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n Crowned
Shaken
Kenai Open golf tourney wraps up
Earthquake rattles northern California
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Nation/A-5
CLARION
Showers 61/48 More weather on Page A-2
P E N I N S U L A
MONDAY, AUGUST 25, 2014 Soldotna-Kenai, Alaska
Vol. 44, Issue 280
Question Are you excited for back-to-school time? n Yes! n I am, but my kids aren’t as enthusiastic. n No, summer went by too fast. 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 4 critically injured in North Slope plane crash
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ANCHORAGE (AP) — Alaska State Troopers say that four people were critically injured in a plane crash Sunday near the summit of Atigun Pass in the northern part of the state. Troopers say Alyeska Pipeline Service Company security guards first reported the crash about 1:45 p.m. Alaska State Troopers spokeswoman Beth Ipsen says the plane was reported to have crashed near mile 243.5 of the Dalton Highway. The four injured are believed to have been the only people onboard. The Alaska Dispatch News reports that it’s unclear if the injured passengers had been taken to a hospital Sunday evening. Ipsen says the crash happened in the North Slope Borough. Clint Johnson, the head of the National Transportation Safety Board’s Anchorage office, says the agency is investigating.
Correction In Friday’s story entitled, “Hunters advised to know regulations before taking shot” the date of a public hearing was incorrect. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will hold a public hearing on a proposed temporary closure of sport hunting of brown bears on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Wednesday from 6-9 p.m. at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex on Kalifornsky Beach Road. The Clarion regrets the error.
Index Opinion.................. A-4 Nation/World.......... A-5 Sports.....................A-6 Classifieds............. A-9 Comics................. A-16 Check us out online at www.peninsulaclarion.com To subscribe, call 283-3584.
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Vessel name honors slide victims
Taking it up a level KPC RAs build on experience
By KAYLEE OSOWSKI Peninsula Clarion
By KELLY SULLIVAN Peninsula Clarion
For the second year of Kenai Peninsula College Residence Hall resident advisor training, Associate Director of Residence Life Tammie Willis refined the series of exercises to meet the level of her advanced staff. Five of six RAs are returning, and the newest addition worked at the front desk last year, Willis said. After working in residence life as the first staff members at the one-yearold residence hall, the courses for the second round of training required some tweaking and specialization. The twelve days of training began August 8 with a six-hour instruction course on CPR. The awareness of this group is more advanced than the standard training covers for topics in relation to diversity, Willis said. They were hired already able to think on this higher level, she said. Willis said she constructed exercises aimed at helping the group identify the social issues they are most interested in and translating that into programs within the residence hall to assist other students in handling the specific demographics found in their peers KPC. She said two very specific ma-
Above, Kenai Peninsula College resident advisors Ashley Bell, Kirsten McBride and Joshuah Rutten go through CPR training August 8 at the school’s Soldotna campus. At left, Keevin Macik walks RAs through training. Photos by Kelly Sullivan/ Peninsula Clarion
See TRAIN, page A-8
A few months ago, a major event changed Natasha Huestis’ life. On March 22, a mudslide near Oso, Washington, claimed the lives of Huestis’ daughter and mother. Huestis’ story received national and worldwide media attention followed by an influx of sympathetic emails and Facebook messages as well as some not-so-desirable messages and queries. One person who reached out to Huestis was Gemey Glover, who lives in Marysville, Washington, which is south of Arlington, Washington, where Huestis lived with her mother, step-father and daughter. Glover put Huestis in touch with her son, Steve Attleson owner of ATEC Marine, located along Kalifornsky Beach Road. His business recently completed a 56-foot boat. During most of the year it took to construct the vessel, Attleson planned to name the boat after his mom, and, at first, Attleson said she was excited about the idea. A week later Glover called her son back and suggested that instead he do something to honor the searchers and victims of the mudslide. “And I thought, ‘Ya know, that is a better idea,’” he said. So he asked Huestis how she See VESSEL, page A-8
Coast Guard breaks ground on new housing By JULIE HERMANN Kodiak Daily Mirror
KODIAK (AP) — U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski helped break ground for a new Coast Guard Base Kodiak housing facility. Vice Admiral Charles Ray, the commander of the Coast Guard Pacific Area; Captain Jeffrey Westling, the commander of Coast Guard Base Kodiak and Lars Wagner, the housing project manager, joined in shoveling the dirt earlier this month. Admiral Paul Zukunft, the commandant of the entire Coast Guard, was planning to attend the ground breaking as well, however, he was sick and unable to make it. “With consistent occupancy of base housing at or near 99
percent, and limited three-bedroom housing units available for rent on the local economy, the construction of these new housing units is crucial for taking care of our families and maintaining frontline operational readiness,” Westling said. There are 406 other family housing units owned by the Coast Guard, and the new housing will add 10 duplexes, 20 three-bedroom homes, to that number. Tutor Perini Corporation, a general contractor, was awarded the contract for the building. It will cost $19.6 million and is expected to be completed in fall 2016, Westling said. Not only is housing needed for current families, Westling expects an increase in personnel in the future.
“Currently, we have a deficit in the housing that we do need for existing families, but with the Coast Guard’s continued commitment to Alaska and the 17th Coast Guard district, we’re expecting to continue to see an increase in Coast Guard presence,” Westling said. It’s a large project and it’s the only place new housing is being built for the Coast Guard. “It should demonstrate to you all that are here serving in Kodiak and doing some dangerous work and some hard work and most of you are a long ways from the rest of your family, how important we think Kodiak is,” Ray said. “There won’t be another new anything that approaches this in the Coast Guard in the next two or three years.”
AP Photo/Kodiak Daily Mirror, Julie Herrmann
This Aug. 14 photo shows from left, housing project manager Lars Wagner, Vice Admiral Charles Ray, commander of the Coast Guard Pacific Area, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Capt. Jeffrey Westling, commander of Coast Guard Base Kodiak, scooping up gravel at the groundbreaking ceremony for a new Coast Guard Base Kodiak housing facility.
Kenai man indicted Canadian outfit eyes new mine on sex abuse charges Canadian KETCHIKAN (AP) — A about the mine’s environmen- obtain permits, despite the recompany is mov- tal impact in light of the col- cent breach of the dam holdBy DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion
A Kenai man arrested by Alaska State Troopers in July on three counts of sexual abuse of a minor has been indicted on two additional sexual abuse charges committed against two additional victims. On Friday the Kenai Grand Jury charged Keith Roscoe
Bartman, 30, on three counts of sexual abuse of a minor in the second-degree, a class B felony and two counts of attempted sexual abuse of a minor in the second-degree, a class C felony. The Alaska Bureau of Investigations and Anchorage Police Department arrested Bartman in Anchorage on July 1 after a See CHARGE, page A-8
ing forward with plans for a new rare-earth metals mine at the end of Kendrick Bay on Prince of Wales Island, sending a team to drill and spending millions sampling rock and studying the area. The goal of Ucore’s team is to answer questions from investors and government officials, including concerns C
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lapse of a dam holding toxic mining waste in British Columbia this past month. The breach at the Mt. Polley Mine spilled millions of gallons of waste into pristine forest and waters. Ucore director of environment Randy MacGillivray said he remains optimistic the company will be able to
ing tailings — the leftovers of the rock extracted and milled at a mine. The incident was a huge disappointment, he said, but he was quick to point out that Ucore’s own tailings, if the mine moves forward, would be pumped back underground as it was being extracted. See MINE, page A-8