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CLARION
A little rain 44/30 More weather on Page A-2
P E N I N S U L A
MONDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2014 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 45, Issue 17
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
Roller rink goes to the dogs
Question Do you agree with a federal judge’s decision to overturn Alaska’s ban on same-sex marriage? n Yes 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.
Indoor dog walk to open in Soldotna By KELLY SULLIVAN Peninsula Clarion
In the news State lays claim to land along refuge boundary
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ANCHORAGE (AP) — The state is seeking conveyance of nearly 20,000 acres on the western boundary of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The state says the lands were requested under the Alaska Statehood Act and Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. But Gov. Sean Parnell says the federal government has been improperly drawing the boundary. In a release, Parnell says his administration began a review of the boundary after the Department of Natural Resources received bids for oil and gas tracts in the area in 2011. He says conveyance will bring the acreage under state control for oil and gas exploration. Maureen Clark, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, told APRN the agency received the state’s request and was checking if the issue was the subject of prior litigation.
Inside ‘We believe that we should continue to work together to deepen our mutual trust and to put our efforts to major areas of cooperation.’ ... See page A-5
Index Opinion.................. A-4 Nation/World.......... A-5 Sports.....................A-6 Schools.................. B-1 Classifieds............. B-3 Comics................... B-6
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about $23 per mcf, the tourism company spent about $228,000 to heat the lodge, which it keeps warm while business is closed during winter. Burning fuel oil while customers are absent would be “ferociously expensive,” Garcia said. At $4 per gallon, the energy equivalent for fuel oil is roughly $30 per mcf, meaning the lodge operators saved more than 23 percent on their heating bill, when $4 per gallon fuel oil would have cost them $286,000. Garcia said the original plan for the lodge was to be ready
For the first time in years the old Soldotna roller rink will have tenants — specifically of the canine variety. Mike and Ellen Adlam, owners of the Blue Moose Bed and Biscuit dog daycare and boarding facilities, will be constructing an indoor dog walking track in the heart of downtown Soldotna. Ellen Adlam said they plan open the new facility by mid-January 2015. The Adlams will be able to expand on their current care program, which has 600 regular clients, Ellen Adlam said. The building is located on Lovers Lane in Soldotna, near PJ’s Diner and Riverside Assisted Living. The indoor dog track is unique to the Peninsula, Ellen Adlam said. It will offer locals a safe daycare not only to drop off their pets, but a place to spend time with them indoors in the winter months. “It would probably make more sense to tell you what businesses we can’t help with our program,” Ellen Adlam said. “There are so many groups who can benefit from this new
See GAS, page A-10
See DOGS, page A-10
Photo by Kelly Sullivan/ Peninsula Clarion
Pumpkin pics
Annie Massey, Secretary for the Kalifornsky Beach Elementary PTA, had a line for families wanting photos for two straight hours during the school’s first “Pumpkins in the Playground,” event Thursday at Kalifornsky Beach Elementary in Soldotna. For more, see page B-1.
Forward-thinking pays off Lodge benefits from investing in LNG infrastructure By ELWOOD BREHMER Morris News Service-Alaska/ Alaska Journal of Commerce
Could the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge be a model for other businesses in other areas of the state without coveted natural gas infrastructure? The liquefied natural gas supplier to CIRI Alaska Tourism’s expansive luxury resort thinks so. “When you have a location that has enough energy usage that you can justify the capital expense and results in a savings compared to the alternative then there’s a potential for that
to take place,” Fairbanks Natural Gas President and CEO Dan Britton said. The Cook Inlet Region Inc. subsidiary built the 212-room lodge in 1999 and installed LNG heating infrastructure at a time when fuel oil was relatively inexpensive. Today, the common heating fuel outside of the urban areas of Southcentral often costs $4 per gallon on the road system and more across the rest of Alaska. CIRI Alaska Tourism Chief Operating Officer Gideon Garcia said LNG figured to be a more efficient, safer and risk-averse long-term business
proposition when compared to fuel oil. “The rationale (for using LNG) was a real careful review of all the options out there and obviously running electrical for a hotel that size would’ve been just prohibitive in terms of cost and with the reliability of things, if the heat goes out you can’t have your entire property go down because of a single point of failure,” Garcia said. The forward thinking paid off. In 2013, the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge used 9,550 thousand cubic feet, or mcf, of natural gas. At FNG’s advertised price of
Peninsula population older than rest of Alaska By MICHAEL ARMSTRONG Morris News Service-Alaska/ Homer News
Go to a play, shopping, an art opening or any public gathering, and you might notice something about south Kenai Peninsula residents: many of them have a bit more gray hair and wrinkles. If it seems like many lower peninsula residents were born a few decades before the millennium, that’s right. We have some of the highest percentages in Alaska of seniors
age 55 and older. In a talk last Friday for the South Peninsula Senior Summit at the Homer Senior Center, demographer Eddie Hunsinger of the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development presented an overview of the growing senior population in Alaska, the Kenai Peninsula and the lower peninsula. Sponsored by Homer Senior Citizens, the first senior summit included talks on issues important to seniors, such as state senior services, address-
‘It’s important we have this meeting today, because the south peninsula, as you will see, is facing some unique challenges.’ — Eddie Hunsinger, demographer ing Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia, and the impact of retirement on Alaska’s workforce. Businesses providing services to seniors also spoke.
On Thursday, Denise Daniello, executive director of the Alaska Commission on Aging, and Homer Senior Citizens held Elder and Senior Listening Fo-
rums inviting seniors to discuss issues like senior housing and elder safety and protection. Homer Senior Citizens started the summit “to educate the community on the importance of seniors and what the state’s vision for senior services is,” said Homer Senior Citizens executive director Keren Kelley. “This is a broad overview so the community knows and prepares for the future,” she said. That future will see more seniors moving and staying in See AGING, page A-10
Search for stolen bike uncovers stash of parts in Juneau By EMILY RUSSO MILLER Morris News Service-Alaska/ Juneau Empire
A Juneau woman’s search for her stolen bike uncovered a stash of bike parts on a trail in the Mendenhall Valley. Michelle Norman said the frame of her stolen Mongoose mountain bike was found alongside dozens of tires and wheels on the Under Thunder Trail beneath Thunder Mountain, several feet behind the Coho Apartments. “There’s literally dozens of bikes and bike parts right there
20 feet behind the apartments in the woods,” Norman said Friday. “I don’t know what the idea is behind it or what motivation they have to be stealing these or taking them apart.” Norman’s bike was stolen Oct. 4 when her daughter’s friend borrowed it and didn’t lock it up before going into Safeway with friends. Another one of the girl’s had her bike stolen as well. Norman said the girl’s stepdad felt horrible that the bike was stolen and tried to track down leads. He received a tip on the Juneau Buy, Sell, Trade
Facebook page that there were some bikes located behind the Coho Apartments, which is where he found the stash on Tuesday. Police were notified and met with Norman’s husband at the scene. Officers let him take Norman’s bike frame home. Norman lamented that she’s still missing her bike’s handlebars, front forks, both wheels, the gears, pedals, shifters and brakes. “So pretty much everything except the metal frame itself,” she said. “They stripped everything off of it.” C
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She bought the mountain bike from Fred Meyer for about $330 about two months ago. She said she will probably be better off buying a new one, despite the fact the frame was recovered. “I can’t do anything with a bike frame,” she said. “It will probably cost me more to buy all the parts to make it a complete bike than it would to buy a new bike.” Norman said police are investigating her stolen bike case and have reviewed video surveillance footage from Safeway. A police spokesman, Lt. Da-
vid Campbell, said he was not familiar with the case. He said that he has never heard of finding a stash of stripped down bicycle parts before in Juneau. “I’ve seen piles of other stuff before, but I’ve never seen ... a pile of bike parts before,” he noted. In his 19 years with JPD, Campbell said it’s been his experience that bike thefts are crimes of opportunity — people steal bikes to get around and then ditch them somewhere. “Typically, it’s like a oneshot throw away deal,” he said. “It happens quite a bit.”