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CLARION
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P E N I N S U L A
Friday-Saturday, April 4-5, 2014 Soldotna-Kenai, Alaska
Vol. 44, Issue 158
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
Setnetter emergency petition fails Board of Fish finds lack of merit in proposal to separate Kenai, Kasilof sections By RASHAH McCHESNEY Peninsula Clarion
A petition to separate management of the Kenai, East Forelands and Kasilof sections of the commercial setnet fishery in Cook Inlet was failed unanimously by Alaska’s seven-member Board of Fisheries. During a Thursday hearing on the emergency petition, submitted by Paul A. Shadura II
representing the South K Beach Independent Fishermen’s Association, members of the board discussed whether the proposal met the criteria of an emergency. Under state law, the board can make an emergency finding if it determines an unforeseen or unexpected event has occurred that either threatens a fishery, or one in which a regulatory inaction would prevent harvesting a
surplus of those fish. The crux of the association’s, or SOKI, petition was that board members had not considered the potential effects to commercial fisheries when they amended the Kenai River Late-Run King Salmon Management Plan during their February meeting on the Upper Cook Inlet. New additions to the management plan include language
that would restrict the entirety of the commercial setnet fishery on the East Side of the Cook Inlet to 36 hours of fishing time per week. However, because sockeye runs peak at different times on the Kenai and Kasilof rivers — and commercial setnetters in the Kenai and Kasilof sections target the two different runs — fisheries managers will have to allocate those 36 hours between
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 emailed to news@peninsulaclarion.com.
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By KAYLEE OSOWSKI Peninsula Clarion
Controversial permitM ting bill HB77 set to K die in committee JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The chairwoman of the Senate Resources Committee plans to hold a controversial permitting bill, effectively killing it this session. Sen. Cathy Giessel, in a release, said what began as an effort to create efficiencies in Alaska’s permitting process “morphed into a heated debate” and was “driving Alaskans apart.” HB77, from Gov. Sean Parnell, passed the House last year before stalling in the Senate. Soldotna Sen. Peter Micciche asked that it be sent to Senate Resources for additional work after hearing from his constituents during the interim. But an attempt to rewrite provisions of the bill didn’t allay concerns about the bill’s impact on things like public participation in the permitting process.
Inside ‘That’s what I call the affordability gap. I don’t see that improving in the near future.’ ... See page A-6
Index Opinion.................. A-4 Nation.................... A-6 World..................... A-8 Sports.....................B-1 Classifieds............ C-3 Comics.................. C-9
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See VOTE, page A-5
Seeking answers
In the news C
two sections and could wind up prioritizing one river’s sockeye run over another. “Maybe managers will be saying ... let’s hold off on opening up the Kasilof area, even though the run is substantial for this area, so we can make sure we have enough hours on the Kenai,” Shadura said. “If we’re all bound together, it would be difficult for managers to make
Photo courtesy Bonnie Pierce/ Project GRAD
Trinity Standifer working with her Native Youth Olympics team on a fundraiser, in Tyonek.
Tyonek teen recognized for service By KELLY SULLIVAN Peninsula Clarion
Eight years ago, Bonnie Pierce noticed one of the second-graders staying regularly after school at Tebughna School, a kindergarten through 12th grade school in Tyonek. She met Trinity Standifer, and learned the young student was spending that time helping the janitor complete her evening
work. “I thought that was remarkable,” said Pierce who is the Campus Family Support Manager for Project GRAD, a nonprofit school improvement program. “She was really an impressive, well spoken little girl.” Standifer, now 15, volunteers for Project GRAD. She has grown into the perfect model of a Native youth leader,
Pierce said. “Trinity constantly seeks out ways to improve herself,” Pierce said. “She is always selfevaluating.” Pierce nominated Standifer and six other students across the Kenai Peninsula for the 2014 Alaska’s Spirit of Youth Award. Standifer won the Service to Children category. Pierce will join Standifer and her mother at the Spirit of
Youth Awards Dinner Saturday at the Anchorage Marriott Hotel. Standifer was one of 150 youth nominated statewide by the Spirit of Youth Teen Advisory Council, said Karen Zeman, executive director for Spirit of Youth. The Spirit of Youth program started in 1999 as a way to recognize positive contribuSee SPIRIT, page A-12
It has been about six months since the Kalifornsky Beach area saw rising groundwater creep into basements and crawlspaces and infiltrate septic systems and drinking water wells. While the borough installed culverts throughout the area and completed a drainage project from Karluk Avenue under KBeach Road out to Cook Inlet, the area is still being assessed to determine exact causes and possible solutions as some residents continue to pump water out of their homes. Sherrie Dahlen, who lives off of Bore Tide Drive, said she’s pumping water every single day. “We were going around the clock, pumping, to get this done when it happened otherwise we wouldn’t have been in our house,” she said. “We would have lost it.” While the borough and state officials have discussed mitigation strategies, Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Mike Navarre said funding through the Federal Emergency Management Agency is unlikely to be available until after this construction season. The federal disaster declaration allows for consideration See FLOOD, page A-12
Community project supports Man shoots self Soldotna family after accident with trooper’s gun By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion
By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion
While looking for a civics project to help give back in the community, Kenai Central High School seniors Dacia Shier and Justice English could not think of a more noble cause then to support a Soldotna family struck by tragedy. Shier, 18, and English, 17, have organized a spaghetti dinner fundraiser for the Trevor Cunningham family to be held from 5-9 p.m. Saturday at KCHS cafeteria. All proceeds for the event go to the Cunningham family following the death of Trevor Cunningham, 29, in a Jan. 22 single-vehicle accident in Homer. The dinner event includes a silent auction, split the pot, raffles for prizes and games. Sportsman’s Warehouse will have sporting goods on display with proceeds going to the Cunningham family, Shier said. Ticket prices are $10 for ages 4-12 and $15 for anyone 13 and older. Shier said about the time she was searching for a senior project for her leadership class, Trevor Cunningham’s death hit the community hard. His death left his wife, Shannan Cunningham and four children without a husband and father. “While most projects I heard about were other students coaching or painting a building, which
Alaska State Troopers said a Homer man fatally shot himself with a trooper’s handgun after a struggle following a domestic violence assault call Wednesday night. A woman called troopers at 10:17 p.m. to report that her ex-boyfriend had assaulted her at her residence on East End Road and she had left the scene in a vehicle, according to a Thursday trooper dispatch. While troopers were in route, the assailant, identified as Aaron Michael Rael-Catholic, 24, rammed his vehicle into the woman’s vehicle at about Mile 4 of East End Road. Rael-Catholic exited his vehicle and a fight broke out between him and a trooper who arrived on scene, according to the report. The trooper used pepper
See AID, page A-5
Photo courtesy Shannan Cunningham
Trevor and Shannan Cunningham take a family portrait with their four children last fall. From top, Shelby, Shannan, Trevor, Dillan, Gage and Austin. After the death of Trevor Cunningham a fundraiser has been organized to help support the family. C
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spray and a Taser in an attempt to apprehend the suspect, but the two ended up wrestling on the ground. During the altercation, “preliminary information is that Rael-Catholic obtained possession of the trooper’s pistol and fatally shot himself,” the dispatch said. Specific actions of how the fatal gunshot wound occurred remained under review, according to the report. An autopsy by the State Medical Examiner’s Office is expected later this week. The trooper was not injured and the woman victim was taken to South Peninsula Hospital for evaluation, according to the report. The Alaska State Troopers Alaska Bureau of Investigation is handling an investigation of the entire incident. The name of the trooper will be withheld for 72 hours, according to the report.