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Town mulls ban on tobacco products
Jets fly by Steelers in NFL action
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CLARION
Some rain 43/34 More weather on Page A-2
P E N I N S U L A
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2014 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 45, Issue 35
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
Senator readies for Energy chair
Question Where do you get your health insurance coverage? n I’ve signed up through the exchange n I have coverage from my employer n I’m covered under another program n I don’t have health insurance
Republican Senate majority puts Murkowski in influential seat
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.
By ANDREW JENSEN Morris News Service-Alaska/ Alaska Journal of Commerce
In the news Anchorage math teacher named teacher of the year C
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JUNEAU (AP) — An Anchorage middle school math teacher has been named Alaska teacher of the year for 2015. John Bruce, a teacher at Romig Middle School, received the honor Sunday at the Association of Alaska School Boards conference in Anchorage. The teacher of the year and an alternate are chosen by a committee of members of major educational associations and the current teacher of the year. The state department of education, which gives the award, says the committee considers a written application, a video snapshot of the teacher in the classroom and an interview. The alternate teacher of the year is Lee Butterfield, an English and electronic media teacher at South Anchorage High. Finalists were Ruth Segler of North Pole and Erika Schneider of Dillingham.
Pet project Tattoo studio raises funds for Kenai Animal Shelter By BEN BOETTGER Peninsula Clarion
In October, the Hayes family’s dog Opie went missing. Mina Hayes said that she found Opie later in the Kenai Animal Shelter — after he had been hit by a vehicle. “Luckily some nice people who had hit him, up by Tesoro, picked him up and took him to the pound. We didn’t find out until later that night, but Cora over there was just wonderful,” said Mina Hayes, referring to Cora Chambers, Kenai’s Chief Animal Control Officer. “She got a hold of me about 7 or 8 that night, to let me know he was OK, and met us there at 6 in the morning so we could pick him up and take him to the vet. There’s some
really nice people over there. That’s what gave us the idea to try and help them out,” Mina Hayes said. The Hayes family — Mina, her husband Joe, and their daughter Samantha, or Sam — own and operate Kenai’s Ink Works Tattoo Studio, 11887 Kenai Spur Highway. This month they are soliciting donations for the Kenai animal shelter through a promotion: customers who make donations to the shelter will have twice the amount of their donation taken off the price of their tattoo. The deduction is given as a gift certificate, which Mina said allows it to be transferred between customers. In addition to cash, Ink Works is accepting donations of pet supplies as well.
Photos by Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion
Top: Joe Hayes inks a tattoo on Ami Stowell’s leg at Ink Works Tattoo Studio in Kenai on Saturday. A studio promotion is raising funds for the Kenai Animal Shelter. Above: Samantha Hayes inks a tattoo on customer Misty Stowell’s leg at Ink Works Tattoo Studio in Kenai on Saturday.
‘There’s some really nice people over there. That’s what gave us the idea to try and help them out.’ — Mina Hayes
See INK, page A-10
It was tough to find anyone who was more excited than Sen. Lisa Murkowski at Dan Sullivan’s election night party. Warming up the crowd before Sullivan entered as final vote tallies were still rolling in, and with the Republican challenger maintaining the comfortable lead he held all night over incumbent Sen. Mark Begich, Murkowski walked away from the microphone and grabbed a chair, lofting it over her head and asking the crowd if they knew what it meant for the U.S. Senate. “I’m the chair!” she exclaimed to wild cheers and applause. Murkowski, who has served in the Senate since 2002, is poised to take the chairmanship of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee that has jurisdiction over the Interior Department. It’s a powerful position for the senior senator from Alaska given the role the agency plays in a state where two-thirds of the land is owned by the federal government. Even without Sullivan defeating Begich, the Republican Party had already netted a gain of seven seats in the Senate earlier in the evening to swing control away from the Democrats for the first time since 2006. Not only did the GOP take over the Senate and expand its majority in the House by more than a dozen seats, Democrats were stunned by their party’s losses in governor races in See CHAIR, page A-10
Inside ‘This is going to be a tough trip for the president.’ ... 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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Soldiers recover in Warrior Transition Units By WESTON MORROW Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
FAIRBANKS (AP) — The Warrior Transition Unit at Fort Wainwright invited families, friends and community members to the post’s Physical Fitness Center to commemorate national Warrior Care Month. Soldiers from the transition unit, and the occasional visitor, participated Nov. 3 in adaptive sports such as wheelchair basketball and sit-down volleyball from 1-3 p.m. The idea, according to Bassett Army Community Hospital public affairs coordinator Brandy Ostanik, is to recognize not only the effort put in each day by the soldiers in the unit but also the staff members who work with them and the families who support them. The Warrior Transition Unit — or the WTU as the acronym-loving United States Army refers to it — is a small
unit of soldiers on Post working through the long process of recovery. To be assigned to the unit, soldiers must be reviewed and approved by the post’s highranking medical chiefs, such as the Medical Treatment Facilities commander. The conditions for entry to the unit vary depending on a number of factors but essentially, soldiers’ conditions must require what Army medical professionals consider “complex medical care” expected to take at least six months. Warrior Transition Units were created Army-wide in 2007-08, and the For Wainwright unit came into existence in 2009, according to the unit’s current commander, Capt. John Harvey. The 16 soldiers that make up Harvey’s unit are all serving on active duty, but none are assigned the typical duties of active duty military members.
AP Photo/Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Eric Engman
In this photo taken on Nov. 3, members of the Bravo Company Warrior Transition Unit on Fort Wainwright participate in adaptive sports, including wheelchair basketball, at the post’s Physical Fitness Center near Fairbanks.
Instead, the soldiers of the tranFor many of the soldiers, sition unit focus on two things that “what’s next” will not take — getting better and preparing place in the Army. For many for what comes next. of them, the Warrior TransiC
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tion Unit will serve as their last tour with the Army before fully transitioning to life as veterans. Sgt. Matt Williams is one of those soldiers. In addition to his individual appointments and work with the unit, he spends much of his time learning automotive repair at the Fort Wainwright Automotive Skills Center and studying welding at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The career training courses are coordinated with his unit. Williams has been with the transition unit for six months, and has perhaps four or five months remaining on active duty. When his time with the unit is up he will not be returning to his former unit. Instead, his 10 years with the Army will come to an end. Williams, like many soldiers in Wainwright’s transition unit and others around the country, displays no overt signs of physical trauma. Ostanik said as the See WARRIOR, page A-10