Peninsula Clarion
LeeShore Center monthly board meeting
3/20/19
Successful Ice Fishers reel in the prizes
The LeeShore Center will be holding its monthly board meeting at The LeeShore Center on Wednesday, March 28. The meeting is open to the public and begins at 6 p.m. For further information call 2839479.
Postcard Writing Project Two students, Kaegan and Molly Koski, along with their supermom, Eva Knutson, will be hosting a Postcard Writing Project on Wednesday, March 20, from 3-5 p.m. at the Soldotna Library Community Room. All you need to do is bring yourself, a friend and kids and grandkids to write a note to legislators and ask them to STOP the deep cuts to the public education budget and SAVE OUR SCHOOLS! Visit the Facebook page for the Save Our Schools event at https:// www.facebook.com/ events/5723288666 13372/.
Trauma Workshop A Trauma Workshop will take place on March 30, 1-4 p.m. at Soldotna United Methodist Church with Trauma Specialist, Lisa Schmitter. This workshop will explain trauma and the physiological and psychological impact it can have. It will provide you with tools to regulate and begin to heal from the trauma. Traumas can be recent or from years ago. Lisa Schmitter, a trauma specialist who has 35 years experience, will share the latest research and neuro hacks for moving from PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder) to Post Traumatic Growth. Visit the Facebook page for the Trauma Workshop at https:// www.facebook.com/ events/23276801341351 10/.
Kenai Peninsula Foundation Grant Cycle Opening Kenai Peninsula Foundation 2019 competitive grants cycle is open from March 6 to April 3. We are currently accepting applications. Please direct general questions to KPF’s Program Manager, Hadassah Knight, at hknight@ alaskacf.org. Please direct eligibility and technical questions about the online grant system to The Alaska Community Foundation at grants@ alaskacf.org. See EVENTS, page A3
Winners in the 22nd Trustworthy Hardware Ice Fishing Derby collect their prizes.
For 22 years, the month of February has been a time to get out of the house and into the peninsula’s winter wonderland, experience the thrill of bringing a fish up through the ice and win some fantastic prizes — all while bonding the family to the spirit of the north and its many wonders. All this is thanks to the Miller family, owners of Soldotna Trustworthy
At the first Resiliency Fair, local, state and federal agencies came together with local nonprofit and utility companies on Saturday, March 2 to share useful tips, tools and resources on being more resilient before the next disaster. Held in the wake of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Southcentral Alaska in November, the event — which took place the Peninsula Center Mall — drew a larger turnout than anticipated, Office of Emergency Management (OEM) Director Dan Nelson said. “The turnout was amazing. And that was pretty exciting because what we are really trying to do here is take our emergency notification to the next step. So maybe our cellphone tells us there’s an earthquake or a tsunami warning, but what does that really mean and what should we do next? “So here today at the Resiliency Fair we had our volunteer organizations. Our first responders like our fire departments and National Guard are here today, and they are relating to people what those notifications really mean and
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you bring in a big fish it really encourages the kids to get out there and give it a try and they get excited,” said Knaack. However, on the last day of the derby, Feb. 28, it was Wilma Omnik who took the Women’s Division and the overall largest fish with her 5.36-pound rainbow. New to the derby this year was a catch-and-release division, which was
won by Dustin Senna — who brought through the ice and then released a 26.5-inch lake trout. Also different in this year’s derby was the absence of a division for the largest northern pike. “We’re very happy about that,” said Scott Miller in an interview with the Dispatch. “Fish & Game has done a great job with their eradi-
cation program that started a few years back and there just aren’t any pike out there to be had. So we happily eliminated that division. We went from having two to three hundred pike brought in 20 years ago, to last year only a couple and this year we won’t see any thanks to Fish & Game for doing a really good job and protecting our trout and See ICE, page A2
1st Resiliency Fair draws big crowds to PCM
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Hardware & Fishing, which sponsors the Trustworthy Hardware Ice Fishing Derby. This year’s derby got off to a great start with Derby Queen Jazi Knaack bringing in the first fish — a 3-pound rainbow that was never exceeded in the employee division. “It’s really great to get out early in the morning when it’s cold. And when
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how (they) should respond. It really depends on where you live what your response needs to be. If you live in the central peninsula or Homer your response will be different. And people are learning that here today, and the interest has been very encouraging,” said Nelson in an interview. Eighteen different vendors participated in the event — ranging from ham radio operators to Enstar and HEA. “Some of the skills that were learned included building your family communication plan, how do we get in contact with our family when we may be separated during a disaster, how to build your emergency kits and maintain them, disaster first-aid, ham radio operation, how to safely connect a generator to your home, sheltering for you pets, how to mitigate financial loss during disaster,” said Jade Gamble, program manager with OEM. “We have a lot of information
available, but we want people to know what to do with it, where to go for accurate and up to date information.” “Our first responders and military do a fantastic job and we can’t thank them enough,” Nelson said.
“But what we know in our community is that it comes down to the individual, the family household and extended family. That’s who needs to be prepared and have the tools for resiliency. Because if they are pre-
pared at that level, then the first responders and military can do their jobs that they train for everyday and be successful. “So being prepared to be resilient and by doing See FAIR, page A2