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CLARION
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P E N I N S U L A
MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2014 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 45, Issue 65
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
Group seeks views on pot
Question Do you prefer natural or artificial Christmas trees? n We like to find a natural tree in the woods and cut it down ourselves. n We like to find a place to buy a natural tree. n We prefer an artificial tree.
Coalition to host town hall meeting
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 DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion
Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion
Jill Erickson maneuvers her Action Trackchair through her wooded property on Friday.
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Sea lion’s head M goes missing from K Ketchikan pier KETCHIKAN (AP) — A head that belonged to a massive male sea lion found dead has disappeared from a pier in Ketchikan, Alaska. The head had been dangling from the pier into the water so it could be examined after it was cleaned by ocean critters, the Ketchikan Daily News reported. Scientist Gary Freitag of the University of Alaska Fairbanks had examined the animal’s carcass over the summer for clues to its cause of death. He had been planning to study the head for more hints after it was submerged for about six months, he said. But within two weeks the head was missing, and Freitag says it looks like the rope was cut. “I can’t picture anybody taking it,” Freitag said. “It probably was pretty ripe.” The seal had been found dead in July on the rocks of Refuge Cove, and its head had been tied to a float at the north end of Bar Harbor. If the rope was just cut and the head wasn’t stolen, then it’s probably at the bottom of the harbor, Freitag said. Hunters often use similar methods for cleaning deer heads, said Dan Berg, the senior assistant harbormaster for City Port and Harbors.
Index Opinion.................. A-4 Nation/World.......... A-5 Sports.....................A-6 Schools.................. B-1 Classifieds............. B-3 Comics................... B-6
All-terrain wheelchair gets people outdoors By BEN BOETTGER Peninsula Clarion
On her wooded property outside of Soldotna, Jill Erickson had a hill which, until recently, she had never been to the top of. Erickson, a physical therapist, has been paralyzed from the waist down for 35 years and uses a wheelchair for transportation, which severely limited her outdoor mobility. Last week, Erickson used her new all-terrain wheelchair to travel up the hill for the first time. “You can’t imagine how much it means to me to be outdoors by myself,” Erickson said. Her new chair is an Action trackchair, a 2008 invention
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— Jill Erickson of motor-sport manufacturer Tim Swenson of Minnesota. It was assembled by Swenson’s company Action Manufacturing, which to date has only one plant, located in Marshall, Minnesota. Instead of wheels, the 350-pound chair has heavy treads similar to a snowmachine’s. These are powered by a pair of 12-volt rechargeable batteries beneath the seat, which can propel the chair to a top speed of 4 miles per hour, according to its user manual.
Erickson’s trackchair, which she received Dec. 6, is the first to be shipped to the Kenai Peninsula, according to Mary and Richard Dreifuerst, coowners of Alaska Trackchair, currently the only trackchair dealer in Alaska. They run the dealership from their home in Cooper Landing, and have two model trackchairs on display at Sportsman’s Warehouse in Soldotna, priced for $11,183. “It gives people with limited mobility the ability to get back
See ACTION, page A-10
See TALK, page A-10
Medicaid months away State says it may take until July to expand program By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
JUNEAU — State health commissioner Valerie Davidson said it could be July before the state is in a position to begin enrolling Alaskans under expanded Medicaid coverage. Davidson said issues need to be worked out with a Medicaid eligibility system as well as with a Medicaid payment system that has been plagued by problems since going live in 2013. Both are being converted
from one technology system to another, she said. “We want to make sure that we are successful on day one. And in order to do that, we have to have systems that are capable of accepting new Medicaid expansion enrollees,” Davidson said in an interview with The Associated Press. “So we’re thinking probably we’ll be ready in July.” The state in September filed an administrative complaint against the vendor it had hired to implement the new Medicaid
payment system. That matter is pending. As of earlier this month, there were about 230 defects in the system, down from nearly 870 last December, but some of those were resulting in claims not being paid or not being paid correctly, Davidson said. In addition to working out the payment issues, the state expects to get a corrective plan from the AP Photo/Becky Bohrer vendor by the end of this week In this Dec. 1 photo, Alaska state health commissioner Valerthat it will then review for pos- ie Davidson, left, Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott, center, and Gov. Bill sible approval, she said. Walker attend a news conference to announce Davidson’s apSee EXPAND, page A-2 pointment in Juneau.
Walker faced with widening deficit scenario By TIM BRADNER, Morris News Service-Alaska/ Alaska Journal of Commerce
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‘You can’t imagine how much it means to me to be outdoors by myself.’
out and go down to the river to fish, or to get on a hiking trail, or walk their dog, get back out with their families and be independent without someone pushing your wheelchair. It’s able to get to places where traditional wheelchairs just can’t go,” said Mary Dreifuerst. The Dreifuersts founded their business a year ago. They said that a friend — a trackchair user and owner of a hunting business in their native state of Wisconsin — introduced them to the product. “It intrigued me, that they made a vehicle like this,” said Richard Dreifuerst. “So I met up with the sales manager (of Action Trackchair).” The manager told Dreifu-
In response to November’s voted to legalize marijuana for recreational use in Alaska, a group of Kenai Peninsula residents have formed a coalition and will hold a town hall meeting Tuesday to hear what community members have to say on the issue. Soldotna trial lawyer Eric Derleth started the Kenai Community Coalition on Cannabis and will host the meeting Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Challenger Learning Center in Kenai. Derleth, who has been a cannabis advocate since he started writing papers in favor of legalization in 1984 at the age of 14, said he wants to hear from the citizens who voted against legalization and begin a dialogue to understand what concerns people have about how an underground market adjusts to a legitimate enterprise. “We share the same goals from keeping the community, workplace and roads safe,” he said. “We agree with all that. There is more than one way to skin a cat.” Derleth drafted an agenda for the meeting that would include a question and answer segment but he said the meeting structure is up to the audience. Local politicians have been invited. Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Mike Navarre has committed to attend the meeting as have assembly members Blaine
Gov. Bill Walker faces a grim budget scenario that may distract the new governor from other priorities, like a natural gas pipeline and an expansion of Medicaid. A template of a proposed fiscal year 2016 budget will be released Dec. 15, as required by law, but it will be empty of
the real numbers Walker will propose to the Legislature in late January, the deadline for an amended budget. Walker released former Gov. Sean Parnell’s “work in progress” capital and operating budgets Dec. 5 but warned that changes are coming. The Parnell documents reflect the frustration state budget officials will have in controlling growth of the operating budget while also making cuts to the
capital budget. The total budget of state funds for capital spending was $349.8 million in Parnell’s plan, including unrestricted general funds, designated funds and other state funds. About $1.06 billion in federal pass-through funding, mostly for transportation projects, brings the total capital budget to $1.4 billion. Although the Parnell budgets are documents for planning only, they show an operatC
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ing budget expenditure of $10.1 billion in state general funds, an increase over $9.85 billion in total state funds in the current fiscal year 2015 budget. Parnell did reduce the expenditure of state general funds by 3.8 percent mostly through reductions in personal services, which were undesignated, but “designated” general funds mostly for state formula programs like Medicaid and education were up 5.3 percent and
funding for programs funded by “other state funds,” a catch-all category, was up 22 percent. Federal funds administered through the Parnell operating budget were increased slightly from $2.019 billion for the current year to $2.027 billion for next year. Overall spending in the total budget including all categories would rise 2.1 percent from $11.88 billion to $12.13 billion, according to the See BUDGET, page A-10