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Fish on!
No-no
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CLARION
Sun, showers 63/45 More weather on Page A-2
P E N I N S U L A
THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 2014 Soldotna-Kenai, Alaska
Vol. 44, Issue 223
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
Ground search on hold
Question Have you successfully negotiated the new roundabout on Binkley Street in Soldotna? n Yes, worked like a charm; n Yes, but it was not a good experience; n No, I’m avoiding it; n No, I just haven’t tried yet. 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 C
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Heat lamp starts fire in chicken coop A structure used as a chicken coop caught fire in Sterling Tuesday night after a heating lamp was knocked over, according to a Central Emergency Services media release. Firefighters from Station 3 arrived 10 minutes after the call came in at about 9:50 p.m. to Andrus Lane off Mile 79 of the Sterling Highway. The fire was put out in 10 minutes, according to the release. Nobody was injured in the fire, but several chickens inside did not survive, said CES Health and Safety Officer Brad Nelson. The cabin, originally built as a residence, was valued at $10,000 with an estimated $1,000 worth of damage, Nelson said. Nelson said the heating lamp most likely caused the fire after it was knocked over and ignited wood shavings and other combustible materials. “The owner of the building called 911 quick and we were able to save the structure,” Nelson said. “It was cooking in there and smoke was showing from the rear, but crews were able to put it out quick.” Nelson said ironically calls of fires to chicken coops are not uncommon to CES. “We respond to probably one or two a year,” he said.
Investigators continue to seek clues in missing family case By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion
Setting up shop
Kenai opens doors to new city facility
Above: Randy Parrish, shop foreman for the City of Kenai, gets ready to close an open bay door at the city’s new 18,000-square-foot shop, 550 Daubenspeck Circle, Wednesday in Kenai. Left: Nathanael Mole and Kia Youngren put the finishing touches on a mural they designed for the City of Kenai as their senior year project at Kenai Central High School Wednesday June 18, 2014 in Kenai, Alaska. The mural, which features a fire truck, dump truck and snow plow, will be hung in the city’s new shop.
By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion
The City of Kenai will open its bay doors to the new city shop for the public to see this Saturday. The 18,000-square-foot maintenance facility that cost $4.3 million from state capital grants and general fund reserves was substantially completed last month, said Kenai City Manager Rich Koch. The city shop, located at 550 Daubenspeck Circle off of Marathon Road, will be open for a public open house from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday. Hamburgers, hot dogs and beverages will be provided. City employees will offer a tour of the building and the large heavy equipment that can fit inside.
Photos by Rashah McChesney/ Peninsula Clarion
See SHOP, page A-7
For the first time since the hunt for the missing Kenai family of four began, no policecoordinated ground search took place Wednesday. After five days, the specialized canine scent detection team brought in from out of state concluded their search efforts with no success. An aerial search around the missing family’s apartment on California Avenue did not reveal their location, according to a press release from the Kenai Police Department Wednesday. Kenai Police Chief Gus Sandahl said the missing persons case remains the highest priority of his department. He said officers continue to work diligently with agents from the Anchorage office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Sandahl said the investigation has not revealed if Brandon Jividen, 37, or Rebecca Adams, 22, may have had access to alternative transportation. The black Chevy Colorado pickup owned by Jividen was left at the residence and has since been impounded by police. Adams was last seen with her daughters Michelle Hundley, 5, and Jaracca Hundley, 3, at a Kenai business the morning of May 25, Sandahl said. Investigators did not find any sign of forced entry into their apartment when officers responded to a welfare check on May 31, Sandahl said. The door See SEARCH, page A-7
Assembly debates votes, voting by mail By KAYLEE OSOWSKI Peninsula Clarion
Discussion of voters and taxes dominated a nearly fourhour meeting Tuesday night. While the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly postponed its vote on an ordinance that would require borough elec-
tions to be held by mail, it did narrowly pass an ordinance to change the 60 percent voter approval requirement to a simple majority to increase the cap on sales tax. Assembly member Brent Johnson sponsored the ordinance. He gave three reasons for introducing the ordinance.
According to borough code, sales tax can only be applied to the first $500 of each sale. Johnson said while that number stays the same, inflation occurs, so it is “improper to set it at a super-majority threshold.” Voters passed the initiative to set the 60 percent requirement to change the sales tax in
2005 by 54.2 percent. Johnson said while it’s noble to try to keep taxes down, he doesn’t think it’s noble that 54 percent of voters can set a 60 percent threshold. “Could they have chose 70 percent?” Johnson said. “Could 51 percent of the people choose a threshold of 80 percent? It’s
completely capricious.” He said it is a matter of equality. Considering the issue by individuals, if someone wants to change the sales tax, his or her vote isn’t equal to those who do not want change. “Everybody is equal and everybody should have an equal See VOTES, page A-7
— Dan Balmer
Index Opinion.................. A-4 Business................ A-5 Nation/World.......... A-6 Sports.....................A-8 Arts........................ B-1 Classifieds............. B-3 Comics................... B-8 Check us out online at www.peninsulaclarion.com To subscribe, call 283-3584.
Military identifies 17 KPC student visits China killed in 1952 crash By MARK THIESSEN Associated Press
ANCHORAGE — The remains of about a third of the service members who died when their military transport plane crashed into an Alaska mountain and then was buried for decades in glacier ice have been identified, military officials said Wednesday. The Department of Defense released the identities of 17 people onboard the C-124 Globemaster, which crashed in 1952, and said the remains will be returned to their families for burial with full military
honors. The first believed burial is planned Saturday in Caney, Kansas, for Army Pvt. Leonard A. Kittle, said Tonja AndersonDell, a Tampa, Florida, woman who has researched the crash for years. Her interest was stoked about the crash when her grandmother, now deceased, told her details of her grandfather, Isaac Anderson, 21, who died when the plane hit the mountain on Nov. 22, 1952. Anderson-Dell also maintains a Facebook page about the crash and recovery efforts. See CRASH, page A-7
By KELLY SULLIVAN Peninsula Clarion
After spending 10 days in the bustling, populous hubs of Beijing and Shanghai, Iris Fontana became an expert at communicating with her Mandarin-speaking hosts — without knowing the language. Communication evolved through hand gestures and smiling often, Fontana said. “You would think you would feel like an outsider,” she said. “But everyone made us feel welcome.” Photo courtesy Iris Fontana Fontana uncovered the new Iris Fontana poses with her Envision Global Forum on Medskill on the internationally icine and Science group outside of the Forbidden City in See CHINA, page A-7 Beijing China, this June. C
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