Fishing
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Sockeye in Kasilof, silvers in Kenai
Oilers, Bucs open ABL playoffs
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CLARION
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P E N I N S U L A
Thursday, August 2, 2018 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 48, Issue 261
In the news Kenai man hit, killed by car on Kenai Spur Highway Police do not have reason to believe the driver involved in Tuesday’s fatal car accident was intoxicated, Kenai Police Lt. Ben Langham said. Monte Necessary, 36, of Kenai, died after he was hit by a car around while he was crossing the Kenai Spur Highway about 50 yards west of North Spruce Street around 6:15 p.m. Tuesday. The driver of the car that hit Necessary, Kenai resident Robert Seibert, 75, was moving at “roadway speeds” in a 35-mile-per-hour zone, Langham said. “Speeding was not a factor,” he said. Langham said Necessary was not in a crosswalk when he was hit. “The driver had the right of way, and did not have time to stop,” Langham said. Police are waiting for the results of toxicology screens on both Siebert and Necessary. Reach Erin Thompson at ethompson@peninsulaclarion.com.
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Kenai River sockeye fishing to close By ELIZABETH EARL Peninsula Clarion
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is closing the Kenai River entirely to sockeye salmon fishing for the rest of the season. Effective Saturday at 12:01 a.m., the main stem of the Kenai River from the mouth upstream to the Sterling Highway Bridge at the outlet of Kenai Lake will be closed to sockeye fishing, with the exception of the waters of the mainstem around the confluence of the Russian River.
This year has proven exceptionally poor for sockeye on the Kenai, which typically produces one of the largest sockeye runs in the region. As of Tuesday, 453,136 sockeye had passed the sonar on the Kenai River, just over halfway to the bottom end of the sustainable escapement goal of 700,000– 1.2 million fish. “The department doesn’t take this action lightly,” said Sport Fish Cook Inlet Management Coordinator Matt Miller in a release announcing the closure Wednesday. “This fishery is important economically
to the community and important to Alaskans trying to put salmon on the table; but when projections indicate we won’t make the escapement goal, we have to take that final action and close the fishery.” The Russian River sockeye salmon fishery will remain open — projections show that the late run is likely to meet its escapement goal. Despite poor returns on the Kenai, the early run of Russian River sockeye came in strong, passing the upper end of the escapement goal A guide motors a boat full of anglers up the Kenai River near even with increased bag limits Soldotna Creek Park on Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2018 in Soldotna, See FISH, page A9 Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)
Crash course Alleged carjacker scheduled for arraignment in incident that shut down part of Seward Highway By ERIN THOMPSON Peninsula Clarion
Troopers seize 88 sockeyes snagged, netted in Wasilla creek WASILLA (AP) — Four men have been cited for illegally capturing sockeye salmon near Wasilla. Alaska State Wildlife Troopers on Monday seized 88 sockeyes that were netted or snagged in Cottonwood Creek. Troopers investigated after receiving a complaint of illegal fishing. Two of the men listed Wasilla addresses, one was from South Carolina and one was from Washington state. They were given court dates to appear on citations for fishing in closed waters, fishing without licenses in their possession and illegal possession of sockeye salmon. The fish were donated to a charity.
Inside ‘My window turned red because of the flames.’
Lieutenant Governor candidates Debra Call (standing), Edie Grunwald, Sharon Jackson, Byron Mallot, Kevin Myer, and Stephan Wright answer questions at a Kenai and Soldotna Chamber of Commerce candidate forum on Wednesday at the Kenai Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Center in Kenai. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)
Primary election closing in Lieutenant governor candidates debate issues in Kenai By BEN BOETTGER Peninsula Clarion
Six of this year’s eight lieutenant governor candidates answered questions on Wednesday about ballot initiatives, potential state taxes, the Permanent Fund Dividend, and the Alaska LNG Project in a Wednesday forum before members of the Kenai and Soldotna chambers of commerce. Voters will choose from these candidates on Aug. 21, in the primary elections that will determine which will
move on to party tickets in the general election Nov. 6. The two candidates absent from Wednesday’s forum were state Sen. Gary Stevens (R-Kodiak) and Lynn Gattis, a former state representative from the MatSu Valley, both running for the Republican nomination. Four of those present were Republican: Sharon Jackson, a constituent liaison for U.S Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska); state senator and ConocoPhillips Investment Recovery Coordinator Kevin
Meyer (R-Anchorage); retired U.S Air Force Colonel Edie Grunwald; and 22year U.S Air Force veteran Stephen Wright. Wright is the only Republican candidate already attached to a runningmate, Republican gubernatorial candidate Michael Sheldon. Candidate Debra Call, who has worked in various small business development positions and been an executive for Alaska Native organizations including the Calista Heritage Foundation and See FORUM, page A9
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Kenai Central High School music teacher earns national association’s recognition By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
When Deborah Sounart came to Alaska, she had a roundtrip ticket and a plan to leave one year later. She’s starting her 25th year teaching music at Kenai Central High School this month. “It’s been a very long year,” Sounart said. In April, the band teacher received a citation of excellence award from the National Band Association, the largest coalition of band educators in the country. Former Kenai Central High School choir teacher Renee Henderson presented Soun-
art with the award at her spring concert. “I worked with her for 20 years exactly,” Henderson said. “I hired her. She was a wonderful candidate. She had good credentials, and was even better than her credentials, actually. She runs a superior classroom. Her teaching techniques are top of the chart.” Sounart said she was shocked when she first heard about the recognition. After making the decision to leave her home state of Florida in the summer of 1994, she said she didn’t think she would amount to any national success after a former mentor told her she
would be better off, professionally, in the Lower 48. “To me, it was like this is where God put me and I’m supposed to be here,” Sounart said. “I had kind of given up on any type of professional recognition in that setting, so when (I won the award) I was just in shock. Those type of awards goes to huge, huge programs in the Lower 48. Not little programs here in Kenai.” Before moving to Alaska, Sounart taught music for eight years in Miami-Dade County in southern Florida. She found herself homeless in the wake of Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Her home was ground zero for the
hurricane, and for the next two years, Sounart couch-surfed with friends and family while working full time as a music teacher. “I wasn’t destitute,” Sounart said. “There’s a difference between being destitute and being homeless. I still had a full-time job and a full-time bank account, but I did not physically have walls and a roof. I bunked in a warehouse, I bunked at my grandma’s house after hers got reconstructed.” Exhausted by reconstruction, Sounart decided to teach in Alaska for a year and experience her birth state. Her See MUSIC, page A9
A man who allegedly stole an Anchorage truck, rammed a parked SUV and carjacked a third vehicle before veering into a ditch along the Seward Highway was scheduled for arraignment in Anchorage jail court Wednesday afternoon. Lance Colby Harrington, 41, was arrested by a vacationing U.S. Forest Service officer and “Good Samaritan” law enforcement officers near Mile 65 of the Seward Highway Tuesday afternoon, according to an Alaska State Trooper dispatch. Troopers were notified at approximately 12:39 p.m. of a reckless driver who had failed to stop for the Anchorage Police Department, troopers reported. The driver, identified as Harrington, was reported driving through Turnagain Pass “in a reckless manner” and heading south on the Seward Highway. At Mile 72 of the highway, Harrington allegedly rammed into a parked Dodge SUV with five occupants — who suffered minor to no injuries. Harrington then threatened the driver of a nearby Chevrolet pickup with a metal bar and smashed the pickup’s back window in an attempt to get into the truck, according to troopers. The driver — a 46-year-old Palmer man — tried to head south on the highway, but Harrington allegedly pulled him from the truck near Mile 71 and sped southbound on the highway. Harrington lost control of the pickup at Mile 65, and skidded off the roadway into a ditch, according to the dispatch. He continued driving, however, until the truck hit a culvert and creek drainage ditch, troopers reported. The truck rolled multiple times, throwing Harrington from the vehicle into the woods. He then left the woods, ran to the highway and tried to take a car that stopped for the collision, according to the dispatch. Harrington, who reportedly tried to leave the scene, was arrested by the off-duty officers. Troopers received the report of the vehicle wreck at approximately 1:15 p.m., and See CRASH, page A9