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P E N I N S U L A
Vol. 50, Issue 42
In the news Human remains found on Prince of Wales Island
CRAIG — Alaska State Troopers say human remains were found in a home that burned in the Southeast Alaska community of Craig. Troopers early Saturday morning were notified of a fire at Mile 2.1 Port St. Nicholas Road east of Craig. The Craig Volunteer Fire Department responded with troopers. The human remains were transported to the state medical examiner for positive identification. Craig is a city of 1,100 on Prince of Wales Island.
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Wednesday, November 20, 2019 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Kipnuk post office burglarized KIPNUK — A man suspected of burglarizing a Southwest Alaska post office has been arrested. Alaska State Troopers say Byron Dock, 19, was found inside the post office in Kipnuk. He’s charged with burglary, criminal mischief, resisting arrest, possession of burglary tools and violating conditions of release on a previous burglary charge.
New name for bay
JUNEAU — A federal board has approved changing the name of a Southeast Alaska bay following a petition from tribal leaders, officials said. The U.S. Board on Geographic Names approved changing the name of Saginaw Bay to Skanax Bay last week, CoastAlaska reported. Three Tlingit villages east of Sitka were destroyed by the U.S.S. Saginaw in 1869.
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ACLU: State prisons are overcrowded According to a report by the group, Wildwood Correctional Center in Kenai was found to be over maximum capacity for 226 days. By Victoria Petersen Peninsula Clarion
Wildwood Correctional Center in Kenai was over maximum capacity for more than 200 days between Oct. 1, 2018 and Oct. 15, 2019, according to a report released Nov. 14 by the American Civil
Liberties Union. According to the report, which was based on a state records request to the Alaska Department of Corrections, Wildwood was one of eight state correctional facilities found to be overcrowded during that time period, and one of three found to be
overcapacity for more than 200 days. While the average days spent overcapacity among state facilities was 140 days, Wildwood was found to be over maximum capacity for 226 days. When a prison meets or exceeds maximum capacity, incarcerated people may sleep in cots or bunks in recreational areas and in solitary confinement. In October, Department of Corrections
Commissioner Nancy Dahlstrom announced plans to relocate Alaska inmates to private prisons in the Lower 48 because state prisons were operating at 97% of their maximum capacity. Rep. Gary Knopp, R-Kenai/ Soldotna, said he does not support sending inmates out of state, and probably never will. “I don’t think I’ll ever find a comfort level with sending inmates out of state,”
Knopp said. “They are our responsibility.” Overcrowding conditions appear to be ongoing at Wildwood. Between the Oct. 1-15, Wildwood Pretrial Facility met or exceeded it maximum capacity of 115 people on five days. In the same time period, Wildwood Correctional Center, a sentenced facility, operated above its See prisons, Page A2
Warm oceans delay sea ice
Anchorage police arrest assault, kidnap suspect ANCHORAGE — A 25-year-old woman suspected of kidnapping and sexually assaulting an 18-year-old woman who gave her a ride has turned herself in. The Anchorage Daily News reports Nellie Serradell was taken to a hospital for treatment of medical issues. Police say Serradell asked the 18-year-old woman for a ride to work Sunday morning. At a mall parking lot, Serradell punched the teen, said she had a gun, and sexually assaulted her. Police say Serradellordered her to drive to another location. The woman pulled into a gas station and escaped.
Rain
By Dan Joling Associated Press
their doors overnight. On any day that the temperature drops below the established threshold — 20 degrees Fahrenheit — the church assigned to that day is responsible for providing the shelter. The rotation schedule would be made available to the public. Leslie Rohr, executive director for Love, INC, said that five local churches have volunteered to be a part of the program so far. Karen Martin Tichenor is the pastor at Soldotna United Methodist Church — one of the churches that have signed up for the shelter — and also runs the Soldotna Food Pantry. Tichenor said during the meeting that her church
ANCHORAGE — The U.S. research vessel Sikuliaq can break through ice as thick as 2.5 feet. In the Chukchi Sea northwest of Alaska this month, which should be brimming with floes, its limits likely won’t be tested. University of Washington researchers left Nome on Nov. 7 on the 261-foot ship, crossed through the Bering Strait and will record observations at multiple sites including Utqiagvik, formerly Barrow, America’s northernmost community. Sea ice is creeping toward the city from the east in the Beaufort Sea, but to find sea ice in the Chukchi, the Sikuliaq would have to head northwest for about 200 miles. In the new reality of the U.S. Arctic, open water is the November norm for the Chukchi. Instead of thick, years-old ice, researchers are studying waves and how they may pummel the northern
See shelter, Page A3
See oceans, Page A13
Brian Mazurek / Peninsula Clarion
Members of a shelter development work group meet at the Independent Living Center in Soldotna to discuss the establishment of an emergency cold-weather shelter on the peninsula on Tuesday.
‘We want to see this shelter yesterday’ As winter approaches, work group looks to train volunteers By Brian Mazurek Peninsula Clarion
With several days of below-freezing temperatures expected in Kenai next week, local efforts to establish an emergency cold-weather shelter on the peninsula are kicking into high gear. A work group made up of local ministers, agency directors, city council members and concerned citizens has been meeting once a month for the past year with two primary goals: establishing an emergency shelter that can be used by homeless families and individuals when the temperature in Kenai drops below 20 degrees Fahrenheit, and securing a permanent location for transitional
housing opportunities. Emergency shelter options on the peninsula are currently limited to the LeeShore Center and Haven House, which provide shelter to women and their children who are victims of domestic violence, and Friendship Mission, which provides shelter for men. During the shelter work group meeting on Tuesday, members discussed what training would be needed for volunteers and what barriers were left to overcome before they could get the emergency shelter up and running. Inspired by a model used in Anchorage, the emergency cold-weather shelter will be a network of seven churches that are assigned one day a week to open
National Security aide faces fire from Republicans By Lisa Mascaro and Mary Clare Jalonick Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A career Army officer on Donald Trump’s National Security Council testified Tuesday he was duty-bound to object to the president’s clearly “improper” phone call seeking Ukrainian investigations of U.S. Democrats. Republicans answered him with doubts about his loyalty to the United States. Arriving on Capitol Hill in military blue with medals across his chest, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman told impeachment investigators he felt no hesitation in reporting the president’s request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Vindman, a 20-year military officer who received a Purple Heart for being wounded in the Iraq War, was among the officials who listened in to the July 25 call
Andrew Harnik / associated press
Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice President Mike Pence, and National Security Council aide Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman stand as they take a break in their hearing before the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday.
when Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for “a favor” — investigations of Democrat Joe Biden and other issues. “It was inappropriate, it was improper for the
president to request, to demand an investigation into a political opponent,” Vindman told the House Intelligence Committee. His testimony launched a pivotal week as the House’s
historic impeachment investigation reaches further into Trump’s White House. Democrats say Trump’s pressure on Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden while withholding
U.S. military aid to Kyiv may be grounds for removing the 45th president. Republicans have argued both that there was no linkage between the two matters and that there would be nothing inappropriate even if there was. In a remarkable day of back-to-back hearings, Vindman testified alongside Jennifer Williams, an adviser in Vice President Mike Pence’s office. Both said they had concerns as they listened to Trump speak with the newly elected Ukrainian president about political investigations into Biden. Trump insists Zelenskiy did not feel pressured and has cast the impeachment probe as a partisan affair aimed at pushing him from office. The White House lashed out at the Army officer. It wasn’t the first time Vindman was alarmed over the administration’s push See aide, Page A3