C
M
Y
K
Frisbees
Baseball
Area disc-golf courses heat up
Oilers lose shortened game
Rec/C-1
Sports/B-1
CLARION
Mostly cloudy 62/46 More weather on Page A-2
P E N I N S U L A
Friday-Saturday, July 25-26 Soldotna-Kenai, Alaska
Vol. 44, Issue 254
Question Do you agree with barbless hook catchand-release restrictions for Kenai River king salmon? • Yes • No 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.
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
Late run Kenai kings closed for third year Low numbers prompt Fish and Game managers to shut down the season By RASHAH McCHESNEY Peninsula Clarion
Alaska Department of Fish and Game managers announced a closure of the Kenai River king salmon fishery Thursday after continued low counts of returning fish into the river. The closure, effective Saturday, triggers a closure of commercial setnet fishing on the East Side of Cook Inlet and is meant to conserve Kenai-bound king salmon which are not currently projected to return in large enough numbers to make the escapement goal on the Ke-
nai River. As of July 23, the sonar estimate of king salmon passage into the Kenai River was 8,023 fish and current projections put the final escapement between 13,500 and 14,000 fish — below the river’s escapement goal range of 15,000-30,000 fish. Daily estimates of king salmon passage into the river have remained in the low hundreds of fish — the highest passage to date was Sunday, which saw more than 1,000 fish pass the sonar. Counts have since dropped significantly. Fish and Game sport fish
division area management biologist Robert Begich said the high passage on Sunday helped bump projections upward but continued low counts kept projections lower than what is needed to make the escapement goal. Begich said projections would have to increase dramatically for the fishery to be reopened. “If 5,000 kings came into the river overnight, if a miracle happened, yeah we’d turn it back on,” he said. “We just want to make the goal and it’s just a day-to-day thing. It’s go-
ing to take a lot to (reopen).”
Impact Area business owners said the closure of king salmon fishing is a blow, but one that will have lasting effects that extend beyond the king restrictions in the 2014 season. “Our lodging in the last half of June and the first half of July was down considerably,” said Stephanie Erkeneff, owner of the Kenai River Raven lodge. The downturn has been an expected part of their business in recent years, Erkeneff said,
Northern Alaska forecast for snow
C
M
Y
K
Sonar estimates Estimated early-run kings in the Kenai River: n Tuesday: 463 n So far: 7,306 Estimated Kenai River reds: n Wednesday: 37,492 n So far: 578,893 Russian River reds weir count: n Wednesday: 351 n So far: 2,402 Estimated Kasilof River reds: n Wednesday: 9,246 n So far: 366,149
Information provided by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Sonar estimates can be obtained by calling 262-9097.
Index Opinion.................. A-4 Nation.................... A-6 World..................... A-8 Sports.....................B-1 Classifieds............ C-3 Comics................... B-8
Check us out online at www.peninsulaclarion.com To subscribe, call 283-3584.
See , page A-
Kenai fire marshall retires
In the news FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — It may still officially be summer, but there’s snow in the forecast for northern Alaska. The National Weather Service says several inches of snow could fall on the southeastern Brooks Range Thursday night and Friday. Snow is predicted above the 2,000 foot elevation and west of the Dalton Highway near Coldfoot, or 250 miles north of Fairbanks. Weather service meteorologist Cary Freeman says the 1-3 inches predicted is outside the norm for late July. A lower pressure system north of the Arctic coast is behind the extreme weather that includes heavy rain in the central Alaska Range area, from the Richardson Highway west to Denali National Park and Preserve.
as fishing on the Kenai River king salmon run has been increasingly restricted and has become a less reliable fishery. “For us, for our lodging it has a big impact. We charge more in July than we do in June and August. So, financially, by not having those rooms filled in the first two weeks of July (the loss), it’s considerable,” Erkeneff said. “But, nobody, no government, can do anything about that because the fish aren’t here.” For Bill and Nancy Sweat whose Sterling-area lodge Be
By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion
Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion
Tom Wilkinson, director of nurses, talks about surgical recovery rooms while Jake Savely, surgical tech listens during a tour of the Surgery Center of Kenai, LLC., Tuesday in Kenai.
New center seeks agreement with CPH Kenai-based clinic, hospital, disgree on benefits of partnership By KAYLEE OSOWSKI Peninsula Clarion
The Surgery Center of Kenai recently opened its doors to patients on Trading Bay Road in Kenai, but it is facing some restrictions on which patients can betreated. Harold Gear, vice president of the outpatient surgery center, said because Central Peninsula Hospital won’t enter a transfer agreement with the center, it cannot perform procedures on Medicare and Medicaid patients. When the center was beginning con-
structed, Gear said it requested agreements with Alaska Regional Hospital, Providence Alaska Medical Center and Central Peninsula Hospital. “The transfer agreement is just a protocol for how if you have an emergent patient how you will present them to the emergency room,” he said. “It’s just a ‘we’ll do this, you’ll do that’ delineation of responsibilities. It’s not a business agreement; it’s just a hand-shake protocol.” Within two weeks, Gear said Alaska Regional gave the center an agreement and Providence offered an agreement.
After discovering the center had one with Alaska Regional, Providence said it would be available if necessary. “Central Peninsula Hospital ignored us,” Gear said. After writing a letter to the Central Peninsula General Hospital Board of Directors in June, Gear said he was told it was CPH CEO Rick Davis’ decision, who declined to enter an agreement with the center. Gear said the discussion started in January and he received a final verbal “no” earlier this month. “We’re owned by the borough and the See , page A-
Feds cap fines for not buying insurance MIAMI (AP) — Federal officials have capped the amount of money scofflaws will be forced to pay if they don’t buy insurance this year at $2,448 per person and $12,240 for a family of five. The amount is equal to the national average annual premium for a bronze level health plan. But only those with an income above about a quarter of a million dollars would benefit from the cap. Those making less would still have to pay as much as 1 percent of their annual income. The penalty for the first year starts at $95 per adult or $47.50 per child under 18. The penalty for not buying insurance increases to 2 percent of
income or $325, whichever is higher, for 2015. The fines are due when people file their 2014 taxes. The figures, released late Thursday, are important because the White House has only provided theoretical caps in the past. Conservative lawmakers and groups that are critical of the Affordable Care Act encouraged consumers to skip buying insurance, arguing it would be cheaper to pay a $95 penalty, but often failed to mention the 1 percent clause. The uninsured will owe 1/12th of the annual payment for each month they or their dependents don’t have either coverage or an exemption, according to the IRS.
Federal researchers predict that about 4 million people, including dependents, could be hit with fines by 2016. The Congressional Budget Office had previously projected 6 million would pay fines, but dropped the estimate because more people will be exempt from the law, partly due to changes in regulations. More than 8 million people signed up for insurance under the Affordable Care Act and many Americans already had insurance through their employers and were not affected by the fine. If someone is due a tax refund, the IRS can deduct the penalty from the refund. Otherwise, the IRS will let people C
M
Y
K
know what’s owed or hold back the amount of the penalty fee from future tax refunds, but there are no liens or criminal penalties for failing to pay. Some residents, including prison inmates, are exempt from the penalties and others can file for hardship conditions. If people don’t earn enough money to have to file a federal tax form, they don’t have to buy coverage. The threshold for filing a federal tax return is $10,150. Premium prices vary widely based on age, gender and zip code so the premium for a bronze plan in South Florida could be much different than the cost of a bronze plan in Kansas.
In 1985 as a 21-year-old volunteer firefighter for Central Emergency Services, Eric Wilcox spent every waking moment listening to the radio ready to drop everything to respond to a call. When a call came in for a rescue truck needed in Sterling one day, he went to the fire station instead of going into his day job. In 1990 he joined the Kenai Fire Department as a firefighter and paramedic. “That was the dedication I had from day one,” he said. As his 25 years as a firefighter came to an end Thursday, the last seven years as Kenai Fire Marshal, Wilcox started to reflect on his experiences and how the community has changed during his tenure. Wednesday night colleagues from all around the Kenai Peninsula celebrated Wilcox’s career at a retirement party at the Kenai Senior Center. Kenai Fire Chief Jeff Tucker said the department would miss his knowledge of the community and his fire investigative abilities. The leadership he has provided to the crew would be the hardest to replace, he said. “(Wilcox) has been successful in a unique position. Not many folks have as extensive knowledge in code enforcement as he does,” Tucker said. “He has made great connections in the community and good friends in the firehouse.” His career almost ended before it got started. On his 30th birthday, Wilcox woke up with a headache. By the end of the night he was in a coma. When he awoke two days later a decision had to be made to operate on a non-cancerous brain tumor. After three operations and several eye surgeries, Wilcox recovered and was back to work in two months. Wilcox replaced James Baisden, now the Nikiski Fire Chief, as Kenai Fire Marshal in 2007. He said his responsibilities shifted from fighting fires to investigating them as well as educating business owners on building code enforcement to keep people safe. He said since he took the job he has inspected more than 550,000 square feet of new commercial buildings in Kenai. See , page A-