Flights of fall — Autumn aviation a popular, dangerous endeavor

By Jenny Neyman

Redoubt Reporter photo. Planes are tied down at the Soldotna Airport. Fall is a busy time for private aviation, as pilots get out for hunting season. Aviation accidents also increase in fall.

Redoubt Reporter

These days — with the convenience of grocery stores, the expedient marriage of microwaves and frozen dinners, and the lure of topping off your gas fill-up with a quick meal from beneath the heat lamps — fall hunting season is no longer a do-or-die necessity to surviving the winter.

But the pull to harvest can still retain that sense of compulsion.

Complications come along with the convenience of the modern world — more commitments to jobs and bills, and communications technology that is ever harder to shut up and off. Most Alaskans don’t have to stock up on fish and game to survive the winter these days, but when they attempt to assuage the want to do so the challenge of breaking the chains to civilization and finding time to hunt can impart the feeling of urgency that necessity once did.

When an attitude of now or never ventures into the fall weather of Alaska, dangerous situations can result. That’s particularly true when airplanes are involved, as they often are in hunting season. Having a plane multiplies accessible hunting terrain, a prospect that’s even more appealing when the hunting outlook locally is dim, as it has been this year for moose on the Kenai Peninsula.

For some pilots, when the commitments of life get too demanding or the price of aviation fuel too daunting, hunting season can be the only time to do much flying. That can lead to far worse situations than an empty freezer come winter, with more people flying in fall, some with rusty skills, often into remote areas, in capricious weather conditions and under the challenges of hauling extra weight.

“In hunting season there are a lot of people flying who haven’t been flying much the rest

Photo courtesy of Joe Kashi. With views like this, it’s easy to see the appeal of fall flying in Alaska.

of the year — a little bit, maybe, but not very much, maybe not at all. Here comes hunting season, they get their airplane out, they load it up real heavy and they go out in the Bush. They just aren’t practiced enough or prepared enough, and they may have some unrealistic ideas about their own personal limitations,” said Dr. Alex Russell, a pediatrician and flight instructor in Soldotna.

Anchors away — Derelict ships pose a costly problem

By Naomi Klouda

Photo by Homer Tribune. The Spanky Paine, a derelict vessel in Homer, has been a vexing problem for harbor officials and the city.

Homer Tribune

A 120-foot landing craft called the Sound Developer sank in Cordova’s harbor three winters ago, broken in parts and leaking whatever hazardous fuels were aboard.

The craft was abandoned by its owner, who was nowhere to be found. A consortium of agencies tried to deal with the problem. Even after spending $5 million, the landing craft and its pieces remain on the harbor floor. Its wheelhouse is partially above water, creating a navigation hazard, with a promised removal coming soon.

This was one of the cautionary tales told by municipal attorney Holly Wells at a gathering of the Alaska Association of Harbormasters and Port Administrators on Thursday at Land’s End Resort in Homer. The session on what to do about derelict boats — or derelict boat owners — engaged the group well into overtime as attendees grappled toward solutions to a shared problem.

Look for the problem of derelict vessels abandoned in harbors to get worse in the next decade. An aging fleet of fishing and transportation vessels used for a variety of purposes are approaching the ends of their useful lives, Wells told the gathering.

“In 10 years, you will be overwhelmed. It is time communities get together to deal with them collectively,” Wells said.

Solutions she suggested ranged from new laws that would protect harbors to good networking by harbor officials.

The economic heyday of commercial fisheries brought many vessels north that never left again. Old state ferries, tugs used for hauling freight, World War II transports transformed for floating processors — many are still out there. Downsized fisheries left many obsolete, and Alaska’s harbors became their last stop.

Homer Harbormaster Bryan Hawkins calls it “the hot potato problem,” when one of those ships is evicted from one harbor, only to go rest in another harbor.

“The hot-potato plan sucks when you get stuck with a derelict. We managed to get four of our derelicts broken down, two changed owners and one is still in the harbor,” Hawkins said. “The problem is that most left to other places in the state. I’m not proud of that. I don’t like it; it’s not a solution.”

Share the wealth — Program provides funding boost if rules are followed

By Joseph Robertia

Map courtesy of the Kenai Peninsula Borough.

Redoubt Reporter

While the residents of Cohoe and Kasilof have long considered themselves a combined community, they found out Thursday night that for the purposes of applying for funds from the Community Revenue Sharing Program, they are actually two separate entities.

“The whole process is very confusing,” said Tami Murray, executive director of the Tustumena 200 Race Association and representative of one of several nonprofits in attendance to ask for a share of the funds.

Murray was disappointed to find out that Thursday’s meeting to establish capital improvement projects and evaluate CRS program requests was only open for voting by Kasilof residents as defined by U.S. Census designation — those living north of the Kasilof River.

The official Cohoe meeting is scheduled for next week.

“I was very pleased with the turnout to the meeting, but it quickly became obvious that the T-200 supporters would not get a chance to vote because they were nearly all from the Cohoe-designated area,” Murray said.

Adding to the confusion, nonprofits can only request funds from one community.

“So pulling our application from the Kasilof community was the right thing to do,” Murray said.

Get a move on health — Nia: Fitness sensation

By Jenny Neyman

Photos by Jenny Neyman, Redoubt Reporter. Maribeth Snell, center, leads a group through a Nia routine during a workshop Sunday at YogaSol in Soldotna. The low-impact aerobic workout emphasizes a variety of movements and creating sensation in the body.

Redoubt Reporter

Ladies: Maribeth Snell knows what you’re doing with the curtains drawn and music blaring on a Saturday night, and she wants you to come out from behind the shades and join her. For those with an enjoyment of movement and desire to be physically active, but with little interest in more sports-oriented activities, Snell’s Nia classes may be the perfect alternative to dancing alone in the house.

“I really want to reach people like me. We really aren’t drawn to gyms and don’t like to run but want to move. Like on a Saturday night, if you draw the curtains and turn on the radio and dance around the living room, you’re a good candidate for Nia,” she said.

Snell teaches a low-impact aerobic class that’s part dance — including jazz steps, belly-dance swaying and freeform interpretive choreography; part martial arts — with Aikido, Taekwondo and tai chi; part healing arts — such as yoga and Pilates; and all movement.

“Come on ladies, let’s make this a big one,” Snell encouraged the participants of the Nia workshop she taught Sunday at YogaSol in Soldotna, as they built up to the finale of one of the more exuberant — and exhausting — of the routines they’d learned that day. It was one combining the fluidity of belly-dance gyrations and rigidity of martial arts movements. Several participants tied scarves with tiny jingle bells around their waists, to hear as well as feel the movements.

“Have fun with it,” Snell said. Since she had to nearly shout to be heard over the cacophony of tinkling bells and thuds of bare feet stomping the floor, that direction was probably not necessary.

Steeling fishing resolve — Autumn angling can be hot for those braving the cold

By Joseph Robertia

Photos courtesy of Jim Coburn. Dan Adair shows off his catch during a fall fishing trip on the Kenai River.

Redoubt Reporter

Jim Coburn got up before dawn to make the long drive from his home in Nikiski to fish the Kenai River, and when he saw a massive slab of silver fly into the air, he immediately new the early rise was worth it.

Coburn’s lure was being crushed in the gnarled, curving beak of the salmon that had obviously spent some time in the river. But by its sea-bright color and the fight it was already putting up, it was clear this silver salmon was far from spawned out.

The rod arched under the heavy pulling power with each run the fish made. Coburn’s pulse quickened with each scream of the reel. The battle was fierce but ultimately brief, and in the end, man prevailed over fish.

Almanac: Accident not as funny the second time

By Clark Fair

Photo courtesy of Al Hershberger. This aerial photo of Soldotna was taken by Al Hershberger around the 1950s.

Redoubt Reporter

The small headline befit the small item on Page 1 of the Cheechako News on Feb. 26, 1960: “Kipp and Craig Autos Collide.”

Beneath the headline was a single paragraph: “An icy corner at Cook and Main in Kenai was the cause of an accident last week. Clarence Craig of Soldotna was unable to execute a complete right turn because of the ice and his left fender hit the left fender of the oncoming car driven by Clarice Kipp of Kenai. Both autos needed to have fenders bent out before they were able to drive away.”

Fifty-one years later, Kipp still remembers the incident.

“There was a filling station on that corner. And I think I must have been driving the pickup,” she said.

Kipp and her husband, Glenn, came to Alaska in 1954, residing in Anchorage until they moved to Kenai the following year. Both of them were prominent in the Civil Air Patrol, and Clarice was active in the area Homemakers Club.

A week after the incident at Cook and Main, Glenn was out driving the pickup around when an eerily similar set of circumstances presented itself. Loren Stewart, owner of the Cheechako and known for his quick wit, wasted no time in drawing the parallels for his readers.

On Page 1 of the next issue of the paper (March 11, 1960), this headline and brief story appeared: “Kipp and Eagle Cars Collide.”

“An icy parkway in front of Peninsula Builders (across from present-day Kenai Electric) in Kenai was the reported cause of an accident last week that again involved Glenn Kipp’s battered auto. Rex Eagle’s auto was the other car. Glenn, who had considerable comment about the accident that occurred last week when wife Clarice was driving, has been unavailable for comment (this time). It is reported that in case of questioning he intends to take the Fifth Amendment.”

Clarice laughed heartily when presented recently with this second news item, even though she said that Glenn’s accident resided less clearly in her memory than her own.

Common Ground: Make a list, forget it twice

By Christine Cunningham, for the Redoubt Reporter

Photo courtesy of Christine Cunningham. Cheyenne, a 2-year-old chocolate Lab, makes a stoic judge of her owner’s foibles.

I’m not a list maker. It seems like an unnecessary step since, in my situation, the same person who makes the list is going to check the list — me.

If I know anything about me, it’s that if I’m going to forget something, I’m going to forget it no matter what. And if I’m going to remember something, I’m going to remember it precisely after the moment it’s too late to turn around and head back to the store to get it.

A list doesn’t help the process. All a list does is put me in the position of acting as a witness against myself by creating a document that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that I didn’t just forget, I knowingly forgot.

I can picture the line of questioning:

Sharply dressed trial attorney: “Ms. Cunningham, did you go to the store to buy several items for your duck-hunting trip?”

Walk on the wild side

Hunting, Fishing and Other Grounds for Divorce, by Jacki Michels

There are days when the thought of noshing on crusty bread while sitting at some quaint little establishment that I cannot begin to pronounce sounds so utterly lovely.

It is one of my favorite fantasies. In this delusion I have long, thin thighs and I am immune to the ill effects of carbohydrates and gravity. I wear a pair of stylish, long, leather boots as my lover and I stroll along the streets of Paris — and you must say it like “Par-eiz,” with an emphasis on the “ez,” or it does not sound sophisticated. It is an utterly romantic affair and, someday — ah, someday — we will get there. We dream, we save and we hope to make that and many of our other favorite fantasies come true.

Right from the beginning we had big dreams, and, boy oh boy, were we wild. Once we even danced on top of a — oh, never mind. Just trust me on this. The thing is, life happened, several times, and we burped them and diapered them.

At times our most creative moment involved coming up with clever strategies so we could sleep together. And I do mean sleep — as in increasing our hours of unconscious rest. Like most married folk, we fell into predictable, mostly out of exhaustion.

Art Seen: Traditionally modern

By Zirrus VanDevere, for the Redoubt Reporter

“Any Fish” by Kathy Matta

Kathy Matta resides both in China and down Funny River Road in Soldotna, in basically equal measure. She has been studying the ancient art of natural lacquer painting for well over a decade and has used the highly traditional medium in some pretty nontraditional ways. Currently, Matta has a large exhibit at the Kenai Fine Arts Center Gallery One that centers around the subject of fish, but it is fish like you probably haven’t seen them before.

Many of the pieces seem to be actual fish mounts because they resemble so closely the size and shape of the salmon we are familiar with on the Kenai Peninsula, but they are finished in such amazing color and material that they seem almost magical. The art of natural lacquer painting requires coat upon coat of the stuff, with much buffing and rubbing in between applications, until the objects seem to glow from within with an indescribable richness. Sometimes these pieces can take over a year to finish because of the layering and processing necessary.

Fall colors down, time to pick up shades of gray

Photo contest: Remember our first Redoubt Reporter photo contest. Photos must be taken on the Kenai Peninsula with a “Fall on the Kenai” theme. The deadline is Nov. 1. Email JPEGs to: redoubtreporterphotos @gmail.com. You can find all of the rules and requirements at http://www.redoubtreporter.wordpress.com/2011/09/07/redoubt-reporter-photo-contest/.

We’ll publish some of our favorite entries from time to time and choose some for the monthlong June 2012 Redoubt Reporter exhibition at the Sterling Highway Kaladi Brothers coffee shop.

 By Joe Kashi, for the Redoubt Reporter

As late fall colors change into a hazy shade of winter, photography likewise changes.

Gone are the deep blue skies and the brilliant golds and reds of late September and early October. Instead, daylight becomes subdued under frequently cloudy skies, landscapes are mostly shades of gray, and there’s a more somber mood upon the landscape.

It’s time to shift to black-and-white photo mode.

For well over 150 years, black-and-white photography was the favorite of fine-art and news photographers. Over that time, black-and-white photography matured into a highly versatile medium capable of both the gritty, powerful news photos typical of the 1930s through 1960s, as well as the gorgeous tonal qualities of a monumental Ansel Adams Western landscape.