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P E N I N S U L A
MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2014 Soldotna-Kenai, Alaska
Vol. 44, Issue 232
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
Bill to cut down DMV trips signed into law
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.
By ELWOOD BREHMER Morris News Service-Alaska Alaska Journal of Commerce
To place your vote and comment, visit our Web site at www. peninsulaclarion. com.
WASILLA — Gov. Sean Parnell signed legislation June 20 aimed at simplifying vehicle registration for Alaskans with older cars. House Bill 19 gives individuals the option to permanently register their personal vehicles that are at least eight years old. It also gives personal trailer owners the option to permanently register their trailers. Stoltze, R-Chugiak, the bill’s sponsor, said HB 19 would encourage compliance with state vehicle registration laws. “This is just a simple government bill that makes it easier — less trips to the DMV,” Stoltze said. “It was an expression of, OK, after so many years you’ve paid enough in taxes on the vehicle and it was a value judgment.” When HB 19 takes effect Jan. 1 2015, Alaskans with qualifying vehicles can choose to pay the $100 biennial state registration fee plus a $25 permanent registration fee, which will cover registration for as long as the vehicle remains under the same ownership. The permanent registration is non-transferable. Similarly, trailer owners can pay the $30 fee plus a $25 permanent surcharge to register their trailers for as long as
In the news Nikolaevsk man dies in vehicle rollover
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A 59-year-old man from Nikolaevsk died in a singlevehicle rollover accident in Anchor Point Friday. Ivola Usoltseff was driving eastbound on North Fork Road near the intersection of Coleman Lantern Avenue in Anchor Point at about 8:22 p.m. when he lost control of his 1995 Toyota truck, according to an Alaska State Troopers dispatch. The vehicle entered the ditch and rolled before coming to a rest on its side. The report said Usoltseff, the only occupant, was not wearing a seat belt. The Kenai Peninsula Bureau of Highway Patrol responded to the scene. Emergency Medical Services transported Usoltseff to South Peninsula Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased. Alcohol is believed to have been a factor in the accident, according to the report. Next of kin has been notified. The investigation is continuing. — Staff report
Spring Creek inmate found dead in cell SEWARD — An inmate at the Spring Creek Correctional Center in Seward was found unresponsive in his cell early Sunday. He was declared dead at Providence Hospital at 2:30 a.m. Deputy Director Sherrie Diagle told KTUU-TV that corrections staff is investigating the death. They are interviewing officers and inmates who were in the area at the time. A release from the department of corrections said the inmate was living in a maximum security area. — The Associated Press
Index Opinion.................. A-4 Nation.................... A-5 World..................... A-6 Sports.....................A-8 Classifieds........... A-10 Comics................. A-16 Check us out online at www.peninsulaclarion.com To subscribe, call 283-3584.
Photo by Kaylee Osowski/Peninsula Clarion
John Pfeifer, an amateur or ham radio operator, works to reach 300 connections in 24 hours on one station communicating through Morse code. In the background George Van Lone, who has been a ham operator since 1993, tries to verbally connect with other hams across the nation. The two are members of the Moosehorn Amateur Radio Club, which set up its trailer and mobile equipment at Skyview High School to participate in the American Radio Relay League’s “Field Day” on Saturday and Sunday.
Transmitting and receiving Amateur radio operators make connections on “Field Day” By KAYLEE OSOWSKI Peninsula Clarion
At 9 a.m. on Sunday it was time to pack up. The Moosehorn Amateur Radio Club successfully completed another “Field Day” — 24 hours and hundreds of connections with other amateur or ham radio operators. The club also gave license exams to six people interested in becoming op-
erators on Saturday at the Skyview High School parking lot. A written test on the rules and technology is required to become a licensed ham operator. There are three levels of operators — technician, general and extra. Ted Johnson has been a ham for about a year and a half and hopes to move up to a general license soon. As a kid, he said he knew about ham radio, but until recently he didn’t have the time or interest to get licensed.
John Pfeifer, who has an extra class license, said he thinks elimination of the Morse code requirement and the integration of computers, has helped to increase interest in the hobby in recent years. “Lots of things are happening now in ham radio now that I think are broadening the interest a little bit so that people who are more computer oriented now are sort of becoming interested,” Pfeifer said. Along with the technical and emerSee RADIO, page A-7
See BILL, page A-7
Corps files proposal to justify CD-5 permit By TIM BRADNER Morris News Service-Alaska Alaska Journal of Commerce
A lawsuit over a key federal permit is still in court, but ConocoPhillips isn’t slowing down on its construction of CD-5, a small satellite oil deposit near the Alpine oil field on the North Slope. “Work on CD-5 is continuing,” ConocoPhillips spokeswoman Natalie Lowman said. U.S. Alaska District Court judge Sharon Gleason accepted briefs June 20 on a suit filed by
six villagers from Nuiqsut, a nearby Inupiat community, who claim construction of a bridge over a Colville River channel and roads to the CD-5 production pad will impair their subsistence activity. The lawsuit was filed last year by Trustees for Alaska, an environmental law firm, on behalf of the six plaintiffs, against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Earlier this year, Gleason found that the permit for the bridge and roads issued by the corps had not been adequately justified. The State of Alaska and
ConocoPhillips intervened in the case in the defense of the corps, along with the North Slope Borough and the Alaska Native corporations who own the surface and mineral rights. Gleason asked parties in the case for recommendations on remedies to the permit problem, and those were filed June 20. Reponses to those briefs are required by July 1. Trustees for Alaska proposed that Gleason order an injunction to stop work on the project until the issue on the permit it resolved. The Corps of Engineers
proposed to prepare a justification for the permit and file it with the court within 90 days. ConocoPhillips supported the corps proposal and urged Gleason not to halt construction. The company offered to limit its activity this summer to work on gravel pads that have already been constructed. ConocoPhillips, in its brief, said a work stoppage would disrupt the project and cause environmental harm. Kuukpik Corp., the Native village corporation for Nuiqsit, sided with the corps and
ConocoPhillips and took a position opposite the six village plaintiffs, arguing that delays in completing the bridge and roads would impair the village’s access to subsistence resources. Isaac Nukapigak, president of Kuukpik, said his corporation, in which almost all Nuiqsut residents are shareholders, had worked with ConocoPhillips earlier to move the bridge and road routing to locations that would reduce impacts on subsistence activity. Nukapigak also warned that See PERMIT, page A-7
Polish boat sets sail for Northwest Passage By NICK BOWMAN Ketchikan Daily News
KETCHIKAN — Ryszard Wojnowski slid his finger along the perimeter of the polar ice cap, pausing on the village of Dikson on Russia’s north coast. “In Dikson we stayed two and a half weeks,” Wojnowski said, still pointing to the map. “Here was the most difficult part.” The Kara Sea, on the edge of the northern cap, catches and holds sea ice, which last year was thickest in the area since 2006. The Polish engineer and recreational sailor — on a yearlong voyage around the arctic on his yacht, the Lady Dana
44 — slid his hand from east to west across the sea. “You need to get wind from here so it pushes the ice out,” he said. Sitting at the table inside the Lady Dana 44 (which is actually 47 feet long) Wojnowski told the Daily News about his trip so far, which has been partially documented online at arctic2013.pl/en/, and how he and his crew of seven had arrived in Ketchikan. Wojnowski set sail from Sopot, Poland, on June 8, 2013, planning to circle the North Pole beginning on the Russian side, crossing the Bering Strait to reach Nome — as far south in Alaska as they intended to go — and returning along the top of the North American con-
tinent. It was the Dikson delay and some engine trouble that halted the trip. “We wanted to do it in one season,” Wojnowski said, “but due to difficult ice conditions, we only managed to pass the northeast passage above Russia.” After Dikson, the Lady Dana 44 crossed the Bering Strait to arrive in Nome. “We went straight from Bering Strait to Vancouver,” he said. The crew took 17 days to travel 2,000 miles. The Lady Dana 44 has traveled more than 10,000 miles since it was finished in 2013. Wojnowski stored the yacht, See SAIL, page A-7 C
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AP Photo/Ketchikan Daily News, Hall Anderson
Ryszard Wojnowski stands at the helm of his 47-foot steel hulled sailboat, Lady Dana 44, at Bar Harbor in Ketchikan, on June 19. The boat has a reinforced hull for its trip around the North Pole and navigational hazards with ice floes. The Polish engineer and recreational sailor is on a year-long voyage around the arctic.