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Sweet-toothed bear crashes kids party
US advances in World Cup
Alaska/A-5
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CLARION
Clouds with rain 60/46 More weather on Page A-2
P E N I N S U L A
Friday-Saturday, June 27-28 Soldotna-Kenai, Alaska
Vol. 44, Issue 230
Question Do you buy Alaska Grown produce? n Yes, that’s a selling point for me. n I do if it’s the best price or best quality available. n It’s not a priority for me.
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
ADFG issues broad restrictions for July By RASHAH McCHESNEY Peninsula Clarion
In a flurry of emergency orders and news releases Thursday the Alaska Deparment of Fish and Game announced ef-
forts to conserve king salmon by putting restrictions on personal-use fishing and inriver anglers — triggering restrictions for commercial fishers in the east side setnet fishery. Managers justified the re-
strictions with the explanation that Cook Inlet king salmon have continued to return in low numbers in recent years. The Kenai River has had below-average run strength since 2009, according to a Fish and
Game media release. On the Kenai River the laterun king salmon fishery, which opens Tuesday, will start with a prohibition on the use of bait in any sportfishery. A February emergency or-
By MOLLY DISCHNER Morris News Service-Alaska Alaska Journal of Commerce
In the news Alaska sues over refuge land closures
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Index Opinion.................. A-4 Nation.................... A-6 World..................... A-8 Sports.....................B-1 Classifieds............ C-3 Comics.................. C-7 Check us out online at www.peninsulaclarion.com To subscribe, call 283-3584.
See KINGS, page A-14
Alaska senators work to bring J-1 visas back
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 emailed to news@peninsulaclarion.com.
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Arguments are scheduled for July in Alaska’s ongoing legal fight over the closure of national wildlife refuges during the partial shutdown of the federal government last year. The lawsuit was filed in October, as Congress was poised to pass legislation to end the shutdown. It claimed the closure of refuge land during the shutdown violated provisions of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. The lawsuit was later amended to add the Alaska Professional Hunters Association as plaintiffs. Attorneys for the plaintiffs claim the closures impaired the state’s ability to manage fish, wildlife and other resources and affected the ability of hunting guides to use their permits, costing them money. The attorneys, in a March filing, state that hunters association member Mike Munsey estimated that he lost about $16,500 as a direct result of the refuge closures because he had to cancel hunts. One of his affected clients had traveled from Australia. Munsey, according to the filing, expects that client and others will be more reluctant to book hunts with him and other Alaska guides “due to uncertainties created by this closure.” The attorneys claim that a loss of guided hunting opportunities by association members as a result of yet another shutdown “would impose economic losses of up to $6 million.”
der also closed a section of the river from Skilak Lake down to a Fish and Game regulatory marker about 300 yards downstream of the mouth of Slikok Creek.
Photo by Kaylee Osowski/Peninsula Clarion
From left: Community Emergency Response Teams instructor Michael Huckabay coaches CERT students Delayna Baczkowski and Jackson Blackwell how to put out a small fire using the PASS method — pull, aim, squeeze and sweep — on Wednesday at the Central Emergency Services Station 2 on Mackey Lake Road. CERT classes started this week and run through July 12.
Wildfire sparks interest in CERT By KAYLEE OSOWSKI Peninsula Clarion
The classmates took turns in pairs — a leader with a fire extinguisher at the ready and a buddy with a hand on the leader’s shoulder ready to help. They tested the extinguish-
er and then called, “Going in,” which each buddy echoed. Awkwardly they shuffled, which allows for better balance, toward a small fuel fire burning in a halved barrel. When they reached the optimum distance from the fire, the leaders aimed the hose at
the base of the flame, squeezed the handle of the extinguisher and swept the hose from side to side. After knocking down the fire, teams called, “Going out,” and backed away from the remaining white cloud. The participants, some of
whom had never used a fire extinguisher, were students in the Kenai Peninsula Borough’s Community Emergency Response Team course. On Wednesday, the class learned about fire safety and utility control with instructor See CERT, page A-13
Bacteria tests continue at spots on area rivers By RASHAH McCHESNEY Peninsula Clarion
Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion
In this July 2013 file photo Branden Bornemann, environmental scientists for the of the Kenai Watershed Forum, takes a water sample at the mouth of the Kenai River for an Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and City of Kenai program that measures bacteria in the water in Kenai.
The Kenai Watershed Forum has been awarded a $96,000 grant to continue monitoring bacteria in the Kenai River. The 2014 monitoring program will also include tests on the Kasilof River and advances in microbial source tracking could allow researchers to pinpoint which contributing source causes the most bacteria to end up in the rivers. On the Kenai River common sources of bacteria include a large rookery — watershed forum researchers estimated be-
Obama seeks $500M to train, equip moderate rebels in Syria JULIE PACE AP White House Correspondent
WASHINGTON — With the conflicts in Syria and Iraq becoming increasingly intertwined against the same Sunni extremist group, President Barack Obama moved on Thursday to ratchet up U.S. efforts to strengthen more moderate Syr-
ian rebels. Obama’s request to Congress for $500 million in training and arms to the opposition in effect opens a second front in the fight against militants spilling over Syria’s border and threatening to overwhelm neighboring Iraq. The train-and-equip mission would be overseen by the Pentagon and would mark
a significant expansion of previous covert effort to arm the more moderate rebels who are fighting both the extremists and forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad. Obama has long been reluctant to arm the opposition, in part because of concerns that weapons may fall into extremist hands. See SYRIA, page A-14 C
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A few processing plants are finding themselves shorthanded as salmon catches increase around the state, but an item in pending U.S. Senate legislation could make it easier to fill vacant positions next summer. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich supported language in the 2015 State and Foreign Operations spending bill that would enable Alaska’s seafood processing industry to once again hire foreign students for temporary positions through a work travel program. See VISA, page A-13
Strains, sprains, pains and retraining the brain AMSEA offers class on commercial fishing injuries By RASHAH McCHESNEY Peninsula Clarion
tween 7,500 and 10,000 birds during a day in June 2013 — an active dipnet fishery where hundreds of people camp and stand in the water near the mouth of the river, dogs and bacteria migrating downstream. “The last time we looked at it, (researchers) could tell us who was contributing but they couldn’t give us a percentage of contribution and they tell us now they have a better handle on that,” said Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation Environmental Specialist Tim Stevens. The state’s Department of
A common and often-repeated maneuver on commercial fishing boats throughout Alaska involves reaching just below the head of a freshly caught fish into its gill slit, grabbing the gills and then bending and twisting the wrist to rip them out. It’s injurious to the fish, it’s supposed to be. But, for the people who do it thousands of times throughout the course of a fishing season, the repetitive movement can lead to carpal tunnel or tendonitis; injuries that could be avoided if indus-
See WATER, page A-13
See CLASS, page A-14
Soldotna reservoir to be built by Blazy By KELLY SULLIVAN Peninsula Clarion
Construction on the 1 million-gallon Kalifornsky Beach Road water reservoir is set to begin immediately. Soldotna based Blazy Construction Inc. was awarded a contract by the City of Soldotna on Wednesday. Blazy was the lowest bidder of the five companies that submitted for the project in early June, City Manager Mark Dixson said. See TANK, page A-14