C
M
Y
K
Gaming
Stick ‘em
Soldotna couple offers chance to test boardgame
Duals start big weekend in wrestling at Nikiski
Recreation/C-1
Sports/B-1
CLARION
Mostly cloudy 39/19 More weather on Page A-2
P E N I N S U L A
Friday-Saturday, November 14-15 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 45, Issue 39
Question Are you ready for some snow? n Yes, winter is no fun without it. n No, I’m enjoying this mild weather. 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.
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
CPH sees spike in influenza cases By RASHAH McCHESNEY Peninsula Clarion
Central Peninsula Hospital has confirmed 34 cases of influenza since the October start of the flu season. Eight of those patients ended up being hospitalized. Local health officials are urging Kenai Peninsula residents to get their flu shots as all of the reported cases were in-
fluenza A which is covered by this year’s vaccine. Infection control nurse Dana McDonald said the cases that had been confirmed were labidentified, though not all of them care from patients at the hospital. “Some were emergency or outpatient,” she said. The outpatient clinics in the area have their own testing regimes and may have seen cases that have not been reported to
the hospital, she said. Statewide, just over 470 people have tested positive for the flu, according to Alaska Division of Public Health weekly reports, the vast majority of cases have been Type A influenza. While the number of people who have tested positive for the flu is unusual for this time of the season, McDonald said, it won’t be clear until after the season if the number of report-
ed cases is higher than normal. “It usually peaks in December,” she said. “Who knows, this maybe our spike, or peak or then again, maybe it’s leading up to December being our peak.” The patients who are being treated at CPH are getting Tamiflu, but McDonald said prevention was still key to flu-fighting efforts. McDonald oversees infectious disease-bearing patients
ACS merges local stores
In the news Alaska leads nation in rapes according to new FBI statistics
C
M
Y
K
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska led the nation in rapes per capita last year, according to statistics released by the FBI, and a revised definition of the crime means the numbers are grimmer than before. The FBI in data collected from Alaska law enforcement agencies counted 922 rapes last year, a rate of 125.4 per 100,000 residents. The rate is three times the national average. The previous definition of rape included only female victims. The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting program now includes all genders. It also reflects the nonconsensual acts of sodomy and sex assaults with objects, said Kevin Donovan, assistant special agent with the Alaska FBI. Under the old definition, the number of rapes in 2013 would have been 644. The new definition provides the FBI with a more accurate understanding, Donovan said. “The changes broaden the scope of the previously narrow definitions by capturing data without regard to gender and including offenses in which physical force is not involved,” he said. “For example, instances in which offenders use drugs or alcohol or incidents in which offenders and victims are of the same gender are now counted as rape for statistical purposes.” The FBI crime report recorded 4,708 Alaska violent crimes in 2013. The majority, 3,128, were aggravated assaults.
Index Opinion.................. A-4 Nation.................... A-6 World..................... A-7 Classifieds............ C-3 Comics.................. C-7
Check us out online at www.peninsulaclarion.com To subscribe, call 283-3584.
who are admitted to the hospital and works to keep healthcare workers from contracting the illness as they treat it. To keep from contracting the disease, McDonald said covering coughs and washing hands were important but also said people should avoid public places while ill. “The biggest thing that people can do to prevent the flu is to get vaccinated,” she said.
Kenai location will be open for more hours By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion
Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion
Teaching tradition
Rochelle Adams, a Gwich’in Athabascan artist and language teacher from the villages of Beaver and Fort Yukon, does a beading demonstration on Thursday during the Kenai Peninsula College Kenai River campus Native Alaskan and Native American Heritage Month celebration in Soldotna. Adams will teach a class on beading at the campus during the spring semester.
Soldotna meets on home rule plans Voters to decide on a charter commission and its makeup in Feb. By KELLY SULLIVAN Peninsula Clarion
Qualified voters will decide on February 3, 2015, if Soldotna will form a charter commission, and if a commission is formed, who its members will be. Only one resident turned up at Wednesday’s public hearing for the ballot ordinance that was unanimously approved by city council. David Lynch said he wasn’t there to speak for against home rule, but to ask a few questions. Lynch was curious why both the option for creating a charter commission and electing its members would be on the same ballot. He said his concern was that it seemed unnecessary to have the commission candi-
Want a seat on the commission? Candidates must have been a qualified Soldotna voter for one year preceding the election and must receive 50 votes on a nomination petition. The filing period begins at 9 a.m. on Dec. 8 and ends at 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 19. dates up for election when the development of a charter may not even be approved. City Manager Mark Dixson said it was required by state law the ballot be set up that way. “That’s not under our control,” Dixson said. Only if voters approve the first section of
the ballot—whether or not to form a charter commission—will seven members be elected to it, said City Clerk Shellie Saner. Lynch also asked if home rule was being consideration because of the recent Alaska Supreme Court decision in Price v. Kenai Peninsula Borough et al. See VOTE, page A-10
HEA talks Grant Lake plans in Moose Pass Company to submit hydroelectric design program to feds in 2015 By BEN BOETTGER Peninsula Clarion
Despite changes to the proposed design of Homer Electric Association’s Grant Lake hydroelectric project, the project still drew mixed reactions after a Nov. 6 presentation in Moose Pass. The meeting was attended by HEA managers, research and design consultants working on the project, representatives from invited government agencies and Moose Pass residents. The presenters spoke for approximately an hour and a half, and a comment session followed. HEA spokesperson Joe Gallagher said the meeting included 23 members of the public, who came from Moose Pass, Seward,
Anchorage, Kenai, and Cooper Landing. “The presentation provided a summary of the extensive natural resource, engineering and licensing studies and analyses that have been undertaken the past two and a half years,” wrote Mike Salzetti, HEA’s Manager of Fuel Supply & Renewable Energy Development, in an email. “Special emphasis was placed on the documentation of study results and associated positive and negative impacts to the project area.” Grant Lake sits above Moose Pass in the Kenai Mountain range and releases its water into nearby Trail Lake through the steep and swift-flowing Grant Creek. HEA’s current plans call for water to be diverted from Grant Lake through a powerhouse, where it would generate five megawatts of elecC
M
Y
K
tricity when running at full capacity, before being released halfway down Grant Creek’s mile-long course. The portion of Grant Creek upstream of the powerhouse would have a diminished water level as a result of the diversion. Salzetti said that HEA has been studying the impact of the proposed project since it began planning in 2009. As a result of simulations conducted by its engineers, current plans no longer include a dam at the mouth of Grant Creek, but rather a tower-like structure rooted in the lake bottom, known as a lake cap, through which water would enter the diversion tunnel. HEA plans to submit a draft See HEA, page A-10
The Alaska Communications retail store in Soldotna will be closing its doors Friday as the company looks to combine staff to its Kenai location. All employees from the Soldotna location on Warehouse Drive will transfer to Kenai store on the Kenai Spur Highway. The added staff capacity allows ACS to open on Sundays in Kenai and provide staff service for customers throughout the week, said Heather Cavanaugh, ACS Director of Marketing. Cavanaugh said the decision to close the Soldotna retail store wouldn’t impact customer’s services. Local technicians will still install ACS products in Soldotna. The Soldotna Radio Shack on the Kenai Spur Highway will continue as an ACS authorized agent that provides consumer wireless sales and services. Radio Shack is open Monday through Saturday. “We are closing the (Soldotna) store because we found that with our agent locations on the Kenai Peninsula, we did not need two stores,” she said. “Our business sales and service teams continue to call on customers locally, helping them find the communications solutions that fit them best.” The ACS warehouse in Soldotna will remain open. The excess retail space in the building will be turned into office space, Cavanaugh said. The Kenai ACS location opened in 2011. The 2,647-square-foot store features an interactive experience for customers with mobile broadband test stations. Inside, customers can experience live videoconferencing demonstrations and pay bills on a self-pay kiosk. The Kenai store will now be open Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on weekends from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. ACS, Alaska’s first telecommunications company, is a provider of broadband and wireless internet with operations from data networks and fiber optic system that connect Alaska to the Lower 48. The company has faced increased competition in recent years. See ACS, page A-10