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CLARION
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P E N I N S U L A
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2014 Soldotna-Kenai, Alaska
Vol. 44, Issue 293
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
Health plan rate hikes OK’d
Question Would you like to see the borough implement limited animal control to address cases of abused or neglected animals? n Yes; or n 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.
By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
In the news Alaska, Japanese agencies sign agreement
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JUNEAU (AP) — State and Japanese agencies have agreed to keep the lines of communication open over a proposed mega-liquefied natural gas project. Alaska is pursuing the project with three major energy companies, TransCanada Corp. and the Alaska Gasline Development Corp. The intended market is Asia, and the nonbinding agreement signed Monday is aimed at strengthening ties with Japan. The “memorandum of cooperation” was signed by Alaska’s Natural Resources commissioner, Joe Balash, and a representative of Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Balash said the agency sets Japan’s energy policy and works closely with Japan’s utility market. The gas line project is in a phase of preliminary engineering and design. The companies behind it have said the project, as proposed, would be the largest of its kind ever designed and built.
Inside ‘Most of the runny noses out there are not going to be turning into this.’ ... See page A-5
Index Opinion.................. A-4 Nation/World.......... A-5 Sports.....................A-8 Classifieds........... A-10 Comics................. A-14 Pet Tails............... A-15 Check us out online at www.peninsulaclarion.com To subscribe, call 283-3584.
Photo by Kaylee Osowski/Peninsula Clarion
Jenna Hansen, 17, has been raising reindeer for three years in Nikiski. She organizes photo opportunities with her two reindeer, Scene of the Crash and Comet, to raise money for homeless youth. Hansen also teaches students about reindeer. At the Alaska State Fair in Palmer this summer, Hansen was awarded a $1,500 scholarship from the Summer of Heroes, a partnership program between Alaska Communications and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Alaska that recognizes youth performing community service projects.
Reindeer games
Nikiski teen recognized for community service By KAYLEE OSOWSKI Peninsula Clarion
It started with Scene of the Crash, or Crash for short. Next came Comet. If Jenna Hansen had her way, she jokes that she’d probably have a whole herd of reindeer. But for now the trio, along with some help from family and friends, makes an unusual team educating students and raising money for kids in need on the Ke-
nai Peninsula. At the Alaska State Fair, The Summer of Heroes program recognized Hansen for her community service and presented the 17 year old with a scholarship for $1,500. Alaska Communications and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Alaska are partners in the program, which recognizes youth heroes throughout the state. Along with the scholarship, this year’s six winners selected by a panel of judges, received a
trip to the Alaska State Fair in Palmer. About a month ago Hansen started picking up clues that her older sister nominated her for the award. She found the nomination essay in her truck and there were missed phone calls for her mom from Alaska Communications. Eventually everything came together when her sister told her she was a finalist for the Summer of Heroes and then her mom told her she got her first scholarship. See SERVICE, page A-7
JUNEAU — The Alaska Division of Insurance has approved rate increases of up to 40 percent for individuals who bought health insurance plans through the federally run online marketplace. Roughly 10,000 Alaskans receive federal subsidies to help pay their premiums, and increases for those individuals are expected to be largely offset by their subsidies, division director Lori Wing-Heier said Monday. The greatest impact is expected for roughly 6,000 Alaskans who do not receive subsidies. That figure includes Alaskans who bought insurance outside the marketplace. About 13,000 Alaskans signed up for coverage through the exchange. There are two providers on the exchange — Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield and Moda Health. Wing-Heier said the filings of insurers outside the marketplace are not yet complete. Under the law, she said, the filings are considered confidential until their effective date of Jan. 1, 2015. The division announced the rate increases in a press release last week, blaming the federal See HIKE, page A-7
Tobacco store owner pleads guilty to fraud By DAN JOLING Associated Press
ANCHORAGE — A woman at the center of a tobacco-tax conspiracy that avoided paying municipal tax on more than 12.5 million cigarettes has pleaded guilty to charges of mail fraud, money laundering and making false statements. Sun Sims will forfeit more than $1.2 million as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors announced at a change-of-
plea hearing on Friday. The government will recommend a sentence of five years’ probation when she is sentenced Nov. 25. She could also be required to make a restitution payment. “That will be something the court ultimately decides,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephan Collins. Sims, 52, is one of eight defendants in the case. The other cases are pending, Collins said. According to the indictment
filed July 18, 2013, Sims and Michael Butler were owners of three businesses that sold tobacco. One, Up in Smoke, was in Anchorage. The other two were Golden Eagle Tobacco in Kenai and Longmere Lake Grocery and Liquor near Sterling. The municipality of Anchorage charges an excise tax on cigarettes sold within city limits. Wholesalers collect the tax. According to prosecutors, Sims and Butler bought ciga-
rettes and said they would be sold at the two stores on the Kenai Peninsula, avoided the excise tax, and instead sold them at their Anchorage store. Sims and Butler also resold the cigarettes to five other store owners who paid a fee for getting the smokes that avoided the excise tax, according to the indictment. After collecting payment from the other retailers, Sims and her partner would convert the money into cashier’s checks
in the name of the two Kenai Peninsula stores, prosecutors said, and then use the cashier’s checks to buy more tax-exempt cigarettes that were delivered to the other retailers. Sims agreed to forfeit $1,214,402 and 500 1-ounce silver coins. The charges covered 2009 through Oct. 10, 2012. Butler’s attorney, Randall Cavanaugh, said Monday it’s his office’s policy not to comment on pending litigation.
Five men charged State officials confirm first in prostitution case mumps case since 1995 By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion
Five men have been charged with engaging in prostitution linked to a sex trafficking case that involved a Kenai massage business. The charges are a result of a 2012 investigation by the Kenai Police Department of a prostitution ring organized by Karen Carpenter, who operated Gifted Hands Massage on Attla Way in Kenai. According to a Sept. 5 press release from the Alaska Department of Law, Pat Hill, 59, of Soldotna, Dan Brown, 52, of Kasilof, Justin Morris, 29, of Kenai, Michael Dimmik, 72, of
Kenai, and Jason Moore, 34, of Anchorage, have been charged with prostitution for offering money in exchange for sexual contact. The men are scheduled to be arraigned in Kenai District Court today. Last November, a jury found Carpenter, 51, guilty on two counts of second-degree sex trafficking for running an enterprise and procuring customers, and three counts of third-degree sex trafficking for running a place of prostitution, accepting proceeds and facilitating prostitution. Carpenter was sentenced to three years in prison with 720 See CHARGE, page A-7
FAIRBANKS (AP) — A 50-year-old Alaska woman contracted mumps in July, the first confirmed case within the state in a decade. The woman on July 11 went to see a doctor after she suffered headaches, jaw pain and trismus, which can mean lockjaw or muscle spasms in the jaw, the Fairbanks Daily NewsMiner reported Monday. The Alaska Section of Epidemiology tested samples and confirmed the presence of mumps virus. Fewer than 500 people in the United States contract mumps each year, and AlasC
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ka’s previous outbreak was in 1995. It’s a communicable illness that is largely preventable with a vaccine. The disease can lead to complications that included meningitis, encephalitis and loss of hearing. Severe complications in recent years are rare, according to the Section of Epidemiology, and are more often seen in adults than children. The virus is most communicable three days before and after the patient begins to experience jaw tightness or spasms. It can be transferred as much as seven days before
the inflammation of salivary glands and two weeks after. The woman diagnosed with mumps had just returned from a trip to Japan, where she had chaperoned students. During the trip June 6 to 26, she stayed with a host family in which a girl had been diagnosed with mumps five days before the group left. The woman told health officials she thought she had received the mumps, measles and rubella vaccination as a child. She did not have a record of the vaccination. No one else on the trip were affected.