Daylight-saving time starts Sunday
On Sunday, March 14 at 2 a.m., Daylight-saving time 2010 begins. Be sure to move your clocks ahead one hour in order to “spring” into the season.
Blizzard leaves town covered
State ski meets were completed barely a week and winter carnivals come and gone by the time Homer received its first significant snowfall this winter.
The March blizzards of ‘10 likely will go down as some kind of record, but that won’t be determined until after the tallies are in later today or Thursday, said National Weather Service Forecaster Dan Peterson.
Costly rock, politics stymie harbor project
The high expense of armor rock lies at the bottom of a problem holding up public works projects throughout Alaska, and places Homer’s hopes for an East Harbor beyond reach for now.
According to U.S. Army Corp of Engineer’s Patrick Fitzgerald, that was one reason why Homer’s East Harbor estimates stretch to $107 million.
Fitzgerald gave a presentation to the Homer City Council at a Monday afternoon work session. The city and Corps partner with the Alaska Department of Transportation on the project. DOT officials Ruth Carter and Harvey Smith were also present.
“There is a lack of quarries to supply armor rock,” Fitzgerald said. “In the past, we paid $65 a cubic yard when the rock was local; now that is doubled.”
Beluga comments stretch into the thousands
The testimony on whether or not to designate most of Cook Inlet as beluga habitat is now in, with some 91,668 responses to the public comment period that ended March 3.
The comments will be available to the public shortly at the National Marine Fisheries Service Web site, said spokesperson Sheela McLean. It is important to note that the number of responses didn’t calculate how many made repeat testimony. However, the numbers from organizations were noted, with Sierra Club accounting for 43,339 responses. The Natural Resource Development Council — countering the idea of designating Cook Inlet as critical habitat — weighed in with 39,939 responses.
Growing up in Homer on skis
Growing up in Homer in the 1950-60s, young skier Larry Martin helped maintain his own cross-country trails. He was often in the dark, in a broad swath of wide open emptiness, trailing behind his coach’s snowmachine.
When other duties called coach Dave Schroer away, Martin would take off on his own, skiing for miles on treks that many today would consider a good day’s ride on a snowmachine.
Weather Service issues new blizzard warning
The National Weather Service in Anchorage has issued a blizzard warning in effect from now until 6 a.m. Tuesday through late Monday night for the cities of Homer, Kenai, Soldotna and Cooper Landing. A storm tracking across the Western Gulf will move inland Monday evening, bringing southwest winds 30 to 45 miles per hour [...]
Anchor Point airs frustrations
Standing up amid a crowd of more than 200 Anchor Point residents who gathered Monday night at the senior center to discuss the recent arrest of two young fugitives, Buzz Moore recalled how safe he used to feel in the small rural town outside Homer.
Flying with a mission
After flying earthquake relief supplies to Port au Prince for three weeks, Homer pilot Stephanie Anderson agreed to escort six Haitian orphans back to the United States.
The next day, she was in a Haitian jail.
Seldovia’s Russian Orthodox church rests in transition
Seldovia’s St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral, sitting atop its hill as it has for more than a century, is currently in transition because its members are so few in Seldovia that services are seldom held there.
However, contrary to speculation, the church is not for sale, said Russian Orthodox priest, Father Michael Oleksa. Apparently the rumor started because land around the church is listed for sale, after a trailer court nearby has overflowed onto church property, creating a “squatting” situation that has left the church wanting to sell the land around the church.
Beluga whale bill passes House
A resolution opposing designation of critical habitat for beluga whales passed the Alaska State House Monday in the form of House Joint Resolution 40, which opposes the National Marine Fisheries Service’s designation of a critical habitat for beluga whales.
The resolution now goes with legislators planning to attend energy talks in Washington D.C this week, as they intend to lobby against the beluga designation.
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