Schools
d Rea over by
6
,250
a ple o e p ! day
Vol. 49, Issue 191
In the news Man’s death in western Alaska village jail is 3rd in 2 weeks AKIACHAK (AP) — An Alaska man has died while in police custody, the third person to die in a western Alaska community jail in the past two weeks, authorities said. Robert Nick, 54, died in a jail in the village of Akiachak, The Anchorage Daily News reported Sunday. Nick was taken into protective custody “due to the level of his intoxication” Friday by a tribal officer in the village of about 600 people on the Kuskokwim River, northeast of Bethel, police said. Alaska State Troopers were notified of Nick’s death Friday evening around 9 p.m. and boated to Akiachak to investigate. State police did not say what Nick is believed to have died from or how long he had been dead when he was found by tribal jail guards. His remains were sent to the state medical examiner’s office in Anchorage, authorities said. Becca White, 24, and Isaiah Parka, 22, died in a blaze April 28 at the village jail in Napakiak, southwest of Bethel. The fire is still under investigation. A guard was severely injured trying to save the two inmates, according to state troopers. White and Parka had been arrested by a village police officer employed by the tribe, troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters said. Residents of the Kuskokwim River village tried to fight the fire by pumping river water and using a garden hose to extinguish the flames, authorities said. The deaths in Napakiak were the first in a fire in an Alaska jail for more than 30 years, police said.
Index Local................A3 Opinion........... A4 Nation..............A5 Sports..............A6 Classifieds...... A7 Comics.......... A10 Schools.......... A11 Check us out online at www.peninsulaclarion.com To subscribe, call 283-3584.
Playoffs
What’s happening this week
Raptors, Blazers capture Game 7s
Schools/A11
Sports/A6
CLARION
53/37 More weather on Page A2
W of 1 inner Awa 0* 201 Exc rds f 9 o e Rep llence r in or ti * Ala n ska g ! Pres s
P E N I N S U L A
Monday, May 13, 2019 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Club
$1 newsstands daily/$1.50 Sunday
Looking for Iliamna’s lake monster By ALEX DeMARBAN Anchorage Daily News
ANCHORAGE — The mysterious animal that people say they see in Iliamna Lake is dark, longer than 15 feet, with a long head and tail and distinct fins. It isn’t a whale or a seal, and it often vanishes quickly. Fishermen have tried hooking it. The Anchorage Daily News once offered $100,000 for proof of its existence. But so far, nobody has photographed the creature some call the Iliamna Lake monster. Palmer resident Bruce Wright, a former marine ecologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service, hopes to solve the riddle once and for all this summer. He plans to sink an underwater video camera to the bottom of the sprawling and sparsely populated Southwest Alaska lake that’s the largest and one of the deepest in the state.
The TV series “River Monsters” featured it in 2010, piquing Wright’s curiosity and sparking his
While someone did scratch racist graffiti in a late 1990s Ford Bronco now owned by a Homer couple, that vandalism turned out to have happened well before an East End Road auto mechanic noticed it April 26 on the car parked at his shop — and even before the couple bought the car. A long time ago, it turns out. In an interview on Tuesday with the Homer News, the Bronco’s owner, Jim Weber, said the graffiti has been on the Bronco since before he bought it 10 years ago from an Alaska State Trooper living in Soldotna. The Homer News contacted Weber after he
See LAKE, page A12
See SUV, page A3
In this Thursday, May 2, photo, Mark Stigar poses for a photo in Palmer. In July 2017, Stigar, a retired colonel and former chief aviation officer for the Alaska Army National Guard, was using halibut gear on a lead line to fish for burbot in about 100 feet of water in Iliamna Lake. Something wreaked havoc on his gear. Could it have been Iliamna Lake monster? (Bill Roth/Anchorage Daily News via AP)
People call Iliamna Lake an inland sea. It’s 80 miles long, with a rare population of freshwater harbor seals that scientists
believe moved in from the ocean long ago, and an old legend that something large lives in its 1,000foot depths.
Air Quality and the coordinator for the study, said officials have not drawn
early conclusions. “We’re watching the data come in very closely,
WE’RE MOVING TO YOU, SO YOU CAN FOCUS ON MOVING FORWARD
but we are not doing analysis yet because it doesn’t See AIR, page A2
See CLASS, page A2
Legislature forms working group for VPSO program
By JOEY KLECKA Peninsula Clarion
Juneau Empire
A still frame from Frontier of Firsts, one of the dozen films that will be shown at the Kenai River Paddling Film Festival on Saturday in Soldotna. (Photo provided by Steve Cothran)
val World Tour. Event organizers Steve Cothran and Chris
Dissent over chemical classification JUNEAU (AP) — A decision by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation to redefine levels of certain chemicals considered safe in drinking water has caused dissent within the agency. Sally Schlichting, who works in the contaminated sites program, wrote in an internal memo obtained by CoastAlaska that the best way to protect citizens is to not roll back standards. The department’s commissioner, Jason Brune, said Schlichting is entitled to her opinion but doesn’t speak for the department or Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration. Brune said the department deferred to the U.S. Environmental Protection
Passengers disembark from the cruise ship Carnival Legend at the South Franklin Dock on Wednesday. The company was cited for excess air pollution last year. (Michael Penn/Juneau Empire)
Paddling film festival returns After a successful debut in 2018, the Kenai River Paddling Film Festival is returning next weekend in a big way. Slated for a Saturday night at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex, the festival will showcase top films from some of the most talented filmmakers in the world of adventure paddling. Saturday’s showing will feature 12 of the year’s best paddling films, including locally made films and nine award winners from the Paddling Film Festi-
Racist graffiti found on Homer SUV happened years ago By Michael Armstrong Homer News
State studies Juneau air quality for possible effects from ships JUNEAU (AP) — State environmental officials have launched the first ambient air quality study in Alaska’s capital in more than a decade to determine if air is being affected by cruise ships or other sources. The state will collect data from 21 monitors installed in late April around downtown Juneau, the Juneau Empire reported. The devices use lasers to measure particulate and report online in near-real time. They will remain in place through October. Monitors measuring sulfur dioxide also were installed but don’t provide information in real time. Anna Breuninger, an environmental specialist for the state Division of
Partly sunny
Walker helped bring the festival back to SoldotSee FILM, page A12
On Thursday, the Alaska Legislature formed a joint working group that will search for ways to improve the state’s Village Public Safety Officers (VPSO) program. Members of both the Alaska House and Alaska Senate will be on the group, and will aim to compile a list of recommendations by Jan. 31, 2020 to result in effective legislation in the 2020 legislative session The VPSO program was created in the 1970s to give rural communities impor-
tant public safety resources. Today, approximately 40 men and women who are employed through the program serve as the first — and often the only — law enforcement presence in many communities. Turnover is high in the program, and rural communities are often left without any law enforcement. The main focus of the Legislature’s work group is finding ways to increase the number of VPSO officers. Sen. Donny Olson and Rep. Chuck Kopp will serve as co-chairs, and See VPSO, page A3
The new Northrim Bank branch in Soldotna is now open. Stop in and get 5,000 Alaska Airlines miles when you open a new checking account with a debit card and online banking.
Northrim.com | 562.0062