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CLARION
Sunny 36/11 More weather on Page A-2
P E N I N S U L A
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2014 Soldotna-Kenai, Alaska
Vol. 44, Issue 150
Question Do you feel the veterans memorial in Leif Hansen Memorial Park in Kenai is appropriate as is? n Yes; or n No.
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Pooled effort?
Carved art
School district looks to city, hospital to help with Skyview pool
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.
By KAYLEE OSOWSKI Peninsula Clarion
each from the North Slope, Fairbanks North Star, Denali, Matanuska-Susitna and Kenai Peninsula boroughs, and the municipality of Anchorage. It also would include two public members who do not live in those communities and one member of an organization representing the interest of municipalities. The governor would make the appointments. The board would review available information, hold public meetings and provide
As the month of April approaches, so does the next Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education meeting where members will have to approve a budget for the 2014-2015 school year. The district is facing a $4.5 million funding gap between revenues and expenditures. In addressing that shortfall, the board did not include money for the Skyview High School pool — $180,000 — in the budget. More than a dozen members of the community spoke at the board’s Feb. 3 meeting about the future of the pool with most of them voicing their desire to see it stay open. One of the common reasons pool proponents want the facility to remain open is because they view it as a valuable community resource. At the Feb. 26 Soldotna City Council meeting, Mayor Nels Anderson informed the council the KPBSD administration asked if the city would consider contributing $50,000 to keep the pool open for a year. While it’s not an agenda item for tonight’s council meeting, Anderson said he plans to talk about the pool in his Mayor’s Report. “Basically what we will do is put that in as a budget item for next year, assuming that the council members don’t object to it,” Anderson said. “And if they object to it then we’ll bring it up to a formal vote, otherwise we’ll just stick it in as a budget item.” Anderson said he hopes with the city’s contribution, residents will be able use the pool at no cost when it is available for free swim. He said he sees the pool as a community resource and many residents use the pool for physical therapy and other health reasons.
See BOARD, page A-10
See POOL, page A-10
In the news Parnell signs bill rejecting pay raises
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JUNEAU (AP) — Gov. Sean Parnell’s office says he has signed legislation rejecting recommended pay increases for himself, the lieutenant governor and main department heads. Parnell, in a release, called SB125 a “sensible piece of legislation,” given the current budget situation. He had previously said he would decline a pay raise for himself. SB125, from the Senate Finance Committee, passed the Legislature unanimously. The State Officers Compensation Commission recommended the increases as a way for those positions to catch up with pay increases for other executive-branch employees. The salaries were to take effect July 1, unless a bill disapproving the recommendations was enacted within 60 days of the commission submitting its recommendations to the Legislature. The director of the Division of Personnel and Labor Relations said the recommendations were formally submitted Jan. 30.
Inside ‘It has been very difficult to resist this enormous pressure but I have made a choice that I can live with.’ ... See page A-6
Above: Peter Quinn works on a sculpture as an apprentice with Derrick Stanton Log Works Tuesday at a temporary shop set up along the Sterling Highway in Soldotna. Top right: Jesley Hanke looks at her daughter MacKinsey Hanke, 5, as Grayce Hanke, 8, plays with a wooden carving. Middle right: Derrick Stanton watches a family browse through his temporary shop. Bottom right: Stanton and Quinn work on wooden sculptures. Stanton, whose permanent shop sits at the corner of Kalifornsky Beach Road and Bridge Access Road in Kenai, said he would be in Soldotna through Saturday. Photos by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion
Pipeline advisory board created Body to represent municipal interests in gas pipeline process By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
JUNEAU — Gov. Sean Parnell signed an administrative order Tuesday creating a municipal advisory board to weigh in on issues related to the major liquefied natural gas project the state is pursuing. Several mayors have sought assurances that they would have a voice on terms that will affect local communities and be negotiated by the state in pursuit of the project. Areas of concern
Opinion.................. A-4 Police, courts......... A-5 Nation/World.......... A-6 Sports.....................A-8 Food...................... B-1 Classifieds............. B-3 Comics................... B-6 Check us out online at www.peninsulaclarion.com To subscribe, call 283-3584.
— Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Mike Navarre have included payments in lieu of taxes and ensuring that existing oil and gas properties, such as the trans-Alaska pipeline system, from which some communities derive taxes, are not affected.
The Municipal Advisory Gas Project Review Board, established by the order, would include the commissioners of Revenue, Natural Resources and Commerce or their designees and one representative
House passes bill LeeShore conducts survey to end exit exam Results help gauge community awareness By MIKE COPPOCK Associated Press
Index
‘It gives us some opportunity but certainly it’s not as much maybe as we had hoped.’
JUNEAU — The Alaska House on Tuesday approved a repeal of the state high school graduation exam. The vote was 32-5. The measure now goes to the Senate. The exit exam tests student aptitude in reading, English and mathematics. House Bill 220, sponsored by Rep. Pete Higgins, R-Fairbanks, terminates the exam as soon as the bill becomes law. It allows former students who earned enough high school credits to graduate to obtain their diploma even though they failed the exam. Passage of the bill would save the state $2.7 million in administrative costs, Higgins said. The bill includes an outreach effort to former students
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who may request a high school diploma. Several of the five Republicans who voted against the bill said there needs to be some sort of standards to measure learned skills. “I think we need minimum standards.” Anchorage Rep. Bob Lynn said. “I think a high school diploma should mean something.” The Parnell administration originally wanted a threeyear transition to give former students who held letters of achievement but not diplomas the chance to go back and take the test. Students who earned
By KELLY SULLIVAN Peninsula Clarion
For the first time the triennial LeeShore Center’s Community Survey will include questions directed at gauging awareness of the Green Dot Violence Prevention Strategy on the Kenai Peninsula Borough. While implementation of Green Dot won’t begin until April, asking the community now will show exactly how much progress will be made over the next three years, said Cheri Smith, executive director of the LeeShore Center. The program uses the premise that any one has the power to intervene in a potentially violent situation, whether by
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calling the police or simply speaking up, Smith said. Kenai was one of six areas chosen to develop a specialized program for its community. Others include Anchorage, Bethel, Fairbanks, Homer, and Prince of Wales Island (Klawock, Hydaburg, and Craig), according to the Office of Governor Sean Parnell. Once the survey period ends on March 31, Smith will review the results to determine what aspects of outreach to focus over the next three years, she said. “Are people becoming more aware? Is what we’re doing working?” are questions Smith said she hopes to answer from the results. Of the 450 residents that
took the 2011 survey, 90 percent thought domestic and sexual violence was a problem in the Kenai community, Smith said. Half the people surveyed reported they had experienced abuse at some point in their life, she said. More than 90 percent thought the LeeShore services were “very impactful to essential,” Smith said. Seventy-seven percent felt the center’s outreach was effective. During the last fiscal year LeeShore provided emergency shelter for 155 women and children, Smith said. It provided walk-in services to 457 individuals and took 831 crisis calls. The center also made a staggering 6,500 See SURVEY, page A-10