Homer Tribune » News

Crimes rise with meth addiction

Newsroom — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:10:04 +0000

• Authorities warn of devastation of drugs and violence on community
by Naomi Klouda and Sean Pearson
Homer Tribune
A 62-year-old Homer man was arrested and charged with second-degree assault in connection with a stabbing that occurred on Jenny Lane Saturday afternoon.
Alen Blatchford was arrested after he allegedly stabbed Michael Hanno, also of Homer, with a large kitchen knife. Hanno is recovering from his wounds at South Peninsula Hospital.
According to the felony criminal complaint lodged by the Homer Police Department, Hanno said he contacted Blatchford inside the defendant’s residence to “discuss arrangements of paying off a debt that he owed the defendant.”
Hanno said the defendant became angry with him, grabbed a large kitchen knife and stabbed Hanno on his “left side torso, between his lower rib and his hip.”
Homer Police have indicated that they do not know yet if meth was involved in this latest stabbing, but Blatchford was reported to be acting strangely prior to the incident.
As recently as July 14, two young Homer men were arrested in connection with the stabbing of a 17-year-old high school student. Police said meth played a role in that crime, and indicate that the drug continues to make its troubling way into to Homer.
It may even be on the rise.
The Cook Inlet Council on Alcohol and Drug Addiction has known that meth is increasingly a problem in Homer, though it was much slower to reach here than in the Kenai-Soldotna area. CICADA Director Henry Novak said meth brings with it a variety of social problems.
“We’ve definitely seen the emergence of meth,” Novak said. “It seemed like back in 2000, it was an oxycontin problem. Now it’s meth.”
Novak called the drug, “very toxic.”
“You see people who — in just six month to a year — have trashed their bodies,” he explained. “It does a devastating number on the body, rotting out teeth and reducing them to skin and bones.”
Homer Lieutenant Randy Rosencrans agreed.
“Meth is physically addictive, so the body begins to need it in order to function,” Rosencrans said. “The chemicals begin to show themselves in the body through serious of scabs and lesions. It’s how the chemical leaches from the body.”
Rosencrans said that, while Homer continues to see some issues with heroin, he would still consider meth to be more of a problem on Homer streets.
“That’s the thing about drugs, you can’t eradicate a drug unless you eradicate the demand for it,” he explained. “As long as there is the demand for it, people are going to find it. That’s why we continue to work on demand-reduction strategies.”
CICADA counsels people trying to come off meth. The organization also works to educate the public about what meth is and its effect on people. Novak said users become agitated or erratic, and can experience severe mood swings. Long-term use and/or high dosages can induce full-blown psychosis and hallucinations.
“The frustrating thing for me is that there’s an acknowledgment of the crimes and the tremendous problems meth causes, yet the weakest area is in funding for treatment,” Novak said. “As a society, we pay for it sooner or later.”
Despite being able to target known drug dealers in Homer, police continue to fight the public misconception that they are doing very little to remove them from the streets. According to Rosencrans, it actually comes down to the way the drug laws work.
“It’s a very deep issue that goes way beyond the police,” he explained. “Most drug charges are not taken very seriously by the courts. We are taking these dealers off the streets, and then they are allowed right back out there.”
Rosencrans also indicated that the general understanding regarding the infusion of meth into the community is that it is being manufactured in super labs in the Lower 48, and shipped up to Alaska.
Novak said the Alaska Division of Behavioral Health will ask the Legislature to be more proactive about addictions by funding alcohol and drug treatment. Currently, Serenity House is the only residential treatment facility on the Kenai Peninsula, and has just 12 beds available. Some non-residential treatment programs are also available.
“All it needs is for some legislator to take it on as a project,” Novak said. “But it’s not sexy. There is the mentality that this is a self-inflicted problem, so we should just throw them in jail. There is a lot less empathy.”
According to Novak, CICADA is also seeing a high incidence of young women hooked on meth. He said Kenai Peninsula police used to comment that nearly every crime scene they went to involved oxycontin.
“Now they make the same comment about meth,” he said.

Enstar wants to start gasline

Newsroom — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:09:10 +0000

• Official outlines first steps of the process
By Naomi Klouda
Homer Tribune
Enstar has agreed to build and install a pressure-reducing station in the first phase of a Homer gasline project, set to begin construction Sept. 1.
Rep. Paul Seaton and Charlie Pierce, Enstar’s southern division manager, spoke to the Homer City Council on Monday to clarify this beginning stage of a long-awaited natural gasline. The city will be spending its legislative appropriation of $525,000 on the pressure reducing station and the 3,260 feet of 8-inch pipe from North Fork Road to Chapman Elementary School.
The pipe costs $225,000, while the pressure-reducing station runs $300,000.
The next steps for the city include obtaining the grant from the legislature and completing a new scope-of-work agreement.
“In the meantime, we need to agree on a contract,” City Manager Walt Wrede explained about the process that is already underway.
For its part, Enstar is purchasing land at North Fork for the station, and will build a structure around the facility at a cost estimate of $300,000, Pierce said.
And while that gets Anchor Point started on the gasline, another 15 miles of pipe would need to be laid across the Anchor River and down the old Sterling Highway in order to connect to Homer. Pierce said he doesn’t yet have an estimate on that cost.
“We had to modify the plan,” he explained. “We put together a rough estimate, but didn’t design or engineer anything. We think we’re close, but we don’t have an exact cost at this time.”
Rep. Seaton wanted to clarify that the transmission line is being publicly funded, but the distribution lines to individual homes and businesses will be up to private owners.
“This grant isn’t to put gas in houses, it’s to build a transmission line,” Seaton explained. “If people want to be customers, they have to put in the distribution lines.”
The criteria when Enstar completed its engineering work was to target schools as key points, Pierce said. Chapman Elementary to Homer High School, with points in between to include West Homer and Homer Middle School, would be a start.
Seaton assured the council that he and Sen. Gary Stevens are committed to fighting for funding to get the line finished into Homer.
Pierce said Enstar can make a winter construction project of the building around the pressure station — as well as laying the line. The advantage is to wait for winter to freeze the boggy wetland terrain, he said. The project should create jobs if Enstar contracts out construction on either the Anchor Point portion or the Ninilchik segment.
Kenai Peninsula Borough Assemblyman Bill Smith completed a cost analysis to quantify the savings between natural gas, propane and heating fuel. He found that Homer High School stands to save $100,000 a year on its fuel bill for heating the school.
That’s important, because the money to pay for utilities comes from the school’s operating budget.
“That’s money that could be used for teachers or adding programs,” Smith said.
In these planning stages, Seaton cautioned the city against creating Local Improvement Districts on the current city water-sewer model, which is expensive for property owners and is not self-sustaining.
“You might want to gasify the entire place at one time, instead of subdivisions taking a vote,” Seaton said. “For years and years, Homer has hollered for gas. You don’t want to have the situation like with water and sewer, where some are on it and some are not. There are low-interest loans available to help with that, but it is up to you.”

Two gray whales found dead on area beaches

Newsroom — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:06:46 +0000

• Juvenile whales beached at Bishop’s, Starisky stump biologists
By Naomi Klouda
Homer Tribune

HOMER TRIBUNE/Sean Pearson - A gray whale washes ashore north of Bishop’s Beach off Kachemak Bay. Another whale was found beached off the Starisky area last week. Biologists are still working to determine the causes of death in both whales.

Two gray whale deaths on area beaches are under study, one the possible victim of a killer whale and the other whose cause of death is unknown at this time. Both were pushed ashore by tides.
One whale was found the weekend of July 17 at Starisky Beach, measuring about 36 feet in length. Another, measuring 27 feet in length, washed ashore at Bishop’s Beach on Monday.
Marine Fisheries biologists and trained volunteers through the Alaska SeaLife Center took tissue and blubber samples from the whales so that scientists might gain insight into the deaths. Two gray whale deaths within weeks in the same area may seem an unusual circumstance, but Dr. Debbie Tobin, a biology professor and trained Sea Life volunteer, said that considering the gray whale activity in the area, this may not be so unusual.
Taxi operators and other boaters off Seldovia remarked of a gray whale “acting strangely” in calls to the stranded mammal hotline at the Alaska Sea Life Center on Friday, but biologists are uncertain whether it was the same one to wash ashore on Bishop’s Beach, Tobin said.
“They initially reported it as a humpback whale, which is a common mistake,” Tobin explained. “But this one was hanging out in the shallows and behaving unusual.”
Adults are said to be 39 or more feet in length, while calves are born averaging 15 feet in length, meaning biologists can estimate this one was a juvenile.
Markings on the dead whale at Bishop’s Beach indicate teeth on its tail and pectoral fluke. It’s skin was torn away, tongue yanked out and part of the throat missing, Tobin said. These are indicative of Orca or killer whale maulings.
“But whether it was attacked prior to its death or post mortem, we can’t say,” she explained.
The larger gray whale found at Starisky had been spotted floating in the current from Anchor Point on down. Calls were made to the Sea Life hotline for stranded marine mammals, and a group of volunteers with biologists went to investigate it around July 18. No immediate signs gave clues to its death, Tobin said.
At one time there were three gray whale populations: a north Atlantic group that is now extinct, a Korean or Pacific stock, considered “very depleted” and an eastern Pacific stock — the largest surviving population.
Alaska’s gray whales belong to the Pacific stock, whose only major predators are humans and killer whales. According to an Alaska Department of Fish and Game Wildlife Notebook Series, in 1999 and 2000, a disproportionate number of gray whales stranded along the west coast but what caused that isn’t certain. The western Pacific group of gray whales were listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Conservation Act.

Community News – July 28

Newsroom — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:04:23 +0000

Webb, Hemstreet marry
Dave Webb and Melanie Hemstreet were married on Friday, July 9th, 2010. The bride’s parents are Tom and Evelyn Carpenter of Anchor Point. The groom’s parents are Hal and Nell Sue Webb of Conklin, N.Y. Dave is production manager of K-WAVE/KPEN/KGTL/KXBA radio.

Concert on the Lawn
KBBI’s 31st-Annual Concert on the Lawn is this Saturday and Sunday
at Karen Hornaday Park. Admission is $20 (daily) for adults, $10 for youth under 18. (Under-18 free if accompanied by parent or adult guardian.) Please leave your pets at home.
Saturday
1p Atz & Bonnie Kilcher
1:40p Shawn Zuke
2:20p Work in Progress
3:10p Rufaro Marimba
4:05p Yellow Cabin
4:55p Bay Rockers
5:55p Bare Roots
7p Matt Hopper and the Roman Candles
8:15p Denali Cooks
Sunday
1:10p Barroom Roses
1:55p Dan “Dirty D” Pascucci
2:40p Beringia
3:25p Spur Highway Spankers
4:15p Bayriders
5:15p Uplift
6:20p CTTC
7:45p 3 Legged Mule

Babysitting classes offered
Would you know what to do if a child choked when you’re babysitting? Would you know how to call 911? How to handle a nosebleed? Safe Sitters learn all these things.
South Peninsula Hospital is offering a two-day “Safe Sitter” course on Aug. 17 and Aug. 18, 2010, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The class will be held at South Peninsula Hospital Training Center (203 W. Pioneer Ave., back of the building). Call the Education office, 235-0258, for directions.
The class fee is $70 and is limited to six students. Participants must bring a bag lunch on both days.
To register, please call South Peninsula Hospital Education Department, 235-0258 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Diabetic Support group to meet
A Diabetic Support Group meets 7 p.m. tonight at the Friendship Center. This is for people who have a diabetic condition or for caregivers and relatives of those with diabetes. For information, contact Gay Pendleton at 235-2295.

Butterfly love comes to Homer

Newsroom — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:02:27 +0000

• Filmmakers drawn by Kachemak Bay beauty, Alaska tax incentives
By Naomi Klouda
Homer Tribune
A crew from Hollywood scouted out Alaska towns like Juneau, Ketchikan and Anchorage in quest of the perfect setting for a new movie.
Homer, Seldovia and Halibut Cove won their hearts as the backdrop for “Innocent Love of the Butterfly,” a full-length love story/drama that is soon to begin filming.
Writer/director Philippe Durand and producer Frank Simeone were in town this past week to film potential locations for settings, said Karen Zak, who is helping with the logistics of the film.
“Foremost, the lure was the beauty, the people and the location,” Zak said. “Secondary were the tax incentives.”
The story unfolds across a year of time — including Christmas — so filming will be done in seasonal segments as well.
“The Innocent Love of a Butterfly” is a character-driven story in the style of “The Illusionist,” “The Notebook,” or “Leaving Las Vegas,” according to the directors.
Writer Durand describes it as a “story based upon love, addiction and co-dependency, as well as a poetic and epic journey about hope and redemption. The majestic Alaska landscapes will provide a breathtaking and romantic backdrop for this love story drama to unfold.”
The main character is Emma, “a beautiful and young American girl aspiring to become a sculptor.” She is struggling between her job as a waitress and a failing relationship with her wealthy boyfriend, Jeffery. When she meets Jean Pierre, a talented but unsuccessful French painter working part-time in an antique shop, it is love at first sight.
“Their romance starts with the discovery of an old pier overlooking Kachemak Bay. While Jean-Pierre shares a mutual physical attraction for Emma, he is also intrigued by her idiosyncrasies: her penchant for boy’s shoes and yellow sunglasses. As the passion intensifies between them, Emma’s health continues to decline. Her behavior, characterized by tormenting and unexplained panic attacks, jeopardizes both Jean-Pierre’s and her life at times.”
Jean-Pierre finds that Emma is hiding a strange sculpture that may be the key to her deteriorating health.
Finding an artist community like Homer, therefore, matches the plot well, Zak said. It came about after the Alaska Film Office went to a “location show” in Los Angeles last May. “This was the first time they had a booth and they were promoting the tax incentives Alaska offers for film companies to produce their films here.”
Azur Dolphin Entertainment, the film company wanting to make “Butterfly,” was intrigued with the idea. They came at the invitation of the Alaska Film Office, said Zak, who was in charge of scheduling them for scouting visits to Anchorage, Homer, Juneau and Ketchikan.
This could be an economic boon for the region, since the company plans to hire locals as extras, as well as artists. They will also need to hire for catering, housing and transportation. The Alaska tax incentive allows for a tax break in cases where local residents are hired, Zak said.
Those interested in finding out more about what services will be needed can contact Zak at Karen.zak@alaskaexposure.com

Homer’s DeCino joins jazz greats

Newsroom — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:59:45 +0000

By Naomi Klouda
Homer Tribune

Joe DeCino

Joe DeCino has a challenge ahead.
He is currently composing music for four trumpets, four trombones, five saxes and a string orchestra for an Aug. 7 jazz concert at Bunnell Street Arts Center.
“I like to compose music, but mostly I want to get to the point where I sound the way I want to sound on the trumpet,” DeCino said. “I don’t want to be foolish and think I will be just a player.”
That’s generally not the kind of talk a person might expect from a recent high school graduate, but DeCino is likely to be a name to remember.
The son of Michelle Waneka and Bob DeCino, this trumpet player is seeking jazzy inroads at the New York School of Jazz and Contemporary Music. There, he is majoring in jazz; an education that immerses him in the nuances of his own trumpet. The fact that it is located just northeast of Greenwich Village means he has access to the “gritty New York basement jazz places” and yet, isn’t too far from Julliard to see the upscale compositions at the Lincoln Center.
In fact, he was able to sub for a trumpet player in a Julliard Concert this past winter, due to his association with jazz friends there.
“New York is where a lot of jazz history began. Everything has happened right there,” DeCino said. “There are still plenty of people to keep it alive and keep it going.”
Homer is having something of a jazz renaissance of its own, said Bunnell Director Asia Freeman. Suited for small, intimate audiences ideal for the Bay’s romantic vistas, the Bunnell is a natural for jazz-centered events. Freeman said when she heard DeCino last year playing impromptu with Los Angeles jazz greats Marshall Hawkins and Markus Burger, she decided to build an event this year to focus on his talent.
“Joe is an outstanding young artist raised in Homer,” Freeman said. “He embodies exactly the talents we want to promote; artists pursuing excellence at any age.”
DeCino graduated from Idyllwild Arts Academy with a diploma in jazz studies in 2009. He completed his first year of college at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music last fall.
As a young person growing up in Homer, DeCino might share a few traits with many of the town’s youth. This summer, he’s working for North Country Charters, filleting halibut down on the docks. He is earning money for school, which is especially expensive in New York City.
Growing up brought its fair share of trials for DeCino. An accident between his sophomore and junior years at Idyllwild resulted in a major health setback and years of healing.
“I had been kind of a thrill seeker, climbing trees and jumping off. I slipped off a balcony and hit concrete,” DeCino said. “I spent that summer in brain rehab, and I realized how suddenly my life could be gone.”
As he healed, DeCino made the goal to practice his horn more. He had been interested in instruments – starting with the piano – since the age of 11.
“I didn’t practice,” he said. “I just played.”
From junior year on, DeCino applied himself to his studies – and his trumpet. He set new goals based on his love of jazz, and was able to gain acceptance at the NYC jazz school. Though raised more on beaches and landscapes than any kind of metropolis, DeCino said he finds himself perfectly at-home in a big-city environment.
“I love it there,” he said. “I like to hang out with (jazz players) who are older than me. There’s this whole mix of people who found themselves musically. My output there is from all their incredible input.”

Three events are on tap, with Hawkins and Burger headlining as well:
• Marshall and Markus will play with Joe and others Friday for a free potluck dinner party and an open-jam session for piano, bass, drums, horns, vocals, etc. All are welcome.
• Aug 3 and 5, Bunnell collaborates with Songbee Music Studio to offer free master classes with Marshall and Markus. A limited number of spaces are available. Sign up by e-mailing asia@bunnellstreetgallery.org
• On Aug 7, musicians perform for an operations fundraiser for Bunnell Street Arts Center. Catering by Maura’s Cafe is paired Lawer Family Wines. This ticketed event has a goal of reaching $150 per person between admission donations and a small art auction.

Spit signage deemed eyesore

Newsroom — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:56:53 +0000

By Naomi Klouda
Homer Tribune
Untidy signage on the Homer Spit has gotten out-of-hand on such a scale, the City of Homer isn’t sure whether to adjust city code or take other enforcement actions.
Sandwich boards announcing bargains or products are haphazardly placed near parking lots and in areas meant for pedestrians, City Manager Walt Wrede told the Homer City Council at Monday night’s meeting.
“On the Spit right now there are huge problems with compliance on sign code, and it’s almost beyond our ability to get our arms around,” Wrede said. “There is a profusion of sandwich boards along the side of the road. In a month, many of those signs will be gone. Of all the code enforcement issues we have, where does this rate on our list of priorities?”
Councilmember Barbara Howard said what she finds most unacceptable about the code-violating sandwich boards is that they occupy parking spaces, which are scarce enough on the Spit.
“That is just not acceptable and it might cause safety problems,” Howard said.
Wrede said for the rest of the summer, the city could focus on the safety issues and get signs removed if they are in parking areas.
“If there need to be changes, that could be looked at over the winter,” he said.
Homer Spit business owner Mako Haggerty, who runs a water taxi, said the signs actually add to the colorful panorama out there.
“That’s not the problem. The speed that vehicles travel through that area is a problem,” Haggerty explained. “People just need to drive slower through there.”
No official decisions were made on what to do about the matter of signage. Ultimately, any code enforcement or changes would need to be made by the Homer City Planning Advisory Commission and approved by the city council.
In other matters:
• A task force was created to oversee the city’s plan for an expansion at city hall. The panel will comprise Homer City Planner Rick Abboud, Director of Finance Regina Harville and Personnel Director Sherri Hobbs, as well as councilmembers Beth Wythe, Francie Roberts and Kevin Hogan. An addition or expansion is funded through a legislative re-appropriation of $1.4 million originally marked for the new city hall/town square project that was turned down by voters in 2007.
• The council passed a resolution endorsing the Alaska Clean Harbor Pledge and a plan to seek the “clean harbor” certification. Cook Inletkeeper has been promoting the project and provided technical assistance to harbors in the area who wish to participate.
• The council passed a resolution urging the Kenai Peninsula Borough to avoid further delay in construction of a building to house South Peninsula Hospital’s new MRI machine. In a 2008 special election, voters approved authorization of $14,700,000 to pay the cost of capital improvements related to the hospital. At its March 2009 meeting, the board of directors recommended using interest income from the 2007 bond proceeds for construction of a facility to house the new MRI machine.
• An ordinance was introduced to appropriate insurance funding for the demolition of the old Water Treatment Plant Building. Testimony will be taken at the next council meeting Aug. 9.

For the Record – July 28

Newsroom — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:23:23 +0000

The following records are cases and records filed in court. Individuals are innocent until proven guilty, and copies of the records are publicly available.

MISDEMEANORS:
Henry Vincent Mischler 20, Improper use of registration.
Matthew Sean Sidransky 28, Motor vehicle liability insurance required.
Gail Andrea Miller 47, Driving under the influence.
Matthew James Hutter 30, Driving under the influence.
Joseph E Donovan 55, Driving under the influence.
Alyssa Ahngasuk 18, Violation of instructional permit.

FELONY COMPLAINTS:
Alen Tucher Blatchford 63, Assault in the second degree.
Ben Michael Truesdell 25, Burglary in the second degree, criminal mischief in the third degree.
Harris Hunter Wood II 57, Driving under the influence, Refusal to take breath test, Driving while license suspended or revoked.

JUDGMENTS:
Denver Peterson 21, Driving under the influence, guilty.
Sheldon H Scott 50, No valid operators license, guilty.
Daria A Polushkin 26, Harassment second degree, guilty.
Paige E Strong 18, minor operating vehicle after consuming alcohol, guilty.
Konstantin Evgeny Basargin 35, Refusal to take breath test, guilty.

DISMISSAL:
Michael J Lowe 38, Driving under the influence, dismissed.
Sadie M. Moore 33, Criminal Trespass in the first degree. Interfering with a report of a crime, dismissed.

Obituary
Joe Deptula, 57, died Jan. 19, 2010 at Peninsula Hospital. A Celebration of Joe’s life will be held at his residence on Aug. 1 at noon.

Police Report – July 28

Newsroom — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:20:38 +0000

Homer Volunteer Fire Department responded to eight EMS calls and no fire calls for the week of July 19th through July 26, 2010.

Police

July 19
• A property owner contacted HPD to get permission to park on the road while he develops his land.
• At 10:25 p.m., a caller reported excessive noise from a band at a local business.
• At 1:23 p.m., a caller reported suspicious findings of female clothing in the woods.
• Callers reported at 5:30 p.m. that they are both being threatened and harassed by each other. An officer was advised.

July 21
• Officers arrested a 20-year-old male on an outstanding failure-to-appear warrant.
• Two callers reported a male exposing himself to children.

July 22
• A caller reported vehicle windows broken out by a rock on Hillfair Court.
• An officer contacted a complainant in reference to a parking problem at the end of Main Street. Officer advised options, and then warned complainant for expired registration on her vehicle.
• A caller reported a hostile dog chasing children down the street in residential neighborhood near Sabrina Road. Animal control contacted.
• A caller reported someone boiling something outside with propane on Main Street. Officer contacted subject who was canning fish.

July 23
• A caller reported an abandoned vehicle in the middle of the road near Kachemak Drive and Homer Spit Road. The vehicle was gone upon officer’s arrival.
• Alaska State Troopers reported an aggressive driver headed southbound. No officer was available at time of call.
• A caller reported teens partying in a neighboring apartment on Ocean Drive Loop. Officer advised.
• A 911 caller reported teens walking down middle of Sterling Highway at 11 p.m. Officer responded to area, but was unable to locate them.

July 24
• A caller reported an intoxicated group of pedestrians in the Homer Harbor area.
• A caller reported theft of cooler and bike from back of a vehicle parked on Bunnell Street.
• A 911 caller from the Homer area reported FBI wire taps and computers giving out false information.

Good Samaritans rescue 5 in Kachemak Bay

Editor — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 22:01:33 +0000

Staff Report
A pleasure craft that caught fire in Kachemak Bay on Thursday morning resulted in quick work on the part of a good Samaritan vessel and the U.S. Coast Guard.
The crew of the Happy Hooker Charter boat rescued five Kenai boaters aboard the 36-foot pleasure craft, “Snake River Red.” The boaters sent out a call for help as the boat became engulfed in flames 13 miles west of Homer at 10:50 a.m.
Greg Lindhartsen, Gloria Adkins, Linda Mullens and two children were pulled to safety just after sending their mayday call to the Coast Guard Sector Anchorage command center watchstanders. According to a Coast Guard news release, the call was immediately issued as an Urgent Marine Information Broadcast.

Photo by Sam Kuzmin/Homer Tribune - The M/V Snake River Red burns in Kachemak Bay. All five people aboard were safely rescued by a Good Samaritan vessel onscene.

The crew of the Happy Hooker responded and was on scene within five minutes to rescue the five people. The rescued boaters were safely brought to the marina in Homer at 12:25 p.m. with no reported injuries.
“We are thankful for the good Samaritan vessel Happy Hooker to swiftly and safely rescue the five people from their vessel that was on fire,” Petty Officer 3rd Class Sheli Lovelace, a communications controller in the command center at Sector Anchorage. “Good Samaritan vessels are often closer than Coast Guard assets and we are thankful for those who respond when a call for help is needed.”
The vessel was estimated to have 150 gallons of diesel on board. No pollution has been reported.
The cause of the fire is unknown.