For the Record – April 24
The following records are cases and records filed in court. Individuals are innocent until proven guilty, and copies of the records are publicly available. Indictment Jonathan Lee Gilliam, 33, misconduct involving a controlled substance in the fourth degree Felony Niko Emile Mogar, 23, assault in the third degree, tampering with physical evidence Elizabeth A. Kvasnikoff, [...]
Obituary – April 24
Anchor Point resident, Howard Orvis Houglum, 64, died Monday, April 15, 2013 at his home with his family by his side. Memorial services will be held at a later date. Mr. Houglum was born May 18, 1948 in Faribault, Minnesota. He graduated from Cook County High School in Grand Marais, Minnesota. He worked for Hedstroms [...]
HERC building: lost cause or new hope for Homer
How to continue funding the Boys and Girls Club’s home at the old Homer middle school building, now referred to as the HERC, continues to worry the Homer City Council.
Renovations of the 60-year-old building was deemed cost prohibitive after an engineer’s study last fall. It would cost the same amount to fix the structure as to tear it down and build a new one, a report by Klauder and Company Architects concluded in December. The cost estimate that came back after a building review was $8.5 million. The council’s discussion came on the heels of a rejected Community Block Grant request for $150,000.
But it’s
Political shenanigans shut down Kenai Economic Development District funding
Thanks to convoluted political maneuvering, an economic engine used to support small businesses on the Kenai Peninsula is due to expire at the end of June.
The Senate Finance Committee in the closing days of the legislative session could have extended the authorization for the ARDOR, short for Alaska Regional Development Organizations. Instead, its sunset was approved. ARDOR serves as the umbrella over 13 regional districts.
Rep. Seaton’s bill breaks up scallop monopoly
New opportunities should open for commercial fishermen interested in expanding to the scallop industry since the passage of a bill that eliminates a monopoly currently held by a single Washington state operator.
Rep. Paul Seaton has long been an opponent of the vessel limited entry program for Weathervane Scallops and Korean Haircrab, two fisheries lumped together, though very little haircrab exists in state waters. Mostly his objection centered on scallops, a $4.5 million industry in the hands of just two operators. He says it’s inconsistent with the approach taken in the rest of the state water fisheries where the limited entry permit is allocated to a person.
In 2002 the Legislature adopted the temporary permit vessel limited entry program.
“That policy led to a rapid and extreme consolidation,” Seaton said, “leaving 90 percent of the scallop fishery in the hands of a Washington-based corporation.”
Sen. Micciche spends post-session week in Houston
Sen. Peter Micciche spent his post-legislative session week in Houston talking with industry leaders and policy makers about liquified natural gas, a commodity he believes should take a greater role in supplying state revenue.
The legislative session ended on Sunday April 15. On Monday, April 16, Micciche traveled to Houston to take part in the LNG 17 Forum that featured him as a presenter, wearing his hat as the supervisor of the ConocoPhillips LNG plant in Kenai. At the same time, executives of ConocoPhillips met in Houston to discuss the new tax regime of Senate
Bill 21 and announced a renewed commitment for drilling at Kaparak on the North Slope based on the incentives of SB 21. Micciche said he didn’t participate in those talks, but did at LNG 17 that included other legislators and members of the Gov. Sean Parnell administration. The LNG 17 Forum featured an international panel representing the Middle East, Australia, Japan, South America and Africa.
Hig and Erin take another trek into Alaska’s wilderness
Brentwood Higman and Erin McKittrick made a stop in Homer after walking the beach from Dog Bay to Kachemak Bay and around the rim to the Fox River flats. The couple from Seldovia is making progress on their 800-mile journey around Cook Inlet. After a visit with friends, including a dinner in their honor, the couple and their two children resumed their long walk. They expect to take several months to complete the journey around Cook Inlet to Cape Douglas. Homer people met them at Bishop’s Beach to walk and talk a bit as they went.
BBQ: secret’s in the sauce, wood smoking chips
A new kind of barbecue made its debut this spring in Homer, one where even the wood chips used to smoke racks of ribs and whole chickens are chopped and mixed by hand.
But don’t try to get Tim Whitehead to reveal the secret mix in his wood chips.
“That’s top secret. I’m never going to let it go,” Whitehead said. “I chop my own wood and the mixture changes according to the meat.”
It changes for the baked beans, too, a side dish close to Whitehead’s heart. “I take a lot of pride in my beans. I’m known for my beans.”
Ghost boat bill targets environmental hazards
The ghost boat bill addressing derelict vessels sailed on home in the closing hours of the Alaska Legislature, allowing local governments more control over cleaning up or clearing out the vessels.
HB 131 is a first step toward fixing a boatload of problems faced by harbors around the state. It updates long-outdated statutes that placed the delegation for authority to take control of the vessels with the state,which operated harbors. The statute was written in the late 1970s but harbor ownership was transferred to municipalities in 1980.
Rachel Lord, the outreach and monitoring coordinator at Cook Inletkeeper, helped educate legislators and others about the bill. Lord works with coastal communities to clean up harbors.
Homer spent a lot of legal money developing strong ordinances and processes to deal with these vessels, Lord said. But other harbors around the state may not have measures in place. Now statewide legislation helps give all communities more power.
Legislature approves $33 million
The City of Homer came out with funding for its top three priorities in the Alaska 2014 Capital Budget so far, a grant for Homer Port and Harbor improvements, help with a new fire station and dollars toward replacing the faulty harbormaster office.
“We did OK. We gave the legislature our whole CIP list (Capital Improvement List) and we were successful in the sense that the top three were addressed,” City Manager Walt Wrede said Monday.
These appropriations await the governor’s signature, but have a good survival chance since they were not politically tied. The harbor improvements came at the governor’s recommendation as a $4.2 million matching municipal grant program.
