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CLARION P E N I N S U L A
Vol. 50, Issue 33
Try to stay dry
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Thursday, November 7, 2019 • Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
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$1 newsstands daily/$1.50 Sunday
Assembly OKs tourism marketing council funds By Victoria Petersen Peninsula Clarion
The Kenai Peninsula Tourism Marketing Council may receive borough funds after all. An ordinance awarding a $150,000 grant to the tourism marketing council — a nonprofit aimed at promoting the Kenai Peninsula as a “world class visitor destination” — passed at the Tuesday assembly meeting 6-3, with assembly members Kenn Carpenter, Norm Blakeley and Jesse Bjorkman opposing.
In the news
Missing hiker found dead FAIRBANKS — A 26-year-old Soldotna man reported missing on a hike Monday east of Fairbanks was found dead in a state recreation area. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports state park rangers on all-terrain vehicles found the body of Jarred Allen in the Chena River State Recreation Area. Alaska State Troopers spokesman Ken Marsh says hypothermia is the suspected cause of death. Temperatures Sunday were in single digits. Allen left Friday on a solo hike and was due to return Sunday. His family reported him overdue Monday and a search was launched. Rangers found Allen in the Angel Creek Valley area off Mile 49 Chena Hot Springs Road. He was about 6 miles off the road and 1 mile from the upper Angel Creek Cabin. An autopsy was planned.
Alaska troopers find body of woman linked to 2 homicides ANCHORAGE — The body of a missing woman discovered by Alaska State Troopers is tied to a homicide investigation of a woman and man who died over the weekend. The Anchorage Daily News reports troopers found the body of 28-yearold Alyssa Jimenez of Big Lake around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday on Knik-Goose Bay Road near Wasilla. Troopers say the discovery is linked to an investigation into the See news, Page A3
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During Tuesday’s meeting, assembly member Brent Hibbert, the ordinance’s sponsor, said tourism is an important component of the borough’s economy. He said last year tourism raised $7.7 million in sales tax money, going directly to support the school district. Hibbert’s ordinance appropriates $150,000 from borough general fund balance to the tourism marketing council for the purpose of promoting tourism in areas of the borough outside the cities. The tourism marketing council submitted a grant application to the
borough in February for $100,000. Hibbert’s ordinance allows the council an opportunity to update its grant application to include an outline of proposed projects. The ordinance also requires the council to present program objectives to the assembly for approval, before the grant will be awarded. The council has 45 days to send in an updated application, which will also be presented to borough administration. In his proposed FY 2020 budget, borough Mayor Charlie Pierce zeroed out the $100,000 tourism
marketing council funds provided in years past. The assembly amended the $100,000 back into the budget, before they passed it in May. The mayor vetoed the $100,000 June 18, and the assembly failed to override. Since the 1990s, the Kenai Peninsula Tourism Marketing Council has been funded by the borough. In FY 2019, the borough provided the council with $100,000. In the FY 2018 budget, the borough supported the council with $305,980 in funds, and $340,00 in FY 2017.
Getting set for the session
Debbie Speakman of Homer spoke on behalf of the tourism marketing council, where she is a contract consultant to help build on the organization’s current programs. She said she came on with the council because she “believes in the borough and what we have to show off.” “Yes, people do know where Alaska is,” Speakman told the assembly. “They’re excited to come here, but you know where they want to go? They want to go See tourism, Page A2
Fleming bows out of school board By Victoria Petersen Peninsula Clarion
Brian Mazurek / Peninsula Clarion
Rep. Gary Knopp, R-Soldotna, Sen. Peter Micciche, R- Soldotna, and Rep. Ben Carpenter, R-Nikiski, speak to members of the Kenai and Soldotna Chambers of Commerce at the Kenai Visitor and Cultural Center on Wednesday.
By Brian Mazurek Peninsula Clarion
In anticipation of the upcoming 2020 legislative session, peninsula lawmakers met with members of the Kenai and Soldotna Chambers of Commerce and gave an update on their priorities heading into the
new year. On Wednesday, Reps. Ben Carpenter, R-Nikiski; Gary Knopp, R-Soldotna; and Sen. Peter Micciche, R-Soldotna, sat in front of chamber members and gave their perspective on the state budget, the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend, crime, tax policy and more.
Micciche opened up the floor by speaking on the cuts made to the state’s budget this year. In 2019, the Alaska Legislature reduced state spending by about $200 million from the previous year. Spending from the state’s general fund, Micciche said, See session, Page A3
Reward offered in search for missing woman By Michael Armstrong Homer News
Three weeks after she went missing on Oct. 17, Homer Police remain actively searching for Anesha “Duffy” Murnane. Murnane’s family has started a Facebook page, Bring Duffy Home, and a Go Fund Me account to raise money to assist the search. That money also could go to supplement a reward for tips made
through Crimestoppers that lead to Murnane’s return, Murnane’s stepfather, Ed Berg, wrote in an email. The reward could be in excess of $5,000, he wrote. Berg said volunteers also have been canvassing across the Kenai Peninsula, including the Kalifornsky Beach and Cohoe Loop Road areas, as well as areas closer to Homer. Murnane, 38, disappeared after See missing, Page A14
Photo provided, Homer Police Department
A recent photo of Anesha “Duffy” Murnane, missing since Oct. 17, in Homer.
A resident recently elected to the Kenai Peninsula School District Board of Education will not be taking her seat. Martha Fleming, who was elected in October in an uncontested race to represent the eastern peninsula, will not be serving on the school board this year due to “unfortunate circumstances,” school board President Penny Vadla said. Fleming was absent from Monday’s school board meeting, during which newly elected members took their oath of office. Vadla said during the meeting that Fleming would not be taking the oath. In a Wednesday phone call, Fleming told the Clarion her reason for stepping down was personal, but that she would still like to serve residents of the eastern Kenai Peninsula on the school board in the future. The school board will be tasked with appointing a new person to fill the district 6 seat, which was most recently held by Lynn Hohl of Seward. The new appointed member will hold the seat until the next regular election, scheduled for October 2020. The board has not yet set a timeline and schedule for the appointment, Debbie Tressler, the administrative secretary for the school board and superintendent, said in an email. When the board addresses the vacancy, advertisements in local media will be distributed, applications and nominations will be solicited and candidates will be announced. The public will have opportunity to provide input on candidates, who will be interviewed during a public meeting. The appointee will be selected through a majority vote of board members.
Impeachment to go public: Hearings next week By Mary Clarre Jalonick, Lisa Mascaro and Eric Tucker Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Democrats announced Wednesday they will launch public impeachment hearings next week, intending to bring to life weeks of closed-door testimony and lay out a convincing narrative of presidential misconduct by Donald Trump. First to testify will be William Taylor, the top diplomat in Ukraine, who has relayed in private his understanding that there was a blatant quid pro quo with Trump holding up military aid to a U.S. ally facing threats
from its giant neighbor Russia. That aid, at the heart of the impeachment inquiry, is alleged to have been held hostage until Ukraine agreed to investigate political foe Joe Biden and the idea, out of the mainstream of U.S. intelligence findings, that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 U.S. election. The testimony of Taylor, a career envoy and war veteran with 50 years of service to the U.S., is what Democrats want Americans to hear first. Taylor has told investigators about an “irregular channel” that the president’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, set up for Ukraine diplomacy, and how the White House was
holding up the military aid, according to a transcript of his closed-door interview released Wednesday. “That was my clear understanding, security assistance money would not come until the president committed to pursue the investigation,” Taylor said. He was asked if he was aware that “quid pro quo” meant “this for that.” “I am,” he replied. Trump has denied any wrongdoing, and Republicans largely dismiss the impeachment inquiry, now into its second month, as a sham. But Rep. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the Intelligence Committee leading the probe, said that with two
days of hearings next week Americans will have a chance to decide for themselves. “The most important facts are largely not contested,” the California Democrat said. “Those open hearings will be an opportunity for the American people to evaluate the witnesses for themselves, to make their own determinations about the credibility of the witnesses, but also to learn firsthand about the facts of the president’s misconduct.” Along with Taylor, the public will hear from former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, See hearings, Page A14