Peninsula Clarion, January 04, 2015

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On your mark Nothing like some healthy competition Community/C-1

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Sunday

Road trip Brown Bears continue Pennsylvania swing Sports/B-1

CLARION P E N I N S U L A

JANUARY 4, 2015 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska

Vol. 45, Issue 90

50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday

State pot laws to stay on Peninsula residents share hopes for 2015 schedule A

Tough hands to play

Local discussions on regulation plans to continue

Chips are down for gov, legislators facing massive budget gap

Looking ahead

s we say goodbye to 2014, Peninsula Clarion reporters Ben Boettger, Dan Balmer and Ian Foley asked people in the community what they are looking forward to in 2015. Here’s what residents had to say: “I’m looking forward to getting all my projects done this summer. I’ve got a list of things a mile long.” — Denise Kivi

By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion

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Following a meeting with state leaders to discuss the timeline for marijuana regulations, Gov. Bill Walker on Tuesday announced the implementation of the regulations will remain on schedule. Walker’s meeting with representatives from the Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development, the Department of Revenue and the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board was aimed at gauging where the agencies are in developing policies when the law goes into effect Feb. 24. “We have strong, cooperative leadership heading up implementation of this very important act,” Walker said in a Tuesday press release. “They assured me that we can meet the statutory and regulatory timelines outlined in the initiative that voters passed in November. I’m confident that we can be diligent in our efforts to make sure we have adequate regulations for this new industry in place and on time.” Once marijuana is officially legalized beginning Feb. 24, the ABC board has nine months — until Nov. 24, 2015 — to adopt regulations for the sale of marijuana. The board anticipates accepting applications for marijuana licenses by Feb. 24, 2016 with the initial industry licenses to be awarded by late May 2016, according to the press release from the Gov. Walker’s office. The ABC board has been tasked with the implementation of regulations until a Marijuana Control Board is established. The board will be housed within the DCCED, which is leading the effort to adopt regulations for the industry launch while still “upholding

“Continued growth. With the growth that’s happening up north with the oil, I want the peninsula to keep becoming more prosperous.” — Diane Hurst “I’m looking forward to getting rid of the grocery tax. It’s a tax that local people have to pay, and it’s particularly burdensome to large families and people on a

“I’m looking “I’m looking forward to fishforward to more ing season and work opportunimore sunlight. ties. I spray foam This is my first and hopefully year and I’m exa lot of oilfield cited to get my jobs open up and in-state license I can get in on so I can dipnet that.” for salmon.” — Anthony — Chandler Borromeo, Kenai Stevenson, Soldotna

“I’m going to become a grandmother for the first time, so I’m looking forward to that. I’m going to have two new grandchildren. I’m very excited.” — Mary Jo Joiner, Funny River Road

“Looking forward to buying a house. I start my master’s program in Aeronautics around the same time so that should keep me busy.” — Daniel Mahr, Soldotna “I’m always optimistic about the New Year. I’m anxious to see what happens with new legislature, new governor and his administration. I want to tackle health care. From a mayoral perspective I want to start looking at things that require long-term planning because three years goes by really quick.” — Mike Navarre, Kenai

fixed income.” — James Price, Nikiski

“Getter better, healthwise. We’re Jehovah’s Witnesses, and we’re looking to go ahead and go on a missionary (trip), even though we’re in our 70s.” — Steve Ratey, Kenai

“King (salmon) opening. It’s been 3 or 4 years since they closed.” — Sam Shropshire

“Well, let’s put it this way — my life is so good right now. To continue it, is great. I’m not looking for major changes.” — Chuck Thornton, Kenai “Just enjoying life. Whatever there is, if something doesn’t work out, try another thing.” — Frances Starkey, Kenai

“To remain healthy and happy.” — Paula Rohloff, Soldotna See 2015, page A-2

See REGS, page A-2

By TIM BRADNER Morris News Service-Alaska/ Alaska Journal of Commerce

Gov. Bill Walker and his new administration are still settling in as state legislators are packing up to head to Juneau for the 2015 session. The annual political poker game begins Jan. 20 when the state Legislature convenes. Walker will be at the table. So will House Speaker Mike Chenault; Senate President Kevin Meyer; House Democratic Minority Leader Chris Tuck; and Senate Democratic Minority Leader Berta Gardner. What’s different about the game this year is that the chips on the table will be painful budget cuts instead of new money for projects and programs that Alaskans have enjoyed for years. No more, at least for now. With oil prices still less than $60 per barrel and back-to-back $3.5 billion budget deficits pending it seems like a bleak year ahead. Two credit rating agencies, Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s, have issued warnings about Alaska’s finances. Still, the sky isn’t falling. Alaskans have been through these times before during prolonged oil price slumps in 1986 and in 1998 and a more recent, brief dip in 2009. The state’s economy still seems on sound footing, however. Jobs are increasing, though at slower rates, but employment in key industries like peSee HAND, page A-2

North Dakota, Alaska locked in rivalry for oil, population By JAMES MacPHERSON Associated Press

BISMARCK, N.D. — Forget South Dakota. North Dakota’s most similar sister state these days is some 2,000 miles away. Alaska and North Dakota — which once had little more in common than wintry weather and elbow room — have for the past several years been locked in a state sibling rivalry over population numbers and crude oil output. “It shocks me how much we have

in common with Alaska, and it’s not just the cold,” said Kevin Iverson, manager of the census office at the North Dakota Commerce Department in Bismarck. North Dakota is bettering Alaska on crude production and the number of residents now, thanks to the Lower 48 state’s economic miracle led by its oil bonanza. The United States’ unlikely economic darling that is North Dakota comes in contrast to slipping crude production on The Last Frontier. Recent U.S. Census Bureau data show North Dakota recaptured the

Today’s Clarion Clear, cold 18/1 More weather on page A-10

Obituaries..................... A-3 Opinion......................... A-4 Alaska........................... A-5 Nation........................... A-6 World............................ A-8 Sports........................... B-1 Community................... C-1 Dear Abby..................... C-2 Crossword..................... C-2 Horoscope.................... C-2 Classifieds................... C-3 Mini Page...................... C-8 TV...................... Clarion TV

Inside ‘It’s more unsettling than campaigns because the rules are much looser. It allows corporations and others to spend more money.’

47th most populous state from Alaska, which had held the ranking for the past decade. North Dakota had an estimated 739,482 residents in 2014, up more 15,600 residents from the prior count and a record level. The 2.2 percent increase was the biggest in the nation. Alaska lost more than 500 residents between 2013 and 2014, ending the year with a population pegged at about 736,700. It was among only six states to lose population, data show. North Dakota’s fortunes have swung radically in recent years with advanced drilling technology in the

rich Bakken shale and Three Forks formations that have thrust the state to the nation’s No. 2 oil producer behind Texas. North Dakota, which was barely a top-10 oil producer a decade ago, passed Alaska in 2012 to become the second-leading oil-producing state in the U.S. Oil output in North Dakota is pegged at more than 1.1 million barrels daily, or more than double Alaska’s oil production, which peaked in 1988 at 2 million barrels daily but has dropped to less than one-fourth of that at present.

Two of North Dakota’s 17 oil-producing counties in the western part of the state — McKenzie and Mountrail — are now producing more than all of Alaska. North Dakota’s present day position seemed inconceivable in 2003 when it was the only state to lose population and Alaska vaulted past. Only Vermont and Wyoming had fewer residents than North Dakota then, and both of those states had population increases, the Census Bureau said. Demographers projected at that See RIVAL, page A-5

Police respond to thefts at Kenai Walmart By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion

A Kenai woman previously banned from Wal-Mart for shoplifting returned to the Kenai store on New Year’s Eve and allegedly attempted to steal more than $800 in merchandise before police caught her in the ... See page A-6 parking lot. Check us out online at A loss prevention employee www.peninsulaclarion.com called Kenai police at about To subscribe, call 283-3584. 2:45 p.m. Wednesday to report a woman actively stealing merchandise and preparing to leave. Elisa Harman, 46, was arrested on charges of seconddegree theft, first-degree crimi-

nal trespass and two violations of conditions of release after she admitted to the theft. Harman was also charged with possession of heroin after a search of her purse found a hypodermic needle and a metal spoon with burnt residue that tested positive for heroin, according to a Kenai police affidavit. The theft and heroin possession charges are both class C felonies. If convicted, each count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and up to $50,000 fine. Kenai police officer Dan Smith stopped a vehicle driven C

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by Laura Ivanoff with Harman and Harman’s 2-yearold daughter as passengers in the parking lot. Harman left a second cart of merchandise in the store and attempted to flee when police arrived. The total value of merchandise found in the vehicle was $876. Harman told Smith she needed the items and did not have any way to pay, according to the report. According to court documents, Harman was on conditions of release for a thirddegree theft from Wal-Mart on Sept. 8, 2014 when management banned her from the store. The court ordered Harman not

to have contact with Wal-Mart. Harman was arraigned in Kenai District Court Thursday and a public defender was appointed to represent her. Harman is currently jailed at Wildwood Pretrial Facility. Her next court date is Jan. 12 in Kenai. The incident was the third reported theft at the Kenai WalMart within a week. Kenai police issued a summons to Warren Belford, 29, of Kenai for fourth-degree theft and seconddegree criminal mischief, both misdemeanor charges. On New Year’s Day, Kenai police responded to a shoplifter See THEFT, page A-5


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