Forests
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2 7,50ple a peo y! da
Vol. 49, Issue 231
Tourney
Local artist inspired by natural world
Ohio, Rhode Island gain championship
Arts/A8
Sports/A6
CLARION
79/57 More weather on Page A2
W of 1 inner Awa 0* 201 Exc rds f 8 o e Rep llence r i or ti * Ala n n ska Pres g! s
P E N I N S U L A
Thursday, July 4, 2019 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
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Mount Marathon officials to decide on junior race Thursday morning
Budget vetoes to have local fallout
Staff report Peninsula Clarion
Last Friday, Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued a series of vetoes totaling $444 million to the state’s operating budget, many of which have the potential to impact residents of the Kenai Peninsula Borough. Among the cuts was a veto of $130 million to the University of Alaska system, which could put the Kenai Peninsula College and Kachemak Bay Campus on the chopping block. The university cut may also affect local collegebound students, Pegge Erkeneff, communications liaison for the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, said. “We want our students
Mount Marathon Race officials will decide Thursday morning whether to cancel the junior race, which is scheduled for 9 a.m. The National Weather Service is forecasting widespread smoke for Seward on Thursday, mainly before 10 a.m. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says children, teenagers, older adults and those who have heart or lung diseases are more susceptible to the health threats due to smoke. The women’s and men’s races are happening, though all competitors may choose to defer entry to 2020. Junior racers also may defer entry, but race officials are taking a more cautious approach with that race, which has not been canceled since it began in 1964. The junior race goes halfway up and down the 3,022-foot mountain overlooking Seward. Air quality will be accessed at 7:30 a.m. and if the air is unhealthy, officials could announce via public address, volunteers at Race Headquarters and mmr.seward.com that the race is canceled by 8 a.m. A second assessment will be done at 8:30 a.m., with final determination at 8:45 a.m. If the junior race is canceled, racers get their $25 entry fee back and entry into the 2020 race. For more information, check mmr.seward.com.
Climber dies in fall at Denali National Park ANCHORAGE — An Alaska rock climber fell to his death at Denali National Park and Preserve. The National Park Service in a release says 26-year-old Evan Millsap of Fairbanks was killed while climbing with a partner at about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday in a rocky drainage off Igloo Canyon. The canyon is near Mile 37 of the park road. As Millsap rappelled down the rock face, an anchor system set up by the climbers failed. Millsap fell 70 feet. His partner climbed down and sought emergency assistance. Park rangers received word of the fall at 11:20 p.m. — Associated Press
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Partly sunny
By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
Swan Lake Fire prompts Cooper Landing smoke concerns By Brian Mazurek Peninsula Clarion
Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks to reporters about his budget vetoes at the state Capitol in Juneau on Friday. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer)
See VETO, page A2
Taking a shot Levi and Caleb Smith from Soldotna play a round of Cornhole during the Levitt AMP Soldotna Music Series in Soldotna Creek Park on Wednesday. The 12-week concert series, which began in early June, showcases local and national musical acts and includes family-friendly entertainment. (Photo by Brian Mazurek/Peninsula Clarion)
After nearly a month, the Swan Lake Fire continues to burn through the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge east of Sterling. A community meeting has been scheduled for Friday and management of the fire was handed off to the Northwest 13 Incident Management Team. The current size of the fire is 79,200 acres, according to the latest update from the Incident Management Team, but clouds and heavy smoke early Wednesday morning prevented a perimeter update by infrared satellite or helicopter mapping flight. Joe Anderson, public information officer for the Incident Management Team, said on Wednesday that Cooper Landing has been receiving a significant amount of smoke from the fire. The community meeting will address any concerns regarding air quality and let the residents of Cooper Landing know what contingency plans are in place to prevent the fire from threatening the area. The meeting will take place Friday at 6 p.m. at Cooper Landing Elementary and is open to the public. Between Mile 58 and Mile 63 of the Sterling Highway, near the Skyline Trail, firefighters are developing a strategy for the east side of the fire to prevent it from spreading in this direction. The highway remains open but firefighters will be present. Motorists are advised to use caution and expect delays. The Southwest corner of the fire also remains a priority as firefighters work to strengthen existing containment lines. North of the Homer See FIRE, page A3
Farmers concerned about heat, lack of rain By Sydney Leto For the Homer News
As lower Kenai Peninsula temperatures have soared recently, local farmers and gardeners have concerns about how June’s lack of rain and steady warm temperatures will affect their businesses in the weeks ahead. Last weekend, hundreds of shoppers visited the Homer Farmers Market, many wearing sun-dresses and shorts beneath the bright sky, which was filled with smoke from fires to the north. Though the vendors featured a variety of flow-
Madra Choromanska prepares freshly cut flowers for Alaska Stems on June 29, at the Homer Farmers Market in Homer. (Photo by Sydney Leto)
ers, food and herbs, some growers worried about the effect of the weather on
their livelihood. “If it doesn’t rain again, we are going to be in trou-
ble. Outside (the high tunnel), we may lose everything,” said Kelly Hickman, who farms off-grid with her family in Nikolaevsk. Temperatures this June have been consistently in the 60s and, according to U.S. Climate Data, Homer received only 0.16 inches of rain in June of 2019, compared to a measured 2.53 inches of rain in June of 2018. “I’ll push it and say ‘oh, we are going to get rain in a week,’ and I won’t water as much. But, that’s a mistake,” said Colleen Powers at Arctic Rose Herbs, who relies on a rainwater catch-
ment system for her greenhouse and one acre dedicated to herbs, flowers and berries. Powers says she can collect about 2,800 gallons of water, and historically doesn’t have to buy any. In recent years though, Powers said she has had to order about one to three deliveries of about 1,000 gallons each from Moore and Moore, a local water provider. The price of a water delivery in Homer varies depending on where people live and delivery schedules. For delivery on a normal schedule to Fritz Creek, 2,500 gallons See FARM, page A3
Arts groups brace for program cuts, grant losses By Michael Armstrong Homer News
In the list of 182 line-item vetoes released last Friday by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, one didn’t make his press office’s “items of interest” tally. Buried in the more than $400 million in cuts, Dunleavy defunded the entire $2.8 million of the Alaska State Council on the Arts
budget — effectively eliminating the state arts agency. Of that veto, Dunleavy slashed $1.1 million in an item called “statutory designated program receipts,” money that comes from non-state sources. Of the $2.8 million cut, $700,000 is state money, said Council Chairman Benjamin Brown of Juneau. “Counterintuitive doesn’t
begin to discern how hard it is or impossible for me to understand the logic behind these purported vetoes,” Brown said. “It’s so unreasonable,” said Asia Freeman, artistic director of the Bunnell Street Arts Center, one of the Homer arts groups that receives ASCA grants. “It’s such an ineffective way to think of cutting.” If the Alaska Legislature,
meeting jointly as the House and Senate, does not get the 45 out of 60 votes to override Dunleavy’s veto, that will mean a $30,000 to $35,000 hit to Bunnell Street Arts Center, Freeman said. “It’s fairly significant for us,” she said. “It’s comparable to one of the jobs here. It’s comparable to an entire program. A really good example of that is
the Artists in the Schools.” Through that program, Bunnell is one of several regional arts and culture agencies that administers the program: training artist teachers, processing applications and coordinating residencies. Alaska State Council on the Arts grants up to $15,000 to agencies like Bunnell — Bunnell gets a little See ARTS, page A3