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Frank
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Tribal fishing rights activist remembered
Kenai, Skyview take it to the pitch
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CLARION
Rainy 55/39 More weather on Page A-2
P E N I N S U L A
TUESDAY, MAY 6, 2014 Soldotna-Kenai, Alaska
Vol. 44, Issue 185
Line change?
Question Where do you think Wildlife Troopers should deploy additional enforcement on the Kenai Peninsula? n Commercial fisheries n Personal-use fisheries n Sport fisheries
Ordinance would adjust assembly district boundaries By KAYLEE OSOWSKI Peninsula Clarion
Some Kenai Peninsula Borough residents may find themselves in different assembly districts, if a proposed ordinance passes. Ordinance 2014-14, which will be introduced at Tuesday’s assembly meeting, looks to revise borough assembly and board of education district boundaries to more closely align with the new precinct boundaries. In July 2013, the Alaska Redistricting Board set new boundaries for Alaska House and Senate districts. The Division of Elections finalized the precinct boundaries to comply with the House and Senate districts in February 2014. The proposed ordinance
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.
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FAIRBANKS (AP) — A joint memorial service for two Alaska State Troopers killed in the line of duty has been scheduled for this weekend. Alaska State Troopers say in a release that the service for Sgt. Patrick “Scott” Johnson and Trooper Gabriel “Gabe” Rich will be held at 4 p.m., Saturday, in Fairbanks. The public has been invited to the memorial at the Carlson Center, but the event is being closed to the media at the request of the families. State flags will be lowered from Friday to Sunday to honor the two men. Nathanial Lee Kangas of Tanana has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder. Authorities say in charging documents that he shot the men seven times with an assault rifle as the troopers struggled with Kangas’ father last Thursday.
Inside ‘Until it is eradicated, polio will continue to spread internationally, find and paralyze susceptible kids.’ ... See page A-5
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would eliminate some of the discrepancies between precinct and assembly boundaries, which would get rid of the need for multiple ballots in those precincts. Changes are proposed to the boundaries of districts 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 9. Assembly President Hal Smalley, at the request of borough clerk Johni Blankenship, is sponsoring the ordinance. Blankenship said the changes will solve some of the assembly and board of education district splits, but it won’t affect service area board divisions. She said when the Division of Elections redrew its precinct lines, a few of the borough districts were off by a little bit. Those mismatched See LINES, page A-6
Wildfire contained near Caribou Lake
In the news Memorial planned Saturday for slain M troopers
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion
Spring cleaning
Photo by Kaylee Osowski/Peninsula Clarion
Eli Heinrich, 13, rakes dead grass and leaves in front of Fireweed Herb Garden and Gifts on North Forest Drive in Kenai on Monday afternoon.
A wildfire that grew to 12 acres near Caribou Lake over the weekend took the full resources of the Division of Forestry before being contained Sunday night. Darren Finley, fire prevention officer for the Division of Forestry said the fire, which started Friday four miles southwest of Caribou Lake, was human-caused and is under investigation. Caribou Lake is on the south-
ern Kenai Peninsula, about 25 miles northeast of Homer. The location of the fire made access difficult, so aerial support was called in to transport the Pioneer Peak Hot Shots, a crew of 20 highly trained firefighters from Palmer and helicopters dumped water on the fire, Finley said. The area is being monitored to make sure no hot spots remain and doesn’t restart. “We pulled all our resources off the fire at the end of their shift (Sunday) night,” he said. See FIRE, page A-6
Flight opens Fairbanks drone test site By ELWOOD BREHMER Morris News Service-Alaska/Alaska Journal of Commerce
A small and unassuming unmanned aircraft made a short flight Monday in Fairbanks that signified a big step in aviation, Federal Aviation Administration chief Michael Huerta said. The quad-rotor Aeryon Scout’s flight of less than five minutes at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Large Animal Research Station officially made the Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration the second operational unmanned aircraft systems, or UAS, test site in the country. “Alaska is positioned to make great contributions to our
research of unmanned aircraft,” Huerta said from Anchorage. The FAA recently approved a two-year certificate of authorization, or COA, for the Unmanned Aircraft Center for Scout flights at the research station. In late December, the center’s Pan-Pacific UAS Test Range Complex, which also includes sites in Oregon and Hawaii, was sanctioned by the FAA as one of six UAS testing grounds across the country. “This is absolutely a special day for our program and for our people who have worked so hard to make this happen — make it a reality,” center director Marty Rogers said in Fairbanks. “We have and have had for a long time a very active and
science and research unmanned aircraft program with over a decade of successful flight operations across Alaska, the Lower 48, and internationally, but this, the very first flight at any of the UAS test sites is groundbreaking for us because it is a visible and tangible event that moves us collectively one step closer to safe integration of unmanned aircraft into our national airspace.” The test sites are the result of a 2012 congressional mandate to the FAA to develop operating procedures to meld UAS and traditional aviation by 2015. Rogers said the center would Photo courtesy University of Alaska Fairbanks work with UAF scientists to determine the feasibility of using This photo shows a small quad-rotor unmanned aircraft system. the Scout and other UAS to do A Monday test flight marked the official opening of the Alaska See DRONE, page A-6 Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration test site.
Senate candidates weigh in on same-sex marriage By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
JUNEAU — In the lead-up to this year’s elections, The Associated Press plans to publish an occasional list featuring the positions of the highest-profile Alaska U.S. Senate candidates on different issues. All the campaigns contacted — Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Begich and Republicans Joe Miller, Dan Sullivan and Mead Treadwell — agreed to participate. The subject this time is same-sex marriage.
Over the last year, federal courts around the country have struck down state constitutional bans on same-sex marriage, similar to the ban that is in place in Alaska. Appeals are pending in a number of those cases, and Alaska’s attorney general has said he will continue to defend the state’s constitution. A proposed constitutional amendment to strike Alaska’s ban on same-sex marriage, submitted by Senate Minority Leader Hollis French, D-Anchorage, didn’t go anywhere during the last legislative session.
These questions were posed to the campaigns via email: — Alaska voters in 1998 defined marriage as between one man and one woman. That vote was a snapshot in time, attitudes have changed since then and the state’s population continually changes. Given that, should the state of Alaska put this issue again to the vote of the people rather than wait for a decision from the court? Why or why not? — Is same-sex marriage a states’ right issue? Why or why not? — Do you personally beC
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lieve same-sex marriage should be legalized? Why or why not? — What factors, if any, have influenced your thinking on this issue over the last 15 years? — Sen. Mark Begich, firstterm incumbent: “Alaskans are tired of government trying to peer into their personal lives and keep track of everything from who they call, to what they spend money on and who they love. That’s not the government’s business and Alaskans are right to be fed up with government intrusion in our everyday lives. “I do not support discrimina-
tion of any kind. No matter who you love, everyone should have the same legal rights and privileges. Courts across the country are reaffirming this right and Alaskans should work together to end discrimination as we have done in the past. Values like respecting our neighbors and supporting one another shouldn’t disappear on issues as personal and important as marriage. “Our laws should represent the collective respect and dignity Alaskans display towards one another every day.” See SENATE, page A-6