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CLARION P E N I N S U L A
FEBRUARY 2, 2014 Soldotna-Kenai, Alaska
Vol. 44, Issue 105
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
Fish board under way
Dwight Kramer, chairman of the Kenai Area Fishermen’s Coalition looks at the schedule for the Board of Fisheries meeting Saturday in Anchorage.
Cook Inlet meeting begins with research overview three years to discuss the Cook Inlet fisheries, heard about escapement goals, sonar programs, king On its first day of convening to salmon, habitat assessment, and meet and discuss Upper Cook In- commercial fisheries before breaklet fisheries, the Alaska Board of ing for the day. Fisheries heard a research wrap-up from Alaska Department of Fish Escapement goals and Game employees and a priDuring a review of area escapevate contractor, studying the area’s ment goals, ADFG staff reviewed complex mixed-stock fisheries. The board, which meets every escapement goals for the four types By RASHAH McCHESNEY Peninsula Clarion
of Pacific salmon that have goals in the Cook Inlet. Those include 21 king salmon stocks, including two on the Kenai River, one on the Little Susitna and one on the Deshka; one chum salmon stock on Clearwater Creek, three on Fish and Jim Creeks and Little Susitna River and 10 sockeye, or red salmon stocks, including those on the Crescent, Kasilof,
Photo by Rashah McChesney/ Peninsula Clarion
See FISH, page A-2
Students earn $3 million in scholarships By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
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Sharing the craft
Above: Bill Lowe (left), Carm Bongiovanni and Ken Smith are members of the Kenai Peninsula Wood Carving Club. Smith has been a member for more than 10 years. He and Bongiovanni also make tables and bowls. Lowe has been a member for the past four years. Right: One of the newest members Pamela Wittkanmpf moved to the Peninsula in 2008 from South Africa. At the urging from Cindy Anthony, Wittkanmpf joined the woodcarving club over a year ago for something to do during the winter and as a place to meet people. The group practiced what they learned about carving faces from John Iverson during a Jan. 18 meeting.
Woodcarvers gather to work, share experience By FLOYD L. BRANDT For the Peninsula Clarion
On a recent day at the Sterling Senior Citizens Center three rows of tables were set up with people sitting on each side. With their projects and tools placed in front of them, their eyes and hands concentrated on detailed work. Conversation filled the room about the wooden projects that each was creating as they shaped and molded pieces of wood into a beautiful, unique art. Sterling resident Del Otter formed the Kenai Peninsula Wood Carving Club, or KPWCC, in 2001 when he decided that driving to Anchorage to attend the Alaska Creative Woodworkers Association meetings was hazardous and took too long. Otter started the club at the Sterling Senior Center where it continues to be held today.
Photos by Floyd L. Brandt
See CARVE, page A-2
See EARN, page A-5
Panel advances bill to reject pay increases By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
JUNEAU — The Senate Finance Committee on Friday advanced a bill that would reject recommended pay increases for top state officials. Committee co-chair Kevin Meyer said he supported the recommendations of the State Officers Compensation Commission. But with the state in deficit spending, Meyer said the timing was not good. The compensation commission recommended raising the salaries of the governor, lieutenant governor and department heads, mainly referred to as commissioners, to catch
up with pay increases for other executive-branch employees. It called for raising the governor’s salary from $145,000 a year to $150,873, effective July 1, and the lieutenant governor’s salary from $115,000 to $119,658. It proposed giving each another 2.5 percent increase beginning July 1, 2015. The commission also called for raising the salaries of the main department heads from $136,350 to $146,143, with an increase of 2.5 percent beginning July 1, 2015. It recommended that deputy commissioners who become commissioners in the same department with no break in See PAY, page A-5
Alaska soldiers train with drones
Today’s Clarion Obituaries..................... A-3 Opinion......................... A-4 Nation........................... A-6 World............................ A-8 Court decisions........... A-12 Police reports.............. A-13 Sports........................... B-1 Community................... C-1 Dear Abby..................... C-2 Crossword..................... C-2 Horoscope.................... C-2 Classifieds................... C-3 Mini Page...................... C-9 TV...................... Clarion TV
JUNEAU — Nearly 840 students who graduated from Alaska public high schools last year received $3 million in state-sponsored merit scholarships, a newly released report shows. An annual report on the Alaska Performance Scholarship program found about 32 percent of graduates in 2013 were eligible for scholarships and about 34 percent of those used their scholarships. In 2012, about 38 percent of eligible graduates used their scholarships in the fall immediately following graduation. One possible reason for the lower percentage is that colleges around the country, including Alaska, reported seeing declining enrollments from fall 2012
to fall 2013, said Brian Rae, assistant director of research and analysis with the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education. To date, the program has awarded a total of $16.7 million to about 3,000 students. The program is a pet project of Gov. Sean Parnell, who has cast it as a way to raise expectations and help transform the state’s public education system. Students must complete a set curriculum, graduate with at least a 2.5 grade point average and meet scoring thresholds on tests like the SAT to qualify. Award levels range from $2,378 to $4,755 a year that can go toward college or career and technical educations in Alaska. Students have up to six years to use eight semesters of aid. The
Sunny 33/11 For complete weather, see page A-14 Check us out online at www.peninsulaclarion.com To subscribe, call 283-3584.
By DAN JOLING Associated Press
ANCHORAGE — The Army is flying a new bird over south central Alaska — and the pilots sit in the back of a Humvee. Paratroopers with the 425 Brigade Special Troops Battalion on Thursday trained with a RQ7 Shadow unmanned aircraft system. The remotely operated aircraft are designed
to provide reconnaissance for troops without putting observers in danger. The unmanned aircraft provide near real-time video and information from infrared sensors. Operators can’t distinguish individual faces, said Sgt. Brandon Byers, but they can detect heat signatures and vehicle tracks. “They’re able to distinguish the features and different marks on the ground,” he said. C
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Byers oversees the maintenance section. Besides the usual repairs, the unit launches the unmanned aircraft from pneumatic catapult launchers mounted on trailers. The system is made by AAI Unmanned Aircraft Systems of Hunt Valley, Md. The last price Byers heard for each aircraft was $1.25 million, but it’s probably more now. “We’re constantly upgrading payloads,” he said. “Bigger,
better things.” The drones come with two sets of wings. On Thursday, Byers’ crew had outfitted “El Super Beasto II,” an unmanned aircraft painted with eyeballs and a grinning set of choppers, with the shorter 14-foot wings. They hold 44 liters of aviation gas and can fly four to six hours, depending on conditions. The RQ7 also comes with 20-foot wings that carry 55 liSee TRAIN, page A-5