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Weather Columnist finds himself in funk with weird winter Community/C-1
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Hoops Stars, Bulldogs ready for state Sports/B-1
CLARION P E N I N S U L A
MARCH 16, 2014 Soldotna-Kenai, Alaska
Vol. 44, Issue 141
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion
One of several passengers in a group headed to Anchorage talks about obtaining a refund from United Airlines Sunday after flight UA1425 was diverted to the Kenai Municipal Airport Friday and passengers were stranded for about 18 hours in Kenai, Alaska. More than 100 passengers, many of whom slept on the floor of the airport, were told their overnight stay was necessary as the pilot and flight crew had exceeded the hours the Federal Aviation Administration allows them to fly.
of the team, leading the dogs a quarter mile or so at a time, he said. He was moving too slow, getting too cold. “I was stuck, man,” Neff said. “Nature had me in her grasp and she wasn’t going to let me go.” The musher stopped trying to reach the end of the ice and set about surviving the night. He wrapped two headlamps around his handlebars, lights blinking as a distress signal to any passing snowmachines. Sweating, he climbed in his racing sled and covered himself in a sleeping bag. The huskies snacked on See RACE, page A-2
See PIPE, page A-2
Winter storm, delays cause 18-hour United Airlines flight diversion to Kenai M
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By KELLY SULLIVAN and RASHAH McCHESNEY Peninsula Clarion
At least there were puppies. And for about 18-hours, the more than 100 passengers who spent the night at the Kenai Municipal Airport got to listen to and play with the four furry animals who got free reign over the Era Alaska counter until Saturday afternoon when the flight took off and headed back to its original destination in Anchorage.
The passengers and six crewmembers of United Airlines flight 1425 from Chicago to Anchorage were grounded in Kenai from about 7 p.m. Friday until 2 p.m. Saturday. A winter storm forced 14 flights to be diverted from the Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage according to an Associated Press article. “Apparently we circled (the pilot) said about 15 minutes, but it was like 30-40 minutes when we hovered in the air until he told us that we were about to run out of gas,” said
Amina Spring. She and her son are new to Alaska and were Fairbanks-bound where Spring’s husband relocated with the military. After they landed, the group sat on the tarmac. “For four hours,” Spring said. “They said (Transportation Safety Administration) wasn’t here so we couldn’t get off the plane. It was like 11:30 (p.m.) before they let us off.” When the Boeing 747 landed in Kenai, the plane had to refuel and be de-iced. See FLIGHT, page A-2
Iditarod musher: ‘I could feel my body dying’ BY KYLE HOPKINS Anchorage Daily News
ANCHORAGE — Tok musher and former Yukon Quest champion Hugh Neff has been in big trouble before during a 1,000-mile race. He has lost a dog on the trail. This time, he thought he might lose his life. “The ... words I kept repeating to myself was, ‘I want to live. I want to live. I want to live,’” Neff said in a phone interview from Nome, where he is recovering from a dangerous night stranded for 10 hours on frozen Golovin Bay. The nine-time Iditarod finisher’s tale is one of several horror stories emerging this
week as mushers describe the final hours of one of the toughest Iditarods in memory. What started as a sometimes snowless gauntlet of rocks and trees ended in a battle with surging winds that bullied mushers to their knees. Four-time winner Jeff King, all but assured a victory when he left White Mountain with a one-hour lead, was forced to scratch when the winds shoved his team from the trail. Second place Aliy Zirkle said her race stopped being about winning the Iditarod and became a game of survival by the time she reached Safety, 22 miles from the finish. Neff’s problems began Monday afternoon, when he was one
Today’s Clarion A bit of snow 28/19 More weather on page A-14
Opinion......................... A-4 Alaska........................... A-5 Nation........................... A-6 World............................ A-8 Cops/courts................ A-12 Sports........................... B-1 Community................... C-1 Weddings...................... C-1 Dear Abby..................... C-2 Crossword..................... C-2 Horoscope.................... C-2 Classifieds................... C-3 Mini Page...................... C-9 TV...................... Clarion TV
of four mushers to leave Elim within a 28-minute span. He was the first to go, leaving with only eight dogs, Neff said. By 1:40 p.m., Jessie Royer, Ray Redington Jr. and Hans Gatt had also launched for Nome. The bay was like a hockey rink of glare ice, Neff said. Even with no booties on their paws, the dogs couldn’t scratch out enough traction to move steadily forward in what the musher described as 60 mph winds. “I could barely stand,” he said. Mushers start the Iditarod with 16 dogs. Neff was down to half that number on the ice and didn’t have the power to advance against the wind. Maybe
Question Inside ‘Russia alone backs this referendum. Russian alone is prepared to violate international law.’ ... See page A-8 Check us out online at www.peninsulaclarion.com To subscribe, call 283-3584.
Will the EPA’s move to preemptively block the Pebble Mine discourage other industrial development in the state? 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.
he should have traveled around the bay, a path chosen by at least one other musher, he said. Or the trail should have been routed that way all along. Another ex-Quest champ and past winner of the Iditarod dog care award, Sebastian Schnuelle, wrote that responsibility for Neff’s safety ultimately rested with the musher himself. Zirkle, he noted, made a cautious choice in similarly difficult conditions that night. Her decision to seek shelter likely cost her a first Iditarod win but ensured she and her dogs were safe. “What has happened to responsible racing?” Schnuelle asked. Neff tried walking in front
By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
JUNEAU — A bill aimed at advancing a major liquefied natural gas project in Alaska cleared a key Senate committee Friday, with a provision that would allow for a portion of the state’s royalty revenue from the project to go toward energy projects in areas without direct access to a North Slope gas line. Sen. Lyman Hoffman, DBethel, said that’s a critical piece for him and the other amendment sponsors, Sens. Donny Olson, D-Golovin, and Click Bishop, R-Fairbanks. Hoffman has been outspoken in wanting to ensure the benefit of a gas line is spread to all Alaskans — including in rural communities suffering from high energy costs. During Friday’s Senate Finance Committee hearing, Hoffman said the provision would go a long way toward making Alaska a more affordable place for many residents. SB138, from Gov. Sean Parnell, would advance the proposed mega-project into a phase of preliminary engineering and design and cost refinement. Current cost estimates for the project range from $45 billion to more than $65 billion. The bill also would allow the state to enter into negotiations for project-enabling contracts that would be brought back to the Legislature for approval, as early as next year. The Senate Finance version sets a gas-tax rate at 13 percent of the gross value at the point of production beginning in 2022. The tax rate, together with royalty, determines the state’s equity share, which would be about 25 percent, Natural Resources Commissioner Joe Balash said. The bill also would have the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. — rather than a subsidiary, as originally proposed — carry the state’s interest in liquefaction and marine terminal facilities. AGDC would have separate funds for the large project and the smaller, in-state gas pipeline it is currently pursuing. There also would be a project director within AGDC for the liquefied natural gas project who would report to the corporation’s board and president. The Senate Finance version also struck language from the original bill that would make companies’ election to pay pro-
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Alaska unemployment rate unchanged in January JUNEAU — Alaska’s unemployment rate stood at 6.4 percent in January, which was unchanged from December. The January figure was slightly below the national unemployment rate of 6.6 percent. The the state’s labor department said was the closest the two unemployment rates have been since late 2008. The department says Alaska’s rate was close to its pre-recession levels while the U.S. rate remained higher. The department says Alaska’s unemC
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ployment rate stabilized last year, while the national rate continued to trend lower. Data revisions, done annually, resulted in Alaska’s seasonally adjusted rate being revised upward in nine of 12 months last year. The department said that reduced volatility in the original estimates and put the average monthly unemployment rate in 2013 at 6.5 percent. That rate is down from the average rate of 7 percent in 2012.