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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 79
In the news
Flood advisory still on for Big Eddy area The National Weather Service has extended its flood advisory for the Big Eddy area of the Kenai River until Wednesday morning. The advisory was first issued after an ice jam formed near the Big Eddy State Recreation Site on Jan. 5. The ice jam continues to cause flooding in the Riverside Drive Subdivision, and vehicle access is currently not possible past Amiyung Drive on Eddy Lane, according to the advisory. Water levels have fallen slightly since the initial formation of the ice jam but are expected to remain fairly constant until warmer temperatures arrive in the area. The NWS advises people to avoid the area if possible. Motorists are advised to not drive vehicles in the area for both safety purposes and to prevent road damage. For more information about the ice jam or to report instances of flooding, call the Kenai Peninsula Borough Office of Emergency Management at 907-262-4910.
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Tuesday, January 14, 2020 • Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
See news, Page A3
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2020 legislature
Lawmakers get head start on session By Brian Mazurek Peninsula Clarion
When Alaska’s lawmakers start the 2020 legislative session Juneau on Jan. 21, several Kenai Peninsula legislators will have already prefiled bills on key issues including education and criminal justice.
Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer, has introduced House Bill 194, titled “An Act relating to consolidation of school districts; and providing for an effective date.” The bill, if enacted, would consolidate the number of school districts in the state from 54 to 18. Under current Alaska statute, each home
rule and first class city in an unorganized borough is a city school district, each organized borough is a borough school district. The areas outside organized boroughs and cities are divided into regional educational attendance areas. The bill states that school district consolidation for regional educational
Shelter still has obstacles Determining a target population and meeting relevant building codes are among challenges the work group faces
attendance areas “must be based on common geographic or cultural needs, as determined by the department,” but does not go into further detail about the process by which other districts would be consolidated. School board members of a school See session, Page A2
Quick ordered to pay $300 fine for violation By Victoria Petersen Peninsula Clarion
marshals for the cities of Kenai and Soldotna, respectively, who offered their advice on another obstacle for the shelter: ensuring that all of the churches would be in compliance with city building codes. Hamilton said that any building
The Alaska Public Offices Commission released its staff report and corresponding penalties regarding the 2019 Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly campaign of Nikiski’s John Quick. The report, dated Oct. 31, found that Quick violated campaign laws by failing to timely return the value of prohibited in-kind contributions from Alaska Yes, a now-defunct nonprofit political advocacy group that distributed ads on Facebook and local media outlets promoting Quick and other assembly candidates while also issuing negative claims about their opponents. The commission is also ordering Quick to pay a maximum penalty fine of $300 for violating a campaign law for failing to return prohibited in-kind contributions from Alaska Yes Inc. Quick is not contesting the findings of the report from the commission, a Nov. 18 notice from Quick’s attorney, Stacey Stone, said. A phone call Monday night to Quick was not immediately returned. A month before the last October’s election — where Quick ran for the Nikiski seat on the Kenai Peninsula
See shelter, Page A3
See quick, Page A3
Snowboarders survive avalanche in Chugach Forest ANCHORAGE — A trio of backcountry snowboarders were able to safely escape after being caught in an avalanche in Alaska’s Chugach National Forest, authorities said. The snowboarders were hiking up a trail when they triggered the avalanche Saturday, The Anchorage Daily News reported. The “near miss” avalanche fully buried one person and partially buried another, the Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center said. The person who was fully buried suffered minor injuries while the other two were not hurt. The group freed themselves and hiked out to the Crow Creek trailhead, the center said. The group was on a 40-degree slope between the historic mine ruins and the public-use Crow Pass cabin when the avalanche occurred, according to the center’s preliminary report. The hard slab avalanche was about 50 feet wide
Frigid
Brian Mazurek / Peninsula Clarion
Fire Marshals Jeremy Hamilton (left) and Brooke Dobson (center right) meet with members of the Shelter Development Workgroup at the Kenai Public Health Center in Kenai on Jan. 8.
By Brian Mazurek Peninsula Clarion
The ongoing effort to develop an emergency cold-weather shelter on the Kenai Peninsula still has a few hurdles to overcome before getting up and running. Members of the emergency
cold-weather shelter work group met last Wednesday to discuss the latest developments and challenges with the project, including determining the target population and meeting the relevant building codes. In attendance for the first time at Wednesday’s meeting were Jeremy Hamilton and Brooke Dobson, fire
Fire, SOS, rescue: Man spends weeks in wilderness By Becky Bohrer Associated Press
JUNEAU — Tyson Steele watched his remote cabin go up in flames, mourned the death of his dog and then spent weeks in the Alaska wilderness, bundling up in an makeshift shelter against the subzero temperatures and eating canned food — unable to reach the outside world. He knew his best chance for rescue would come from worried loved ones sending a plane to check on him. Help came about three weeks later. Steele, 30, was rescued Thursday, apparently in good health, according to Alaska State Troopers. He was waving his arms, an SOS signal stamped in the snow that he hoped a passing plane would spot. Like other rugged areas of Alaska, a plane was his only way out, agency spokesman Ken Marsh said. Steele told troopers that on Dec. 17 or 18, flames tore through the cabin where he had been living since September. He had no snowmobile and was surrounded by deep, powdery snow. Forests, waterways and hills separated him from the road system, Marsh said. Troopers said the fire had left
Steele with no means of communication, and that the nearest community was 20 miles away, in tiny Skwentna. Steele said he had heard someone might be staying 5 miles away and thought about heading in that direction if help did not come by Day 35. But he didn’t have a map and had limited knowledge of the area, so he worried about falling through ice or getting disoriented and lost. He said the fire destroyed his snowshoes, and it took him days to go a quarter-mile to a frozen lake that a rescue plane could land on. “I had a headlamp for maybe 10 or 11 days, but I only had the batteries that were in there. So, I ran out of light,” Steele said. The fire happened fast after a spark from his wood stove. He described his cabin as “basically a plastic … hut” and said he woke to “fiery drips of plastic coming through the roof above me.” When he went outside to get snow to stop it, he saw the roof on fire. Soon smoke was everywhere. “There’s this image that keeps coming back in my mind of a swirling flame coming sideways for my face, you know?” he said. See found, Page A2
Cleanup on Aisle 9
Soldotna Safeway is closed after flooding
Photo courtesy Brooke Dobson / Central Emergency Services
Flooding can be seen at the Soldotna Safeway on Monday.
By Brian Mazurek Peninsula Clarion
The Safeway in Soldotna is closed until further notice due to extensive flooding in the store. Brooke Dobson, fire marshal with Central Emergency Services, said that CES responded to Safeway at 3 p.m. on Monday after the store’s water flow alarm notified them of flooding. Dobson said that cold air likely
caused a sprinkler line to freeze, which then caused the sprinkler system to go off. The store was closed while employees and CES mopped up the excess water. Dobson said she spoke with the store manager and determined that Safeway would have to remain closed until a service technician replaces the sprinkler system. Safeway management did not respond to a phone call from the Clarion requesting comment.