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Vol. 50, Issue 2
Racist notes sent to student By Rachel D’Oro Associated Press
ANCHORAGE — School officials in an Alaska Native village said Tuesday they are investigating three racist, hatefilled notes left in the locker of a mixed-race student that urged the girl to kill herself, one day after another student in the Bering Sea community died by suicide. David Harris, the school principal in Hooper Bay, said he is asking teachers to see if they recognize the handwriting on the notes, which targeted a 14-yearold girl who is part black and part Yup’ik. The girl told her mother she also had received earlier, similar notes as well. The latest notes were found Monday, one day after a school senior died by suicide, leaving the community of 1,250 in grief, Harris said. After hearing about the notes Monday, Harris brought up both subjects separately at a school assembly. He said he did not outright connect the two subjects, but he told students that such notes could lead to targeted children harming themselves. “I let the kids connect it in their minds, hopefully,” Harris said. “My message was that we as a community are better than what these notes represent,” he said. The girl’s mother said she pulled her daughter out of classes for the day after hearing from her about the notes Monday. She said her daughter told her she also received similar notes last week but threw those away. Her daughter has no idea who wrote the notes. “It’s very disturbing,” the mother said. Harris said he has not contacted local police or Alaska State Troopers and sees no need to at this point. For now, he is hoping teachers will recognize the handwriting in the notes. “I just want to say, this doesn’t represent a vast majority of my kids,” Harris said. “My kids have good hearts, and we will work through this.” Hooper Bay is a Yup’ik Eskimo village on the state’s western coast, about 530 miles west of Anchorage.
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‘Grannie’ Annie shares old-fashioned recipes
SoHi volleyball sweeps Nikiski
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election 2019
Bjorkman, Cox lead early returns By BRIAN MAZUREK Peninsula Clarion
Voters weighed in on three Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly seats Tuesday. Three candidates ran for the District 3 seat to represent Nikiski: John Quick, Jesse Bjorkman and Joseph Ross. After results were tallied, Bjorkman looked to be the unofficial winner Tuesday night. In a written statement to the Clarion, Bjorkman thanked the people of Nikiski and those who supported his campaign and encouraged voters to continue to stay involved in local government. “Together, we’re going to take it one day at a time to do what’s right for the working people of Nikiski and our Borough,” he said. Roger Long of Nikiski said that he voted for Bjorkman because of his age and the way he answered questions during meetings with the public. “I like that he’s a little younger, and he seemed to be a little more straightforward with his answers than the other candidates,” Long said. Erich DeLand — who was himself a candidate for a seat on the Nikiski Service Area Board — said that he voted for Quick because he felt like
Victoria Petersen / Peninsula Clarion
Supporters of Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly candidate Holly Odd and Kenai Peninsula Borough School District candidate Rose Henry hold signs Tuesday along the Sterling Highway.
Quick was “Kavanaugh-ed” during the campaign and was treated unfairly by the press, referring to the scrutiny that Supreme Court Justice
Brett Kavanaugh received during his nomination process last year. Quick is under investigation by the Alaska See boro, Page A3
Props 1, 2 failing by wide margin By Michael Armstrong Homer News
Kenai Peninsula Borough voters considered two propositions on Tuesday’s ballot that appeared to be losing by wide margins by the time preliminary results filtered in Tuesday night. Proposition 1 sought to change borough government to a managerbased system similar to that of the City of Homer and other municipalities. Proposition 2 was more familiar to
voters, with once again asking them if they wanted to raise the sales tax cap from $500 to $1,000. In borough-wide results, and with 28 of 29 precincts counted, Prop 1 was failing by 4,115 to 3,132 votes or 56/78 to 43.22% Prop 2 was failing with 3,985 to 3.317 votes, or 54.57 to 45.43%. In the Homer area, both propositions did better, winning in Homer 1 and 2 precincts, Diamond Ridge, Fritz Creek/Kachemak City and Seldovia.
If Proposition 1 had passed, a mayor would still have been elected borough-wide, but the duties of that mayor would not include being the chief administrator of the borough. The elected mayor would serve as the chair of the assembly, participate in assembly discussions, vote on assembly actions in the case of a tie and still hold veto power. According to the Division of Community and Regional Affairs records, 12 of the 19 boroughs in See props, Page A3
Peninsula Clarion
Dave Carey was the apparent winner of a seat on the Soldotna City Council, according to Tuesday night’s unofficial election results. Carey, who ran against local business owner Pam Parker, is poised to replace Tim Cashman on the city council. Carey took in 300 votes or 54% of the vote, while Parker took in 240 votes, or
43% of the vote. There were 12 writein votes. Carey, who’s served on the council and as the city’s mayor in the past, said he thanks everyone who voted Tuesday night. “I can’t wait to serve on the council,” Carey said. “Pam did a very good job at her campaign. It was very open, honest and wonderful.” It was Parker’s first race. She said she was a little disappointed with
■■ Election results of races and propositions. Pages A3, 14
Truesdell leads in school board race By Victoria Petersen Peninsula Clarion
Tuesday’s unofficial results. “Congrats to Dave,” Parker said Tuesday night. “I’m really happy for him.” Parker said she was excited for future opportunities to throw her name in the hat. Current council member Lisa Parker ran unopposed for her current seat. She will be serving another
Retired teacher Patti Truesdell was ahead in a race for the Kalifornsky seat on the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education as of 9 p.m. Tuesday night, according to unofficial election results. Truesdell brought in 230 votes or 40% of the vote. Susan Lockwood, also a retired educator, took 200 votes in or 35% of the vote. Dan Castimore, who has served on the school board in the Kalifornsky seat for the last six consecutive years, had 136 votes or 23% of the vote. There were six write-in votes. “I’m excited,” Truesdell said Tuesday night of the unofficial results. “I was trying to not get
See carey, Page A3
See board, Page A3
Early results show Carey besting Parker By Victoria Petersen
Inside
Inquiry into impeachment heats up Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Democrats trade intimidation charges in Trump probe. By Lisa Mascaro, Mary Clare Jalonick and Jonathan Lemire Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Setting a defiant tone, the Trump administration resisted Congress’ access to impeachment witnesses Tuesday, even as House Democrats warned such efforts themselves could amount to an impeachable offense. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tried to delay five current and former officials from providing documents and testimony in the impeachment inquiry that could lead to charges against President Donald Trump. But Democrats were able to set closed-door
depositions for Thursday for former special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker and next week for ousted U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch. The escalating exchange of accusations and warnings signaled yet another stiffening in the confrontation between the executive and legislative branches amid the Democrats’ launching of the impeachment inquiry late last week. That followed a national security whistleblower’s disclosure of Trump’s July phone call seeking help from the new Ukrainian president in investigating Democratic political rival Joe Biden and Biden’s son Hunter. In a Tuesday evening tweet, Trump cast the impeachment inquiry as a coup “intended to take away the Power of the People, their VOTE, their Freedoms, their Second Amendment, Religion, Military, Border Wall, and their God-given rights as a Citizen of The United States of America!” In fact,
a coup is usually defined as a sudden, violent and illegal seizure of government power. The impeachment process is laid out in the U.S. Constitution. Pompeo said the Democrats were trying to “intimidate” and “bully” the career officials into appearing and claimed it would be “not feasible” as demanded. House investigators countered that it would be illegal for the secretary to try to protect Trump by preventing the officials from talking to Congress. Some Trump supporters cheered Pompeo’s muscular response to the Democrats. But it also complicated the secretary’s own situation, coming the day after it was disclosed that he had listened in during Trump’s July phone call with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy that helped trigger the impeachment inquiry. See inquiry, Page A2