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Encore
Fish ID
Triumvirate gets in Christmas spirit
Dolly or Arctic char, that’s the question
Arts & Entertainment/B-1
Tight Lines/A-12
CLARION
Breezy 32/27 More weather on Page A-2
P E N I N S U L A
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 45, Issue 68
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.
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
Local marijuana discussion begins Range of views shared at meeting Some look at business By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion
Cannabis proponents and opponents came together for a town hall meeting Tuesday in Kenai to begin the discussion of how the community can move forward after Alaskans voted to legalize marijuana. More than 120 people filled the Challenger Learning Center in Kenai to listen, and share information, experiences and
concerns about marijuana at a forum organized by the Kenai Community Coalition on Cannabis. Kenai Peninsula lawyers Eric Derleth and Marc Theiler formed the coalition to begin an exchange of information with community members and lawmakers as the state works to create regulations. Derleth opened the meeting with an outline of the initiative and presented his research on how other parts of the country
have developed regulations to address concerns like packaging and marketing that would keep marijuana out of children’s hands. “We want to be a more responsible industry and honor the values of people I’ve met in all the years I’ve consumed cannabis,” Derleth said. “We don’t want people running around endangering our community. We want to be a positive part of the
opportunities, impacts By BEN BOETTGER Peninsula Clarion
Attendees at the Kenai Community Cannabis Coalition’s town hall meeting at the Challenger Center last night represented a wide range of perspectives on the marijuana issue. Some were glad
Council gives OK to daycare
In the news Some fees at state parks rising Jan 1
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JUNEAU (AP) — Fees for some activities at Alaska state park facilities are set to increase on Jan. 1. Daily parking fees at trailheads or other developed areas won’t change. The annual parking pass fee will increase by $10, with a second pass for the same family going up by $5. Annual boat launch fees will go up by $25, with a second pass for a family going up by $10. Overnight camping and boat launch fees will vary but generally increase by about $5.
By KELLY SULLIVAN Peninsula Clarion
After six months of debate, the city of Soldotna will be getting a new daycare. Following a second appeal to the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission, Robyn Schneider was given permission to open an in-home daycare facility, to be called Schneider’s Nest, on North Kobuk Street. The council granted the appeal for a conditional use permit that includes six recommendations by city staff and is contingent upon Schneider providing a site plan that is approved by the planning department, said council member Linda Murphy. The property is also unable to post any signs relating to the business that are not in harmony with the residential character of the neighborhood, she said. On Tuesday evening the city council, acting as the Board of Adjustment, reviewed Schneider’s proposal. Deliberations that included the council, city attorney Brooks Chandler and city clerk Shellie Saner were held in an executive session. Prior to the decision the board heard testimony from Schneider, residents in favor and against the daycare and city planner John Czarnezki. Staff recommended that the city reject the daycare, Czarnezki said. At a planning and zoning commission’s remand hearing on Oct. 28 Czarnezki had recommended granting Schneider permission to open the facility. The previous recommendation was based on five criteria including available parking, set drop-off and pick-up times to minimize the effect on residential traffic flow, limiting the
Correction A story in Tuesday’s Clarion on icy road conditions contained incorrect information. There were two accidents involving school buses near Homer on Monday. No students were on the school bus in the incident on North Fork Road. The other incident occurred at about 8:50 a.m. at Mile 164 of the Sterling Highway in Homer. A 16-year-old female driving southbound in a Ford F150 truck attempted to pass a school bus driven by Grace Poindexter, 60. The juvenile lost control of her vehicle and collided with the bus, according to a trooper report. Three students were on the bus at the time but no injuries were reported. A replacement bus came to pick up the students, who were en route to Homer Middle and Homer High schools, according to a release from the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District. The Clarion regrets the error.
Songs of the season
Top: Students from Mountain View Elementary School sing “All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth” to an attentive audience at Charis Place Assisted Living Wednesday in Kenai. Above: The second-graders sang Christmas carols at the Kenai Municipal Airport, Homer Electric Association, Inc., Charis Place Assisted Living and Walmart. Right: Alex Collett incorporated some dance moves into his caroling. Collett performed five carols with his classmates. Photo by Kelly Sullivan/ Peninsula Clarion
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to “come out” as recreational marijuana users. Others were prospective owners of marijuana businesses, and others were opponents of marijuana legalization who had come to make their opinions heard. Jennifer Anderson, a forensic and critical care nurse,
Gas pipeline coordinator office in Alaska to close By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
JUNEAU — The office of the federal coordinator for Alaska gas pipeline projects is shutting down after not being included in the budget bill that Congress recently passed. Federal coordinator Larry Persily said he plans to have the office shut down by the end of February. The office was created in a 2004 law aimed at helping advance an Alaska gas pipeline
project that would serve North America. Market conditions led to that plan being scrapped in favor of a liquefied natural gas project that would allow exports to Asia. The state of Alaska, BP PLC, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corp. and TransCanada Corp. are involved in the effort. Persily said the lack of clear authority for his office to be involved with a new project was becoming more of an issue. Congress did not act to address that. Robert Dillon, a spokesman for U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski,
said Wednesday that the Senate version of the budget included funding for the office but it was dropped during negotiations with the House on a final package. Given that the project being pursued is not focused on delivering gas to the Lower 48, it made it harder to argue for funding for the office to be included, Dillon said. As the project progresses, he said Murkowski, R-Alaska, will make it a priority to ensure that permitting efforts are coorC
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dinated. He said it’s not clear yet how she will do that. Right now, it’s not clear whether there will be a project. The partners have not reached a final decision point and are in a phase of preliminary engineering and design. Persily said the project ultimately will live or die based on its economics, not on whether his office exists. But he said his office helped to keep the public and federal agencies informed on what was happening with the project, even after the focus
shifted. Persily is looking for ways to preserve the work done by the office so it’s available if the office is revived later. The office has contracted with Alaska Resources Library and Information Services to maintain the searchable digital database of gas line documents going back 40 years, he said. A gas pipeline has long been a dream in Alaska as a way to provide energy, create jobs and help to shore up revenues in a state now heavily dependent on oil.