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CLARION
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P E N I N S U L A
Friday-Saturday, April 25-26 Soldotna-Kenai, Alaska
Vol. 44, Issue 176
Question Do you think the borough assembly should reconsider assembly member compensation? 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. Suggested questions may be submitted online or emailed to news@peninsulaclarion.com.
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
New group plots setnet lawsuit strategy By RASHAH McCHESNEY Peninsula Clarion
Resources for All Alaskans, a group formed to combat an proposed initiative to ban commercial setnet fishing in certain parts of the state, met in Kenai to talk strategy with several local fishing groups after being dealt a blow when an Alaska Superior Court judge ruled that it could not intervene in a lawsuit over the initiative. The group submitted an amicus brief, or friend of the court brief, in support of the State of Alaska’s position opposing the proposed setnet ban initiative,
and while the judge accepted that brief, she denied the group’s request to gain intervener status in an April 18 motion. Had the group been able to intervene, it would have been able to participate in oral arguments that took place Tuesday in Anchorage. It is unclear if Resources for All Alaskans will choose to appeal the judge’s ruling. The proposed ballot initiative, filed by another fledgling group, the Alaska Fisheries Conservation Alliance, would ban setnetting in areas of the state defined as “urban.” Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell
rejected the proposed initiative in January and the conservation alliance filed an appeal of Treadwell’s decision in Alaska Superior court in late January. Resources for All Alaskans was formed by several local and statewide commercial fishing representatives including Jim Butler, a longtime Cook Inlet setnetter and lawyer, Jim Garner, Executive Vice President of Trident Seafood, and Jerry McCune, president of United Fishermen of Alaska and Cordova District Fishermen United. RFAA registered as a state nonprofit corporation named See SUIT, page A-13
Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion
In this August 8, 2012 file photo commercial setnet fishers pick a net during a calm day in the Cook Inlet.
Cook Inlet’s oil, gas worth billions
In the news Bogus Palin posters at Nevada university have sex line number
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RENO, Nev. (AP) — University of Nevada, Reno officials want to know who is behind phony fliers advertising an appearance by former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Calling the number listed for ticket information connects to a telephone sex line. The Reno Gazette-Journal reports UNR officials issued an apology Wednesday, calling the obvious prank distasteful. The flier falsely claims that Palin is coming to the campus May 25 to speak in the Joe Crowley Student Union’s Grand Ballroom on “the role of feminism in modern politics.” It bears UNR’s logo at the top and says the talk would be presented by the UNR and the Associated Students of the University of Nevada.
Inside ‘He still has the opportunity to reverse course, to go the right direction, to abandon this pact with Hamas.’ ... See page A-8
‘Just because an individual or a family crosses one state boundary to another doesn’t mean they are immune to crime.’ ... See page A-6
Study suggests notable impact to area economy By TIM BRADNER Morris News Service/Alaska Journal of Commerce
Photo by Dan Balmer/Peninsula Clarion
Several representatives from the American Legion held a ceremony presenting Home Depot store manager Mark Pierson with a certificate of appreciation for the store’s reserved parking space for veterans.
A sign of gratitude By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion
Sometimes a small gesture has a big impact. When the Kenai Home Depot installed a sign that reserved two front parking spaces for United States Veterans last fall, members of the American Legion Post 20 noticed and wanted to show their gratitude.
At a brief presentation on Thursday, dignitaries from the American Legion, including the National Commander Daniel Dillinger, presented a certificate of appreciation to the Kenai Home Depot store manager Mark Pierson, for the parking space reserved for veterans. Post 20 Department Commander Alvin Diaz of Kenai also presented a new American
Photo by Dan Balmer/Peninsula Clarion
American Legion representatives recognized the Kenai Home Depot for having a reserved parking spot for United States Veterans.
See SIGN, page A-14
Construction season ahead Golf improvements or upgrades to The gamut of resurfacing, course capacity — a lot of passing bridgework, adding and replaclanes,” she said. ing culverts, and road widening Heading south on the Parks, will start as soon as weather still up ANCHORAGE — Alaska’s the first large project travelers permits between mileposts 252 second season, that of road will encounter is the construc- and 239. Delays of up to 20 tion of three passing lanes this minutes and weight restrictions for grabs construction, is upon us. The Parks Highway will get a year from milepost 272 to mile- during bridgework can be exBY ELWOOD BREHMER Morris News Service/Alaska Journal of Commerce
Index Opinion.................. A-4 Nation.................... A-6 World..................... A-9 Sports.....................B-1 Classifieds............ C-3 Comics.................. C-9 Check us out online at www.peninsulaclarion.com To subscribe, call 283-3584.
By KELLY SULLIVAN Peninsula Clarion
The Soldotna City Council decided against purchasing the Birch Ridge Golf Course. A resolution instructing City Manager Mark Dixson to negotiate an agreement for the purchase of the land and water rights failed 4 to 2, with council members Linda Murphy and Pete Sprague voting in favor. See GOLF, page A-13
major facelift starting this year, with a dozen projects along the entirety of the Anchorage-Fairbanks link. Work already contracted for the northern half of the highway will total about $80 million in 2014 alone, Department of Transportation Northern Region spokeswoman Meadow Bailey said. Not coincidentally, the overall region road construction budget is about $240 million in finalized contracts for 60 projects in 20 communities, or about $80 million more than 2013, according to Bailey. “Almost all of the (Parks Highway) projects are safety
post 265 between Nenana and Healy. A larger second stage of that work will build seven more passing lanes between miles 296 and 197 and is anticipated to run through September 2015. Drivers can expect delays of up to 50 minutes and pilot cars in these work zones, according to DOT. Installation of $13 million worth of rumble strips and permanent road striping between milepost 263 and milepost 252 — completion of holdover work from last year — will take up to four weeks and should be done by the end of August. C
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pected in this stretch of work, which will also continue into 2015 and cost $32 million. In all, more than 100 culverts will be replaced, repaired or cleaned in the 13-mile stretch. At mile 194 south of Cantwell, three years of work on a railroad overpass and a new bridge across the Middle Fork of the Chulitna River will commence this spring. Again, traffic delays of 20 minutes can be expected. Bailey said an exact price to the bridgework was unavailable as a contract had not been See ROADS, page A-14
The rebound in Cook Inlet oil and gas has multi-billiondollar consequences for the Southcentral Alaska economy, according to a new study by Northern Economics, Inc., an Anchorage-based consulting firm. The study was commissioned by the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce and was released April 21. J.R. Wilcox, president of Cook Inlet Energy, an independent oil and gas company now producing new oil and gas from the Inlet, outlined key points from the Northern Economic study in a briefing to chamber members the day it was released. Overall, Cook Inlet oil and gas production and the related business activity is worth $4.7 billion annually, Northern EcoSee STUDY, page A-13
AK Leg. stalled with Knik Arm JUNEAU (AP) — While lawmakers reached a tentative agreement on the education package that sent their session into overtime, another long-simmering issue re-emerged. The House late Wednesday rejected a Senatepassed plan for financing the proposed Knik Arm bridge to connect Anchorage and the MatanuskaSusitna Borough, setting the stage for a conference committee to hash out difSee STALL, page A-13