Columnist’s relationship evolves, ages well
THE
Marriage Community/C-1
C
M
Y
K
Sunday
Swimming Kodiak maintains its region crowns Sports/B-1
CLARION P E N I N S U L A
NOVEMBER 2, 2014 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 45, Issue 28
HEA talks energy savings at fair By BEN BOETTGER Peninsula Clarion
C
M
Y
K
The Homer Electric Association (HEA) held its Energy and Conservation Fair Saturday at Kenai Middle School in Kenai this, November 1. This is the event’s sixth annual installment. HEA’s spokesperson Joe Gallagher described the purpose of the fair. “What we do is invite local vendors who are involved in any form of energy conservation,” he said. “We offer them a spot at our fair where they can share information with our members on how they can conserve energy at home.” This year 27 vendors arrived to set up booths in the school gymnasium, where they distributed pamphlets, demonstrated products, and answered questions from the fair’s visitors. The groups offering information at the fair were a mix of businesses, non-profits, conservation groups, and Homer Electric representatives. Kate Schadle , a social services assistant for the Kenaitze Indian tribe, gave out information about the tribe’s energy assistance program, which gives funds to lower-income families to help with their energy expenses. “We partner with the state of Alaska, which offers the same type of program, except theirs is for all the community,” Scha-
Patricia Patterson had to break the law to help save her son’s life. When Ben Cantil was diagnosed with testicular cancer while in college about five years ago, he underwent aggressive chemotherapy and was in horrible pain, Patterson said. With the suddenness of the disease and insufficient time to sign up for medical marijuana as treatment, she bought pot from a drug dealer to help treat Cantil’s ailment. “The difference was night and day,” she said. “With one bowl he went from lying in bed in a ball to sitting up and able to eat. It makes me mad that the only way I could help him was to become a criminal.” Alaskans have a big decision to make in the next three days: Should marijuana be legalized and be regulated and taxed like alcohol? Cantil is now living in Boston cancer free and is a successful DJ that tours the country, she said. Patterson, owner of Lucky Raven Tobacco in Soldotna, said she supports marijuana legalization because she believes regulation will equal control. She said she doesn’t smoke marijuana but sees the benefits of regulating it the same way as tobacco and alcohol. “It is stupid to fight it, smart to control it,” she said. “When you put a product in the front yard it is better than hiding it in the back yard.” If passed, Ballot Measure 2 would legalize the recreational use and sale of mari-
juana in Alaska. Possession of up to one ounce of marijuana and up to six plants would be legal to those 21 years and older. The measure would allow the state to create a regulatory system or marijuana control board and tax the substance at $50 an ounce wholesale, according to the initiative. As the general election nears, both groups for and against legalization have made their points
Considering Cannabis
Rain and snow 40/27 For complete weather, see page A-10
Opinion......................... A-4 Jumps .......................A2, 5 Nation........................... A-6 World........................... B-1 Cops/courts.................. A-8 Sports........................... C-1 Community................... D-1 Weddings...................... D-1 Dear Abby..................... D-2 Crossword..................... D-2 Horoscope.................... D-2 Classifieds................... D-3 Mini Page...................... D-x TV...................... Clarion TV Check us out online at www.peninsulaclarion.com To subscribe, call 283-3584.
is at a tipping point.” In the weeks leading up to the 2014 vote, Alaskans have been inundated with competing statistics. Speakers from Colorado and Washington based interest groups have visited the state and shared their points of view on the impacts of marijuana legalization. Fire officials and police chiefs from Colorado have warned Alaskan first responders about the dangers of butane hash oil explosions – a byproduct of legalization and in-home marijuana-product production. Denver Assistant Fire Chief Dave McGrail was the keynote speaker at the Alaska Fire Conference
By Dan Balmer Peninsula Clarion
a n d counterpoints on the positives and negatives associated with shifting Alaska laws from decriminalization to legalization of cannabis. Pot in Alaska In 1975, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled in the Ravin v. State court decision that held the Alaska’s Constitution’s right to privacy protects an adult’s ability to possess a small amount of marijuana in the home for personal use. The confusion in Alaska’s pot law is while marijuana in small amounts is allowed at home, but because the drug is
See FAIR, page A-2
Inside today
illegal at the federal level, users are still breaking the law by buying the drug in the black market and transportation of marijuana is illegal, said Bill Parker, a former deputy commissioner of the Alaska Department of Corrections. A voter initiative in 1998 legalized medical marijuana in Alaska. Two previous ballot measures to legalize marijuana failed in 2000 and 2004. The measure on this year’s ballot is modeled on a 2012
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
hosted in Kenai in September. He shared what firefighters in Colorado have dealt with since legalization and told an audience in the Kenai Central High School auditorium to Colorado “not make the same misinitiative that ushered in take we did.” a recreational-pot industry, He referred to marwhich opened Jan. 1, when ijuana users as “dips---s.” the law went into effect. Parker was involved in Proponents the 2004 campaign to leAccording to a report pregalize marijuana when the pared by the Marijuana Policy vote failed with 44 percent Group, regulating marijuana in support of legalization. in Alaska could generate more Ten years later he said he than $72.5 million in tax revexpects the vote to be close enue in the first five years of and the undecided voters will legal sales and $8.5 million ultimately make the differ- the first year. ence. Parker, co-sponsor of the “We’ve had to convince the marijuana initiative along with average Alaskan prohibition is University of Alaska Anchorworse than the substance,” he age professor Tim Hinterbergsaid. “ The problem with de- er, said the war on marijuana criminalization is it leaves the has been a tremendous waste black market in place. Alaska See POT, page A-2
Sterling man killed in wreck Accident closed Seward Highway for hours Friday By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion
A three-vehicle accident on the Seward Highway Friday resulted in one fatality. Jonathan Boreland, 33, of Fairbanks was pronounced dead on scene by paramedics after Kim Sterling, 59, of Sterling lost control of his silver Ford truck and hit a blue Chevrolet sedan Boreland was driving. Sterling’s truck then hit a white GMC truck, operated by Jason Gerke, 30, of Kenai, according to a Alaska State Trooper dispatch. The accident occurred just before 11 a.m. near Mile 96 of the Seward Highway. Sterling was traveling northbound when he struck Boreland, who was traveling southbound. Gerke was directly behind the sedan. Sterling, Gerke and two passengers were transported to local area hospitals by paramedics for non-life threatening injuries, according to the report. Troopers with the Bureau of Highway Patrol Girdwood Team, Girdwood paramedics, Anchorage paramedics and Alaska State Park Rangers responded to the collision. Boreland’s next of kin was notified. See WRECK, page A-2
Doubts chip away at nation’s most trusted agencies AP Photo/Paul Beaty
ADAM GELLER AP National Writer
Even as Americans’ trust in government eroded in recent years, people kept faith in a handful of agencies and institutions admired for their steadiness in ensuring the country’s protection. To safeguard the president, there was the solidity of the Secret Service. To stand vigil against distant enemies, the U.S. nuclear missile corps was assumed to be on the job. And to ward off threats to public health, the nation counted on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Now, in the space of just a few months, the reputations of all those agencies — as well as the Veterans Administration — have been tarred by scandal or tarnished by doubt. Maybe a public buffeted by partisan rhetoric and nonstop news should be used to this by now. But, with the CDC facing tough questions about its response to the Ebola outbreak, something feels different. Government is about doing collectively what citizens can’t do alone, but its effectiveness is premised on trust.
In this Oct. 2, 2014, file photo, members of the Secret Service watch as Air Force One taxies on a runway. In the space of just a few months, the reputations and approval ratings their agencies, have been seen a decline.
A year ago, with Washington shut down and trust in government near records lows, the CDC still won a 75 percent approval rating, the highest of any federal agency, a poll by the Pew Research Center found. But when CBS News surveyed Americans in mid-October, just 37 percent said the agency was Paid Advertisement
C
M
doing a good or excellent job. “I always called the CDC the shining star of the federal agencies,” said Lawrence O. Gostin, an expert on health law and policy at Georgetown University. “They were regarded with very high esteem and did an extraordinarily good job of protecting the American people. That
has changed and I think (doubts about its handling of) Ebola is the epitome of that change.” That likely reflects the fears stirred by the disease — while people trust public health officials ordinarily, there is a heightened sensitivity now to perceived breaches in that confidence, said Nathan Carter, a University of Georgia psychology professor who has looked at declining trust in institutions over the last four decades. But the speed with which the agency was held up for blame also reflects the overall degradation in trust, he said. The public and elected lawmakers are far less likely now than in the past to give government officials the benefit of the doubt or the room to make mistakes. Faith in government has been declining since the Vietnam War and Watergate, with most of that distrust directed at elected officials, said Carroll Doherty, director of political research for Pew. The balance between trust and doubt has swung increasingly toward the latter, Carter said. “I do think it’s a big problem and how to repair that trust, that’s See TRUST, page A-2