Peninsula Clarion, March 02, 2014

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CLARION P E N I N S U L A

MARCH 2, 2014 Soldotna-Kenai, Alaska

Vol. 44, Issue 153

50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday

Off and Running Ceremonial Iditarod start brings crowds to downtown Anchorage

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Top: Clam Gulch musher Gus Guenther turns the corner at Fourth Avenue and Cordova Street Saturday during the ceremonial start of the 42nd Iditarod in Anchorage. Right: Jr. Iditarod champion Conway Seavey’s dogs waited for the ceremonial start. Seavey, of Sterling, led 69 other mushers in the ceremonial start from downtown Anchorage to the Campbell Creek Science Center. Far Right: Handlers Jimmy Miller and David Phipps get Monica Zappa’s dogs ready for the ceremonial race.

MARK THIESSEN Associated Press ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Hordes of dogs, mushers and their eager fans mingled Saturday at the jovial celebratory kickoff of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Anchorage. Sixty-nine mushers and their teams of 16 dogs each inundated Alaska’s largest city for the annual ceremonial start of the race in a fan-friendly atmosphere. The real race starts Sunday, 50 miles north of Anchorage. Early Saturday morning, musher trucks lined city streets, and fans like Nancy Alstrand of San Diego spent hours meandering from musher to musher, stopping to chat or pet dogs. “Absolutely love the dogs,” Alstrand said shortly after taking a picture of one Husky with her iPad. “It infects you, their energy does, and it just makes you so happy.” Her brother lives in Healy, Alaska, and they intend to make attending the Iditarod start an annual family reunion. Later in the morning, mushers left the starting gate two minutes apart in the staggered launch to the race. Each carried an “Iditarider,” a person who won their seat on the sled in an auction. The mushers take a leisurely 11-mile jaunt on urban trails within the city of Anchorage. Snow had to be trucked in to cover the streets of downtown Anchorage until mushers could get on the trail system. A lack of snow and warm temperatures have been a headache for Iditarod officials this winter. In fact, temperatures in Anchorage were in the mid- to upper 40s in the days preceding the start. Officials had considered moving the official starting point

v Photos by Molly Dischner/ Alaska Journal of Commerce

See RACE, page A-2

Kenai plans park update By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion

The City of Kenai Parks and Recreation Commission has identified Municipal Park as a top priority for upgrades and plans on adding a playground for young children ages 2-5 this summer. At the Feb. 19 city council meeting, council member Terry Bookey, the parks and recreation commission liaison, said the commission would like to meet more than the scheduled six times a year because of the number of projects they would like to accomplish this year.

Inside today Sunny 40/15 For complete weather, see page A-14

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The commission last met on Feb. 6 to discuss Capital Improvement Projects for 2014, which included playground upgrades to Municipal Park. The commission does not meet again until April 3. Bookey said the commission would like to meet every month with the exception of July. “They would rather have the option of canceling a meeting instead of scheduling special meetings,” he said. “Due to constraints placed on special meetings, you can only talk about specific topics addressed. In July there is so much going on with the personal use fishery,

the parks and recreation department is so busy they would not be able to participate.” Parks and Recreation Director Bob Frates said July is such a hectic month for his department with more than 50 percent of his staff involved with the dipnet fishery cleanup. “July is just a crazy busy month for everybody,” he said. “(Dipnet season) takes up a lot of resources from parks to police. After an action packed month we take a step back after Photo by Dan Balmer/Peninsula Clarion the dust clears.” Playground at Municipal Park on South Forest Drive in Kenai. Bookey said Kenai residents The City of Kenai Parks and Recreation Commission have have been looking for a play- made Municipal Park a priority for upgrades and plan to install See PARK, page A-2 playground equipment for children ages 2-5 later this summer.

Russia invades Ukraine TIM SULLIVAN Associated Press

SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Russian troops took over Crimea as the parliament in Moscow gave President Vladimir Putin a green light Saturday to use the military to protect Russian interests in Ukraine. The newly installed government in Kiev was powerless to react to the action by Russian troops based in the strategic region and more flown in, aided by pro-Russian Ukrainian groups. Putin sought and quickly got his parliament’s approval to use its military to protect Russia’s interests across Ukraine. But while sometimes-violent pro-

AP Photo/Olga Ivashchenko

Pro-Western activists sit after being overpowered by pro-Russia activists after clashes at the local administration building in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, Ukraine, Saturday. Supporters of new Ukrainian authorities and pro-Russia demonstrators clashed in Kharkiv, a mostly Russianspeaking region in eastern Ukraine.

Russian protests broke out Sat- focus appeared to be Crimea. late night announcement that urday in a number of RussianTensions increased when he had ordered the country’s speaking regions of eastern Ukraine’s acting president, armed forces to be at full readiUkraine, Moscow’s immediate Oleksandr Turchynov, made a See RUSSIA, page A-2 C

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EPA to restrict Pebble process BECKY BOHRER Associated Press

JUNEAU — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it is taking the first steps toward restricting or even prohibiting development of a massive gold-and-copper prospect near the headwaters of a premier sockeye salmon fishery in southwest Alaska — though no final decision has been made. While the rarely used EPA process is underway, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cannot approve a permit for the proposed Pebble Mine project. The announcement Friday follows release of an EPA report in January that found large-scale mining in the Bristol Bay watershed posed significant risk to salmon and could adversely affect Alaska Natives in the region, whose culture is built around salmon. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy made clear Friday that no final decisions have been made. While McCarthy said scientific and other data has provided “ample reason” for EPA to believe a mine of the size and scope of Pebble “would have significant and irreversible negative impacts on the Bristol Bay watershed and its salmon-bearing waters,” she said EPA is open to receiving more information. See EPA, page A-2


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