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CLARION P E N I N S U L A
JUNE 15, 2014 Soldotna-Kenai, Alaska
Vol. 44, Issue 219
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
Left: Maggie Jones and Sondra Shaginoff-Stuart talk about squeezing more people into the growing circle joining a cloth-during ceremony Thursday at the grand opening ceremony of Kenaitze Indian Tribe’s Dena’ina Wellness Center.
Tribe celebrates center opening
Photo by Rashah McChesney/ Peninsula Clarion
Hearing set for Kenai Loop dispute By ELWOOD BREHMER Morris News Service-Alaska Alaska Journal Of Commerce
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Above left: A bronze statue of a Dena’ina fisherman, crafted by Soldotna native Joel Isaak, was unveiled outside of the Kenaitze Indian Tribe’s Dena’ina Wellness Center Friday. Above right: Bunny SwanGease helps to complete a large circle of people during a cloth-tearing ceremony Thursday. Right: Cadence Fischer, 8, laughs as her younger sister Isis Fischer, 6, reacts after being allowed to dance during the grand opening ceremony Friday.
By RASHAH MCCHESNEY Peninsula Clarion
Isis Fischer wanted to dance. She squatted, stamped her feet and arched her back, and stared at Rolly Rivas, whose bell-wrapped feet matched the rhythm of the Mount Susitna drummers and singers gathered around a skin drum in the large gathering space of the Dena’ina Wellness Center. Rivas spun around, a whirl of feathers and brightly colored beads, looked right at Fischer, stretched his hand toward her and beckoned for her to cross the glacial-blue polished concrete floor of the new 52,000-square-foot building in Old Town Kenai.
Photos by Rashah McChesney/ Peninsula Clarion
See CENTER, page A-2
Buccaneer Energy, Cook Inlet Region Inc., and the State of Alaska will be back before the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission July 7 to duke it out once more over gas royalty rights from Buccaneer’s Kenai Loop well pad. The hearing will be held — as has been the case with most milestones in the dispute — if the parties cannot come to an agreement on royalty payments prior to July 7. CIRI claims Buccaneer owes it royalties for gas Buccaneer drained from the Native corporation’s land that is adjacent to the Kenai Loop pad. Buccaneer once held a now-terminated gas lease with for the CIRI property. It does not dispute that the drainage is occurring. The Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority, which owns the property under the Buccaneer pad, also owes it money, CIRI claims, because the authority has been receiving royalties on gas that CIRI had right to. Whether or not CIRI is liable for production expenses if it is eligible to receive gas revenue will be another point of debate at the hearing. The commission ordered Buccaneer to set up an escrow account by June 1 to hold its Kenai Loop production revenue until the dispute is resolved and make monthly deposits to the account starting June 10. Formation of the account has been delayed as Buccaneer asked the commission for clarification regarding details in the order and a brief comment period for the other parties was also established. How Buccaneer’s May 31 filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in South Texas will impact negotiations and See DISPUTE, page A-2
Business development: Lemonade By KELLY SULLIVAN Peninsula Clarion
Lia Benner wanted to run her own business since she was three years old. Finally, along with business partner Ava Grossl, Benner, now 10, opened the lemonade stand she envisioned Saturday, for Lemonade Day Alaska in Soldotna. Benner and Grossl’s bright neon green stand, speckled with orange and purple paint splatters was laden with homemade lemon bars, store-bought cinnamon rolls, and two kinds
of lemonade. By early afternoon the entrepreneurs were expertly cashing out their customers, Benner said. Learning to count money was her favorite part of the day, she said. “It took awhile,” Benner said. “Now it’s coming naturally.” For this year’s event, more than 80 stands were erected throughout Kenai and Soldotna, Soldotna Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Michelle Glaves said. Lemonade Day is a nation-
Ethan Tree and their cousin Trent Powell co-ran the Lemonade for Heroes stand, neighboring Benner and Grossl in the Soldotna Trustworthy Hardware parking lot. Two American flags were placed beside their cash jar, and red, white and blue stripes were painted across the tabletop. The managers of each station are encouraged to save and donate a portion of their profits, and have enough left over to Photo by Kelly Sullivan/ Peninsula Clarion pay back their lenders, Glaves Emily Moss and Masidon McDonald watch their robotic lemsaid. onade stand treat their lemonade with laser beams Saturday See LEMON, page A-5 in Soldotna.
Personal-use setnet fishery hours restricted
Today’s Clarion Obituaries..................... A-3 Opinion......................... A-4 Alaska........................... A-5 Nation........................... A-6 World............................ A-8 Police reports.............. A-12 Weather...................... A-14 Sports........................... B-1 Community................... C-1 Dear Abby..................... C-2 Crossword..................... C-2 Horoscope.................... C-2 Classifieds................... C-3 Mini Page.................... C-10 TV...................... Clarion TV
al organization that has been localized on the Central Kenai Peninsula by the Soldotna Chamber of Commerce and the Kenai Chamber of Commerce, Glaves said. Local businesses teach classes on food handling and managing savings for the event, Glaves said. Home Depot provides free materials for building stands. Each business must find investors for financial support, and a space to put their stand, Glaves said. Joshua Tree, his brother
Cloudy, showers 60/45 For complete weather, see page A-14 Check us out online at www.peninsulaclarion.com To subscribe, call 283-3584.
By RASHAH McCHESNEY Peninsula Clarion
As king salmon continue to return to the Kenai and Kasilof in low numbers, the commercial division of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has issued a restriction on the number of hours available to participants in the Kasilof personal-use setnet fishery. The emergency order issued Thursday restricts fishing to be-
tween 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Usually, fishers have 17 hours a day to put their nets in the water in the fishery, which opens today. The personal-use setnet fishery closes June 24 and is open to Alaska residents who have a Fish and Game issued permit. The total annual limit for each personal-use salmon fishing permit is 25 for the head of a household and 10 salmon for each additional household C
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member. Fish and Game commercial division area biologist Pat Shields said the sport fishery in the Kasilof had been restricted in February and had remained restricted as the season progressed. “It is incumbent upon the personal-use fishery to reduce its king salmon harvest as well,” Shields said. While personal-use setnetters will have 9 hours of fishing
time available to them, the tide cycles will determine when the fishery will be viable. Shields said nets could be fished about three hours before and after high tide. The fishery stretches about a mile north of the mouth of the Kasilof River and a mile south, and nets can be in the water up to a mile offshore. Individual nets are required to be 100 feet apart, meaning See FISH, page A-2