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Peninsula Clarion, Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Community Calendar Today 10:30 a.m. • Pre-School Storytime at the Soldotna Public Library. Call 262-4227. 11 a.m. • Wee Read at the Kenai Community Library Noon • Alcoholics Anonymous recovery group at 11312 Kenai Spur Highway Suite 71 in the old Carrs Mall in Kenai. Call 262-1917. 5:30 p.m. • Weight loss and health support group, Christ Lutheran Church. Call 362-1340. • Kenai Soil & Water Conservation District’s Board of Supervisors meeting at 110 Trading Bay, Suite 160. For information, call 283-8732 x 5 7 p.m. • Card games, Funny River Community Center. • Narcotics Anonymous support group “Clean Machine” at Central Peninsula Hospital’s Redoubt Room, 250 Hospital Place, Soldotna. Call 907-335-9456. • Alcoholics Anonymous “Into Action” group, 12X12 study meeting, VFW basement Birch Street, Soldotna, 907-262-0995. 8 p.m. • Al-Anon Support Group at Central Peninsula Hospital in the Augustine Room, Soldotna. Call 252-0558. The Community Calendar lists recurring events and meetings of local organizations.To have your event listed, email organization name, day or days of meeting, time of meeting, place, and a contact phone number to news@peninsulaclarion.com.
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Trap, skeet shooting clinics planned Beginners can learn how shoot the games of Trap and Skeet at clinics held from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. on the first Sunday of the month in April, May and June at the Snowshoe Gun Club. Clinics will introduce gun safety, gun fit and handling, explain the games of Trap and Skeet and then shoot a round of each. This is a good way for new shooters to learn and get comfortable on the fields. For more information call Alice Kerkvliet at 398-3693.
Garden club studies up on garden pests Entomologist Bruce King will discuss how to identify and fight persistent and destructive garden pests such as aphids, root maggots, cut worms, slugs and more. Bring your bug and insect questions for Bruce to answer. The workshop is April 8 at 7 p.m. in the Cook Inlet Aquaculture Building. It is free and open to the public. For membership and general club information visit http://www.cenpengardenclub.org/, Facebook, or contact Marion Nelson at 283-4632, or mmkn@ptialaska.net.
Garage sale to benefit efforts to fight malaria On Friday 8 a.m.-4 p.m. and Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., a fundraiser garage sale will be held at at Soldotna United Methodist Church on Binkley Street in Soldotna. It’s a modest garage sale for a ginormous purpose. All proceeds from this sale will go to Imagine No Malaria, an ongoing and successful commitment by the United Methodist Church to end malaria deaths though the development of an affordable vaccine and bed nets. For more information, call Susie at 283-7469.
Fly-tying demonstration on tap The Kenai Peninsula Chapter of Trout Unlimited and Sportsman’s Warehouse present Bar Flies, Tie One On: An Evening of Free Fly tying Instruction and Demonstration. The presentation will be hosted by Mark Wackler, KPTU Board member and Kenai Guide at the Mainstreet Grill in Kenai, April 15, 6:30 p.m.
Community mural in the works in Nikiski
North Peninsula Recreation is inviting everyone to be a part of the Nikiski Community Mural project. Community paint workshops will be offered April 11, 12 and 14 at the Nikiski College Goal events help with Community Recreation Center. Come one come all — help is needed to paint this large mural for the community! Morning student financial aid application and afternoon painting sessions will be offered. Call 776-8800 College Goal Alaska is a statewide initiative to encourage for more details. FAFSA completions. Anyone who is planning to attend any type of postsecondary education next year should complete Soldotna Historical Society board to meet their FAFSA. Upcoming events include: Thursday at 6 p.m. at SoHi The Board of Directors for the Soldotna Historical Society Saturday at 10 a.m. at SoHi will meet on Saturday at 9 a.m. at the Fine Thyme Cafe in River More information can be found at http://collegegoalak.org/. City Books. For more information call 262-4157.
Maine man delivers baby porcupine
Student art show opens
Kids’ activities sought
LISBON, Maine (AP) — A Maine man in search of a valuable mineral cut open a dead porcupine on the side of the road and unexpectedly pulled out its baby. Jared Buzzell, of Lisbon, says he was searching for wild mushrooms Thursday when he saw a porcupine get hit by a car in Minot. Buzzell says he’d heard that a valuable mineral deposit used in Chinese medicine formed in the stomachs of porcupines. He then cut open the dead porcupine to search for the mineral and instead found the baby. He tells WMTW-TV he cut the umbilical cord and thought the baby porcupine was dead until he started massaging it and it began breathing. Buzzell is caring for the baby at home and plans to give it to a licensed wildlife rehabilitator.
An opening reception for the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District High School and Middle School Student Group Showis planned for Friday from 6-8 p.m. at the Kenai Fine Art Center. The exhibition, which includes more than 150 student art pieces, will be on display through April 19. This public is invited to this free event. Refreshments provided.
The Clarion is seeking information for its annual Just Kidding section with listings of summer events for youth. Organizations, businesses, individuals or churches planning summer events open to area youth May through August may submit activities. Information needed: Name or group or organization; age of youth who may attend; time of activity; date of activity and deadline for registration; place activity will be held including address; cost of activity and/or fees; contact name and phone number for people to call; email address (optional); Web address (optional); and a brief description of the activity. The deadline to submit information is April 30. Emailed submissions are required. Email Just Kidding information to news@peninsulaclarion.com. In the subject line write Just Kidding. For more information, call Will Morrow at 907-335-1251 or email will.morrow@peninsulaclarion.com.
Peninsula Clarion death notice and obituary guidelines:
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The Peninsula Clarion strives to report the deaths of all current and former Peninsula residents. Notices should be received within three months of the death. We offer two types of death reports: Pending service/Death notices: Brief notices listing full name, age, date and place of death; and time, date and place of service. These are published at no charge. Obituaries: The Clarion charges a fee to publish obituaries. Obituaries are prepared by families, funeral homes, crematoriums, and are edited by our staff according to newspaper guidelines. Obituaries up to 300 words are charged $50, which includes a one-year online guest book memoriam to on Legacy. com. Obituaries up to 500 words are charged $100, which also includes the one-year online guest book memoriam. Tax is not included. All charges include publication of a black and white photo. Obituaries outside these guidelines are handled by the Clarion advertising department. How to submit: Funeral homes and crematoriums routinely submit completed obituaries to the newspaper. Obituaries may also be submitted directly to the Clarion, online at www.peninsulaclarion.com, or by mail to: Peninsula Clarion, P.O. Box 3009, Kenai, Alaska, 99611. Pre-payment must accompany all submissions not already handled by a funeral home or crematorium. Deadlines: Submissions for Tuesday – Friday editions must be received by 2 p.m. the previous day. Submissions for Sunday and Monday editions must be received by 3 p.m. Friday. We do not process obituaries on Saturdays or Sundays unless submitted by funeral homes or crematoriums. Obituaries are placed on a space-available basis, prioritized by dates of local services. Copyright: All death notices and obituaries become property of the Clarion and may not be republished in any format. For more information, call the Clarion at 907-283-7551.
Learn about wolves at KPC
The KPC Showcase and River City Books welcomes Alaskan author Marybeth Holleman, author of the recently published “Among Wolves,” Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Kenai Peninsula College’s McLane Commons in Soldotna. Holleman will present the experiences and insights of Dr. Gordon Haber’s 43 years of on-the-ground research into Denali National Park’s famous wolf groups. She will share Dr. Haber’s essential findings and show his unique photo series of wolf behaviors. She will be joined by retired local biologist Ted Bailey, who will present “A Brief History of Wolves on the Submit community announcements to news@peninsulaclarKenai Peninsula.” ion.com.
DNA from Alaska polar bears used in study ANCHORAGE (AP) — Genetic variation in more than 300 polar bears from Alaska was analyzed in a recent study that looked at genetic elements not used in earlier studies. The study was conducted by University of Alaska Fairbanks Professor Matthew Cronin, who worked with colleagues at the University of California Davis and Montclair State University in New Jersey, the Anchorage Daily News reported this week. The study, published online in the Journal of Heredity in January, concludes that polar bears diverged as a separate species from brown bears 1.2 million years ago. Other studies have marked the separation at 600,000 to 4.5 million years ago. The oldest known polar bear
fossil dates back only 120,000 years. Scientists today can look at full genomes and billions of nucleotides that lead to estimates far beyond information reflected in the fossil record. Researchers can use a “molecular clock” technique to determine when species diverged based on the number of mutations in DNA sequences. That technique places polar bears as an independent species far longer ago than previously believed. Cronin said the “molecular clock” measures do not offer absolute certainty. If the DNA measures are correct, however, it means bears have survived past warming cycles, he said. That should have implications for policy decisions surrounding the listing of polar bears as an endangered
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species, said Cronin, who has been a vocal critic of the Endangered Species Act. “It seems logical that if polar bears survived previous warm, ice-free periods, they could survive another,” he said in a University of Alaska Fairbanks news release. “This is of course speculation, but so is predicting they will not survive, as the proponents of the Endangered Species Act listing of polar bears have done.” Cronin said he doesn’t believe endangered species should be based on predictions and models. They should be focused on “real-world problems,” he said. Other scientists agree polar bears have survived past warm-
ing and glaciation periods. But they diverge on whether past warming trends can be compared to the current one. Cronin’s arguments are misleading and “incautious,” said Steven Amstrup, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist emeritus who wrote a report recommending polar bears be federally listed as threatened. The current warming period is occurring much faster than past cycles of glacial and interglacial periods and it includes human effects, said Amstrup, now a senior scientist at Polar Bears International.