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CLARION
Showers 38/31 More weather on Page A-2
P E N I N S U L A
TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2015 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 45, Issue 88
50 cents newsstands daily/$1.00 Sunday
North Road gravel site on hold
Question Should lawmakers be constitutionally prohibited from using the earnings of the Alaska Permanent Fund to pay for state government? n Yes n No 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.
Borough drops plan to access material site By DAN BALMER Peninsula Clarion
tion) is one of the only districts doing something on this level.” The disorder is what Evensen refers to as an “everywhere issue.” Every single teacher at some point will teach a student that has FASD, she said. In 2009, Dr. Philip May proved between 2-5 percent of all live births had some level of the disorder. The Center for Disease Control in 2011 found approximately one in every 100 children will have FASD. “If you apply the higher end
While two groups have parallel plans to extend the North Road, a Kenai Peninsula Borough ordinance to fund a gravel pit access road to aid in the project construction was withdrawn from the Jan. 6 borough assembly agenda. The ordinance, sponsored by Mayor Mike Navarre, was to appropriate $668,000 from the Land Trust Fund to access the Suneva material site, located on 140 acres of borough property off Mile 32 of the Kenai Spur Highway. The borough and the Apache Alaska Corporation have separate plans to extend the Spur Highway beyond Captain Cook State Park and the gravel pit is in close proximity to the proposed project area. Before the ordinance could be introduced, Apache contacted the borough and notified them it hasn’t selected a material site for their project. If Apache proceeds with the purchase of material, it would assume responsibility for the road development to the gravel pit site. At the assembly finance committee meeting Jan. 6, Navarre said there is no need to build the access road unless Apache buys gravel from the borough. “In order to access the gravel pit, a different rightof-way needs to be built,” he
See LEARN, page A-9
See SITE, page A-9
In the news 2014 warmest on record for Alaska
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FAIRBANKS (AP) — It wasn’t quite warm enough to hang up the parkas, but 2014 was the warmest year on record for Alaska, according to the National Weather Service. Based on information from the National Climatic Data Center, the National Weather Service Alaska said 2014 was warmer than 1926, the previous warmest year on record, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported. The agency made the announcement last week on its Facebook page. The National Climatic Data Center stores, monitors and assesses historical weather data from across the country. Climate data for Alaska has been kept since 1918. To figure out the warmest year, the center places temperatures from its Alaska monitoring stations and computes the statewide departure from the long-term average. The baseline for the longterm average is climate data from 1971 to 2000. The center ranks each year based on how the temperatures compared with temperatures throughout the entire historical record. Further information on average temperatures was not immediately available from the weather service. Nearly 200 weather monitoring stations gather data from Alaska locations. Most are operated by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Index Opinion.................. A-4 Business................ A-5 Nation/World.......... A-6 Sports.....................A-7 Classifieds........... A-10 Comics................. A-13 Pet Tails............... A-14
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Photo by Dan Balmer/Peninsula Clarion
Welcome back
Kenai Peninsula College student advisers Shauna Thornton and Marsea Hansen welcome college students back to the Kenai River Campus Monday for the first day of classes after the winter break. Thornton, who is a member of the student union, said for the first week back they offer advice for students, help them locate their classes and provide free coffee all while being a familiar face to help students feel comfortable. KPC student Kristopher Butler is on the right.
Individualized learning expnded School district develops curriculum, training to address FASD By KELLY SULLIVAN Peninsula Clarion
The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District is continuing to expand and evolve outreach for students diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. Training and support programs have reached 400 educators, students and families since the school district identified the education concerning the disability as a priority three years ago, said Director of Pupil Ser-
‘It is very brave for a district to do this.’ — Deb Evensen vices Clayton Holland. A support group called, “Putting the FASD Puzzle Together for Success,” is organized “exclusively for parents who have a child with a FASD Diagnosis,” Holland said. The group is continuing to draw in more members at the start of 2015, Holland said.
Deb Evensen, who teaches and moderates FASD curriculum and training throughout the school district, said the level of education being taught in Kenai Peninsula schools surrounding the disability is almost unique. “It is very brave for a district to do this,” Evensen said. “This (Kenai Peninsula administra-
State transportation commissioner removed By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
JUNEAU — Gov. Bill Walker’s administration asked for and received state transportation commissioner Patrick Kemp’s resignation Monday following Kemp’s defense of his department’s pursuit of the Juneau access road, a Walker spokeswoman said Monday. Spokeswoman Grace Jang
said Walker insists on having commissioners aligned with his decisions and policies. Kemp was a holdover from former Gov. Sean Parnell’s administration. He had planned to retire at the end of November but stayed on as acting commissioner after Walker was sworn in Dec. 1. Kemp said Monday that he wasn’t given a reason for his dismissal.
“They just called and said I could go now, so I’m going,” Kemp said in a brief telephone interview. John Binder, who has served as a deputy commissioner, was named acting commissioner, Jang said, adding that Walker plans to decide on a permanent commissioner by month’s end. Late last month, Walker halted new, non-obligated spending on six large-scale projects,
including the Juneau road and Knik Arm crossing, and asked that project managers report on the potential effects of delaying, suspending or terminating contracts. The state is facing multibillion-dollar budget deficits amid much lower than expected oil prices. Kemp defended the Juneau road project in a response memo to Walker’s budget director dated Jan. 5 and made public last
Friday. He attached a presentation given to lawmakers last year that he said showed the cost of ferry service is “highly disproportional” to the number of citizens served. Juneau is not connected to the road system and is accessible by air or water. State-run ferries provide transportation between Juneau and other Southeast communities. Kemp, See STATE, page A-9
Climber summits Denali solo By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota adventurer has succeeded in becoming the first solo climber to reach the summit of Alaska’s Mount McKinley in the month of January, his support team said Monday, citing a GPS tracking device. Lonnie Dupre, of Grand Marais, reached the 20,320foot summit of North America’s tallest peak at 2:08 p.m. Alaska time Sunday, said project coordinator Stevie Plummer. Dupre sent a text message
saying “All OK, Doing Well,” through a SPOT GPS messenger device that showed it was sent from the same coordinates as McKinley’s summit. Plummer then posted on the expedition website and on Dupre’s Facebook page a map generated by the SPOT system, which she said is “extremely accurate,” showing he had made it. She also said he sent a similar SPOT message about 3½ hours later showing he had successfully descended to his high camp at 17,200 feet. “He spent 10 minutes on the summit, took some photos,
then he realized exactly how high up he was and decided to head back down. I guess reality struck at that moment,” Plummer said while en route to Alaska to meet up with Dupre. Plummer spoke with Dupre on Monday, shortly after the climber re-established satellite phone contact for the first time in nearly a week. This was Dupre’s fourth attempt at a solo summit in January of Mount McKinley, also known as Mount Denali. The mountain’s notoriously treacherous winter weather forced See DENALI, page A-9 C
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AP Photo/Lonnie Dupre
In this 2012 photo provided by climber Lonnie Dupre, Dupre takes a selfie during a failed attempt to climb the summit of Mount McKinley. Dupre’s support team said Monday that the Minnesota adventurer has succeeded in his fourth attempt to become the first solo climber to reach the summit.