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Runners Nearly 100 compete in annual Unity Run Sports/B-1
CLARION P E N I N S U L A
JULY 13, 2014 Soldotna-Kenai, Alaska
Vol. 44, Issue 243
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
House chairman: $3.7B border request ‘too much’ ERICA WERNER Associated Press
Photos by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion
Tony Carter, of Seattle, puts a 13-year-old Shiba Inu named Tsunami on a showing table during the Kenai Kennel Club’s annual dog show Friday in Soldotna. C
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Showtime
Weekend dog show draws competitors from Alaska, Lower 48
WASHINGTON — A key Republican said Friday that President Barack Obama’s multibillion-dollar emergency request for the border is too big to get through the House, as a growing number of Democrats rejected policy changes Republicans are demanding as their price for approving any money. The developments indicated that Obama faces an uphill climb as he pushes Congress to approve $3.7 billion to deal with tens of thousands of unaccompanied kids who’ve been arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border from poor and increasingly violent Central American nations. And they suggested that even as the children keep coming, any final resolution is likely weeks away on Capitol Hill. As House members gathered Friday morning to finish up legislative business for the week, Rep. Hal Rogers of Kentucky, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, which controls spending, told reporters: “It’s too much money. We don’t need it.” Rogers previously had sounded open to the spending request for more immigration judges, detention facilities,
See BORDER, page A-2
By KAYLEE OSOWSKI Peninsula Clarion
Texas slaying suspect a former Alaska resident
A little drizzle didn’t seem to dampen any of the dogs’ spirits Thursday morning as they, lead by their handlers, took turns jumping, weaving, scooting through tunnels and climbing up and down A-frame ramps. The Kenai Kennel Club hosted its biggest event of the year this weekend — the annual dog show — at Skyview High School. See SHOW, page A-2
Above: Bobbi Brandt runs with Magnum, a basset hound, Friday during the Kenai Kennel Club’s annual dog show in Soldotna. Left: Christie Janusiewicz, of Anchorage, kisses her clumber spaniel Thermal whom she affectionately calls “hot lips, hula hips.”
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The man accused of killing six members of his ex-wife’s family, including four children, in Texas this week is a graduate of a suburban Anchorage high school where he was voted class clown and prom king. Ronald Lee Haskell Jr. lived in Alaska until 2004. He attended Chugiak High School, and was part of a tightknit Mormon community in Eagle River. The small community sits
State to Kenai looks to align E-cig, smoking regs share cost in town’s water fix By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion
Steven Mapes used to smoke three packs of cigarettes a day. But, he hasn’t had one since he switched to vaporized nicotine about a year ago. A retired oil field worker Mapes, 57, now owns High Voltage Vapes –a store in Kenai that sells vaporizers and electronic cigarette products. Mapes opened the small shop, 11887 Kenai Spur Highway in the Kenai Electronic building, to accommodate a market that has exploded in popularity in recent years. He sells personal vaporizes and a large assortment of flavored juices, both with and without tobacco. E-liquids are flavored, including tobacco, menthol, coffee, candy and fruit flavorings. He said his products contain
four federal Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, approved chemicals, compared to the thousands of chemicals in cigarette smoke. “I want to help people get off tobacco,” he said. “The nicotine delivery system (through vapor) is way less harmful than tobacco. I’m passionate about it because it worked for me.” An ordinance to amend Kenai Municipal Code to treat the regulation of e-cigarettes in the same way as the city treats tobacco cigarettes is up for public hearing at the Kenai City Council meeting Wednesday. Kenai Mayor Pat Porter sponsored the ordinance. With FDA studies currently being conducted on the health risks of e-cigarettes, Porter said she felt it was time to align regulation on the product in the same way smoking cigarettes is regulated — currently cigarettes are
State Department programs and other items. He said his committee would look at the parts of Obama’s request that would go for immediate needs, but that others could be handled through Congress’ regular spending bills — though no final action is likely on those until after the November midterm elections. And asked whether the House would approve the spending package as-is, Rogers said “no.” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest responded by saying that “we’re open to working with Democrats and Republicans in Congress to get this done.” “The president has moved quickly to be very clear about what specifically needs to be funded,” Earnest said. “And we would like to see Republicans back up their rhetoric with the kind of urgent action that this situation merits.” Rogers spoke shortly after the Congressional Hispanic Caucus convened a news conference to denounce efforts to attach legal changes to the spending measure that would result in returning the children home more quickly to El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. Those countries account for most of the more than 57,000
banned in restaurants, bowling alleys and healthcare facilities. The ordinance also includes language that would prohibit the use of marijuana in the same way within city limits, if Ballot Measure 2 passes the August primary and November election, Porter said. “I suggested having the ordinance that encompasses anything that is inhaled and exhaled because you don’t know what could be coming a month from now,” she said. “It’s there to take care of any problems that may rise up before it becomes an issue, including marijuana.” Since January, 108 municipalities and three states in the U.S. include e-cigarettes as products that are prohibited from use in smoke-free environments, according to a fact sheet from the Americans for Nonsmokers Rights. Jenny Olendorff, program
coordinator for Peninsula Smokefree Partnership, said she is in favor of e-cigarettes being regulated the same as tobacco cigarettes because not enough is known about them. “We must be cautious about these products until we know definitely their safety, both to the user and the non-user,” she said. “Studies are coming out like crazy … There is nothing conclusive to say that e-cigs help people quit nicotine altogether. If some individuals say it helped them quit tobacco that’s awesome.” Olendorff said e-cigarettes have gained popularity among younger people because the product is marketed with sexy ads. Big tobacco companies are spending a lot of money in advertising for e-cigarettes, which do not fall under any advertising restrictions, she said. See E-CIGS, page A-2 C
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FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — The state of Alaska is agreeing to share the preliminary costs to explore a water-system expansion in North Pole, where a refinery spill decades ago continues to contaminate groundwater. The agreement covers the expense of developing the design, cost estimate and construction schedule for a water-main extension. It would serve 550 properties with water contaminated by sulfolane, an
See WATER, page A-2
about 10 miles north of Anchorage. Drew Nevitt attended the same Mormon church as Haskell. Nevitt says Haskell was an older peer he looked up to, “just as a funny red-headed, freckled guy with a good personality.” Nevitt described him as “the Chris Farley of Eagle River.” Nevitt and other former classmates said they struggled to understand how things changed so dramatically for Haskell.
Inside today Clouds and showers 63/49 For complete weather, see page A-12
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