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CLARION P E N I N S U L A
JANUARY 19, 2014 Soldotna-Kenai, Alaska
Vol. 44, Issue 93
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
AK Senate hopefuls weigh-in on federal minimum wage law
Custom chopped Sterling mechanic restores old classics to former glory
BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
By RASHAH McCHESNEY Peninsula Clarion
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At the end of a long, gravel drive in Sterling, Mobster sits quietly, guarded by Oscar Del La Hoya, Bernard Hopkins and Gary Muller — whose persistent obsession brought the 78-year-old classic back to life. Under Muller’s capable hands, the 1935 Hudson Terraplane sits in a cool garage, impeccably kept but covered in thin layer of dust and waiting for summer and long days of driving to town for dinner and a movie or sitting out at a car show for enthusiasts to admire. “My wife wanted a mobster car,” he said. And she got one. The Terraplane is all dramatic curves and immaculate cream and blood-red paisley interior. The obligatory gangsterstyle Tommy-Gun mounts are missing, but Muller kept plenty of the antique details including white wall tires, chrome accents, low sweeping curved bumpers, a chipped porcelain emblem on the front of the car’s tall chrome grill and even the original ash trays
Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion
Middle: John Spinka, Jim Spinka and Gary Muller straighten a bumper on the front of Jim Spinka’s ‘55 Ford Friday in Soldotna. Top: A courtesy photo from Gary Muller of his 1935 Hudson Terraplane
set into the suicide doors. Despite its appearance, the car is not a period-restoration. Under the antique accents, a throaty hot rod engine, power seats and modified lights make the car a generation-straddling hybrid. “I wanted a comfort ride,” Muller said. He pointed to the cars seats,
which were modified to open up the interior of the car more than the original seats allowed. “I did have a front seat, but … your head was on the roof,” he said. “I took the front seats out of a Jeep Grand Cherokee and they were tall. I cut them off and redid them and then the back seats were out of a
Chrysler minivan. I chopped the plastic off and made the brackets on them to fit.” The car’s original instrument panel has been rewired to include new gauges and switched from a 6-volt to a 12volt power source. “I changed the gearing in the speedometer,” he said. “The car had 74,000 original
miles on it and that’s the same speedometer that’s in there and it works.” The work will be seen all over the country as mechanics open their 2014 Snap-on Tools calendar to November. “I’ve submitted photos twice and gotten picked both times,” he said. See CLASSIC, page A-2
Legislature hears from ADFG on UCIDA lawsuit By Rashah McChesney Peninsula Clarion
A joint House and Senate finance subcommittee on Tuesday met to hear a report on a lawsuit filed against the National Marine Fisheries Service by two Cook-Inlet commercial fishing entities. Sen. Mike Dunleavy, R-Wasilla, and Rep. Bill Stoltz, R-Mat Su-Chugiak and others from the subcommittee, heard from the Alaska Department of Law and representatives from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game on state intervention in the lawsuit; though the plaintiff, the United Cook Inlet Drift Association, declined to participate in the proceedings. The lawsuit challenges the validity of a 2011 decision which transferred salmon management from federal au-
thorities to the State of Alaska in Cook Inlet, Prince William Sound and Alaska Peninsula salmon fisheries. The final rule implementing the change went into effect Jan. 22, 2013 and the drift association along with the Cook Inlet Fishermen’s Fund, CIFF, ask for federal oversight of the fishery arguing that salmon runs in the Cook Inlet are being mismanaged by the state. Stoltze said the hearing was supposed to be informational and educational and said it was necessary to have the hearing in the subcommittee because the legislature’s fisheries committee was not going to do so. “They don’t have any interest on that is my assessment,” Stoltze said. He said he had perceived a lack of understanding on the part of legislators and his constituents on the implications
of the lawsuit. “I will not apologize for being a forum that brought information out that even seasoned legislators and seasoned forums do not know anything about,” he said. During the hearing ADFG Commissioner Cora Campbell and others advocated strongly for continued state management of the fisheries and said there was little support on the federal level for federal oversight of the fisheries — she used examples of how federal day-to-day management of the fisheries would be difficult. According to the lawsuit however, UCIDA says that the state should only be in charge of day-to-day management rather than the overall fisheries management plan which covers the area. “UCIDA is not asking for the federal government to manage the day-to-day
fishery,” said Roland Maw, executive director of UCIDA. “The majority of the drift fleet catch is in (federal waters). We would like the federal people at the table when decisions about our fishery are made. I want the state there too. I think, in the long term, the fish will be better off.” Several times during the two-hour hearing, Stoltze referenced the state’s large personal-use fishery and framed UCIDA’s lawsuit as a threat to that fishery. Though he could not cite specific language that threatened the widely used fishery. “It’s not directly stated,” he said. “There has been a concerted effort to try to eliminate the personal use fishery by these commercial groups.” Maw disagreed and said there was no See UCIDA, page A-2
Halibut commission cuts quota again By MOLLY DISCHNER Morris News Service-Alaska
SEATTLE — Commercial and charter halibut fishermen on the Kenai Peninsula will see a reduced catch in 2014 under limits announced Friday at the International Pacific Halibut Commission’s annual meeting. The commission is the six-member body charged with regulating the halibut fishery from Northern California to the Bering Sea under the international
Pacific halibut treaty, including setting the catch limit each year. For Area 3A, or the western Gulf of Alaska including Homer, Seward, Valdez and Kodiak, commercial and charter anglers will have a combined catch limit of 9.43 million pounds, down from a commercial catch limit of 11.03 million pounds in 2013. The cuts are the result of declining mature halibut biomass, although the IPHC’s quantitative scientist, Ian Stewart, said it appeared that the stock was level-
ing out. Although the conference board, which is the advisory body that represents harvesters, had advocated for higher limits, some Alaska fishermen said they were happy to see the commission take a conservation-minded approach. “While it’s economically painful in the short term, I’m glad to see that the commission took most of the recommended cuts,” said Homer fisherman Malcolm See QUOTA, page A-2 C
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JUNEAU (AP) — In the lead-up to this year’s elections, The Associated Press plans to publish an occasional list featuring the positions of the highest-profile Alaska U.S. Senate candidates on different issues. All the campaigns contacted — Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Begich and Republicans Joe Miller, Dan Sullivan and Mead Treadwell — agreed to participate. The first subject is on increasing the minimum wage. President Barack Obama, in his State of the Union address last year, called for raising the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $9 an hour. The White House more recently has expressed support for U.S. Senate legislation that would raise the minimum wage, in stages, to $10.10 an hour, as a way to strengthen the middle class. In Alaska, a citizen-led effort also is underway to raise the state’s minimum wage. The Associated Press asked these questions: Should the federal minimum wage be raised? Please explain your reasons for why or why not. If you support an increase, what level should it be brought to? If you do not support an increase, what steps, if any, should the federal government be taking to help working-class families? — Sen. Mark Begich, firstterm incumbent: “An Alaskan working full time at minimum wage earns $310 a week, barely putting them above the poverty line and not keeping up with Alaska’s high cost of housing, food, and energy. As I travel around our state talking with families and business owners, I repeatedly hear we must do more to help Alaska families get ahead, instead of constantly feeling like they are falling behind. “That’s why I co-sponsored legislation to raise the miniSee WAGE , page A-5
Inside today Snow? 34/32 For complete weather, see page A-12
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