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Audit finds lines for VA appointments
Kings, Quick on brink of NHL crown
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CLARION
Clearing 57/40 More weather on Page A-2
P E N I N S U L A
TUESDAY, JUNE 10, 2014 Soldotna-Kenai, Alaska
Vol. 44, Issue 215
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
New lines OK’d
Question How do you deal with mosquitoes? n Bug dope, bug candles, bug coils n Lots of swatting n Just keep moving n Live and let live n Stay inside and lock the windows
Changes eliminate need for multiple ballots
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.
By KAYLEE OSOWSKI Peninsula Clarion
In the news State to defend same-sex marriage ban C
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JUNEAU (AP) — Alaska Attorney General Michael Geraghty plans to fight a lawsuit challenging the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. The Department of Law, in a statement, says the attorney general’s office has a duty “to uphold and defend the Alaska Constitution, which it intends to do.” The department says the state’s position will be more fully laid out in future court filings. Alaska voters, in 1998, approved a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman. Five same-sex couples — four married outside Alaska and one unmarried couple — sued in federal court last month, seeking to strike down the ban on gay marriage. They say the ban violates their right to due process and equal protection under the U.S. Constitution.
Correction Two people were incorrectly identified in a photo that ran with a story about quilting on the front page of Sunday’s Clarion. In the photo, Lynn Mettille is taking a picture of Claudette Barber in front of the quilt Barber made. The Clarion regrets the error.
Index Opinion.................. A-4 Nation.................... A-6 World..................... A-7 Sports.....................A-8 Classifieds........... A-10 Comics................. A-13 Pets Tails.............. A-14
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Photo by Dan Balmer/Peninsula Clarion
Kenai Police Sgts. Scott McBride (left) and Jay Sjogren review a map with Lisa Jaegar from the Mat-Su Search and Rescue Dogs on Borgen Avenue Monday in North Kenai. Two rescue dog teams along with agents with the FBI are searching the wooded area north of Wildwood Correctional Facility for a Kenai family of four missing since May 27.
Search for family intensifies FBI, search-and-rescue dogs join effort in Kenai By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and two searchand-rescue dog teams have joined the Kenai Police Department in the search for a Kenai family last seen nearly two weeks ago. Brandon Jividen, 37, his girlfriend Rebecca Adams, 22, and her two children Michelle Hundley, 5, and Jaracca Hundley, 3, were last seen on May 27 at their apartment near Chugach Avenue in North Kenai. Their dog is also missing. Both of their cars were left behind, said Audre Gifford, Ad-
ams’ cousin. was or why they Along with FBI left, but is optiagents, the Alaska mistic they will be Search and Rescue found. Dogs and the Mat“We are still Su Search and Resvery hopefully of cue Dogs joined the having a happy ground search Sunending,” he said. day. Monday af“Our officers have Rebecca Michelle and Brandon ternoon the search been working diliAdams Jaracca Jividen team focused their gently to locate Hundley efforts in a wooded the family of four.” area at the end of Borgen Av- patched a helicopter to search Sandahl said investigators enue, north of the Wildwood the area from the air. have explored all logical leads. Correctional Facility. At a press conference Mon- The initial search concentratSgt. Scott McBride said the day, Kenai Police Chief Gus ed from the immediate area of team had searched and ruled Sandahl said the search for their apartment off Chugach out the forested area to the the family is the department’s Avenue and will expand from east of Wildwood. The Alas- highest priority. He said he there, he said. ka State Troopers have dis- didn’t know where the family See SEARCH, page A-5
With little discussion and unanimous approval, some Kenai Peninsula Borough district lines have shifted slightly. The borough assembly OK’d revisions to six assembly and board of education district boundaries at its Tuesday meeting last week. The changes stem from the Division of Election’s adjusted precinct boundaries for Alaska Legislative Senate and House of Representatives districts, which were finalized in February. The assembly-approved revisions eliminate some discrepancies between precinct and district boundaries to eliminate the need for multiple ballots in the adjusted areas. Borough Clerk Johni Blankenship said the changes might save the borough a bit of money by eliminating some ballots for precincts, but mostly it will make elections less confusing in some districts. “It definitely eliminates some types of ballots for precincts, but those ballots may have been the same ballot that I used in a different precinct,” Blankenship said. “It’s just that See LINES, page A-5
Audit: New Anchorage VA patients face 29-day wait By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
JUNEAU — The vast majority of medical appointments for veterans were scheduled within 14 days at the Alaska Veterans Health Care System in Anchorage, a federal audit released Monday showed. Release of the Department of Veterans Affairs audit follow reports of problems, including delayed medical care, at VA fa-
cilities around the country. On May 15, the Veterans Health Administration had more than 6 million appointments scheduled across the system. According to the audit’s findings, more than 57,000 veterans were waiting to be scheduled for care and nearly 64,000 who had enrolled in the health care system over the last 10 years but had not been seen for an appointment. In Alaska, the audit looked at
the Anchorage facility, whose services, according to its website, include primary, specialty and mental health outpatient care. Of nearly 6,300 appointments scheduled, 6,050 were made within 14 days. The audit found there were nearly 40 new patients for whom appointments could not be scheduled in 90 days or fewer. Nearly 140 newly enrolled veterans had requested an ap-
pointment during the enrollment process during the past 10 years and had not had an appointment scheduled, the audit found. The average wait time for new patients to receive a primary care appointment was about 29 days for the Anchorage facility; that compared to an average of 1.28 days for an established patient. The average wait for new patients for specialty care was
32.5 days, while it was 2.7 days for established patients. The average wait for mental health appointments were about 21 days for new patients and 0.64 days for established patients. The facility was not included on a list of centers flagged for further review. Alaska’s senior U.S. senator, Republican Lisa Murkowski, called the findings with regard See AUDIT, page A-5
91 marijuana plants Tribal leaders welcome attorney seized in Kasilof general’s voting access plan By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion
Alaska State Troopers stumbled upon marijuana grow house during an investigation of a separate incident in Kasilof last month. While troopers attempted to locate a wanted person at a residence, they detected the odor of marijuana coming from a nearby residence at about 10:15 a.m. May 29 in Kasilof, according to a trooper dispatch from June 6. Members of the South Cen-
tral Areawide Narcotics Team served a search warrant at the residence later in the day and discovered 91 marijuana plants that totaled approximately 19 pounds, along with associated growing equipment, according to the report. A suspect was identified and charges of misconduct involving a controlled substance in the fourth-degree were forwarded to the Kenai District Attorney’s Office for disposition. Trooper spokesperson Megan Peters said names or adSee SEIZE, page A-5
By RACHEL D’ORO Associated Press
ANCHORAGE — Attorney General Eric Holder said Monday his office will consult with tribes across the country to develop ways to increase voting access for American Indians and Alaska Natives. Holder said the goal is to require state and local election officials to place at least one polling site in a location chosen by tribal governments in parts of the nation that inC
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clude tribal lands. Barriers to voting, he said, include English-only ballots and inaccessible polling places. In Alaska, for example, the village of Kasigluk is separated into two parts by a river with no bridge. On election day, people on one side have just a few hours to vote before a ballot machine is taken by boat to the other side. Several other Alaska villages have been designated as permanent absentee voting areas, which is something allowed by
regulation, according to Gail Fenumia, director of the state Division of Elections. In Montana, a voting rights lawsuit is pending from tribal members on the Crow, Northern Cheyenne and Fort Belknap reservations. They want county officials to set up satellite voting offices to make up for the long distances they must travel to reach courthouses for early voting or late registration. “These conditions are not See VOTE, page A-5