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P E N I N S U L A
Wednesday, September 12, 2018 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 48, Issue 296
In the news Iditarod champ urges better vetting of Supreme Court nominee ANCHORAGE — One of the world’s most successful professional dog mushers is speaking out against the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Four-time Iditarod champion Jeff King is urging U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski to call for a complete vetting of Kavanaugh. Murkowski is a moderate Republican whose support would likely be needed for Kavanaugh to win confirmation. She hasn’t indicated how she might vote. King spoke Tuesday a rally outside her Anchorage office, saying she shouldn’t bow to President Donald Trump. King says Trump’s actions have “been a palpable kick in the gut” for him, from cozying up to Vladimir Putin to disparaging the late John McCain. King says he wouldn’t expect Trump’s nominee would have any more regard or decency, and he reminded Murkowski: “You’re our senator, not Trump’s.”
Lava flow seen on Mount Veniaminof ANCHORAGE — A lava flow has been spotted on an Alaska volcano that recently became active again. Alaska Volcano Observatory scientists say witnesses aboard the state ferry Tustumena saw the lava flow and fountaining on Mount Veniaminof Monday morning. Scientists say satellite images obtained Sunday shows the lava flow is about onehalf-mile long on the 8,225foot volcano, one of Alaska’s most active. The observatory last week increased the threat level of Veniaminof from yellow to orange. That color designation indicates sudden explosions could send ash above 20,000 feet and threaten international airplanes. The volcano erupted for several months in 2013. Other recent eruptions occurred in 2005 and between 1993 and 1995. Veniaminof is 480 miles southwest of Anchorage on the Alaska Peninsula. Perryville, a town of about 100 people, is 20 miles southeast of the volcano. — Associated Press
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Borough assembly unanimously Sex crimes rate twice votes down cigarette tax statewide tax would have been 5 cents per cigarette, and then a 10 percent tax on the wholesale price for other tobacco products. “We’ve explored a number of revenue sources and this is a potential revenue source that is used around the state and this proposal would bring in roughly $4.8 million to the borough if adopted,” Dunne said during the Sept. 4 assembly meeting. Public testimony from local
average in Western Alaska
business owners helped steer assembly members to postpone and then eventually vote down the ordinance altogether. Lynn Shrader owns a small mail-order business outside of Kenai. He testified at last Tuesday’s meeting and said he frequently ships to rural Alaska, and 95 percent of his sales are tobacco. “This new tax is going to put me out of business,” Schrader
said of the proposed tax. “It’s blatantly unfair to start with. I’d like an exemption for my cusA cigarette and tobacco tomers who are outside of this products tax was voted down borough. I don’t have a single unanimously by the Kenai Pencustomer in the borough. This insula Borough Assembly last would be sticking a knife in my Tuesday, but residents may see back.” it on the agenda again later this Patricia Patterson, owner of KODIAK (AP) — The rate year. Lucky Raven Tobacco near Sol- of felony sex offenses reported The tax proposal was brought dotna, also testified at the meet- in western Alaska was more than forth by assembly member Wiling. She said there were many double the statewide rate last ly Dunne as a way to increase See TAX, page A14 year, according to a state crime borough revenue. The proposed report. A report released this month by the state Department of Public Safety shows the western region had more than 400 felony sex offenses per 100,000 people in 2017, the Kodiak Daily Mirror reported Monday. The statewide rate was about 200 per 100,000 people. The region includes the Kodiak Island Borough, the Northwest Arctic Borough, Bristol Bay, the Aleutian Islands and other coastal areas. The state compiled the report from data submitted by law enforcement agencies across the state. While the rate of felony sex offenses in western Alaska decreased slightly last year, the region had the highest rates in state for the past three years, according to the report. Across the state, the felony sex offense rate decreased by 4 percent last year, but the number of victims increased by 27 percent. The state’s median age of female victims of sex crimes was 19, with 15 as the most common age, according to the report. The most common age of victims in western Alaska was 13. The most common victims of felony sex crimes were Alaska Flags stand outside the Kenai Fire Department headquarters to memorialize the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Natives, according to the report. Trade Center in Kenai on Tuesday. The fire department installed 343 American flags to represent the fire fighters lost in the Twin In more than 97 percent of cases statewide, the victim knew the atTowers. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion) tacker.
By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
Remembering the fallen
Teachers, staff bring concerns to school board By MEGAN PACER Homer News
Homer High School’s colors are blue and gold, but the school’s Mariner Theatre was a sea of red Monday night as teachers and staff protested their 19th day on the job without a contract for the 2018-19 school year. Teachers, support staff and family members filed into the theater and queued up behind a microphone to submit comments to the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education during its annual meeting held in Homer. Most of them dealt with ongoing contract negotiations, and the state of the district’s health insurance plan options. One teacher from Homer Flex School broke down in tears while describing the stress and anxiety high health care costs and financial
uncertainty are adding to her life. Chief among the complaints at Monday’s meeting were complications and frustration with the school district’s health care plans. Heath care was a sticking point in the last round of negotiations, which lasted a year and a half. Now, the district has two plans for employees — a traditional plan and a high-deductible health plan. Many of the teachers and staff making comments to the board spoke of what they saw as repercussions of that two-plan system. Several teachers said they feel they are essentially being forced to opt for the high-deductible plan. Others said they are worried any raise in pay they are set to receive will be canceled out by the increasingly high health care costs, which board members recognized as a growing
Teachers, support staff and community members, many of them wearing red, prepare to listen to the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education’s Monday meeting at Homer High School in Homer. The board holds one meeting each year in Homer, and another in Seward. (Photo by Megan Pacer/Homer News)
problem not only in Alaska but across the country. Anne McCabe is a member of the district’s health care committee and told the board that insurance works better when a large number of people
are all paying into one fund. “There are a few people who use a lot, and a lot of people who use a little,” she said. “That’s the only way it works.” McCabe referenced the creation of the district’s high-de-
ductible plan. She said it was good in one regard in that employees needed another option besides the traditional plan. “But what that did was, it shoved a whole lot of people who don’t use it very much into another plan,” she said. “…It shifted a lot of that over to one side. And now we have a smaller group over here, and the district contributes based on those two plans. So what we did is we created two insurance plans, two separate — not one fund, but now we have a fund for these people and a fund for these people, and I tell you, 100 people can’t be an insurance plan. It’s a problem we need to fix.” When negotiations started up again earlier this year, the Kenai Peninsula Education Association, which represents teachers, and the Kenai PeninSee BOARD, page A14
City of Anchorage apologizes for detaining immigrant By RACHEL D’ORO Associated Press
ANCHORAGE — A lawsuit was settled by a Peruvian man who alleged police officers in a city north of Anchorage wrongfully detained him over his immigration status after he tried to break up a bar fight, the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska announced Tuesday. In exchange for dropping
his lawsuit against the city of Palmer and members of its police force, Alex Caceda received $50,000, a written apology from the city, and changes to police procedures regarding immigration detainers and warrants. Procedural changes include an acknowledgment “that unauthorized presence in the United States is not a crime” and enforcement is reserved for the U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement agency, according to the ACLU. The lawsuit, which challenged the authority of local law enforcement to make civil immigration arrests, said Caceda was helping provide security at a bar in Palmer in August 2017 when a fight erupted. Caceda, whose full name is Andres Alexander Caceda-Mantilla, tried to help a female bartender who was being attacked, and was as-
saulted by three men, according to the lawsuit. “We’re hoping that this sends a message to all the local law enforcement agencies across the state that they have to respect immigrants’ rights no matter what ICE tells them,” ACLU spokesman Casey Reynolds said of the recent settlement. “They still have to follow the law.” Palmer Police Chief Lance Ketterling declined to com-
ment. Requests for comment from Michael Gatti, an attorney who represents Palmer, were not immediately returned. Under President Donald Trump, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has adopted tougher policies for who is targeted for deportation. In other parts of the country, the ACLU and other groups have challenged See ACLU, page A3