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P E N I N S U L A
MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2014 Soldotna-Kenai, Alaska
Vol. 44, Issue 88
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
State report details fisheries injuries
Question Do you think the Legislature will have a productive session this year? n Yes; or n No.
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. Suggested questions may be submitted online or e-mailed to news@peninsulaclarion.com.
By MOLLY DISCHNER Morris News Service-Alaska Alaska Journal of Commerce
In the news State health officials look out for measles
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JUNEAU — Alaska health officials are monitoring for cases of measles, especially in people who have been traveling in the Philippines. Authorities in the Philippines declared a measles outbreak in Manila, KTOO reported. That’s of concern in Alaska because there is a large Filipino population here, and many residents travel to the Philippines during the holidays or have traveled to help in post-typhoon relief efforts. Dr. Mike Cooper, an epidemiologist with the state health department, says the risk of Alaskans contracting measles is pretty low, even though it’s a highly contagious virus. In 1996, Juneau had a measles outbreak with 63 confirmed cases. Anchorage had 30 confirmed cases in another outbreak two years later. The state now requires two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine for public school students. “It’s one of those diseases where we’ve done a good job in the U.S. of lowering rates and getting rid of homegrown disease,” Cooper said. “But then when you get pockets of people that are not immunized — whether they declined it, or didn’t get immunized when they were children, or as they got older their immunity waned — they’re vulnerable.” — The Associated Press
Index Opinion.................. A-4 Nation.................... A-6 World..................... A-7 Sports.....................A-8 Schools...................B-1 Classifieds............. B-4 Comics................... B-8 Check us out online at www.peninsulaclarion.com To subscribe, call 283-3584.
Photo by Dan Balmer/Peninsula Clarion
Two cars drive by the corner of Marydale Drive and Binkley Street on Sunday in Soldotna. The intersection is one of three proposed sites for a roundabout on Binkley Street. The other two sites are at Wilson Lane by Safeway and Redoubt Avenue.
City considers roundabouts By KAYLEE OSOWSKI Peninsula Clarion
By the end of construction season this year, the Kenai Peninsula could see its first roundabouts. The proposed plans for Binkley Street rehabilitation in Soldotna calls for mini roundabouts at the street’s intersections at Wilson Lane, Redoubt Avenue and Marydale Drive. Kyle Kornelis, city engineer, and Joe McElroy, consultant with engineering and surveying firm SGM, Inc., presented the proposed solution for Binkley Street at Soldotna’s council meeting on Wednesday. “Obviously (roundabouts) come with mixed reviews,” Kornelis said. See STREET, page A-10
Rendering provided by the City of Soldotna
Illustration of proposed mini roundabout at Binkley Street and Wilson Lane.
ANCHORAGE — A recent state analysis of injuries treated at a Dutch Harbor clinic provides some patterns on who is injured, and on what vessels, in Alaska’s fisheries. According to a report from the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services Division of Public Health: “It is not surprising that the majority of the non-fatal injuries occurred on catcher processors, as they employ the largest number of workers and process the largest volumes of seafood relative to other vessel types.” The division’s analysis relied on data from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, collected at the Illiuliuk Family Health Center, in Dutch Harbor, in 2007 and 2008. The study collected information on 366 fishermen seen at that clinic for their injuries. The report was published in Alaska’s Bulletin of Epidemiology Dec. 5. Of the fishermen seen in Dutch, processors were slightly more likely than deckhands to be injured while fishing, while trawl vessels accounted for 60 percent of the injuries, compared to 21 percent for longliners, and 11 percent fishing pots. Those proportions could also be influenced by the make up of the fleets delivering in Dutch Harbor. Data from other Alaska fishing communities was not included in the analysis, although the report noted that a more comprehensive study would help improve the understanding See REPORT, page A-10
State OKs CPH Program gives tools to expansion plans talk about civil rights Additional info requested for endoscopy suites and imaging services approval
By MELISSA GRIFFITHS Morris News Service-Alaska Juneau Empire
By KAYLEE OSOWSKI Peninsula Clarion
With the approval of two different applications required for the Central Peninsula Hospital expansion plan this past week, the project is moving forward. The State of Alaska Department of Health and Social Services approved CPH’s Certificate of Need on Wednesday giving it the OK to build the $87,981-square-foot expansion. The certificate was required for the Kenai Peninsula Borough to get its revenue bond application approved, which the Alaska Municipal Bond Bank did on Thursday. “It’s been a long, tough road, but we’re happy to be where we are,” Rick Davis, Central Peninsula Hospital CEO, said about the certificate approval. In November, the state denied part of the hospital’s certificate request and approved a conditional certificate. Davis submitted a revised budget as requested by the state for fur-
ther approval of the conditional certificate in December as well as answers to follow up questions from the state. With the additional information, the state has authorized the hospital to build the expansion to house an oncology area; specialty clinics for pain management, neurology and general surgery; and physical rehabilitation space among other services. The state previously denied approval of endoscopy suites and imagining services — MRI and CT scans. Approval for those planned services now hinges on the hospital submitting additional information and making a request for determination to the state as to whether a Certificate of Need is required for those services. “As far as the imaging goes, CT scan, I think that one is very, very important for us to get eventually because a CT scan is really a life and death piece of See CPH, page A-2
JUNEAU — Elizabeth Peratrovich’s most famous quote is likely, “I would not have expected that I, who am barely out of savagery, would have to remind gentlemen with 5,000 years of recorded civilization behind them, of our Bill of Rights.” - a response to comments made by a territorial senator. It seems Peratrovich had a way with words and a presence that would captivate people for long after the bill being debated was signed. When Carolyn Brown saw the film “For the Rights of All: Ending Jim Crow in Alaska,” she was moved. She felt the film, a documentary about civil rights activism in Alaska focusing on the efforts of Elizabeth Peratrovich, her husband, Roy, and members of the Alaska Native Brotherhood and the Alaska Native Sisterhood, should be in every school and library in Alaska. Brown brought the C
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idea to the Juneau chapter of the League of Women Voters and the Elizabeth Peratrovich Project was born.
The film Described as “a blend of documentary and drama, with re-enactments, new interviews and rare historic footage and photographs, this one hour film traces the remarkable story of Alaska’s civil rights movement in a series of victories for citizenship,” according to the film’s website alaskacivilrights.org. “The climax is the 1945 passage of the AntiDiscrimination Act, a groundbreaking law. ... Particularly inspiring is the remarkable poise of Tlingit activist Elizabeth Peratrovich, whose senate hearing testimony turned the tide in favor of the equal rights bill.” The hour-long film, released in 2009 by Blueberry Productions, Inc., won the People’s Choice award in the American Indian Film Festival at Bellevue College and was a
featured selection at the Alaska Native Film Festival, Indigenous World International Film Festival and the Denver Indigenous Film & Arts Festival It was also selected for the Native American Indian Film & Video Festival. The film has been used by some educators as a tool for teaching about Alaska’s history and civil rights, but the Elizabeth Peratrovich Project makes the film more accessible to educators and provides a viewers’ guide, which organizers hope will prove a useful tool. “I thought this was an incredible teaching thing that needs to be done throughout the state,” carolyn Brown said.
The project A steering committee was formed by the League of Women Voters’ Juneau chapter, including Carolyn and George Brown, Cheryl Jebe and Marjorie Menzi; with TlinSee RIGHTS, page A-10