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Broken axle focus of investigation
Spartans win 1st Rose Bowl in 26 years
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CLARION
Cloudy/snow 27/19 More weather on Page A-2
P E N I N S U L A
THURSDAY, JANUARY 2, 2014 Soldotna-Kenai, Alaska
Vol. 44, Issue 79
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
Make it stick for the year
Question What type of New Year’s resolutions are you planning to make? n Lose weight, eat healthier or exercise more; n Quit smoking or drinking; n Better manage your finances; n Improve your education or career; n Volunteer; n Other; n None. To place your vote and comment, visit our Web site at www. peninsulaclarion. com. Results and selected comments will be posted each Tuesday in the Clarion, and a new question will be asked.
In the news C
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State looks to expand Medicaid management JUNEAU (AP) — The state health department is looking to implement a program to combat what it calls “harmful and costly inappropriate use of Medicaid-covered services.” The Juneau Empire reports the pilot program would supplement the state’s current Care Management Program. That program was established to help individuals who use services in an amount deemed not medically necessary find a primary care provider. Those who would participate in a coordinated care program would be those who have visited the emergency room more than five times in a year and are not in the Care Management Program. According to the department’s request for proposals, the current Care Management Program receives more than 100 referrals annually and manages about 300 “top utilizers.” But it says the program lacks sufficient resources and expertise to address the “complex and layered problems of this super utilizer group.” The department is hoping a coordinated care program will, among other things, increase prescription oversight, reduce unnecessary medical visits and save the Medicaid program money.
Index Opinion.................. A-4 Nation.................... A-6 World..................... A-7 Sports.....................A-8 Arts........................ B-1 Classifieds............. B-3 Comics................... B-6 Check us out online at www.peninsulaclarion.com To subscribe, call 283-3584.
Local expert offers tips for reaching goals By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion
pre-kindergarten. He said he was not suggesting that more money will fix the problems facing Alaska’s public school system and said he shares fellow members’ concerns with how money is being used. “But you can’t say we’re here to improve education and show up at the table with a predetermined outcome,” he said. “I don’t know how that benefits education.” The language was revised during the meeting to say the public should be made aware
Now that the calendar has rolled into a new year, the old tradition of setting lofty resolutions can commence. Weather it be a commitment to exercise and healthy eating, or a pledge to save more money, the daily rigors of life can get in the way and derail those resolutions. For those of us who have good intentions but lack the willpower to stick with set goals, a new book released from a local psychologist offers some guidance on ways to focus efforts and take the necessary steps to make behavioral changes. Dr. Pamela Hays, a licensed psychologist who runs a practice in Soldotna, is the author of “Creating well-being: Four steps to a happier, healthier life.” While Hays has more than 20 years of experience as a clinical therapist and has written several books in her field of work, her latest work is the first geared toward the general public. Hays said she wrote this book to help people make positive changes in their lives and give readers the tools to combat
See FUNDS, page A-10
See GOALS, page A-10
AP Photo/Becky Bohrer
Taking the plunge
Overcast skies, spitting rain and a posted water temperature of 37 degrees could not keep a crowd from turning out to participate in the Polar Plunge, a local New Year’s Day tradition, on Wednesday at Auke Bay in Juneau
Task force clashes over funding By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
JUNEAU — A legislative task force clashed Tuesday over funding as they worked on a blueprint for addressing education in Alaska. Members of the House Task Force on Sustainable Education, working on a draft presentation during a teleconferenced meeting, agreed with language stating that to provide for a sustainable future in Alaska, state spending levels must to be reduced and a portion of revenue
set aside for future generations. The disagreement came over whether to include proposed language that, in the current budget environment, state education funding needs to be reduced as well. Brad Keithley, a consultant who works on oil, gas and fiscal policy issues, supported the statement, saying society has gotten the message that it can go to the state and “get all their problems solved,” but he said that needs to stop. The public needs to recognize the state is spending itself off a fiscal cliff,
he said. But Andrew Halcro, a former state legislator and current president of the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce, vehemently disagreed, arguing that such a statement “makes everything we’re doing here irrelevant.” He said the panel hasn’t even really addressed what an adequate funding level is and said it makes no sense to talk about cutting spending when the panel hasn’t looked into gains the state might realize from additional investments in areas like
Kodiak girl donates hair to Locks of Love By NICOLE KLAUSS Kodiak Daily Mirror
KODIAK (AP) — Hanna Moody may look like your average 8-year-old girl, but to some unknowing child in the world, she’s a hero. Moody made the decision to cut off all her hair in order to donate it to Locks of Love, a nonprofit that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged kids suffering from hair loss. The donations are intended to help their self-esteem and
confidence. On Dec. 21, Hanna and her mom Kathy went to Vizhunz Salon, where she had 12 inches of hair cut off to donate. Hanna knows how much a helping hand means. She has severe epilepsy and was recently diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, a form of autism. “She went through a hard summer,” Kathy Moody said. Hanna suffered 48 seizures in three months over the summer and takes medication to
avoid others, but it doesn’t always work. “I just thought it was so giving and caring for a special needs girl to think of this on her own,” said Kiela Pickett, a close family friend. “For her to think of something so giving and nice was a big thing.” Kathy Moody remembered when Hanna first started asking to donate her hair. It was grown out, but maybe a year ago she had mentioned that she wanted to donate it for the sick kids,” she said. “This
year it grew down to her bottom and she said she wanted to help the sick kids with no hair.” Moody said she thinks Hanna’s idea to donate her hair came from watching TV commercials and from being around her friend Madisyn Sickafoose who battled a rare form of cancer called Ewing’s sarcoma a few years ago. Kathy Moody said she and her husband Hans were surprised when Hanna asked to make the charitable decision.
“We were shocked too that she wanted to,” she said. “She mentioned it a few times in the last year.” Finally, Moody made the appointment and took Hanna to the salon for her big day. “She knew why we were going,” Moody said. “She was telling the ladies cutting her hair why we were there.” Hanna is now sporting a chin-length haircut but is already planning to grow her hair out and donate it again, her mom said.
Domestic violence trial begins U.S. races to keep pace in Arctic By KAYLEE OSOWSKI Peninsula Clarion
A Kenai Superior Court Jury heard testimony from three of the state’s witnesses in a domestic violence case, including the alleged victim, on Tuesday. Virgil McCord, Jr., 37, of the Native village of Tyonek, faces a kidnapping charge as well as three assault charges in the second, third and fourth degrees — all felony charges — and one misdemeanor charge of fourthdegree criminal mischief. Jury selection for the trial began on Monday carrying over to Tuesday morning until testimonies began just prior to noon. Following the testimony of an Alaska State Trooper and a friend of the alleged victim, Valerie Sigourney, 44, of An-
chorage, the alleged victim in the case, answered to questions from the state and the defense for more than one hour. Sigourney outlined her relationship with McCord saying that they began dating in May 2013 and she moved from Anchorage into the house he shared with family in Tyonek that same month, but the two had known each other prior to their romantic relationship. She said he was charming, sweet and cordial when Public Defender Andy Pevehouse asked what she had liked about McCord. The alleged abuse happened the night of Sept. 20, 2013. Sigourney recalled how, at first, the couple was having a great time during her testimony. They had gone moose hunting
and were driving and listening to music and sharing a bottle of whiskey. But then McCord got agitated because they had passed her ex’s family bridge. “He was very jealous,” she said. While driving his pickup with his left hand, McCord hit Sigourney with his right hand and called her names, she testified as she began to cry. Sigourney jumped out of the moving pickup because she didn’t want McCord to hit her anymore, she said. When asked by Assistant District Attorney Kelly Lawson what happened next, Sigourney said McCord got out after her but forgot to put the truck in park. He went after the truck, which went into the ditch. Then See CASE, page A-10 C
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By DEB RIECHMANN Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The U.S. is racing to keep pace with stepped-up activity in the once sleepy Arctic frontier, but it is far from being in the lead. Nations across the world are hurrying to stake claims to the Arctic’s resources, which might be home to 13 percent of the world’s undiscovered oil and 30 percent of its untapped natural gas. There are emerging fisheries and hidden minerals. Cruise liners loaded with tourists
are sailing the Arctic’s frigid waters in increasing numbers. Cargo traffic along the Northern Sea Route, one of two shortcuts across the top of the Earth in summer, is on the rise. The U.S., which takes over the two-year rotating chairmanship of the eight-nation Arctic Council in 2015, has not ignored the Arctic, but critics say the U.S. is lagging behind the other seven: Russia, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Canada and Denmark, through the semiautonomous territory of See ARCTIC, page A-10