C
M
Y
K
In charge
NLCS
Students get lesson in government
Cardinals level series with Giants
Schools/B-1
Sports/A-8
CLARION
Partly sunny 50/30 More weather on Page A-2
P E N I N S U L A
Vol. 45, Issue 11
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.
In the news
MONDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2014 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Judge strikes down marriage ban State will appeal court’s decision on same-sex marriage By MARK THIESSEN Associated Press
ANCHORAGE — A federal judge on Sunday struck down Alaska’s firstin-the-nation ban on gay marriages, the latest court decision in a busy week for the issue. The state of Alaska will begin ac-
cepting those applications first thing Monday morning, Phillip Mitchell, with the state Department of Vita Statistics, told The Associated Press in an email. Alaska has a three-day waiting period between between applications and marriage ceremonies. The late Sunday afternoon decision caught many people off guard. No ral-
lies were immediately planned, but some plaintiffs celebrated over drinks at an Anchorage bar. Matthew Hamby, who along with his husband Christopher Shelden was one of five couples to sue, was “just have drinks with friends, enjoying it.” He said he was “elated” U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Burgess sided with
C
M
Y
K
Inside ‘There was a breach in protocol, and that breach in protocol resulted in this infection.’ ... See page A-5
Pike eradication underway
Check us out online at www.peninsulaclarion.com To subscribe, call 283-3584.
See COURT, page A-12
By TIM BRADNER Morris News Service-Alaska/
Above: Alaska Department of Fish and Game Area Management Biologist Robert Begich nets a dead northern pike out of East Mackey Lake on Wednesday in Soldotna. Left: Several agencies teamed up with Fish and Game as it treated four lakes in the Soldotna Creek drainage. At left, researchers mix the fishkilling rotenone before it is pumped into East Mackey Lake.
Fish and Game begins work on Mackey Lakes system
T
hey couldn’t have timed it better. As the last of the interagency team of invasive northern pike killers stepped off of the Derks Lake on Thursday, it began to snow in Soldotna. If all goes according to plan the fish killing piscicide rotenone will work its way through each of the four lakes treated by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, its degradation slowed by the coming winter. When it breaks down completely, it will leave behind pristine, but empty, waters to be restocked with native fish in the coming years. The state agency moved quickly after getting the final approval for the extensive project which, when completed, will be the eighth and largest pike killing proj-
A northern pike dies inside of a bucket as Fish and Game staff net the dead and dying fish.
ect to-date in the state. It will take four years and more than $1 million in both state and grant funding, but if the plan
succeeds, the Soldotna Creek Drainage should be free of northern pike by 2018. As dozens of personnel in bright yellow hazardous materials suits crossed East Mackey lake on Wednesday, Area Management Biologist Robert Begich and Assistant Area Management Biologist Jason Pawluk sat in a boat netting dead pike that floated to the surface. “We’ve not picked up any other kind of fish,” Begich said. The rotenone is being applied in two forms, powder and liquid. Both compounds have to be mixed with the lake water, as the chemical is not very water soluble, before they’re applied. Several boats on the lake apply the poison and
Story and photos by Rashah McChesney
Index Opinion.................. A-4 Nation.................... A-5 World..................... A-6 Police reports......... A-7 Sports.....................A-8 Schools.................. B-1 Classifieds............. B-3 Comics................... B-8
them, and he planned to among the first in line to apply for a license Monday. “This is just an amazing day for Alaska. We’re just so fortunate that so many have fought for equality for so long — I mean, decades,” said Susan Tow, who along with her wife, Chris Laborde, were among couples who sought to
Alaska crude prices drop
Flights briefly grounded after threat ANCHORAGE (AP) — Officials at Anchorage’s international airport say flights were briefly grounded after someone called in a threat. KTUU reports that the Saturday night incident is being investigated by the FBI and other authorities. KTVA says someone was taken into custody in connection with the call. Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport general manager John Parrott says the caller “appeared to be somewhat impaired.” Parrott says someone called Anchorage police dispatchers shortly after 9 p.m. Saturday and said the next plane departing would explode. He says no particular airport or airline was mentioned. Parrott says federal authorities grounded all flights at the airport for about 20 minutes. According to Parrott, individual airlines made the decision on whether to stay grounded or to take off.
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
See PIKE, page A-12
Alaska Journal of Commerce
Bogged down in multipleyear, multi-billion dollar state budget deficits, Alaskans have been nervously watching North Slope oil production and hoping for an uptick. They’ve largely forgotten about oil prices, the other side of the state oil revenue equation. The news is not good, at least for the budget. For consumers, however, it’s good news because it means lower fuel prices, although those prices are usually “sticky,” meaning they don’t fall as quickly as crude oil. Alaska North Slope crude oil prices have been declining steadily since July, from about $111 per barrel in early July to about $91 per barrel on Oct. 3. A drop in oil prices costs the state treasury in lost revenue, state Revenue Commissioner Angela Rodell says, and this would basically add to the expected $1.4 billion budget deficit that is projected for the fiscal year. That estimate of the deficit assumes a $104 per barrel average price for fiscal year 2015, which began July 1. However, some good news is that state revenues are better off under the state’s new oil production tax, the More Alaska Production Act upheld by voters in the Aug. 19 primary, than they would have been under the previous state oil tax, known as ACES. “We are much better protected under MAPA than we would have been at these oil prices,” Rodell said. MAPA has a fixed tax rate of 35 percent while the tax rate under ACES fluctuated with changes in oil values and See DROP, page A-12
Amazing competition By KELLY SULLIVAN Peninsula Clarion
From Seward, to Hope, Nikiski and Homer, 48 teams from across the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District convened in the auditorium at Soldotna Prep School Saturday afternoon with one common objective — to win this year’s Mind Amazes competition. For weeks the groups ranging from three to four members have been tweaking and modifying designs for the LongTerm Problem portion of the
competition. The students created aerodynamic contraptions scored on how straight the device could travel and how far it could move with only wind to propel it. Gabriel Miller, a member of The Sci-Fighters from Ninilchik School, had to fold in half the massive red sail that guided his team’s wheeled boat-like system just to get through the school’s double doors. Brian Bailey, an organizer for this year’s event, said the annual competition teaches some very important skills to
the participants. Communication and problem solving are the main two, but he has taught his own students to learn how to be unafraid of fear. “I think it actually helps to experience failure,” Bailey said. “But the students do get very competitive about it.” When the competitor is not worried about the final outcome, they think more creatively, Bailey said. They are less Photo by Kelly Sullivan/ Peninsula Clarion afraid to take risks. Gabriel Miller, a member of The Sci-Fighters from Ninilchik Two awards in the final School that competed in the Mind A-Mazes carries his team’s See MIND, page A-12 Long-Term Problem structure Saturday. C
M
Y
K