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P E N I N S U L A
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2014 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 45, Issue 20
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
Lean and mean
Question Has your opinion of the candidates for U.S. Senate changed over the past few months? n Yes, I’ve learned more about their positions on issues important to me; n Yes, the steady stream of political ads has influenced my views; n No, I feel the same now as I did at the start of campaign season.
Borough striving for efficiency By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion
To place your vote and comment, visit our Web site at www. peninsulaclarion. com. Photos by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion
In the news Alaska files appeal of gay marriage ruling C
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ANCHORAGE (AP) — The state of Alaska is seeking to have an 11-judge panel of the federal appeals court for the West review a lower court’s ruling that struck down gay marriage. The state on Wednesday filed its case with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. U.S. District Judge Timothy Burgess ruled Oct. 12 that the state’s ban on gay marriage approved by voters in 1998 violated the due process and equal protection provisions of the U.S. Constitution. The state maintains in its filing that that was an incorrect interpretation. The state served notice it would appeal, and asked the 9th Circuit Court to halt samesex marriages while the appeal process went forward. A three-judge panel allowed a temporary stay to give the state time to ask the U.S. Supreme Court for a permanent halt to marriages through the appeal process. The nation’s highest court denied the state’s request in a one-sentence ruling last Friday, and couples began marrying Monday. The state is asking the court to look at this separately from its decision that overturned gay marriage in Idaho and Nevada. A majority of the appeal court’s 29 justices would have to agree to hear Alaska’s case. If that’s granted, an 11-judge panel instead of the court’s normal three-judge panel would hear the case.
Index Opinion.................. A-4 Nation/World.......... A-5 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.
Aurora, Colorado Fire Department Capt. Siegfried Klein talks about the paraphernalia used to make hash oil, a cannabis product, during a presentation to Central Emergency Services firefighters Wednesday in Soldotna.
Explosive situation Area firefighters learn about potential danger of hash oil By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion
Central Kenai Peninsula firefighters received a crash course on a rising problem seen in Colorado since the legalization of marijuana — butane hash oil explosions. Chief Fire and Explosive Investigator Siegfried Klein with the Aurora, Colorado Fire Department has spent the last few days in Alaska educating first responders on the hazards associated in butane hash oil explosions. On Tuesday Klein was in Anchorage to demonstrate the dangers of hash oil explosions to firefighters with a simulation at the Fire Training Center. He warned firefighters at the Central Emergency Services Office of Emergency Management Wednesday on
CES firefighter Dan Jensen and others listen to a presentation on fires caused during the process of making hash oil, a form of cannabis, and how to fight them.
what could occur in the area if Ballot Measure 2 passes on Nov. 4. If the marijuana initiative passed, Alaska would be the third state behind Washing-
ton and Colorado to legalize recreational marijuana use for adults 21 years old and above. The language in the initiative is similar to the Colorado law passed in 2012 that took effect
in January. Since marijuana was legalized in Colorado, firefighters across the state have seen 26 explosions resulting in 27 injuries from home production of butane hash oil. Klein said all of the hash oil explosions happen at marijuana grow houses and most have occurred in the Aurora area, a suburb outside of Denver. Hash oil is made by dissolving marijuana leaves in butane, then cooking it to extract oil and resin, which has a high concentration of THC, the active chemical component in marijuana. Since butane is easily combustible and the process involves heat and alcohol, the explosion risk is high, he said. Klein said as a fire investigator with 21 years of experiSee FIRE, page A-10
One constant focus of the Kenai Peninsula Borough administration has been how departments can be more cost efficient in their daily operations. Last week, the borough released an efficiencies report from fiscal year 2014 that lists 32 department strategies that have saved an estimated $327,500 in operational costs. Borough Chief of Staff Paul Ostrander said the idea of developing cost effective strategies within 11 borough departments had been talked about for the last couple years but it wasn’t until September when the list was compiled and the savings were added up. “The culture in the borough is really positive as a result of really solid management,” Ostrander said. “The efficiencies document is an impressive list that looks at ways we can do things better.” The capital projects department put forth several ideas. The department started mandatory re-inspection of recently installed roofs ahead of the two-year workmanship warranty expiration. In one case the proactive step saved the borough more than $500,000. The idea of inspecting roof work before the warranty expiration was brought forth by project manager David May and helps identify if there are any issues that a roofing manufacturer would correct at no cost to the borough. Borough Capital Projects See TRIM, page A-10
Board begins budget process with questions By KELLY SULLIVAN Peninsula Clarion
The Kenai Peninsula Borough Board of Education is building its 2016 fiscal year budget without knowing what funding is coming from the state and Kenai Peninsula Borough just yet. The school board had their second meeting for budget de-
velopment Tuesday. Site councils from Anchor Point, Kalifornsky Beach, Nikiski, Kenai, Soldotna, Seldovia and Tyonek responded to the school board’s request for reviewing what areas of spending the individual schools can reduce. No response came from Seward or Homer schools, said Superintendent Steve Atwa-
ter. The school board will follow up with the schools they haven’t received input from, said Assistant Superintendent Dave Jones. The board is looking into its spending plan a little early this year, Atwater said. “We have to,” said school board president Joe Arness. “We know we are going to be in a hole next year. We just don’t
know how deep.” Arness said the budget process begins even before teacher contracts are signed in early spring, so the board knows roughly how many employees the district can keep on the payroll. Staff salaries make up 82 percent of the budget, he said. The school board has agreed to build a budget for the 2016 fiscal year going off of what
they know right now, Arness said. That isn’t much, but that is common for this time of year, he said. School board member Dan Castimore expressed his frustrations about the process. “There is no point (in starting the budget process) because everything is an exercise in futility at this point anyway,” See SCHOOL, page A-10
Young apologizes Focus on village mental health, for suicide remark public safety at conference By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
JUNEAU — U.S. Rep. Don Young has apologized after telling students at a high school where a child recently committed suicide that people kill themselves when there’s a lack of support from family and friends. During an appearance in front of about 120 students and adults Tuesday in Wasilla, a teacher asked Young about Alaska’s high suicide and domestic violence rates.
“He was talking about the role alcohol plays, and he mentioned depression,” Wasilla High School principal Amy Spargo said. “But he also went on to say that suicide happens when there’s a lack of support from friends and family, and that’s when the students in the room and the adults just took offense — because it’s like blaming the people who are left.” She said after that, the event started to become more confrontational.
By KATIE MORITZ Morris News Service-Alaska/ Juneau Empire
ANCHORAGE — Just a few years ago, Julie RobertsHyslop’s nephew was “a normal guy.” Then, in May, he shot two Alaska State Troopers at point-blank range at her mother’s Tanana home. The tragedy shook the community of about 300, Roberts-Hyslop said during a panel discussion at the joint
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Alaska Federation of Natives and National Conference of American Indians conference in Anchorage on Wednesday, and paints a bleak portrait of the state of mental health care and substance abuse in rural villages. The discussion included representatives of the federal government. Twenty-year-old Nathanial Kangas, who shot and killed the troopers, is a product of a broken system, said Roberts-Hyslop, vice presi-
dent of Tanana Chiefs Conference. Voice wavering with emotion, she stood before the panel and said she feels “lost” in the aftermath of the trooper shootings and the heart-wrenching testimony of young people at the First Alaskans Institute’s Youth and Elders Conference earlier this week. “I stand before you pleading for help,” she said to the panelists, Raina Thiele, White See AFN, page A-10