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CLARION
Nice! 56/31 More weather on Page A-2
P E N I N S U L A
TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2014 Soldotna-Kenai, Alaska
Vol. 44, Issue 179
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
Capital funds benefit area
Question What grade would you give the Legislature for this year’s session? nA nB nC nD nF
Peninsula in line for $68.8 million in capital budget
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.
In the news Military closes golf course at Anchorage base C
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JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON (AP) — There won’t be a mulligan for a military-operated golf course in Anchorage. Officials with Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson announced Monday that the Eagleglen Golf Course won’t open in 2014. The military operates Eagleglen and two courses at Moose Run. The decision to shed one was prompted by a 37 percent decrease in players in the last decade and losses of over $2 million in the last five years. Most of the players on the courses are civilians, and Anchorage golfers earlier encouraged the military to keep all courses open. Eagleglen will be open for cross-country skiing in the winter. Summer uses are being investigated. The Anchorage base is not the first to lose a golf course. Officials say base golf courses have closed in Florida, Nebraska and Kansas in recent years.
Inside ‘We found a good link and the link is becoming stronger and stronger.’ ... See page A-2
Index Opinion.................. A-4 Nation/World.......... A-5 Sports.....................A-7 Classifieds............. A-9 Comics................. A-12 Pet Tails............... A-13
Check us out online at www.peninsulaclarion.com To subscribe, call 283-3584.
By KAYLEE OSOWSKI Peninsula Clarion
healthcare issues, I probably wouldn’t have proposed lowering it to 3.85 because I hate to see a mill rate bounce around,” Koch said. The city’s current healthcare provider United Healthcare quoted a 46 percent increase renewal rate, which would cost the city an additional $616,523. Kenai Finance Director Terry Eubank said healthcare prices are a significant issue each year, which is why the city shops around to find competitive rates. Administration proposed three major changes to their employee healthcare plan. First is a switch of carriers from
Following the Friday passage of the capital budget by the Legislature on Friday, House Speaker, Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, thinks the Kenai Peninsula fared well. “I think we’re alright,” Chenault said. “A lot of the issues the (Kenai Peninsula) Borough had put forward and then the different little municipalities around the borough, a lot of their issues were addressed.” Lawmakers approved about $68.8 million of the $2.1 billion capital budget to House Districts 28, 29 and 30. However, Gov. Sean Parnell has line-item veto authority giving him final say in what projects get funded. A large chunk of the total for the peninsula, $17 million in federal government money, is going toward the Seward Airport through the Airport Improvement Program. The airport is vulnerable to flooding. The project calls for elevating the runway and the gap between the north end of the runway and the Alaska Railroad embankment to alleviate the risk of severe flooding at the airport.
See KENAI, page A-6
See FUNDS, page A-6
Photo by Dan Balmer/Peninsula Clarion
Change of seasons
Donald Pootjes removes a studded tire from the rim at Alyeska Tire in Kenai Monday. The deadline to have studded tires removed from vehicles traveling on central Kenai Peninsula roads is Thursday.
Mill increase in Kenai budget By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion
The rising cost of healthcare premiums for city employees has the City of Kenai grappling with a proposed half mill rate increase as administration works to finalize the city’s operating budget for 2015. Kenai City Manager Rick Koch said the mill rate has not increased in the eight years he has worked for the city but has actually decreased from 5 to 3.85. A proposed increase up to 4.35 would bring in an additional $415,000, he said. A mill rate is the amount of tax payable per dollar of the assessed value of a property.
‘Frankly, if I would have been able to look into a crystal ball and see some of these healthcare issues, I probably wouldn’t have proposed lowering it to 3.85 because I hate to see a mill rate bounce around.’ — Kenai City Manager Rick Koch Koch said for a home valued at $250,000, a half mill increase would cost the homeowner $10 more a month. Koch said he looks at future projections for the next three years before selecting a mill
rate so increases are not made year after year. Instability isn’t good for businesses or residents, he said. “Frankly, if I would have been able to look into a crystal ball and see some of these
Bill eyed to limit access to arrest reports FAIRBANKS (AP) — Gov. Sean Parnell is considering a bill that would limit public access to arrest records after people were acquitted or charges were dropped. The measures contained in the bill were a reaction to easily accessible online arrest records that employers and landlords have used to do background checks on applicants, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported Sunday.
Bill Rafferty, an analyst who specializes in court technology for the Williamsburg, Va.-based think tank National Center for State Courts, said the issue of expunging arrest records has been around a long time but was not as prominent when a records check meant a trip to the courthouse. Court record websites such as CourtView, which is used in Alaska, now make it far easier to look up arrest records.
“People are being denied jobs, they’re being denied housing, they’re being denied all sorts of things simply because they were arrested and they were found not guilty,” Rafferty said. “The effort has been towards either pulling that information completely out of the public domain or at least out of the online version.” Wisconsin, Georgia and Maryland have recently considered or approved restrictions,
he said. North Dakota removes arrest records from online records searches but allows access at courthouses, Rafferty said. The Alaska measure was sponsored by state Sen. Fred Dyson, R-Eagle River, who said the bill strengthens the idea of presumed innocence. It was approved by both chambers in the Legislature. The measure would seal court files in cases where a
judge or prosecutor dismissed charges or when a verdict of not guilty was issued by a judge or jury. Records would remain open if the defendant makes a plea agreement to dismiss a charge in exchange for a guilty plea in a different case. Legal guardians, attorneys and certain other state employees would continue to have access to sealed files. A “legislative intent” section See BILL, page A-6
Woman hospitalized Nurses receive SART training after ATV accident By Dan Balmer Peninsula Clarion
A Nikiski woman remains in critical condition following an all-terrain vehicle accident Saturday. Barbara Ralston, 54, lost control of her ATV at the bottom of a hill off of Halbouty Road in Nikiski, said Alaska State Troopers spokesperson Megan Peters. Nikiski emergency personnel were the first to arrive on scene. Troopers received a 911 call at 12:24 p.m. but by the time they arrived on scene, Ralston had already been loaded up in
an ambulance to be transported to Central Peninsula Hospital, Peters said. As of Monday, Ralston is in the Intensive Care Unit at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage in critical condition, said Mikal Canfield, Providence spokesperson. Peters said an investigation revealed Ralston was riding down a hill when the ATV lost control and went up on two wheels, and she was either thrown or fell off the vehicle. The ATV went back on its four wheels and came to a rest approximately 30 feet away, she said.
By MELISSA GRIFFITHS Juneau Empire
JUNEAU (AP) — Homer nurse Colleen James had been working in her field for about five years when she was confronted with something she’d never dealt with before — a child patient who was sexually assaulted. “No one knew how to take care of that child and it ended up being a pretty hideous experience for everyone involved, especially the child,” said James, who was working in Homer at the time. When she encountered another case only a week later, James knew there had to be C
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a better way. She went on to start Alaska’s first, and longest running, Sexual Assault Response Team program in Homer. “I just felt very passionate that there had to be a better way to take care of victims of crime, of sexual assault, so I started researching and I found out there were a couple programs in the United States using nurses to do the exams . and we had the first training there in Homer in 1993,” said James, now a SART trainer herself. James came to Juneau with another trainer, Anchorage nurse Angelia Trujillo, who earned a Ph.D. in forensic
nursing and specializes in launching SART programs, to conduct Sexual Assault Response Team and Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner training at Bartlett Regional Hospital. Eleven nurses stepped forward to become certified nurse examiners from many departments, from ER to OB, the mental health ward and critical care. Bartlett nurse Cece Brenner spearheaded the formation of the SART program in Juneau about a year ago, seeking help from the Bartlett Regional Hospital Foundation, now headed by Maria Uchytil. The Juneau community See TRAIN, page A-6