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CLARION
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P E N I N S U L A
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2014 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 45, Issue 67
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
City looks ahead
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.
Soldotna planning team outlines goals By KELLY SULLIVAN Peninsula Clarion
lems, another was epileptic and learning disabled, and one daughter had a cleft pallet. In Washington, the Larsons attended a support group for special-needs parents. Moving to Alaska after her children were grown, Larson said she saw a need for a group similar to the one that had helped her. She started Parents SPEAK a year ago. At some meetings, the group brings in speakers to present information about locally available resources for helping their children.
Members of the public and private sectors have joined to address Soldotna’s potential for expansion. The Soldotna Planning Team consists of city officials, council members, Soldotna Chamber of Commerce staff and business owners. The group met Dec. 9 at the Donald E. Gilman River Center. The group was formed to identify where the city should be directing focus and efforts, said city Planning and Geographic Information Systems Technician Austin Johnson. Bolder investments and more aggressive planning were two subjects addressed at the meeting, he said. “Investment depends on setting priorities,” Johnson said. “We need to find time and funding for everything.” Signage projects will see the most immediate effects of the planning talks, Johnson said. Consultants from Anchoragebased Kittelson & Associates and Pennsylvania-based MERJE offered suggestions and interpretations on possible ways to improve “wayfinding,” which are the signs that direct locals and visitors to landmarks within a city, create a unified district downtown, he said. Nancy Casey, from Casey Planning & Design located in Soldotna conducted the majority of the presentation to the Planning Team.
See SHARE, page A-14
See PLAN, page A-14
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In the news 1,000 participate in open enrollment
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JUNEAU (AP) — A broker established to help individuals sign up for private health insurance has enrolled about 1,000 Alaskans in the first month of the latest open enrollment period. That includes renewals and new sign-ups. Aimee Crocker, operations manager for Enroll Alaska, says most of those enrolled by the broker this period have been renewals. Overall enrollment figures aren’t yet available. Alaskans also can sign up themselves. Monday marked the deadline for individuals to sign up for coverage beginning Jan. 1. People have until Feb. 15 to sign up for 2015 coverage through the federally run online marketplace. Crocker says unlocking accounts for renewal clients has been frustrating. She says website passwords were reset in April and some individuals have had to get temporary passwords or find documentation with their identification number.
Inside ‘If we don’t make some down payment toward a rational solution on immigration in 2015, early 2016, good luck winning the White House.’ ... See page A-6
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Photo by Kelly Sullivan/Peninsula Clarion
Sound check
Dustin Aaronson, owner of Old Town Music, works on adjusting the intonation on an American made electric guitar Tuesday in Kenai. Intonation affects sound quality throughout the entire instrument, and while the technique is generally formulaic, sometimes rules are broken to ensure individual instruments have been properly tuned, Aaronson said.
Speaking a different language Group offers support for parents of children with special needs By BEN BOETTGER Peninsula Clarion
On Thursday at 6:30 p.m, parents of special-needs children will congregate for a meeting of Parents SPEAK, a support group described by founder Peggy Larson as “a chance to get out and meet other parents who are going through difficulties and struggles.” “Oftentimes, we discuss resources, and what’s available out there,” said Larson. “And oftentimes, we just discuss the frustration we feel.” Larson said that “SPEAK” is
‘We learned many years ago that parents with special-needs kids speak a different language. ... They are starved for the opportunity to meet other people who understand them, who get it.’ — Peggy Larson an acronym for “Special Parents Encouraging Amazing Kids.” “That’s just what we do,” said Larson. “We speak to each other, help each other out with encouragement.”
Larson and her husband are originally from Washington state, where they raised three children, now adults, with special needs. Their oldest son had severe vision prob-
Obama withdraws Bristol Bay from drilling By DAN JOLING Associated Press
ANCHORAGE — President Barack Obama announced Tuesday that he’s removing more than 52,000 square miles of waters off Alaska’s coast from consideration for oil and gas exploration or drilling. The president said in a video announcement that Bristol Bay
and nearby waters, covering an area roughly the size of Florida, would be withdrawn from consideration for petroleum leases. He called Bristol Bay one of the country’s great natural resources and a massive economic engine. “It’s something that’s too precious for us to be putting out to the highest bidder,” Obama said.
Bristol Bay has supported Native Americans in the Alaska region for centuries, he said. “It supports about $2 billion in the commercial fishing industry,” Obama said. “It supplies America with 40 percent of its wild-caught seafood.” The bay is north of the Alaska Peninsula, which juts out west from mainland Alaska at the start of the Aleutian Islands
chain. Petroleum leases sold there in the mid-1980s were bought back in 1995 at taxpayer expense for $95 million after the Exxon Valdez spill, said Marilyn Heiman, U.S. Arctic director for Pew Charitable Trusts. Fisheries around the world are in decline, but Bristol Bay’s well-managed fisheries are some of the most productive in
the world and worthy of protection, she said. “This is one of the most important ocean protection decisions this president or any president has ever made,” Heiman said. Gov. Bill Walker said the waters of Bristol Bay feed worldpremier fisheries. “I look forward to working See DRILL, page A-14
Woman charged in burglary By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion
An Anchorage woman, arrested in a Dec. 4 break-in of a Soldotna home, pleaded not guilty to burglary and theft charges Tuesday in Kenai Superior Court. Last Friday, a Kenai Grand Jury indicted Cynthia Skidmore, 37, on five counts: firstdegree burglary, second-degree burglary, second-degree theft, providing false information and fifth-degree criminal mischief. First-degree burglary is a class B felony and is punishable by up to 10 years in jail and $100,000 fine. Second-degree burglary and theft are both class C felonies.
Skidmore was arrested the same night Soldotna Police and Alaska State Troopers responded to a report of a burglary at about 1:20 a.m. on Irons Avenue in Soldotna. A neighbor called 911 and reported she saw two people, a man and a woman in dark clothing, carrying grocery bags while leaving a residence on Irons Avenue and walking toward Knight Drive, according to a trooper affidavit. Soldotna police officer Mitchell Burdick located Skidmore walking on nearby Crest Drive. Skidmore first identified herself as Stephani Lukes but later gave her real name when she was booked at Wildwood Pretrial Facility. According to court records,
Skidmore had an outstanding arrest warrant from a 2013 Kenai case where she pleaded guilty to first-degree vehicle theft and served 90 days in jail and was given two years probation. During his investigation, trooper Sgt. Jeremy Grieme found two sets of shoe tracks in the snow on Glory Street that went in the direction of Knight Drive and into the woods. The tracks led Grieme to the neighbor’s house that called to report the burglary. When first contacted by police, Skidmore had a backpack and her breath smelled of alcohol. Skidmore was wearing a pair of dress boots that matched the shoe tracks that led up to the See CHARGE, page A-14 C
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Rollover
Photo by Dan Balmer/Peninsula Clarion
Kenai police Sgt. Jay Sjogren talks with an 18-year-old man Tuesday after a single-vehicle rollover at about 10:45 a.m. on the Kenai Spur Highway. The driver of the tan Saturn sedan was traveling toward Soldotna when he hit a patch of ice on a turn, rolled over once and came to a stop in the ditch. The driver was not injured and the vehicle was towed from the scene.