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CLARION
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P E N I N S U L A
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2014 Soldotna-Kenai, Alaska
Vol. 44, Issue 287
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
Assembly to talk property purchase for CPH
Question Who is your preferred candidate for governor? n Sean Parnell (Republican) n Byron Mallott (Democrat) n Bill Walker (Non-affiliated) n J.R. Myers (Alaska Constitution) n Carolyn F. Clift (Libertarian) 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.
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In the news Heavy rain in the Interior Alaska forecast FAIRBANKS — The city of Fairbanks has already endured its rainiest summer on record, and a turn of the calendar to September just means more of the same. A National Weather Service advisory for Monday says a weather system bearing wind and heavy rain is heading into Interior Alaska from the northwest. Heavy rain is in the forecast from the Nulato Hills east to the Fairbanks area and along the Alaska Range. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports the heaviest rain is expected to fall between Fairbanks and Denali National Park and Preserve. The Chena, Little Chena and Chatanika rivers are expected to rise sharply on Tuesday. Other streams in the mountains and Denali area are also expected to rise, with flooding possible. Rock and mudslides may occur in steep terrain. — The Associated Press
By KAYLEE OSOWSKI Peninsula Clarion
Photo by Dan Balmer/Peninsula Clarion
Kenai resident Barb Eagle guides her corgi, Flush, through a jumping course at the Kenai Kennel Club agility trials Monday at the Kenai Little League Fields. Nearly 100 dogs of various sizes and breeds competed in the three-day competition over Labor Day weekend.
Run, jump, climb Dogs compete at Kenai Kennel Club Agility Trials By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion
The Kenai Little League Fields went to the dogs over Labor Day weekend. Nearly 100 energetic dogs and their enthusiastic owners from all over the state put their canine’s athleticism and obedience to the test at the Kenai Kennel Club Agility Trials, a three-day event that concluded Monday in Kenai. Following the cues of their handler, dogs ran through a timed obstacle course full of jumps, tun-
Opinion.................. A-4 Nation/World.......... A-5 Sports.....................A-7 Classifieds............. A-9 Comics................. A-12 Pets......................A-13
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with a long bodies and short legs. Two of her dogs, Flush and Vash, participated in the agility trials. “Corgis are a herding breed and they tend to not run away but stick close to my side,” Eagle said. “Flush isn’t the best jumper so we go through it gracefully and get out. It is all about having fun.” Soldotna resident Linda Jacobsen didn’t let her trouble walking stop her from competing with her dog Trace. Jacobsen stopped seven years ago when knee probSee TRIALS, page A-6
See CPH, page A-6
Mat-Su officials to meet with feds over ferry bill By ELWOOD BREHMER Morris News Service-Alaska Alaska Journal of Commerce
Matanuska-Susitna Borough officials are prepping for negotiations with the U.S. Transportation Department to resolve $12.3 million the borough owes the feds for its failed ferry plan. In all, the Mat-Su Borough received $21.2 million from the Federal Transit Administration
from three grants awarded between 2002 and 2009 to jumpstart ferry service across Knik Arm between Port MacKenzie and Anchorage. Mat-Su Manager John Moosey said at a special Aug. 21 assembly meeting that he discussed the bind the borough is in with Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx in person when Foxx visited Alaska in early August. He said Foxx invited borough officials to
meet with DOT leadership in Washington, D.C., in the coming weeks to negotiate a settlement. Of the $12.3 million the borough spent on the project, $3.6 million was on a passenger terminal at Port MacKenzie and other funds were used to help pay for construction and outfitting of the 195-foot Susitna, which was turned over to the borough shortly after construction.
The U.S. Navy footed most of the $78 million bill for the Susitna, a prototype military landing craft. Assemblyman Jim Sykes said in an interview that borough leaders discussed possible legal solutions to try and force a settlement during an executive session Aug. 12, but largely figured challenging the federal government would be a losing battle. Mat-Su attorney Nicholas
Spiropoulos said the current Sept. 5 deadline for payment stands in the way of negotiations. “One of the first things we’re going to address (with FTA) is we need an extension to have a dialogue,” Spiropoulos said. If the borough ends up paying an interest penalty, it would likely be between 1 percent and 3 percent, depending on applicable market rates. Multiple See BILL, page A-6
US trained Alaskans as citizen agents By ROBERT BURNS AP National Security Writer
Index
nels and weave poles. From speedy Australian shepherds and border collies to dachshunds and poodles a variety of working class and toy class were represented. After each dog and owner ran through the course, which ended with one final hurdle, the crowd offered applause and the owner praised the dog. Kenai resident Barb Eagle, who has participated for seven years, said the competition is more about bonding with her dogs and having fun. Eagle owns six Pembroke Welsh corgis, small herding dogs
Central Peninsula Hospital is looking to acquire some land adjacent to its current campus. The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly will decide Tuesday whether to give the final stamp of approval to move forward with purchasing the parcel at its current assessed value of $134,300 plus no more than $1,500 in closing costs. The property at 146 West Corral Avenue in Soldotna went up for sale in June and the CPH Board of Directors approved a resolution to purchase the property later in the same month. In August the borough Planning Commission passed a motion recommending the assembly approve the acquisition. A one-story, 960-square foot home sits on the 0.31-acre parcel, which is located to the southeast of the main hospital building. It is zoned for limited commercial use, which according to the ordinance the assembly will consider, is appropriate for hospital-related uses. Hospital CEO Rick Davis said as properties on West Corral Avenue have become available, the borough has been purchasing some of them for future expansion. “We don’t make very good neighbors; we make a lot of noise,” Davis said about the hospital. The last parcel purchased
WASHINGTON — Fearing a Russian invasion and occupation of Alaska, the U.S. government in the early Cold War years recruited and trained fishermen, bush pilots, trappers and other private citizens across Alaska for a covert network to feed wartime intelligence to the military, newly declassified Air Force and FBI documents show. Invasion of Alaska? Yes. It seemed like a real possibility in 1950. “The military believes that it would be an airborne invasion involving bombing and the dropping of paratroopers,” one FBI memo said. The most likely targets were thought to be Nome, Fairbanks, Anchor-
age and Seward. So FBI director J. Edgar Hoover teamed up on a highly classified project, code-named “Washtub,” with the newly created Air Force Office of Special Investigations, headed by Hoover protege and former FBI official Joseph F. Carroll. The secret plan was to have citizen-agents in key locations in Alaska ready to hide from the invaders of what was then only a U.S. territory. The citizenagents would find their way to survival caches of food, coldweather gear, message-coding material and radios. In hiding they would transmit word of enemy movements. This was not civil defense of the sort that became common later in the Cold War as Americans built their own bomb shel-
Stopping to smell the flowers
Photo by Kelly Sullivan/ Peninsula Clarion
Hadessah Parkki and her mother Heather Parkki and sister Leia Parkki stopped near the Kenai Spur Highway after school to pick the variety of wildflowers blooming, Friday in Kenai.
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