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Vol. 49, Issue 232
MMR
California shaken by 6.4 temblor
Lafleur’s title leads peninsula success
Nation/A5
Sports/A8
CLARION
Partly sunny 73/54 More weather on Page A2
W of 1 inner Awa 0* 201 Exc rds f 8 o e Rep llence r in or ti * Ala n ska g ! Pres s
P E N I N S U L A
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Friday-Saturday, July 5-6, 2019 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
$1 newsstands daily/$1.50 Sunday
In the news Dense smoke advisory in effect for interior peninsula A dense smoke advisory is in effect for the interior Kenai Peninsula, according to the National Weather Service. The advisory includes the Sterling Highway Corridor from Sterling to Cooper Landing, and is in effect through Friday. Smoke from the Swan Lake Fire will reduce visibility to 1/4 mile or less at times, according to the advisory. The worst conditions will be overnight through the morning hours, with improvement during the afternoon and evening. The advisory recommends that drivers slow down, use headlights and leave plenty of distance ahead of you.
Some campgrounds and trails reopened near Skilak Hidden Lake Campground and the recreational trails accessed along Skilak Lake Road opened Thursday afternoon, the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge announced. The areas were closed due to concerns about the Swan Lake Fire, which has been burning east of Sterling since June 5. Along the Sterling Highway, all trails, cabins and campgrounds — including Skyline Trail, Seven Lakes Trail from Kelly Lake to Engineer Cabin, Kelly Campground, Petersen Campground, Watson Campground, Jean Lake Campground and Kelly cabin — remained closed to support firefighting operations in that area. — Victoria Petersen
Inside “I mean, why not love your president as you’d love a baby?” ... See Nation, A5
“I’m asking you to join me in rejecting the partisan loyalties and rhetoric that divide and dehumanize us.” ... See Nation, A5
TOP: Reagan Reed poses with an American flag at the Kenai Park Strip during the 2019 July 4th parade in Kenai. ABOVE, LEFT: A volunteer from AK Kids hands out candy during the parade in Kenai. ABOVE, RIGHT: Forever Dance Alaska performs for the crowd during the parade in Kenai. (Photos by Brian Mazurek/Peninsula Clarion)
Celebrating America, the Alaska way By Brian Mazurek Peninsula Clarion
Live music, classic cars, American flags and a lot of candy — all of these and more could be seen at this year’s 4th of July
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of the procession. Parents brought out their camping chairs and picnic blankets and snagged a spot in the shade while the kids hovered at the edge of the sidewalk, ready to snatch up all the candy being
Borough approves resolution in favor of Funny River boat launch By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
Index
Parade in downtown Kenai. The sidewalks from Fidalgo Avenue to the Main Street Loop were flooded with paradegoers who eagerly awaited all the floats, trucks and motorcycles that were part
Around 20 Funny River residents came to the Tuesday Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly meeting to speak in favor of a resolution supporting a community boat launch to the Kenai River. The resolution unanimously passed the
assembly. A majority of the speakers were in support of the initiative, which came from Mayor Charlie Pierce. The community has very little access to launch their boats into the Kenai River from the Funny River area, and many of the residents said they have to travel
to Soldotna or Kenai to launch their boats. In a June 20 memo from Pierce to the assembly, Pierce said the Funny River community has been working to convince the state to develop a boat launch facility in their community for many years. The memo says no properly conSee BOAT, page A2
thrown their way. The parade featured special appearances from all sorts of colorful characters: Batman, Spiderman, Smokey the Bear, Buttons the clown and the Scoop, the Oilers Mascot,
just to name a few. Twin City Raceway and Road to Recovery showed off a few of their speed machines — including one painted red, white and blue — while local dance See 4TH, page A2
Swan Lake Fire continues to spread with no rain in sight By Brian Mazurek Peninsula Clarion
Hot and dry weather continue to exacerbate the Swan Lake Fire, which is now at 84,492 acres, according to the latest update from the Northwest 13 Incident Management Team. Temperatures in the area are forecasted to be in the low 90s for the foreseeable
future, and winds will be coming in from the north and northwest with a high pressure system keeping the smoke low to the ground near Cooper Landing. A community meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday at Cooper Landing Elementary School to address concerns about smoke conditions in the area. An air See FIRE, page A3
Local radio stations grapple with cuts to public media By Megan Pacer Homer News
In the wake of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s line-item budget vetoes, local public radio stations on the Kenai Peninsula stand to lose a substan-
tial chunk of their operating budgets. As part of a $444 million cut to the $8.7 billion state operating budget through line item vetoes on June 28, Dunleavy eliminated $2.7 million in state funding for public
broadcasting, which includes TV stations as well as radio. KBBI Public Radio in Homer will have been on the air for 40 years this August and has been operating with a two-person news staff for the last few years. The station
currently has one full-time reporter, and is advertising for a news director after the departure of News Director and reporter Aaron Bolton in June. Kathleen Gustafson has been named interim news director. Interim General Manager
Scott Waterman and Board President Genie Hambrick put out a statement to the station’s supporters regarding the statewide budget cut and what it could mean for the local station. According to the stateSee RADIO, page A3