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CLARION
Breezy 36/24 More weather on Page A-2
P E N I N S U L A
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2014 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 45, Issue 66
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
Capital budget gets a trim
Question How much do you recycle? n Everything that I can. n I recycle items accepted at borough transfer sites/stations. n I recycle a few things here and there. n I very rarely or never recycle.
Walker submits pared-down spending plan By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
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. Photo by Dan Balmer/Peninsula Clarion
In the news Murkowski, Sullivan get committee assignments C
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JUNEAU (AP) — U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has retained her spot on the Senate Appropriations Committee, while incoming senator Dan Sullivan was assigned to several committees he had hoped to land. Senate Republicans announced committee assignments Monday. The assignments are subject to approval by the GOP conference and the full Senate. Sullivan, who will take office next month, had expressed interest in serving on the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, given the importance of fisheries to Alaska, as well as on the Environment and Public Works Committee and the Armed Services Committee. He was assigned to all three, plus Veterans’ Affairs. Sullivan is a Marine Corps reservist. Murkowski is expected to chair the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. She will also serve on Indian Affairs and on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committees.
Correction A portion of the obituary in Sunday’s Clarion for Edith Rae Maddux was inadvertently omitted. The complete version of Mrs. Maddux’s obituary is online at www.peninsulaclarion.com, and will be republished in the Clarion on Dec. 21. The Clarion regrets the error.
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Alaska State Trooper John King talks to a motorist after a truck trailer lost control and overturned on the ice at Mile 80 of the Sterling Highway Monday. The crane tow truck blocked traffic for 45 minutes before one lane opened up. The scene was cleared by 11 a.m.
Forecast: Slippery roads Icy conditions make a mess of morning commutes By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion
Overnight rain made for icy road conditions across the Kenai Peninsula Monday and similar weather is expected for Tuesday morning commuters. Icy roads caused a truck trailer to lose control and overturn on its side at about 4:45 a.m. Monday at Mile 80 of the Sterling Highway. A two-trailer truck from Midnight Sun Transportation Company in Anchorage was traveling westbound on the Sterling Highway entering Sterling when the back trailer lost control on
the ice and overturned. The accident occurred on the section of highway that expands to two lanes. No other vehicles were involved in the accident, but traffic was blocked for nearly an hour while a tow truck equipped with a crane attempted to put the trailer back upright. Trooper spokesperson Megan Peters said because the accident occurred so early in the morning, it took a while for a tow truck to respond. When the tow truck arrived, the lane closed occasionally in an attempt to lift the trailer back on its tires. The scene was cleared by 11 a.m.,
she said. Alaska State Trooper John King responded to the scene and opened up one lane for cars to pass at about 9:45 a.m. King said as the truck was coming down a slight decline the back end slid wide and caused the second trailer to fall on its side. Icy roads contributed to a collision involving a school bus and another vehicle near Anchor Point Monday. Troopers responded to the accident at Mile 15 of North Fork Road just before 8 a.m. The driver of the school bus, Marion Horde, 72, was heading east when the rear of the See ICE, page A-10
JUNEAU — Gov. Bill Walker on Monday submitted a stripped-down capital budget as a starting point for spending discussions amid a bleak revenue forecast. He also submitted an operating budget for fiscal year 2016 that was developed by his predecessor, former Gov. Sean Parnell, and that Walker has not endorsed. Monday marked the statutory deadline for Walker to submit budget plans to the Legislature; it also marked two weeks on the job for Walker, who was sworn in on Dec. 1. The administration plans to submit revised spending plans by Feb. 18 and to solicit public input on ways to prioritize spending, cut waste or address any inefficiencies as it puts those plans together. “Together, we need to reinvent state government and rationalize our fiscal policy,” Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott said in a news release. The state is bracing for a $3.5-billion budget deficit for the current year amid lowerthan-expected oil prices and a See BUDGET, page A-10
Kenai woman wins national hunting award By KELLY SULLIVAN Peninsula Clarion
Kenai resident Christine Cunningham was still unable to process the announcement that she was the 2014 winner of the Prois Award hours after receiving the news Monday. The Prois Award celebrates female hunters who are passionate about hunting and dedicated to their community, conservation and the betterment of hunting in the future, according to the Prois website. Cunningham will receive Prois hunting apparel, boots, game bags, packs and spend a five-day, two-species hunt in Namibia, Africa with Mogwadiri Safaris.
Longtime hunting partner and close friend Steve Meyer said when he introduced Cunningham to the sport in 2006, she immediately showed some natural skill. “It was like creating a monster,” Meyer said. “She just fell in love with it.” Cunningham submitted an essay and photograph detailing her passion and dedication to hunting. When she made it into the list of six finalists, she created a video summarizing the critical importance of conservation in relation to the future of hunting and sustainable living. “When we think of the most serious threats to hunting today, the most critical issue is loss of
habitat,” Cunningham said in the video. “There’s more people using public lands than ever before. The government agencies managing those lands have ideologies that are increasingly counter to what hunting is and what it means.” Meyer said Cunningham may be the key to keeping the subsistence lifestyle a possibility. Her ability to open up the pastime to new enthusiasts and focus on preserving the environment that supports the wildlife they hunt makes Cunningham the perfect ambassador for Photo courtesy Christine Cunningham the sport, he said. Cunningham takes it all in This photo shows Christine Cunningham hunting in the fall of stride, Meyer said. She has 2014. Cunningham trains and hunts with English setters and See HUNT, page A-10 chocolate Labradors for tracking waterfowl in Alaska.
Dog owner wants answers after pug is electrocuted By EMILY RUSSO MILLER Morris News Service-Alaska/ Juneau Empire
After working a long day, Cheryl Buchanan decided to take her dog, a 3½-year-old pug named Siri, for a stroll downtown as she searched for a latenight bite to eat. The walk was cut short when Siri stepped on an electrical junction box. The box was left electrically charged on the sidewalk in front of the Walter Soboleff building construction site on Front Street. The pug was electrocuted and killed instantly. “It happened so fast, it was like a minute maybe,” Buch-
anan, 60, said in an interview Friday. “She stepped on that metal plate, she started yelping and crying and then she went down.” The street was busy — people were still out from the December First Friday Gallery Walk. Two men across the street at the Viking saw the incident and ran over to help. “One man bent over to pick her up, and he jumped up and said, ‘Wow! Did you see that? I got shocked,’” Buchanan recalled. “So he couldn’t pick her up. He took off his jacket and wrapped it around her to be able to pick her up. But she was already gone.” Now, Buchanan is demand-
ing answers — and not just into the circumstances surrounding her dog’s death. She said she was handcuffed at the scene by Juneau police officers for threatening or intimidating an officer. “When I said, ‘Why am I being handcuffed?’, the officer said for threatening an officer,” Buchanan said. “And I can be a real smart mouth, but I know my civil rights.” Buchanan, a longtime Juneau resident, said she was upset her dog just died but not hysterical or a threat. She said there were about a dozen witnesses surrounding her, and she asked them if they saw her “take one step” toward the C
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officer or threaten him in any way. “That’s why they let me go,” she said. Juneau Police Department spokeswoman Erann Kalwara said she could not discuss why Buchanan was handcuffed, but that she could speak generally as to why police officers would do that. “That in particular will happen if someone’s very agitated and not listening or not doing things that — and their behavior may put someone else in danger,” Kalwara said by phone Friday. When asked how a 60-yearold unarmed woman, about 110 pounds and less than 5’
2”, could intimidate a young, armed officer, Kalwara said essentially that size doesn’t matter. “It really doesn’t depend on the size of the person because any person can hurt another person or cause harm to somebody else,” she said. “Sometime’s it’s just about a safety issue either for the officer or for other people that are around them, if they’re not following commands that will help keep another person safe.” Before she was released from handcuffs, Buchanan said she told the officer it was grounds for a lawsuit. See DOG, page A-10