win national awards. But Sept. 9, the Juneau poet won a National Federation of Press Women’s National Communications Contest award for her book, “A Poem Book From My Kaasei Nook To The World.” “I found out in May, and I still can’t believe it,” Wagoner said after returning home from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where the award ceremony was held. “It is out of nothingness that I accomplished this, so I’m still speechless.” The contest is open to anyone over the age of 18 and is two tiered. The first tier is a state-level contest, and firstplace winners then proceed to the national competition. Wagoner placed as an hon-
In this undated file photo, a chinook salmon is hooked near Brookings, Ore. (Jamie Lusch/The Medford Mail Tribune via AP, File)
tecting salmon, which migrate thousands of miles from inland streams to the Pacific Ocean and then back to their spawning place. The agreement covers pink, Coho, sockeye, chum and chinook salmon and spans a territory from Cape Falcon, Oregon, in the south to southeast Alaska in the north. The current agreement expires Dec. 31. One of the most significant
parts of the new treaty is reductions in the allowed harvest of chinook salmon, and particularly of chinook populations that are listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said. That includes chinook stocks from the Puget Sound in Washington and the Columbia River
See PLAN, page A3
orable mention in the creative verse-book of poetry category. Her poems were first published in the Capital City Weekly, and Wagoner later decided to self-publish a collection of poems as a book. She decided to self-publish based on a desire to retain full ownership of her work as well as a sense of urgency. “If you want to traditionally publish instead of self-publish, you need to wait for two years at least,” Wagoner said. “I felt I was ready to publish.” Wagoner was able to make the trip to Pennsylvania to receive the award in person as documented on her Facebook page thanks to support from the community. She specifically credited Juneau Arts & Humanities Council, the Filipino community and Exit Realty of Juneau broker Roger Porto with making the trip possible. See POET, page A2