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Pigskin
Leave preconceptions at the door for this one
Prognosticators try to pick NFL Week 6
Arts & Entertainment/B-1
Football/A-9
CLARION
Showers 42/36 More weather on Page A-2
P E N I N S U L A
Vol. 45, Issue 8
Question When do you think the central Kenai Peninsula will receive its first measurable snowfall? n Any day now n By Halloween n Not until November — or later 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.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2014 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
Parnell, Walker joust at forum Audience hears from Myers, Clift By KAYLEE OSOWSKI Peninsula Clarion
While one candidate reminded voters that they have four options for governor, two opponents spent some time during a Wednesday debate trying to discredit one another. Independent candidate Bill Walker said in discussing the budget during the race, he has been under attack by Gov. Sean Parnell’s campaign. “We need to put all the projects on the table, all the issues on the table,” Walker said. “I was recently called out about why would I not make a deci-
sion about the road to Juneau.” “I’m not sure it’s being under attack when I point out that Bill Walker’s plan for cutting the budget is reducing 16 percent in one year and then asking him for the plan on how that gets allocated,” Parnell said. “That’s what he’s calling an attack.” Parnell, a Republican, said Walker has said education is on the table for cuts, but has also talked about increasing funding to education. “You cannot have it both ways,” Parnell said. “You have a governor with a track record of working to spend less.” Walker said Parnell is mis-
quoting him and that the 16 percent in cuts would be over a period of time, or revenue would need to be increased. “I didn’t create this mess,” Walker said. “Governor Parnell’s administration created the largest deficit we ever had. I get criticized because I’m not doing enough to articulate how I’m going to clean up his mess.” J.R. Myers, an Alaska Constitution Party candidate, and Carolyn Clift, Libertarian, are Photo by Kaylee Osowski/Peninsula Clarion also running — as Myers re- From right Carolyn Clift, Libertarian; Gov. Sean Parnell, Reminded a full house at the joint publican; J.R. Myers, Alaska Constitution; and Bill Walker, indeKenai and Soldotna Chambers pendent, participate in a gubernatorial forum at the Soldotna See FORUM, page A-10 Regional Sports Complex on Wednesday.
Officers look for tips on Nikiski crime
In the news Foster son charged in death of radio host C
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ANCHORAGE (AP) — The 16-year-old foster son of a longtime Anchorage radio host has been charged with his murder. Peter John Henry has been charged as an adult in the shooting death of Marvell Johnson, 64. Johnson’s body was found in his bedroom, The Alaska Dispatch News reported. Johnson for nearly 40 years was host of “Soul to Soul,” a music show on a public radio station. The boy was angered that Johnson had grounded him for using Spice, a synthetic drug, and had taken the charger to his vapor cigarette, police said. The youth shot Johnson and staged a robbery scene by taking cash and leaving an empty wallet in front of the home, police said. Henry threatened to kill another youth if he didn’t help destroy evidence, police said.
By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion
Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion
Brandon Sorhus, senior at Kenai Central High School, looks at a wall of equipment in the package control module of the Soldotna Combustion Turbine Plant Wednesday in Soldotna. The Homer Electric Association hosted tours of its newest plant for several hours Wednesday.
HEA showcases newest plant By RASHAH McCHESNEY Peninsula Clarion
Inside ‘They don’t know what they don’t know. They don’t understand the sophistication of these attacks.’ ... See page B-5
Index Opinion.................. A-4 Business................ A-5 Nation/World.......... A-6 Sports.....................A-7 Arts........................ B-1 Classifieds............. B-3 Comics................... B-7 Check us out online at www.peninsulaclarion.com To subscribe, call 283-3584.
From the Sterling Highway, it is nearly impossible to hear the low hum of the Homer Electric Association’s combustion turbine plant over the steady roar of highway traffic just north of Soldotna. But, with each step closer to the building that houses the 63,000-horsepower turbine, the noise increases to the point that even shouting become inaudible; the sound of traffic fades and the powerful roar accompanied by a teeth-chattering rumble of the company’s newest power
generation facility becomes unmistakable. For several hours Wednesday, staff from HEA took community members on tours of its new backup facility. When the plant was brought online on March 30, it became the latest in a series of backups built into the HEA’s system — designed to fill in when the company’s main generation plant in Nikiski goes down. Since Jan. 1, 2014 when the company began generating its own power, it has primarily used the Nikiski Combined Cycle Plant — which features steam and natural gas turbines that can produce a total
of 80 megawatts of power at a time — and a percentage of the state’s Bradley Lake Hydroelectric project — a plant whose power generation is shared by six state utilities — to power the Kenai Peninsula. But, sometimes the company’s primary power sources cannot keep up with the demand. “We have planned outages and we have unplanned outages,” said HEA Director of Power, Fuels and Dispatch Harvey Ambrose. “Yet you always have to have the lights on. I don’t think the people on the peninsula would be too happy if we said, ‘You know,
we’ve got to take a six-week outage, no electricity for six weeks.’ Our demand is identical whether Nikiski is running or not.” To deal with the potential disruption in service, HEA uses the Soldotna-based power plant and the Bernice Lake power plant in North Kenai, to contribute megawatts when necessary. One of the first tours of the morning, led by HEA power plant superintendent Jim Kingrey, included more than a dozen students from Kenai Central High School. While the students wore identical See LIGHT, page A-10
The rise of property crimes in Nikiski has left many residents on edge and more alert about what has taken place in their community the last two months. Rumors of a man shot in an attempted burglary Tuesday night were false, said Alaska State Trooper Kevin Vik. Troopers responded to a report of gunshots fired outside a residence on Miller Loop Tuesday. But, rather than the reports of a violent crime which circulated on social media, the incident was an unsuccessful suicide attempt, said trooper spokesperson Megan Peters. Since mid-September, law enforcement agencies have arrested 13 people in connection to theft and drug charges. From Nikiski to Kasilof combined efforts from troopers, Kenai Police and Soldotna Police have led to the recovery of five stolen vehicles, four truckloads of stolen property and three vehicles impounded pending search warrants, according to a trooper dispatch. “We have sent a lot of people to Wildwood lately,” said Soldotna Trooper Sgt. James Truesdell. “We can’t promise how long they will be there.” At a Nikiski Community Council meeting Monday, a committee of 13 community members was formed to discuss ways to address the recent See NIKISKI, page A-10
School district seeks public input on budget By KAYLEE OSOWSKI Peninsula Clarion
It’s time to consider costs and cuts. Parents, staff, members of the community and elected officials are invited to attend a Kenai Peninsula Borough School District budget meeting, which will be held via online video conferencing at 6 p.m. today at multiple schools across the district. It is the first step in the process of developing the fiscal
year 2016 budget. “What we’re trying to do is get the public and our parents engaged in the budget process and informed and give then the opportunity to have input into what they would like to see happen in our district,” said Assistant Superintendent Dave Jones. The district again expects to face a deficit, but Jones said the administration is unsure how large the deficit will be. By changing the pupil-teach-
er ratio to cut staff and using health care fund balance, the administration reduced an $8.2 million deficit to a $4.5 million deficit in the FY15 budget. Jones said without any additional revenue, staff cuts could be considered again. The budget called for the closure of a pool due to the Soldotna schools reconfiguration, which transformed Skyview High School to Skyview Middle School. However, after hearing much public interest in C
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keeping the pool open, funding was reinstated for the year. The district is evaluating pool use to determine the future of the facility. “Part of what we’re hoping people recognize out there is that additions in one area will mean reductions in another,” he said. While the passage of House Bill 278 by lawmakers in the last legislative session and additional funding from the borough assembly helped to close
the $4.5 million gap for the FY15 budget, it didn’t close it all the way. The district still had some money from the district’s fund balance. Jones said the district has been using fund balance money for the past few years, but he doesn’t have the final figures for how much fund balance remains in the district’s account. He said the amount will be available soon. “We really want to avoid any See BUDGET, page A-10