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P E N I N S U L A
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2014 Soldotna-Kenai, Alaska
Vol. 44, Issue 113
Question Do you think the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend program should be protected in the state constitution? 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.
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
Oil taxes debated on Senate floor By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
JUNEAU — The floor of the Alaska Senate broke into an impromptu debate over oil taxes Monday. Sen. Cathy Giessel sparked the discussion in a special order, which is when members speak on issues of their own
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choosing. Hers was entitled “What Could It Look Like?” Giessel, R-Anchorage, and chair of the Senate Resources Committee, spoke of the need
for a healthy oil industry for Alaska’s economy and what alternatives Alaska had for comparable tax revenues. They included having tens of thousands of cruise ships visit Alaska, every Alaskan of drinking age down 138 shots a day and every Alaskan of age smoke 10 packs of cigarette a day. She said those aren’t things the state
would want to do. Giessel said there is new activity on the North Slope under the rewrite of Alaska’s oil production tax, which the Legislature passed last year. The state is better protected at lower oil prices under the new law and the new system would yield more revenues if prices continued to fall than under the for-
mer tax structure, she said. She is much happier to see the activity on Point Thomson and additional rigs on the North Slope than the alternative, Giessel said. Sens. Hollis French and Bill Wielechowski offered rebuttals. French, the Senate minority See TAX, page A-8
In the news Bill to repeal local education funding advances
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JUNEAU (AP) — A bill that would repeal the required local contribution municipalities make to education has advanced from the House Education Committee but without a ringing endorsement. Chairwoman Lynn Gattis said some members felt there were constitutional issues that needed to be addressed. The bill received an additional referral, to the House Judiciary Committee, on Monday. The bill would end the practice of having certain boroughs fund part of their school districts. The Ketchikan Gateway Borough has sued the state over the required contribution, saying it’s unconstitutional. The lawsuit created another buzz last week. Gov. Sean Parnell said Friday he wasn’t threatening the borough when he told Ketchikan reporters that the lawsuit could “shade or color” reaction to the community’s requests for state money to fund infrastructure projects.
Clarification A story in Monday’s Clarion requires clarification. A golden fire axe given to retired Kenai Fire Chief Mike Tilly was presented by the Kenai Firefighters Association.
Index Opinion.................. A-4 Nation/World.......... A-5 Sports.....................A-6 Classifieds............. A-9 Comics................. A-12 Pet Tails............... A-13
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Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion
Alaska Board of Fisheries member Tom Kluberton gathers with a group of Cook Inlet commercial fishermen to go over the finer points of a board generated proposal to further restrict the fleet Sunday in Anchorage. Kluberton’s proposal was not the final one adopted by the board.
Board makes driftnet fishery changes Cook Inlet Central District drift fishery management plan includes new area By RASHAH McCHESNEY Peninsula Clarion
On Monday, the Alaska Board of Fisheries approved several changes to the Central District Drift Gillnet Fishery Management Plan outlined in a proposal submitted by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Fish & Wildlife Commission. After more than an hour of discus-
sion, the board voted unanimously to adopt the new regulation that includes provisions establishing a 1 percent rule for the fishery in August and a new area to fish called the Anchor Point section. The fishing season — which opens on the later date of either the third Monday in June or June 19 — will allow fishing from July 9–15 in the Expanded Kenai and Kasilof Sections and Area 1.
The expanded Kenai and Kasilof sections follow the shoreline on the east side of the Cook Inlet from the Ninilchik River to an area north of the Kenai River. Area 1 encompasses most of the lower Cook Inlet with the northernmost boundary being a line south of the Kasilof River that bisects the Inlet to a spot near Polly Creek on the west side; the southern boundary bisects the
Inlet from a line that starts at Anchor Point. The new Anchor Point section starts just south of the Kasilof section, near Ninilchik and runs down the shoreline before terminating near Anchor Point. During board deliberations, commercial area management biologist Pat Shields was asked what kind of sockeye salmon catch rates are observed for See FISH, page A-8
Assembly to consider federal priorities list By KAYLEE OSOWSKI Peninsula Clarion
Topping the Kenai Peninsula Borough’s federal priorities list for fiscal year 2015 are environmental concerns that, without action, could affect the local economy. The top priority on the list of five project and programs is the eradication of elodea, an invasive aquatic plant. “There is elodea and it can choke off lakes and salmon habitats, so that’s clearly very important to our economy,” Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Mike Navarre said.
John Morton, fish and wildlife biologist with the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, said the plant first showed up in September 2012 and about 68 lakes with a high probability for having elodea on the peninsula were surveyed last summer. These lakes were ones with boat launches, lots of land owners and float plane traffic. The plant was found in three lakes on the peninsula, Stormy, Daniels and Beck lakes. If the plant spreads to other lakes, it will be difficult to contain and the cost to try to get rid of it increases, Morton said. Morton said elodea spreads
The invasive plant elodea in one of the many ways it is transported from lake to lake. The borough has listed federal funding to eradicate the plant on the peninsula as a priority.
easily because it doesn’t require seeds. If a fragment of the plant is transported to a body of water, it can clone itself and spread. “That’s why we are so concerned about it,” Morton said, “that if we don’t get it while it’s still just in three lakes, we will not be able to stop it if it continues to spread.” According to the description of the project, if the plant becomes so widespread that eradication from the lakes is impossible, the borough will “suffer substantial and irreversible economic, social and cultural impacts.”
Photo courtesy Kenai National Wildlife Refuge
See FUNDING, page A-8
Former nurse pleads Senate rejects pay increases to tampering charge By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion
A former Soldotna school nurse pleaded guilty to a charge of tampering with public records Monday afternoon at the Kenai Courthouse after allegations that she forged a signature on school immunization records. Donna Cotman, 65, a retired school nurse from Redoubt Elementary School, entered a guilty plea of tampering with public records, a Class A mis-
demeanor. Defense attorney Peter Ehrhardt and State District Attorney Helen Hickman came to an agreement to drop four counts of second-degree forgery, a Class C felony, for the change of plea. Kenai District Court Judge Dan Ogg sentenced Cotman to 80 hours of community service, a fine of $1,500 and no jail time. According to a Soldotna Police affidavit, a parent contacted Sgt. Duane Kant on April 17, 2013 about a forged signature See PLEA, page A-8
By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
JUNEAU — The Alaska Senate passed legislation Monday rejecting pay raises for top state officials, with a Democrat saying the increases were not deserved. “In the real world, you get paid for your performance,” said Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage. “We had a $17 billion surplus. The policies of this administration have left us with a $2 billion deficit this year and $2 (billion) C
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to $3 billion deficits into the foreseeable future.” The salaries were rejected on a vote of 19-0. The bill still must go to the House for consideration. The increases would take effect July 1, unless a bill disapproving all the recommendations is enacted within 60 days after the recommendations are submitted, the director of the state Division of Personnel and Labor Relations has said. The final report was submitted late last month. The State Officers Com-
pensation Commission, created to review salaries, benefits and allowances for top office holders and legislators, proposed raising the salaries of the governor, lieutenant governor and department heads, mainly referred to as commissioners, to catch up with pay increases for other executivebranch employees. It called for raising the governor’s salary from $145,000 a year to $150,873, and the lieutenant governor’s salary from $115,000 to $119,658. See PAY, page A-8