Fishing
NBA
Estimating the value of wild salmon
Clippers, Lakers engage in Christmas classic
Tight Lines / A12
Sports / A7
16/-5 More weather, Page A2
W of 1 inner Awa0* 201 Exc rds fo 8 e r Rep llence i o n rt * Ala ska P i n g ! res
CLARION P E N I N S U L A
Vol. 50, Issue 67
In the news
Alaska woman donates body armor CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A woman from Alaska has donated body armor to a Wyoming K9 officer, the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office said. The bullet and stab protective vest for K9 officer Arie comes from a donation by Denise Nading of Anchorage, through a nonprofit organization called Vested Interest in K9s, Inc. Nading made the donation in memory of Mel Nading, an Alaska State Trooper and pilot who died in a helicopter crash in March 2013 while returning from rescuing a stranded snowmobiler in Talkeetna, according to news reports. The vest is embroidered with: “In memory of Mel Nading, Pilot of Helo 1,” the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post on Tuesday. Arie, who joined the sheriff’s office this fall, is trained in narcotics detection, suspect tracking and apprehension, building search and officer protection.
BP Alaska to pay $125K fines over hazardous waste violations ANCHORAGE — BP Alaska agreed to pay a little more than $125,000 in fines over hazardous waste violations on Alaska’s North Slope, officials said. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it reached the agreement with the Alaska arm of oil company BP Plc last week, Alaska’s Energy Desk reported Monday. BP failed to properly label hazardous materials in two buildings at Prudhoe Bay. BP also did not have adequate insurance to cover possible injuries or property damage from storing and handling hazardous waste, the federal agency said. “They’re required to have significant insurance or at least financial resources on hand to handle any claims, and we discovered during an inspection that, for several years, they had not,” said Bill Dunbar, a spokesman for the EPA Region 10 Office in Seattle. — Associated Press
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Impact statement for Pebble Mine delayed Army Corps of Engineers says it will take the time to review public comments, deadline extended 3 months By Peter Segall Juneau Empire
The Army Corps of Engineers recently announced it would extend the deadline for
its final Environmental Impact Statement for the Pebble Mine project a further three months. The EIS was set to come out in early 2020 but the Corps announced in a press conference Monday that date would be extended to late June or early July 2020, Alaska Public Media reported. Comments released by the Environmental Protection Agency in July said the Corps’ draft EIS “underestimates adverse impacts” to water and air quality, among other
areas. The comments also recommend the Corps provide “significant additional information” about key components of the proposed plan. EPA’s comments were noted by U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who in July said she felt the EPA’s comments were substantial and well-made. Her concerns were codified in an appropriations bill coming out of the Senate Interior Subcomittee, of which Murkowski is chair. “Sound science must drive
the permitting process and that if the concerns raised by the agencies cannot be answered within the process, then the agencies should exercise their authority to protect the region’s world-class salmon fisheries,” Murkowski’s website says of the bill. The EPA has the ability to veto a permit issued by the Corps if it decides the project would ultimately be harmful to the environment. In its announcement Monday, the Corps said it
would not be conducting additional fieldwork nor issuing a supplement to its draft EIS. The move drew criticism from opponents of the Pebble Mine project who accused the Corps of trying to cover up bad work. “The Corps did a lousy job on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement and is now scrambling to pick up the pieces,” Nelli Williams, Alaska director for Trout Unlimited, a See mine, Page A2
‘Homestead Kids’ remember early days By Michael Armstrong Homer News
The Kachemak Heritage Land Trust has as its mission protecting treasured lands, especially fish and wildlife habitat. At its annual meeting Dec. 12 at the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center, the land trust went a step further and also honored the people who make those lands special. In “Homestead Kids 3,” the third in a series of talks held by the land trust in association with the Pratt Museum, Laura Lofgren Barton and Steve Walli talked about their different experiences as children of homestead families living in the Homer hills and on the coast. Lynn Whitmore served as emcee in the program. “We called her ‘hillbillies’ and we were fishermen, but she called us ‘beach rats,’” Walli said, using the slang of the 1930s and 1940s. Barton’s family, the Lofgrens, came to Alaska from Washington in the 1940s. Barton grew up on a homestead straddling both sides of Diamond Ridge just east of Hickerson Memorial Cemetery. The Lofgrens came to Diamond Ridge from the north side via Crossman Ridge and the old Homer Heights area. “Forget Baycrest Hill,” Barton said. “No one was dreaming of it.” Walli traces his roots on the lower Kenai Peninsula back
to his great-great grandfather Henry Lindstrang, a Finnish immigrant fisherman who came to Alaska in 1892. Lindstrang fished in Cook Inlet and Homer caught his eye. Lindstrang settled in Stariski and homesteaded there. When he was a boy, Walli worked a fish trap site at Stariski. A network of poles and chicken wire guided salmon into the lead, the opening of the trap. “The interesting thing about that was the pink salmon were on the surface; they swam clockwise,” Walli said. “…What we call the money fish, the kings and silvers, would be underneath them and they would swim counterclockwise.” The trap could be worked so the pinks swam out and the money fish could be caught. As a boy, one of Walli’s jobs was to work the trap. The chicken wire would get tangled with kelp. “You had to keep those clean, 24 hours a day,” Walli said. “It was labor intensive.” Another side of Walli’s family homesteaded in Anchor Point and out East End Road. Walli was born in the Harrington Cabin, now part of the Pratt Museum’s homestead exhibit. “My grandkids say I’m ancient because I was born in a museum,” Walli said. With family spread out over the lower peninsula, there was only one way to get See Homestead, Page A13
Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News
Steve Walli speaks Dec. 12 at “Homestead Kids 3,” at the annual meeting of the Kachemak Heritage Land Trust at the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center in Homer.
Photo courtesy of the Lofgren family
Robert and Laura Lofgren in the 1940s at their Diamond Ridge homestead near Homer.
Kenai police to get raises By Brian Mazurek Peninsula Clarion
The Kenai City Council voted last week to increase the pay rates for Kenai Police Officers in an effort to bolster recruitment and retention. Ordinance 3098-2019, which passed the city council by a unanimous vote on Dec. 18, makes several changes to the pay structure for Kenai Police Officers and authorizes the city manager to give additional bonuses to new hires. “This ordinance is a culmination of an effort that started in September of 2018,” City Manager Paul Ostrander said during the council meeting on Dec. 18. Ostrander said that Human Resources Director Stormy Brown and Kenai Police Chief David Ross recommended the changes included in the ordinance in order to make the Kenai Police Department more competitive with other police precincts. The
Kenai Police Department has been understaffed for several months, Ostrander said. The ordinance gives the city manager authorization to provide up to a $20,000 hiring bonus to “lateral” hires — officers that are already trained and have experience in the field. The maximum hiring bonus for officers from outside of Alaska would be $10,000 distributed over four years, and the maximum for Alaska-based officers would be $20,000 over four years. Ostrander said that the hiring bonus could potentially save the department money on training a new recruit by instead hiring someone who has already completed police academy training that is recognized by the Alaska Police Standards Council. The cost to send a new recruit through the Department of Public Safety Academy in Sitka is $13,500, Ostrander said. In addition to granting the city manager the ability
to offer hiring bonuses, the ordinance will also increase the shift differential pay for officers. The pay rate for Kenai Police Officers varies depending on the time of day that they are on the clock. Currently, the shift differential pay rate is an additional 2% for shifts that start between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m., while shifts that start between 6 p.m. and 3 a.m. currently pay an extra 4%. With the passage of Ordinance 30982019, those rates will increase to 3% and 6% respectively, which Ostrander said puts Kenai more in line with the “standard” rates seen elsewhere in Alaska. The ordinance also provides for a 5% increase in base salary for officers that take on the position of Field Training Officer. Field Training Officers are assigned to new hires in the department for their first three months on the job, and officers given See Raise, Page A13
Photo courtesy Steve Walli family
Steve Walli in 1960 with a king salmon from Stariski Creek.
GOP senator ‘disturbed’ by McConnell impeachment remark ANCHORAGE (AP) — U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said she was disturbed to hear Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell say there would be “total coordination” between the White House and the Senate over the upcoming presidential impeachment trial. “And in fairness, when I heard that I was disturbed,” Murkowski told KTUU Tuesday before saying there should be distance between the White House and the Senate in how the trial is conducted. “To me it means that we have to take that step back from being hand in glove with the defense, and so I heard what leader McConnell had said, I happened to think that that has further confused the process.” In a recent interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity,
AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File
In this Dec. 19, 2019 file photo, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, speaks during a hearing on the impact of wildfires on electric grid reliability on Capitol Hill in Washington.
McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, described his planning with the White See Murkowski, Page A2