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Vol. 49, Issue 280
In the news
NRA cancels meeting to focus on gun legislation ANCHORAGE — The National Rifle Association has cancelled a board meeting in Alaska’s largest city this week to focus on gun control related legislation in Washington. NRA s p o ke s ma n Andrew Arulanandam confirms in an email to The Associated Press the board meeting was “relocated due to the Second Amendment related business in Congress.” The House Judiciary Committee was meeting Tuesday to consider gun bills, including a “red flag” law and a ban on largecapacity magazines.
Starbucks clashes with Wasilla firm over trademark ANCHORAGE — A small Alaska apparel company is clashing with Starbucks over a trademark term the Seattle-based coffee giant says is too closely linked to its own branding. Starbucks wants the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to reject an application by Wasillabased Mountains & Mermaids, the Anchorage Daily News reported. The Alaska company late last year applied to trademark the term “Siren’s Brew” for its products. It has branded its apparel with the image of a siren or mermaid holding a cup of coffee, and recently began using the design on coffee. In February, Starbucks applied to trademark “Siren’s Blend” for its coffee products. The trademark office has re f u s e d St a r bu ck s application as of May, based on “a likelihood of confusion” with Siren’s Brew, Starbucks said in an August opposition filing. Monica Hamilton, who owns Mountains & Mermaids with her daughter, Sarah, said they were shocked to learn about Starbucks’ opposition to their trademark application. “There’s no brand confusion here at all,” she said. “We’re not interested in interfering with their business, nor what are we interested in them interfering with our business.” The Alaska business is an online retailer created See news, Page A2
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Top teacher concerns: Contract, health care By Megan Pacer Homer News
Teachers, school staff and concerned community members flooded the Homer High School Mariner Theater with red on Monday as they attended a meeting of the school board for the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District. The school board holds one meeting in Homer and one meeting in Seward each year, but Homer area teachers and staff weren’t alone at this meeting. Several educators from the central Kenai Peninsula had ridden a bus down to Homer to also attend the meeting, where many of them addressed the board regarding their ongoing contract negotiations with the school district. They wore red, the color used nationally to show support for teachers. Many people who stepped up during the public comment periods urged the school board to “approve” or “ratify” a contract proposal the commenters said was before the board. However, there was no action
Megan Pacer / Homer News
School employees, community members and members of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education listen to a presentation on Voznesenka and Kachemak Selo schools during a Monday meeting of the school board at Homer High School.
item on that meeting’s agenda having to do with the most recent contract proposal made by the associations representing teachers and support staff at the last negotiations meeting
on Sept. 5. The board did not have anything to approve or ratify. The school board can only approve a contract for teachers when a tentative agreement has been reached
New squad leads fire fight
between the district and the Kenai Peninsula Education Association and Kenai Peninsula Education Support Association. That tentative agreement is what goes to the school board for ratification. There is currently no tentative agreement between the district and the associations. The two sides are set to return to negotiations at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at Soldotna High School. The district’s cost analysis of the associations’ latest offer showed the cost of salary and heath insurance would require using the district’s entire unassigned general fund balance of $3.9 million, and require additional funding, the Peninsula Clarion reported. Director of Communications Pegge Erkeneff said in an email that this is “more than the school board authorized to reach agreement.” Saul Friedman, an Anchoragebased attorney working with the district bargaining team, told the association representatives during See concerns, Page A2
Public can comment on LNG draft EIS By Victoria Petersen Peninsula Clarion
Courtesy Kenai Peninsula Borough Office of Emergency Management
A rainbow can be seen next to rising smoke from the Swan Lake Fire in this photo released Thursday.
Northern Rockies Type 2 Team takes over Swan Lake Fire By Brian Mazurek Peninsula Clarion
The Northern Rockies Incident Management Team assumed command of the Swan Lake Fire as of 9 p.m. Monday night. The fire experienced another day of little activity Monday now that September has brought cloudy skies, cooler temperatures, higher humidity and some precipitation to the area. The fire continues to smolder in layers of deep duff, however, and Public Information Officer Andy Lyon with the Great Basin Incident Management Team
said on Monday that without “significant rainfall” there is a real potential for some areas to continue smoldering through the winter. The focus of the incident management team continues to be the perimeter of the fire closest to Cooper Landing. During the transition Monday, crews from the Northern Rockies team assessed the structure protection measures in place around Cooper Landing and began patrolling the southeastern and southwestern sides of the fire. Fire behavior Tuesday was similar to Monday, which allowed crews to further
strengthen existing containment lines while aerial resources remained available for water drops. Extra equipment and supplies no longer in use are now being backhauled. The fire is currently at 163,714 acres and is 37% contained, according to Tuesday’s update from the incident management team. The Northern Rockies Management Team consists of 430 personnel. Management of the fire has cost approximately $43.5 million to date, according See fire, Page A3
Community members will have a chance to offer public comments on the draft environmental impact statement for the Alaska Liquid Natural Gas Project — a planned 806-mile pipeline that would carry natural gas from the North Slope to a liquefaction plant and terminal in Nikiski. The meeting, which was announced in a July 26 Federal Regulatory Commission public notice, is at 5 p.m. tonight at the Nikiski Recreation Center. Staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will be onsite to listen to comments regarding the draft EIS statement, which was released by FERC June 26. The primary goal of the meeting is to have community members identify specific environmental issues and concerns they have with the draft EIS, which will be recorded and made part of the public record. For those who cannot attend the meeting, FERC encourages residents to file comments electronically. Comments can be filed using the eComment feature on www.ferc.gov. People may also submit comments through the mail by referencing the project number docket, (CP17-178000) and addressing the submission to Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE, Room 1A, Washington DC, 20426. Public comment period closes Oct. 3.
Community mourns Soldotna Mayor Nels Anderson By Victoria Petersen Peninsula Clarion
City of Soldotna Mayor Nels Anderson passed away Tuesday morning, according to a shared Facebook post from the mayor’s son, Nate Anderson. “Our dad, John Nels Anderson MD, “Doc”, Mayor Anderson passed to the other side this morning,” Nate Anderson wrote in his Facebook post. “I couldn’t be more proud to be his son. He went down fighting to the end. Love you dad.
Will never watch a Dodger Game, eat a bowl of chocolate chip mint ice cream, or back bounce Big Eddy without thinking of you. Till we meet again.” Soldotna City Manager Stephanie Queen said the city’s heart go out to Dr. Anderson’s family. “I would like to extend my deepest condolences,” Queen said. “Mayor Anderson was beloved in this community, and a true public servant. He worked tirelessly to improve the lives of his friends and neighbors,
and we are forever grateful.” Anderson was elected to serve as mayor in 2017. Anderson previously served as Soldotna’s mayor from 2013 to 2015. He also served on city council from 2009 to 2012 and on the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education for about 15 years prior to that. Anderson worked as a doctor and helped deliver many babies in the central peninsula, including See mayor, Page A3
Rashah McChesney / Peninsula Clarion file
Soldotna Mayor Nels Anderson speaks to a crowd March 19, 2013, during a candidate forum hosted by the Soldotna Chamber of Commerce at the Soldotna Sports Center.