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Vol. 49, Issue 289
In the news
Council to discuss special election for mayor’s seat A resolution to declare the Soldotna mayor’s seat vacant and call a special election will be heard at the Soldotna City Council meeting Thursday. Mayor John “Nels” Anderson died Sept. 10 due to health complications. Anderson’s term as mayor would have ended after the 2020 October election. To fill his seat for the time being, the city council will need to declare the office as vacant and hold a special election. Since the vacancy in office occurred more than six months before a regular election, a special election to fill the unexpired term is required. Whoever is elected at the special election will serve until October 2020. The resolution asks Soldotna City Council to designate Dec. 17 as the date for the special election.
Respected Alaska elder Howard Luke dies FAIRBANKS — Alaska Native community member Howard Luke, a respected Athabascan elder known for promoting indigenous culture through his work with young people, has died. The 9 5 - y e a r- o l d member of the Interior Alaska Native community died late Saturday at Fairbanks’ Denali Center, The Fairbanks Daily NewsMiner reported Sunday. Mo MacCracken, Luke’s daughter, confirmed his death to the newspaper. Luke founded the Gaaleeya Spirit Camp to teach skills to young people including Native art and language and techniques for living off the land. The camp on the Tanana River near Fairbanks will remain open for community building, youth empowerment and educational opportunities, MacCracken said. Luke was born in Nenana in 1923 and moved to Fairbanks with his mother at age 13. “He was a giver of knowledge and of life and supporter of youth and education,” MacCracken said Sunday. “For a man See news, Page A3
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Logging in the Tongass blocked for now By Peter Segall Juneau Empire
A federal judge ordered a preliminary injunction Monday halting the sale of nearly 1,200 acres of oldgrowth trees in the Tongass National Forest. The U.S. Forest Service was planning to allow logging on 1,156 acres of land on Prince of Wales Island, according to the injunction, but a federal judge in Anchorage determined that, “the balance of harms tips sharply in Plaintiffs’ favor.” The plaintiffs in this case are a
number of environmental organizations including Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, Alaska Rainforest Defenders and the Sierra Club, which are being represented by the law firm Earthjustice. Those groups filed a complaint in May that argued that the Forest Service had failed to adequately produce environmental impact statements to the standards required under the National Environmental Protection Act. The land in question is part of what the Forest Service calls the Prince of Wales Landscape Level Analysis
(POW LLA), which according to the project’s website, “is to improve forest ecosystem health … help support community resilience, and to use an integrated approach in meeting multiple resource objectives in order to provide economic development.” However, plaintiffs in the case argued the Forest Service didn’t specify exactly where and when logging would take place, making any environmental impact report substandard. One of the lawyers arguing the case for Earthjustice, Olivia Glasscock, told the Empire Monday that the Forest
Service “didn’t provide site specific information to understand where logging would take place or what the impact would be to wildlife, to subsistence or various other resources.” The Forest Service is supposed to issue what are called “unit cards” which display where logging will take place and where roads will be built. But that information was not provided to the public before the Forest Service made their decision to allow logging. “They’re saying they don’t have to See logging, Page A3
Noteworthy absences at League Q&A Audience members raised questions about who didn’t attend forum By Victoria Petersen Peninsula Clarion
A candidate forum aiming to help inform voters on who’s running for school board and assembly saw only about half of the invited candidates attend. Eleven candidates running for Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly and the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education were invited to attend Thursday’s League of Women Voters candidate forum — an event hosted every municipal election to give voters an opportunity to meet candidates and have their questions answered. The event and the League of Women Voters are nonpartisan. The League of Women formulated many questions for the candidates, but most of the questions came from audience members — who asked candidates about issues such as how to increase voter turnout, a changing climate, balancing the budget, the two propositions on the ballot, gravel pit-related ordinances and private property rights and how to retain the best educators. Running for the Nikiski assembly seat, Jesse Bjorkman and Joseph Ross were at the forum. Running for the Soldotna seat on the assembly, Tyson Cox was at the forum. Brent Johnson was at the forum and is running for the central peninsula seat on the assembly. Dan Castimore and Patti Truesdell also attended the meeting, and are running for the school board seat in Kalifornsky.
Victoria Petersen / Peninsula Clarion
Sammy Crawford, a board member with the League of Women Voters, asks assembly and school board candidates questions at a forum held in on Thursday in Soldotna, ahead of the Oct. 1 municipal election.
John Quick, who is running for the Nikiski assembly seat; Holly Odd, running for the central peninsula assembly seat; Rose Henry, running for the Soldotna assembly seat; and Susan Lockwood, running for the Kalifornsky School Board seat, did not attend Thursday’s forum. Wednesday, the day before the forum, a joint chamber luncheon
hosted a similar candidate forum for those running for assembly. Henry, Odd and Quick did not attend that event as well. Henry, Odd and Quick had not returned Clarion phone calls as of 5 p.m. Monday. Lockwood told the Clarion via phone Monday she had prior engagements, but that voters can reach out
to her with any questions they might have. Sammy Crawford, a board member with the League of Women Voters, asked the candidates questions from the league and the audience. She said she’s been with the league since 1980 and has never seen a league event See forum, Page A3
Meetings on substance abuse, mental health set By Victoria Petersen Peninsula Clarion
The Alaska Mental Health Board and Advisory Board on Alcoholism will host public meetings in Kenai Tuesday through Thursday. The meetings are public and community members will have the chance to learn more about the
boards and their statewide efforts, a Sept. 16 press release from the state board said. There will be presentations on local and statewide efforts related to mental health and substance misuse, including on local behavioral health efforts, substance misuse, trauma and child welfare, public safety, Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority
updates, Statewide Suicide Prevention Council updates and a local teen panel on suicide prevention efforts. The public is also invited to provide public comment concerning mental health and substance use impacts on the community. At 6 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 25, at the Kenai Senior Center, there will be a public comment opportunity
and community reception, where the community is welcome to comment, ask questions or express concerns related to mental health and substance use in the community. Comments will be taken in person or by call-in. On Friday, the boards are hosting See meetings, Page A3
Head of the Bay schools scuttle sports programs By Megan Pacer Homer News
Effective this year, the schools in three Russian Old Believer schools at the head of Kachemak Bay no longer have athletic programming. Michael Wojciak, principal of both Kachemak-Selo School and Voznesenka School, said running the programs for soccer, wrestling and cross-countr y running became too much for the school administration with the little resources it had. Those two schools along with
Razdolna had a varsity football team for five seasons which garnered attention from both the Anchorage Daily News and the New York Times. That program ended last year. In order to be sanctioned by the Alaska School Activities Association, all sports were organized under the umbrella of Voznesenka, but students from any of the three schools could participate. Wojciak said it was much harder to become part of ASAA than to leave it. See sports, Page A3
Megan Pacer / Homer News
The Kachemak Selo Middle-High School building sits against a backdrop of the ridge separating the village from the Kenai Peninsula Borough road system.