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Curious
Volley
New boutique has something for all
Kenai netters take on Palmer
Business/A-5
Sports/A-10
CLARION
Sunny 56/35 More weather on Page A-2
P E N I N S U L A
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2014 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 44, Issue 307
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
Sports center tops priority list
Question Have you ever needed assistance to feed your family? n Yes, extended family or friends helped me out; n Yes, I received help from a non-profit or public agency; 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.
In the news New totem poles set to be raised in Juneau C
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JUNEAU (AP) — Sealaska Heritage Institute is among sponsors of an upcoming ceremony to raise two totem poles carved for a building in the Indian village of Juneau. The totems are replacing original poles that had deteriorated and become safety issues. The pole raising ceremony is scheduled to take place at 11:30 a.m. Monday at the Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall in Juneau. The carvers are brothers Joe and T.J. Young, who began the work last year. They also created a replacement house screen — a painted, decorated panel that sits between the totem poles. Sealaska Heritage officials say the screen has been installed. Sealaska Heritage Institute is the nonprofit cultural and educational arm of Juneau-based Sealaska Corp., a regional Native corporation that donated the yellow cedar logs that the poles were carved on.
Inside ‘The only language understood by killers like this is the language of force.’ ... See page A-6
Index Opinion.................. A-4 Business................ A-5 Nation/World.......... A-6 Sports.....................A-9 Arts........................ B-1 Classifieds............. B-3 Comics................... B-7 Check us out online at www.peninsulaclarion.com To subscribe, call 283-3584.
Soldotna seeks funding for complex expansion By KELLY SULLIVAN Peninsula Clarion
ing in Connecticut, Begich did not bow to pressure, even from within his own party, to support tighter background checks for buyers and a ban on assault weapons. That legislation ultimately failed. Begich said there should be a focus on improving mental health care rather than new gun control measures. “That certainly didn’t go unnoticed by gun owners all across the country,” Arulanandam said. Begich and Sullivan have both touted their support for the Second Amendment during the campaign. A new Sullivan ad features Elaina Spraker, who is
The City of Soldotna is drafting plans for its 2016 fiscal year legislative priorities, which will be finalized early this fall. If the city council passes the priorities resolution at its next regular meeting, Oct. 15, the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex Expansion will be the city’s top priority. The project would include a renovation of the existing facility and the total cost, originally estimated at $17 million, is now closer to $10.4 million, City Manager Mark Dixson said. Soldotna will only be requesting funding for $5.9 million of the project cost from the state, according to the priorities draft City Engineer Kyle Kornelis presented at a public work session Wednesday. “We’re ahead of the game, and trying to be proactive,” said Kornelis. “The city is eagerly seeking state funding to make it a reality.” Council member Linda Murphy said the governor doesn’t normally put money in for municipalities’ capital projects, but if there is a resolution that includes “big ticket” items, such
See NRA, page A-12
See CITY, page A-12
Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion
Autumn sun
The sun sets over a clearing near Skyline Drive Wednesday in Soldotna. Tuesday’s autumnal equinox marked the first day of fall. The Kenai Peninsula will see slightly more than 12 hours of daylight today, with sunrise at 7:55 a.m. and sunset at 7:56 p.m.
NRA won’t endorse Senate race By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
JUNEAU — The National Rifle Association has decided to not endorse in Alaska’s U.S. Senate race, with a spokesman saying Wednesday that Democratic Sen. Mark Begich’s support of two Supreme Court nominees opposed by the group cost him that endorsement. The announcement came after the group’s political arm reported in recent filings with the Federal Election Commission that it made ad buys in several prominent U.S. Senate races across the country, including Colorado and North Carolina.
In Alaska, the NRA gave Begich an A-minus rating and his Republican challenger Dan Sullivan an A-q. The Begich “q’’ means the grade is qualified because Sullivan has no voting record, NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said. Grades in those cases are based, in part, on answers provided in questionnaires. Sullivan, a former state attorney general and Natural Resources commissioner, is making his first run for public office.
Arulanandam said Begich would have gotten a higher grade and the NRA’s endorsement if he had not Sullivan voted for President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominees, Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor. Both were opposed by the NRA. On gun votes, Begich has stood with NRA members 100 percent of the time, Arulanandam said. He noted, for example, that after a deadly school shoot-
Report finds fewer government jobs in Juneau JUNEAU (AP) — Government jobs in Juneau are decreasing while private sector jobs are on the rise, though the largest growth area tends to be in lower-paying positions, according to a new report. The Juneau Economic Development Council’s 2014 Economic Indicators and Outlook found the leisure and hospitality field, which includes tourism,
restaurants and hotels, to be one of the city’s growth areas. The cutoff between a lowpaying and moderate-paying job, adjusted for Alaska’s cost of living, is $13.50 an hour. Local and tribal government jobs fell by 6 percent during the last decade in contrast with Juneau’s 6-percent increase in population. Federal civilian jobs are among the best-paying
in the capital city, but there are fewer of those positions. State jobs were down a bit during the past decade, while Anchorage and Fairbanks have seen in increase in state jobs, the Juneau Empire reported. Government remains the biggest employer in Juneau. The city has seen a relatively low unemployment rate and a large number of non-resident
workers. Researcher Eva Bornstein sees opportunities either in hiring local residents for jobs that often might go to nonresidents or in attracting seasonal workers to become a permanent part of Juneau’s workforce. One challenge with that, though, is housing. Juneau has a chronically low vacancy rate, and the new housing units built over the past decade have barely kept up
with the growth in population. “We are treading water,” the council’s executive director, Brian Holst, told Juneau Assembly members this week. The cost of living and health care are higher than the national average. Heating costs are also higher than the national average, but other Alaska communities — particularly in rural areas — are hit much harder.
Study finds lack of marine LNG infrastructure, regs By ELWOOD BREHMER Morris News Service-Alaska/ Alaska Journal of Commerce
A U.S. Maritime Administration study released this month found that the country is ill prepared for large vessels converting from traditional heavy diesel fuel to liquefied natural gas. Improvements in training and regulatory oversight must be made if there is a sea change to LNG as the maritime industry tries to meet new environmental requirements. The four-part, 156-page report states that there are gaps in standardized regulations for bunkering, or fueling, LNGpowered vessels as well as for emergency preparedness and
response requirements, vapor gas management, and inspection requirements. Domestic standards for technical design are also lacking, according to the report. “Among the list of gaps, one of the most important to ensure the widespread adoption of LNG-fueled ships is clear and risk-informed requirements for non-self-propelled bunker barges,” the authors wrote. The report concluded that ship-to-ship refueling is the preferred option for the quantities of LNG needed to supply large vessels. Regulatory vacuums largely exist regarding the transfer of LNG from shoreside facilities or non-navigable waters to navigable U.S. waterways and
performing LNG fueling operations while on a navigable waterway, too. The regulatory improvements would help shape the arrangement of the fueling infrastructure in the U.S., of which there is little, the study suggests. Northern Europe is one region of the world where LNG is a common large vessel fuel. During a speech at a recent industry conference, Federal Maritime Commissioner William Doyle said the cost and environmental benefits of LNG as fuel cannot be ignored, particularly because the country is flush with natural gas as a result of the shale energy boom. “Based on the current forecasts, natural gas delivered for See LNG, page A-12 C
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Alaska Journal of Commerce file photo
The M/V Midnight Sun owned by Totem Ocean Trailer Express Inc. is seen at the Port of Tacoma. The company plans to convert its sister ships the Midnight Sun and the M/V North Star to LNG in 2016 and 2017, but a new report finds that lack of infrastructure and regulations could hamper widespread use in the shipping industry.