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A-2 Peninsula Clarion, Sunday, June 15, 2014 Elsa Maillelle hands a jar of salmon to a visitor during the grand opening ceremony of the Kenaitze Indian Tribe’s Dena’ina Wellness Center Thursday in Kenai.
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tear the same piece of cloth apart — each taking home a tangible piece of the opening ceremony. Then, Friday, the music and dancing began in earnest as visitors gathered to for a ceremony celebrating the art installed on the building site. A steady stream of people photographed Soldotna native Joel Isaak’s bronze statues gathering and processing fish. “It’s a family,” Isaak said, as he spoke to the audience Friday. “I wanted to convey that sense of family with the installation.” As he spoke, Isaak told everyone in the crowd to turn to a neighbor and talk about their first memories of catching fish. “Everybody I know has a fish story,” he said. “Fish bring people together.” Isaak’s intricately shaped 6-foot, 1-inch Dena’ina fisherman is flanked by the massive wooden fish-rack shaped structure on the outside of the wellness center. Nearby on another mound, a woman climbs a bronze fish-rack, and a child stands by watching. The site of the wellness center is important to the Kenaitze as it is one of the original village sites for the Kahtnuht’ana Dena’ina people. As they celebrated their
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It was all the encouragement she needed and grinning wildly, the 6-year-old, took off, running, jumping, dancing her way to a spot behind Rivas where she ducked under his elaborate feathered costume and matched her steps to his. It was a common sight during the three-day celebration, children being welcomed into the ceremony and encouraged to play among the adults. Hundreds of people gathered at the wellness center for the first two days, taking selfguided tours of the state-of-theart facility, listening to a parade of speakers and well-wishers, listening to drum and chanting circles and sharing meals — all celebrating the grand opening of the center. More than 375 people signed a guest book for the tribe on the first evening. Each was given a jar of salmon and a commemorative trinket honoring the Kenaitze Indian Tribe. For more than three hours, a parade of speakers congratulated the tribe on its achievement and a Dena’ina cloth ceremony took place. Guests were invited to gather in a large circle and
CLARION P
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(USPS 438-410) Published daily Sunday through Friday, except Christmas and New Year’s, by: Southeastern Newspapers Corporation P.O. Box 3009, Kenai, AK 99611 Street address: 150 Trading Bay Road, Suite 1, Kenai, AK Phone: (907) 283-7551 Postmaster: Send address changes to the Peninsula Clarion, P.O. Box 3009, Kenai, AK 99611 Periodicals postage paid at Kenai, AK Represented for national advertising by The Papert Companies, Chicago, IL Copyright 2014 Peninsula Clarion A Morris Communications Corp. newspaper
Who to call at the Peninsula Clarion News tip? Question? Main number.............................................................................................. 283-7551 Fax............................................................................................................. 283-3299 News email...................................................................news@peninsulaclarion.com General news Will Morrow, editor ............................................ will.morrow@peninsulaclarion.com Rashah McChesney, city editor.............. rashah.mcchesney@peninsulaclarion.com Jeff Helminiak, sports editor........................... jeff.helminiak@peninsulaclarion.com Fisheries, photographer.............................................................................................. ............................ Rashah McChesney, rashah.mcchesney@peninsulaclarion.com Kenai, courts...............................Dan Balmer, daniel.balmer@peninsulaclarion.com Borough, education ......... Kaylee Osowski, kaylee.osowski@peninsulaclarion.com Soldotna .................................. Kelly Sullivan, kelly.sullivan@peninsulaclarion.com Arts and Entertainment................................................ news@peninsulaclarion.com Community, Around the Peninsula............................... news@peninsulaclarion.com Sports............................................ Joey Klecka, joey.klecka@peninsulaclarion.com Page design........ Florence Struempler, florence.struempler@peninsulaclarion.com
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document that his decision was based on the fact that Buccaneer was at the time the sole working interest owner in the area, thus making unit formation unnecessary. Additionally, the state land leases were set to expire at the end of September 2012 when the application was filed a couple months prior to their expiration. The only interest that would have been protected by granting the unit would have been Buccaneer’s by way of gaining state lease extensions, according to Barron’s findings. He also claimed that Buccaneer made no commitments to fully develop the gas resources in the unit, and “exploration may be a component of unit activity but the primary purpose of unitization is development of reserves proven during the primary term of a lease,” Barron wrote. Subsequently Buccaneer appealed Barron’s decision in April 2013 to the Department of Natural Resources commissioner. That appeal is currently unresolved before commissioner Joe Balash. The commissioner is withholding a decision on the appeal while the “fundamental issues involving the leases that would underpin the proposed unit are addressed” through either a settlement reached by the parties or the conservation commission process, according to DNR spokeswoman Elizabeth Bluemink.
where its money goes immediately remains unclear. All of the parties have said an agreement has been close at times during months of negotiations. Buccaneer’s bankruptcy filings list the company’s combined assets at between $50,000 and $500,000 and liabilities of $50 million to $100 million. In May 2013, Division of Oil and Gas Director Bill Barron denied Buccaneer’s application Photo by to form a Kenai Loop unit from Rashah its leases in the area. McChesney/ Peninsula When the application was Clarion submitted in July 2012 Buccaneer was the working interest owner to 7,499 acres of lease space in the proposed unit. The company had right to 4,827 acres of Mental Health Trust Authority land, its 1,275-acre lease with CIRI and 1,391 acres of state land over four leases. Units are typically formed when an oil or gas pool extends beyond a sole landowner’s property; they are a way to parcel royalties and prevent drainage or other resource rights disputes among multiple lessees. Before the decision to deny the unit was made, CIRI informed the division that it had terminated Buccaneer’s lease, but Buccaneer did not acknowledge that fact, according to Barron’s ruling. CIRI’s termination of the Elwood Brehmer can be Photo by Kelly Sullivan/ Peninsula Clarion lease has subsequently been upheld in Alaska Superior Court. reached at elwood.brehmer@ Community members of all ages helped pull in the setnet at Barron wrote in the 20-page alaskajournal.com. the end of the three-day celebration for the opening of the Dena’ina Wellness Center Saturday at the Kenaitze educational fishery site. community and its achievement with the center the tribe moved to its educational fishery site Saturday for a potluck at the mouth of the Kenai River looking out into the Cook Inlet. Campfire smoke drifted over those in line for the potluck dinner of beans, salmon and barbecue. Picnic tables bursting with community members encircled the constantly lit campfire. Director of Tribal Government Affairs, Alexandra “Sasha” Lindgren, sat and talked with guests. She said she had not expected such a turnout. Meanwhile, children dug deep holes on the beach, and rushed back in forth between the rising tide to fill buckets for their sand structrues. As Clinton Lageson stood up and left his spot at one of the drums, his sister Alexis Lageson quickly filled in. Beaded necklaces with engraved wooden pendants and jars of canned fish were given to the elders, and the ceremonies helped bless the new cen-
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about 100 nets can be on the shore at one time and about 50 at a time fit in the offshore. According to Fish and Game harvest data, 100 king salmon were caught in the Kasilof personal-use setnet fishery in 2012. In 2013 the number of days that could be fished was cut in half. Shields said the assumption was that about 100 king salmon would have been caught in the fishery had its hours not been reduced. “Our expectation is for a reduction in king salmon harvest,” Shields said. However, it is not clear if the king salmon caught in the fishery are Kenai or Kasilof riverbound as the fish have not been genetically sampled, Shields said. The fishery is a popular one. People have been marking off spots for their nets since April and the number of wooden stakes on the beachfront grows each week. A personal-use dipnet fishery at the mouth of the Kasilof River will open June 25 and is open 24 hours per day. However, king salmon may not be retained in the Kasilof dipnet fishery.
Correction In Thursday’s Clarion, king salmon fishing regulations on the Kenai River were incorrectly stated in the fishing report. The Kenai river is currently closed to king salmon fishing. The Clarion regrets the error. C
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ter. Everyone in the Kenaitze community really pulled together in the last three days, Clinton Lageson said. After hours of eating, chatting and digging in the sand, a group of children and adults pulled the tribe’s setnet from the water, and harvested the catch. Clarion reporter Kelly Sullivan contributed to this report. Reach Rashah McChesney at rashah.mcchesney@peninsulaclarion.com.
Murkowski wants legal opinion on swap JUNEAU (AP) — Alaska’s senior U.S. senator and Republican colleagues are asking Congress’ investigative arm for a legal opinion on the release of five Taliban members from detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Sen. Lisa Murkowski is among nine Republicans who made the request to the Government Accountability Office. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was captured in Afghanistan in 2009 and released by the Taliban last month. U.S. officials have said intelligence suggested captors might have killed Bergdahl if word of the swap leaked. The senators, in the letter Friday, requested a legal opinion on whether laws were broken by the administration’s failure to notify Congress of its plans ahead of time. C
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