THE
Musher Iditarod champ takes aim at different race Local/A2
Sunday
It’s over West topples Stars in season opener Sports/B1
CLARION P E N I N S U L A
Sunday, August 12, 2018 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 48, Issue 269
$1 newsstands daily/$1.50 Sunday
Bodies, wreckage will not be recovered in Denali plane crash
In the news 3 accused of approaching feeding Katmai brown bears ANCHORAGE — Charges are pending in Alaska against three people who approached multiple brown bears in a closed area of a popular destination for bearviewing excursions. National Park Service officials say two Alaska residents and a tourist entered a closed area at Brooks Camp in the Katmai National Park and Preserve Thursday evening while the bears were feeding. Officials say the group violated wildlife viewing rules and put themselves and the bears in danger. Park regulations prohibit getting within 50 yards of a bear feeding on a concentrated source, such as salmon. The incident comes after two July incidents involving Katmai bears. One bear pawed a visitor’s pant leg after approaching the individual, and a second bear that was being chased by another bear pawed an employee of Katmailand’s Brooks Lodge.
Galvin outraises Young in July; Young has more cash JUNEAU — Independent Alyse Galvin reported contributions of nearly $65,000 for her U.S. House bid in July, more than the incumbent Republican, U.S. Rep. Don Young. Young, however, retained a large edge in available cash at the end of the reporting period Aug. 1, with nearly $435,000. He reported contributions of about $28,800 in July. Most of his contributions were from out-of-state political action committees. Galvin is seeking the Democratic nomination in the Aug. 21 primary. She and Democrat Dimitri Shein (Shayne) have run the most active campaigns on that side. Shein’s latest fundraising filing wasn’t immediately available. Galvin reported having just over $250,000 on hand. Young is the longestserving member of the House. His primary opponents reported little or no fundraising. — Associated Press
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In praise of salmon Sculptor Nichole Hoop works on a carving during the Alaska Wild Salmon Day festivities in Soldotna Creek Park on Friday in Soldotna. The event, organized by the conservation nonprofit Cook Inletkeeper, featured salmon-themed art, servings of salmon chowder, readings by fisher-poets, and music by Tyson James and Motown Fever. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)
ANCHORAGE (AP) — The National Park Service has ended attempts to recover bodies and wreckage of a small airplane that crashed on a near-vertical mountain within Alaska’s Denali National Park. The agency says it has determined that recovery of the bodies and the aircraft would exceed an acceptable level of risk. A ranger hauled in with a line below a helicopter reached the crash site Friday and spent an hour at the site. The ranger confirmed that all five people on board the airplane had died. The de Havilland Beaver operated by K2 Aviation crashed Aug. 4 near the summit of Thunder Mountain about 14 miles (22.5 kilometers) southwest of the summit of Denali, North America’s highest mountain. On board were pilot Craig Layson and four passengers from Poland.
State agency seizes political campaign signs ANCHORAGE (AP) — The Alaska Department of Transportation seized several political campaign signs last week in Anchorage, sparking protests and outrage from candidates and campaign officials. The signs were illegally placed along state roads and causing safety hazards for drivers, transportation officials said. But state inventory indicates
no signs for Gov. Bill Walker were seized in the sweep, leaving some political figures questioning the timing, the Anchorage Daily News reported . Walker is up for re-election this fall, and the Alaska primary election will be held Aug. 21. The Walker campaign said it received no advance notice or special treatment but spotted orange tags on the signs and
reacted quickly to move them. Department of Transportation spokeswoman Shannon McCarthy said the sweep was motivated by a proliferation of illegal signs on state roads, despite state and federal laws against outdoor advertising in Alaska. Because of budget cuts, those laws have been little enforced in recent years, though sweeps used to happen more
regularly, McCarthy said. The state sent a letter to candidates in the spring about right-of-way laws, McCarthy said. On July 25, Department of Transportation workers placed orange tags on 200 to 250 signs placed illegally in the state right-of-way across Anchorage, McCarthy said. Of those, about 50 posed “immediate safety concerns,” according to McCarthy.
Campaigns were given five days to move the signs, and many did, McCarthy said. On private property within 660 feet (about 200 meters) of the nearest edge of the right-ofway, signs can’t be installed or positioned so the message can be read from the state roadway, said Heather Fair, the state right-of-way enforcement See SIGNS, page A2
Local martial arts students compete on world stage By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
Seven students of Soldotna Martial Arts have returned from the World Tang Soo Do championships. Two students, Mika Brassfield and Shari Franke, received medals for competitions involving open-hand forms and weapons forms. Master Bud Draper has been practicing Tang Soo Do since 1970 and has been running Soldotna Martial Arts for over 25 years. Tang Soo Do is a Korean martial art that integrates other kinds of martial arts like kung fu and karate. Draper said Tang Soo Do helps develop good lifelong health habits and good character
Cierra Brassfield, Edward Welch, Mika Brassfield, Shari Franke, Arlene Franke, Danny MacIntosh and Master Bud Draper pose with their medals and plaques after returning from the World Tang Soo Do Championships on Thursday, Aug. 9, 2018, near Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)
through hard work and rigor- ous training.
The World Tang Soo Do Championship is held every two years in Greensboro, North Carolina and members of the World Tang Soo Do Association are welcome to attend. The championships hosted 700 black belts and over a thousand colored belts from all over the world. “It’s a very large tournament, but the purpose is not to determine who is the best, the greatest, the strongest, the fastest.” Draper said. “The purpose is to bring the family together, the worldwide Tang Soo Do family.” At Soldotna Martial Arts, any students who wanted to participate were welcome to join. For three of the seven, it
was their third time going; the rest had never been before. This was Mika Brassfield’s third time attending the championships. She’s been practicing Tang Soo Do with her sister, Cierra, since 2009. “Every time I go down there it surprises me, even though I’m used to the number of people there,” Mika Brassfield said. “It’s fun to reconnect with old friends and meet new ones.” Arlene Franke, who is affectionately known as grandma, was the oldest woman competitor at 76 years old. She’s been practicing Tang Soo Do since 2011. “I was a bit surprised at See ARTS, page A2
Seabird die-offs may be connected to warming ocean By DAN JOLING Associated Press
stretching from north of the Bering Strait to the Gulf of Alaska that may be connected ANCHORAGE — Federal to a trend of warming ocean wildlife officials are document- water. ing a die-off of Alaska seabirds Carcasses examined so far have shown no indication of
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disease, and tests are pending for harmful algal toxins. Seabirds have been found emaciated and starved, and changed ocean conditions may have affected prey. “As in the past, these dieoffs have been associated with unusually warm water conditions,” said Katherine Kuletz, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service seabird biologist. “That’s only increased in the last few years.” The Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service in May received reports of dead and dying seabirds, or
birds acting abnormally, north and south of the Bering Strait. Most were common or thickbilled murres. Bird deaths along Saint Lawrence Island followed. Reports from more southern communities, subsistence hunters and citizen scientists in the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team, coordinated at the University of Washington, continued over the summer. Officials recorded deaths of forktail storm petrels, fulmars, shearwaters, kittiwakes, auklets and puffins.
Bird die-offs usually are localized, Kuletz said. The 2018 numbers have not matched a die-off in late 2015 and 2016, when hundreds of thousands of common murres died. “I think what’s different is that the numbers, even though they’re in the dozens or hundreds, they’re widely dispersed and very highly concentrated in the north Bering Sea and the southern Chukchi Sea, which is unusual,” Kuletz said. “Most of our large die-offs have occurred in the southern Bering Sea or See BIRDS, page A2