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P E N I N S U L A
Thursday, September 6, 2018 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 48, Issue 291
In the news Fairbanks police see high identification rate with Facebook FAIRBANKS — Fairbanks police say scores of crime suspects have been identified through the department’s robust Facebook presence. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports the police department maintains a photo album that currently has 210 pictures taken from video surveillance systems or sent by residents of people possibly involved in crimes. The department asks residents to identify the person through the Facebook photo album. Officer Doug Welborn says about 90 percent of the photos posted get identified, helping to solve crimes ranging from thefts to assaults. Welborn monitors the album and answers policerelated questions sent to the page by residents. He says the album was started in 2016 after numerous calls from residents wanting to stay in the loop of what’s going on the city.
Federal aid available for flood recovery JUNEAU — The federal government says it is making disaster assistance available to assist in recovery efforts in an area of south-central Alaska affected by late-spring flooding. The Federal Emergency Management Agency says President Trump approved a major disaster declaration stemming from May flooding in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. The agency says funding is available to state, tribal and eligible local governments and to certain nonprofits on a cost-share basis for emergency work and to fix and replace facilities. — Associated Press
Correction The Peninsula Clarion’s Sept. 5 coverage on the results of 2018 primary election misprinted the difference in votes in the District O race between Sen. Peter Micciche (R-Soldotna) and Ron Gillham. Micciche won by 72 votes, not by 57 votes as printed in the Clarion. The Clarion apologizes for the error. The Clarion would also like to clarify that Shawn Butler is a nonpartisan candidate, and is not a member of the Democratic party.
Index Opinion................... A4 Nation..................... A5 Sports......................A6 Arts .........................B1 Classifieds.............. B3 Comics.................... B6
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Borough approves resolution opposing Soldotna annexation without public vote By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly voted Tuesday night to oppose the city of Soldotna’s plan to annex surrounding areas without giving residents the ability to vote on the issue. The resolution to oppose annexation without voter approval was adopted as written with a vote of 5-4, according to the assembly clerk. The resolution came in the wake of testimony from borough residents who oppose the annexation process. In an Aug. 23 memo, assembly member Norm Blakely and Mayor Charlie Pierce told the assembly that they oppose annexation through the legislative process, and asked the city to seek voter approval. “The affected property owners are not all voters, but all voters in the existing limits of the city of Soldotna and who reside in the proposed areas for annexation will be impacted by the annexation, if it is approved,” the memo states. The letter goes on to say that the borough has received comments from residents who have asked the borough to formally oppose the city of Soldotna’s process and allow voter ap-
A stretch of Kalifornsky Beach Road near East Poppy Lane between Kenai and Soldotna is photographed on Wednesday. The highly trafficked business corridor is one of seven areas that could potentially be annexed by the city of Soldotna. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)
proval. “We have received numerous requests, publicly and privately, from affected residents
asking the borough to oppose this annexation if the voters are not allowed to vote on it,” the memo states. “One young man
privately indicated that he went residents in the areas selected to fight in Iraq for the freedom for annexation intentionally to vote and now won’t have that chose to live outside of the city freedom on this issue. Many See ANNEX, page A8
2018 pink salmon harvest lowest in 40 years By Kevin Gullufsen Juneau Empire
With the closure of directed pink salmon fisheries last week, commercial seine salmon season is effectively over in Southeast Alaska. But for many seiners, it never really began. This year’s pink salmon harvest has been dismal, the lowest since 1976. Just over 7.5 million pinks have been harvested to date, according to Alaska Department of Fish and Game pink and chum salmon project leader for Southeast Andy Piston. From 1960-2018, the average has been 30 million. “There were a lot fewer fish,” Piston said. Even in an off year — region pinks spawn in number only every two years — 2018’s pink run has been a bust. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game set its pre-season forecast at 23
million fish, more than three times the catch. The last directed pink salmon fishery closed in Southeast last week. Commercial salmon seiners, the few that are still working in Southeast, are targeting a few chum salmon fisheries still open. It’s possible the pink salmon caught at Annette Island in the Ketchikan area will push the total over 8 million fish for the year. But Piston said that’s unlikely. “I doubt we’ll hit 8 million,” Piston said. Pinks don’t act uniformly across Southeast, Piston noted, but region wide, harvests on even-numbered years tend to be lower than odd-numbered years. In southern Southeast, the bread and butter for the majority of the seine fleet, harvests on even-numbered years have been good lately. That was
A male pink salmon makes its way upstream to spawn in August of 2010. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire File)
one reason fishery managers believed, despite some indication otherwise, that this year’s harvest wouldn’t be as low as it turned out. The problem area is inside waters in northern Southeast. Returns were especially poor
near the Juneau area. To protect the few fish that did return, fishery managers cut back on the amount of time fishermen were allowed to fish in northern Southeast. “We’re doing the only thing we have any control over, and
that is we’re just not having any harvest in those areas,” Piston said. Piston said they don’t know yet what’s causing the low harvest on northern Southeast inside waters, but they did have some indication that this year’s run would be poor. The National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration trawl survey of juvenile pink salmon last year — the fish that grew to return this year — showed the lowest number of juvenile pinks in survey history, Piston said. Southern Southeast and the northern outer coast, “for the most part,” returned numbers within management targets, Piston said, meaning Fish and Game has reason to believe this year’s poor harvest won’t result in low reproduction in those areas. “There may be a few weak areas, but for the most part, See PINK, page A8
Meth, heroin and marijuana top Anchorage buys lots from list of peninsula drug seizures man feuding with city over homeless shelter
By ERIN THOMPSON Peninsula Clarion
Peninsula police departments confiscated about $150,000 in illegal drugs — the majority heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana — in 2017, according to a new Alaska State Troopers report. Released Wednesday by the Alaska State Troopers Statewide Drug Enforcement Unit (SDEU), the 2017 Annual Drug Report compiled information on illegal drug trafficking from a number of agencies, including local police departments, Trooper detachments, the fed-
eral Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, Homeland Security and the SDEU. During the 2017 calendar year, law enforcement agencies across the state seized 151,886 grams, approximately 152 kilos, of the three most prevalent illegal drugs — cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine, according to the report. Although the amount of cocaine seized has remained relatively steady since 2013, seizures of heroin in 2017 declined significantly from 2016. Methamphetamine seizures, however, showed a marked rise from 2016 to 2017.
The report noted that seizures of fentanyl — a synthetic opioid that can be 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine — were also on the rise in 2017, during which law enforcement agencies seized 24,235 lethal doses of the drug. And while number of overdose deaths from heroin and prescription opioids both dropped in 2017 — from 49 to 36 and 53 to 50, respectively — deaths related to fentanyl and other synthetic opioids rose from eight in 2016 to 37 in 2017. On the peninsula, police departments in Homer, Soldotna,
See DRUG, page A8
ANCHORAGE (AP) — Anchorage has purchased two lots from a man who has filed lawsuits and complained for years that a downtown homeless shelter and nearby soup kitchen have hurt his business. The $750,000 purchase last month is the first step in a plan for the city to buy all of auctioneer Ron Alleva’s land in the area, including his auction yard next to the Brother Francis Shelter, the Anchorage Daily News reported. The Anchorage Assembly authorized the purchase earlier
this year of the two fenced-in lots, which the city electric utility has leased for about a decade. The lots might be developed for expanded homeless services, said Robin Ward, the city’s chief housing officer. “He wants out,” Ward said. “This gives him the first step of getting out.” Alleva, who owns Grubstake Auction Co., has clashed with the city, shelter and soup kitchen in recent years. He claims the shelters allow bad See FEUD, page A8