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CLARION
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P E N I N S U L A
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 2014 Soldotna-Kenai, Alaska
Vol. 44, Issue 156
Question Do you think the Legislature will complete its work by Easter Sunday? n Yes; n No, they’ll need to extend the regular session; n No, they’ll need to call a special session.
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
Board to take up setnet petition Split of Kenai, Kasilof district management to be considered By MOLLY DISCHNER Morris News Service-Alaska Alaska Journal of Commerce
The Alaska Board of Fisheries will consider one of three recently submitted emergency petitions regarding Upper Cook Inlet salmon management. South K Beach Independent Fishermen’s Association and the Kenai Penin-
sula Fishermen’s Association, or KPFA, submitted three petitions asking the board to reconsider management changes it made to restrict East Side setnetters as an attempt to conserve Kenai king salmon. The board made the changes at its Upper Cook Inlet meeting held in Anchorage Jan. 31-Feb. 13. The emergency petitions were submitted March 20 in Anchorage at the
board’s statewide king and tanner crab and supplemental issues meeting. At that time, board Chairman Karl Johnstone said the board would wait for staff comments before making a decision on whether or not to add the petitions to an agenda. Paul Shadura, spokesman for South K Beach Independent Fishermen’s Association, said he was informed Tuesday
that the board would consider one of his organization’s petitions. A date for the meeting to consider that petition has not been set as of Tuesday. That petition asks the board to consider splitting up management in the Kenai and Kasilof districts when there are 36 hours of fishing available to setnetters in a week.
Happy trails
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.
Committee works to enhance school trail
In the news No tsunami threat from Chile quake
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — U.S. officials say they’ve found no threat of a tsunami along the coasts of Alaska, California, Oregon or Washington after a major earthquake near Chile, with danger to Hawaii limited to potentially strong currents at beaches. Bill Knight, a scientist at the National Tsunami Warning Center, says early data show that by the time waves generated by Tuesday night’s magnitude-8.2 quake reach the West Coast, they’ll be too small to pose any threat. Director Chip McCreery of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says officials don’t expect a major tsunami threat to Hawaii. But the center issued an advisory saying swimmers, boaters and others at beaches might see strong currents and sea level changes. Chilean authorities ordered an evacuation of coastal areas there in case of a tsunami.
Inside ‘What you just answered is gobbledygook.’ ... See page A-5
Index Opinion.................. A-4 Police, courts......... A-5 Nation.................... A-6 World..................... A-8 Sports...................A-10 Food...................... B-1 Classifieds............. B-3 Comics................... B-6
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See BOARD, page A-12
By KAYLEE OSOWSKI Peninsula Clarion
Photo by Kelly Sulliva/Peninsula Clarion
Laone Benton sits beside the shattered window that was broken in attempt to steal money from the store she owns, Tuesday at Laone’s Kenai River Purse in the Peninsula Center Mall in Soldotna.
Soldotna businesses burglarized By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion
Three businesses inside the Peninsula Center Mall were burglarized overnight in Soldotna. Soldotna police received a call from a mall employee who reported the break in at approximately 7:18 a.m. Tuesday. Officer Tobin Brennan said the incident is still under investigation. Once inside the mall the suspects forced entry into three businesses, Ginger’s Restaurant, Laone’s Kenai River Purse and 27 Red Salon, Brennan said. A small amount
of cash was stolen from the restaurant, but no cash had been left on the premises of the purse store or salon, he said. By using video surveillance, police were able to follow the path the suspects took to break into the businesses. The suspects first broke into the purse store through the front door window to get to the cash register, he said. Laone Benton, who has owned the purse store for more than five years, said she does not keep money in the store at night because the mall has been burglarized before. While no merchandize was stolen, she was
shocked to see the condition of her shop when she arrived to work. “There was broken glass on the floor and everything was shoved around to get to the register,” she said. “I sure hope (police) have a good idea who did this and they don’t get away with it.” Brennan said the suspects then pried into the door of the restaurant and took a small amount of cash from the register. The back door to the salon was kicked open, but no items were stolen, he said. The suspects were inside the mall roughly 15 minutes and it wasn’t until the morn-
ing when a mall janitor called police about the intrusion, he said. The damage is estimated at less than $4,000, with most of the damage done to the broken window at the purse store, he said. “It is less about the money and more about the property damage,” Brennan said. Soldotna police are following leads in the investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact Officer Brennan with the Soldotna Police Department at 262-4455. Reach Dan Balmer at daniel.balmer@peninsulaclarion. com.
A group of parents, teachers, administrators and representatives from local organizations are working to enhance the trail system at the Kaleidoscope School of Arts and Science in Kenai. Behind Kaleidoscope lies Kenai Peninsula Borough land with a beautiful trail, said Josselyn O’Conner, a parent volunteer with the habitat committee for the project. While O’Conner said there has been an interest in improving the area for years, the committee only came together a few months ago to propel the project forward. The project is funded through U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s Schoolyard Habitat Program, which works to connect people with nature, said Cheryl Anderson, a fish and wildlife biologist with the Kenai Fish and Wildlife Field Office. “Because we have so much more space than a lot of other schools in the Lower 48 we have a huge opportunity here to really utilize that space in a really cool way,” Anderson said. About 15 people make up the core team of the committee. Parents, teachers and school administrators are working See TRAIL, page A-12
Grease fire damages More school funding proposed Soldotna apartment By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion
Central Emergency Services extinguished a kitchen fire minutes after the call came from a Soldotna apartment complex Monday evening. CES responded to a 911 call from a female resident who reported the fire in her unit at Redoubt View Apartments on West Redoubt Street shortly after 7 p.m. Firefighters evacuated the building and put out the fire in six minutes, before it had a chance to spread from the bottom floor apartment through the three-story complex, said Brad Nelson, CES health and safety officer. An investigation determined the fire was started by a resident who was cooking at the stove when grease caught fire
and spread to the cabinets, up the hood fan system and ceiling, he said. The apartment’s smoke alarm did not work, but the woman quickly called 911 and informed other residents to evacuate, he said. Nelson said if firefighters arrived only a couple minutes later, the blaze would have been a completely different story. “We would have been chasing the fire for hours if it spread into the walls,” he said. “It could have been catastrophic.” After putting out the fire, crews removed sheetrock from the walls and used a thermal imaging camera to make sure the fire didn’t spread any further, he said. CES remained on scene for an hour to ventilate the building and ensure it was safe for See FIRE, page A-12
By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
JUNEAU — A House committee’s rewrite of Gov. Sean Parnell’s education bill includes additional money for schools but also a plan for addressing the teachers’ retirement system that has raised concerns with Parnell administration officials. Revenue Commissioner Angela Rodell said she was very concerned with the direction of the proposed “pay as you go” plan, which could exhaust the retirement trust fund over a period of decades and require contributions, potentially from state general funds, to pay future benefits. Legislative Finance Division Director David Teal said the plan, included within HB278, was designed to draw down the trust fund, but not C
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prematurely. He said benefits would not be at risk. He said both House Finance Committee’s proposal and one put forth by Parnell would work. “Your choice is which one’s more affordable?” he said. Parnell in December proposed taking $3 billion from the constitutional budget reserve to address the unfunded pension liability for the teachers’ and public employees’ retirement systems and to help ease pressure on the state’s budget. Currently, the state is on a payment plan that calls for rising payments on pace to exceed $1 billion over the next 15 years before falling.
Parnell has said his proposal, which called for putting about $1.9 billion toward the public employees’ system and the rest to the teachers’ system, would allow for flat, predictable annual payments of $500 million. The teachers’ retirement portion of that would be about $340 million. The House Finance proposal calls for a $1.5 billion cash infusion, also likely from the budget reserve, with $1.4 billion going toward the retirement trust fund and $100 million into a new pension reserve fund from which transfers could be made if the trust fund got too low, Teal said. Annual payments would start out at about $160 million. At the start of the current fiscal year, the constitutional budget reserve fund — which requires a three-fourths vote
See SCHOOL, page A-12