Man hikes out as snowmachine breaks down
A Homer man whose snow machine broke down survived a night in the Caribou Hills and walked home while rescuers were out searching for him Monday morning.
Charles Moore, 51, of Homer was last seen on Sunday at about 10 a.m. He was reported missing on Sunday night when he didn’t arrive home. He walked out on his own and showed up at home at about 11:45 a.m. He then went to the fire department near 14 mile East End Road at about 11:50 a.m. He was uninjured.
Moore told workers at the Kachemak Emergency Service that his snowmachine broke down. He crashed into a tree on the snow machine and had gotten stuck a few times before it quite operating.
“He made a fire and had some food and spent the night in what we estimate was 28 degree weather,” said Alaska State Trooper Spokesperson Beth Ipsen. AST had chartered a helicopter to do an aerial search Monday morning. There also were 16-20 Snomads on snowmachines searching the area near Mile 14 of East End Road.
‘It’s only a test’
A tsunami early warning siren and message is set to go off this morning at 9:45 a.m., and emergency responders want the message to reach as many people as possible ahead of time. It is only a test.
Every coastal community in Alaska should be able to hear the tsunami alert. The information will be broadcast on radio stations, television, on marine radios and through the public tsunami alerts posted around the Homer, Port Graham and Seldovia area. If people don’t get the alert, the state offices for emergency response want to hear about it.
The State of Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, in cooperation with the West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center, the National Weather Service and the Alaska Broadcasters Association will conduct a test of the State’s Tsunami Warning System on March 27.
Bill reclassifies drug crimes in cost-saving prison reform
A bill sponsored by Sen. Fred Dyson argues that since Alaska’s prison population is currently growing at one of the fastest rates in the nation, new direction is needed to address non-violent offenders.
Despite the $250 million Goose Creek Correctional Center, the Department of Corrections estimates that all available prison beds will again be full in 2016. Per inmate incarceration costs have risen from $110 per day to $147 per day, or more than $50,000 an inmate per year.
The bill, SB 56, was heard Monday in the Senate Finance Committee.
Since 2005, the DOC’s operating budget has spiked nearly 94 percent, from $167 million to over $323 million.
Condo owner sues city for unequal protection
Special assessments levied at condo owners gets its first legal test in the coming weeks in a lawsuit launched by building owner Ken Castner against the City of Homer and the council members.
The civil complaint is Kenneth Castner III vs. the City of Homer, Walt Wrede, Francie Roberts, Beau Burgess, Bryan Zak, Barbara Howard, David Lewis and James Dolma, filed March 4 in Superior Court of Alaska in Homer. Castner is acting as his own attorney.
The legal basis relies on a claim of violating Castner’s U.S. Constitutional rights. “(Castner) requests an order determining that defendants have violated the rights of plaintiff to equal protection and due process of law, and that defendants have violated statutory law regarding its natural gasline assessment scheme.”
The Homer City Council was given three legal opinions on how the condo owners should be assessed for paying to hook into the natural gas distribution line.
Filmmaker hopes to raise emergency medical funds for animals
The Homer Animal Shelter got a call about a cat who reportedly had its leg caught in a hold trap in the dead of winter.
“This poor guy had been out there on his own, dragging this two and half-pound leg trap around, living off rabbits,” said shelter volunteer Brian Smith. “We were able to catch him and get him to the vet; where, of course, it required surgery, medicines, followups. Long story short, Jack was one of the nicest cats you could ever hope to meet.”
Jack, as they named him, got his foot crushed and lost a couple of toes.
Ready for spring? Learn how to identify shorebirds
During spring migration, thousands of shorebirds stopover at Kachemak Bay to rest and feed before completing their long journey to their breeding grounds.
Last spring the Kachemak Bay Shorebird Monitoring Project observed 27 species of shorebirds and counted a total of approximately 23,972 individual shorebirds. While observing these shorebirds is a delight to local birders, identifying them can sometimes be difficult.
In light of the upcoming spring migration and Homer’s enthusiastic interest in shorebirds, this month’s meeting of the Kachemak Bay Birders will focus on shorebird identification.
Couple sues City over sewer flood damage
In the second lawsuit in March to be leveled against the City of Homer, a local couple whose home was sewer damaged in a severe January storm is seeking $185,000 in compensation.
Kenneth and Theresa Halpin filed a lawsuit March 7 that outlines the case. On Jan. 13, the sewage line from Homer solid waste backed up through the Halpin’s home on Early Spring Street. It continued to back up sewage for more than four feet above ground level, gushing in to flood the dwelling, “destroying and damaging the walls, flooring, carpeting, insulation, vapor barriers, vinyl, tile, carpet pad, molding, sheetrock, cabinetry, paneling, paint, doors, heat registers, trim, electrical outlets, underlayment, ductwork, vents, appliances, furnace, fixtures, personal property and other items.”
Community News – March 20
Creative round table Homer writer Teresa Sundmark’s course “Creative Writing Round Table,” aims to help stir creative power. The class is open for walk-in attendance on Tuesday nights through the end of April. They meet 6-8 p.m. in Room 219 at the Kachemak Bay Campus. Sundmark, a librarian at the Homer Public Library, runs a [...]
‘Picket Party’ highlights child education cuts
Homer parents and kids turned out to protest proposed budget cuts to early learning programs at the Legislative Information Office last week.
At issue is a $137,500 cut to Best Beginnings and $242,500 from Parents as Teachers for fiscal year 2014.
The “Picket Party,” as the rally was called, showed their support for early learning funding programs like Head Start, Parents as Teachers, Pre-K and Best Beginnings. The House Finance committee recently moved to cut the funding for early learning programs that serve statewide. Best Beginnings was awarded $937,500 and Parents as Teachers $1,042,500 in fiscal year 2013.
Community News – March 13
Nelson wins Geographic Bee Jakob Nelson, a McNeil Canyon Elementary sixth-grader, was named an Alaska National Geographic Bee Semifinalist and is headed to the state championship on April 5. He is the son of Sonja and Thomas Nelson. National Geographic Society Bees were held in schools across the U.S. last week, open to 4th-8th grade [...]
