Rally points — Miller addresses Kenai conservative Tax Day gathering

By Jenny Neyman

Photo by Jenny Neyman, Redoubt Reporter. Joe Miller speaks at a Conservative Patriots Group “Celebrate America” event at Leif Hansen Memorial Park in Kenai on Saturday. Debbie Brown, event organizer, listens in the background.

Redoubt Reporter

Announcements for Saturday afternoon’s “Celebrate America” rally at Kenai’s Leif Hansen Memorial Park did, indeed, specify 2012, though much of the proceedings would have been right at home in the 2010 election season, or even the 2008 presidential campaign.

Among the attendees were supporters of Texas Congressman and current presidential candidate Ron Paul, who also ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 against Sen. John McCain. Standing at the park’s frontage with the Kenai Spur Highway was another reference to the 2008 presidential election — a man bearing a homemade cardboard sign that read, “Where’s the real birth certificate?” and, “Obama is a fraud,” with a Washington, D.C., phone number for Rep. Don Young.

Presenters spoke of continuing the ongoing effort to return Alaska and the U.S. to the values of conservatism, rather than setting out any brand-new mission. The special guest speaker, Joe Miller, reiterated the message he’s been delivering since his 2010 campaign for U.S. Senate, in which he won the primary vote but lost in the general election to a write-in campaign for incumbent Lisa Murkowski.

The message bears repeating because the state and country are still facing the same problems, Miller said.

“This nation still is at a crossroad point, similar to what we saw in 2010,” he said. “… We’ve got to have people who are willing to tell the truth, and we aren’t seeing that at the national level. And even at the state level, the same sort of situation approaches — decreasing oil production and increasing expenditures.”

Adopting a mission — Spay, neuter fund to help with unwanted pets

By Joseph Robertia

Photos by Joseph Robertia, Redoubt Reporter. Judy Fandrei plays with two kittens at the Kenai Animal Shelter on Friday. Her time spent at the shelter drove Fandrei to start the Peninsula Spay and Neuter Fund, which helps educate people to the pros of spaying and neutering pets, and can help offset the cost of surgeries for those in need of financial assistance.

Redoubt Reporter

Walking through the narrow corridor between the cage cubicles that temporarily house dogs at the Kenai Animal Shelter is far from a quiet experience. Excited to see a newcomer, many burst into an unbridled display that includes much howling and barking. This noise of canine enthusiasm can be an overwhelming cacophony to some visitors, but it is a sound that speaks to Judy Fandrei.

A longtime veterinary technician by trade, her love of animals drew her to begin volunteering at the shelter, but the experience was more than she bargained for. She was already aware that not all who take in a dog or cat are responsible, lifelong owners, but helping at the shelter, she was exposed daily to how many pets are abandoned or surrendered. Worse yet, she couldn’t avoid the knowledge of what happens to those animals when no one comes forward to adopt them.

“I got to see how bad the problem was and what a recurring cycle it was. People would bring in litter after litter of kittens from the same cat without ever getting it spayed. I’d hear about litters of puppies or kittens on Tradio or see people with them out front of Fred Meyer,” she said. “I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I couldn’t sleep at night. It was very painful for me.”

New party lines — Redistricting changes peninsula representation

By Naomi Klouda

Homer Tribune

Redistricting amendments now have placed Halibut Cove and Seldovia back in league with Homer, instead of shifting those communities to the Kodiak voting district.

That is one of the changes in the latest draft of the Alaska Redistricting project that soon places Homer in what is currently Republican Sen. Thomas Wagoner’s Senate District O. Homer, for just a few more weeks, is part of Republican Sen. Gary Stevens’ Senate District R.

Even though the Alaska Legislature has adjourned from its regular session, it faces a special session starting today. This, with a heavy campaign season ahead, means little time to look at a cramped election season ahead.

So far, no one has filed to challenge Wagoner, Stevens or Seaton.

June 1 is the Alaska Division of Elections deadline to file for office. The primary election is Aug. 28 and the general election is Nov. 6.

Since the Alaska Redistricting Board is still at work satisfying federal election requirements, the new election boundaries are not yet approved.

Almanac: Stroke of luck — History of swimming served Tustumena crash survivor well

Editor’s note: This is the third of a three-part story about a 1965 Cordova Airlines crash into Tustumena Lake. Part one began with the aftermath. Part two explained how the accident occurred. This week, part three concludes with the efforts of the lone survivor. Harold H. Galliett, Jr., bucked the odds.

By Clark Fair

Redoubt Reporter

Even in the summertime, the silt-laden waters of Tustumena Lake are notoriously cold. Fed by mountain streams and Tustumena Glacier, the surface temperature is regularly in the 40s, greatly increasing the likelihood of hypothermia and greatly reducing the likelihood of survival.

Tustumena Lake has claimed many drowning victims over the years, but it didn’t claim Harold Galliett.

On Sept. 4, 1965, Galliett and four other individuals abandoned a sinking

Photo courtesy of Galliett family. Seen here is the 42-foot Aero Grand Commander that crashed into Tustumena Lake in 1965. Harold Galliett was the sole survivor.

commercial airplane, and he alone was able to swim more than a mile to shore and survive.

The aircraft was a 42-foot Aero Grand Commander operated by Cordova Airlines pilot Bob Barton. With the lake as flat and smooth as glass and the cloud ceiling only 300 feet high it is likely that Barton, struggling to distinguish air from water, flew the plane right onto the surface of the lake, where it came to rest about a mile from the northern shore and sank in a matter of minutes.

On board besides Galliett and Barton were Mr. and Mrs. Antonio Cuerde, of Port Graham, and Nikiski construction worker Raymond M. Puckett. They were all in the water — and all but Barton supported by seat cushions for flotation — sometime around 9:45 a.m. The air temperature was approximately 50 degrees, and the upper layer of water was likely between 40 and 50 degrees.

Less than five minutes after contact with the lake, their plane had vanished, drifting toward the bottom of the lake nearly 140 feet below their churning legs.

Dance with danger — Performers quake with belly moves, not from swords or snakes

By Joseph Robertia

Photos by Joseph Robertia, Redoubt Reporter. Lisa Ferguson, the advanced belly-dancing instructor at Urban Dance Studio in Kenai, demonstrates the delicate art of performing with a 3-pound sword balancing on her head during a dress rehearsal last Friday. The group was practicing a scimitar dance, one of several they will perform during the studio’s annual recital April 28.

Redoubt Reporter

From “Dancing with the Stars” to “So You Think You Can Dance?” to “America’s Best Dance Crew,” there’s no denying dancing has become a pop culture phenomenon. But how many of these television shows feature the talent dancing with live snakes, fire and 3-pound swords balancing on their heads?

“No, no fire, since the recital is in the (Soldotna High School) auditorium they said we couldn’t do live flames, but we’ll have the snakes and sword dances,” said Lisa Ferguson, referring to Urban Dance Studio’s annual recital coming up April 28.

Ferguson is an instructor of the belly-dancing class at the Kenai studio. An annual favorite act in the recital, the belly-dancing class has grown in popularity to the point where there are now two separate classes offered — beginners and advanced, the latter of which Ferguson teaches.

Four of the 14 women between the two classes are high school seniors, though, and knowing that, after graduation, the troupe will likely lose these girls as they go off to college, Ferguson said the dance group decided to send them off in style.

“We wanted to really up it this year,” she said.

Singing sessions — Brother, sister perform statewide

By Jenny Neyman

Photos courtesy of Kelli Brewer. Duncan and Olivia Brewer.

Redoubt Reporter

The Alaska Senate opened the 58th day of the legislative session March 14 with a rare treat, a live performance of the national anthem sung by one of Alaska’s own talented young musicians, 17-year-old Duncan Brewer, of Nikiski.

Though such an occurrence is an unusual start to the day’s deliberations, the performance was actually somewhat of a reprise. Not even a month earlier, on Feb. 24, the 39th day of the session was opened with another live vocal performance, also of the “Star-Spangled Banner,” also by a talented young Alaska musician, also from Nikiski, also named Brewer. But this time it was 11-year-old Olivia, Duncan’s sister.

How they both came to perform for the Senate was a convenient twist of luck — both were in Juneau during the legislative session, and schedules worked out for the performances. How they came to be singers of a caliber to perform for the state’s lawmakers, and many more public audiences besides, was no quick happenstance, but has been the result of longtime training to hone their natural abilities.

Duncan and Olivia’s mother, Kelli Brewer, said both kids have been singing since they were little. One with more initial success, however.

“From the time he was little the kid had perfect pitch. He could hear a song and get on the piano and start playing it and figure it out in a really short period of time,” Brewer said.

Digging into organic abundance —

By Naomi Klouda

Photos courtesy of Homer Tribune. Eve Matkin, of Steller Gardens, works in her high tunnel greenhouse.

Homer Tribune

Inside Eve Matkin’s high tunnel greenhouse, the ground has thawed and warm moisture from the ceiling drips on fresh soil soon to be put to rototiller.

It’s 33 degrees Thursday morning, rising to 50 by afternoon. Inside the 30-by-72-foot structure, it’s a good 70 degrees and rising. Time to get the first plants in the ground, though it is only mid-April.

“Having this high tunnel extended my growing season by two weeks on each end. If it weren’t for this, we wouldn’t be planting until two weeks from now,” Matkin explained.

She operates a Community-Supported Agriculture service, providing weekly boxes of fresh produce to families, under the name of Steller Gardens.

Kyra Wagner, coordinator of Sustainable Homer, is helping Matkin and more than 150 other high tunnel owners network to achieve new levels of agricultural success. Some families bought into the high tunnels to provide their own food stores. Most of all the Homer Farmer’s Market producers also have them now, Wagner said.

The goal is local food independence. In Matkin’s case, that goes hand in hand with economic independence.

“I love what Eve is doing and would love to see more young folks her age getting into that kind of economic work instead of trying to find a career with a fancy firm,” Wagner said. “It builds community, they get to know farmers and it builds a grass-roots economy. Customers also get to know where their food comes from. They can live on the local community rather than live on what the stock market is doing. In the worst case, she can eat what she doesn’t sell.”

A town isn’t as vulnerable to outside ups and downs of a state or national economy if it can supply its own food demands and job needs, she said.

The tunnels are obtained through the U.S. Department of Agriculture High Tunnel Grant Program. Right now, Homer has worked its way through available grants, but interested people can still be placed on a wait list.

Unwilling passenger to state of new normal

By Jacki Michels, for the Redoubt Reporter

The time we dread does not often blow a whistle to warn us of an impending wreck. It strikes and pulls the floor from beneath our feet when we least expect it.

It is the moment when the phone rings. You answer it and hear the words that you hear, but you cannot begin to fathom their meaning. You stand there, frozen, trying to figure out how to breathe. You will hear, repeat, process and comprehend nothing, except that what you hear cannot be.

What to do next is a thought frozen in cement.

As you swim in the murkiness of awareness, you might be able to flash back on when the car broke down for the third time in a month and the batteries in the other one bit the dust. Out of desperation you turned back to the cold, old truck. Thinking back, you laughed right out loud as it started up like a champ.

Later, when the tow truck brought you and your trusty old truck home, you said, “Oh well, things could’ve been worse, at least no one is sick or dying.” Perhaps you creatively cursed the automobile industry. Secretly, you may have felt sorry for yourself and grumbled at the expense, the inconvenience.

Plugged In: Trial and error — know your gear before buying

Spring photo contest

It’s time for the second Redoubt Reporter, reader-submitted photo contest.

Photos will be judged and winners selected by a three-member panel. After each contest closes, we’ll publish and discuss some of our favorites in the Redoubt Reporter, space permitting. We’ll choose some of our favorite submissions from this spring 2012 photo contest and our fall 2011 contest and invite those photographers to frame and hang their photos at a Redoubt Reporter June 2012 group photo show already scheduled at the Sterling Highway Kaladi Brothers coffee shop.

The deadline to enter is 11:59 p.m. April 20, 2012. All submissions must be in high-quality digital format. Submit no more than five JPEG images by email to redoubtreporterphotos@gmail.com.

Entry rules:

1. Our themes are “Winter into spring” or “End of a long winter,” and submissions must fit this theme. Entrants must be amateur photographers who are residents of the central Kenai Peninsula.

2. Photographs can be of any subject fitting the theme but must have been taken of the Kenai Peninsula on or after Jan. 1, 2011.

3. If you submit photographs in which people are recognizable, you must also provide us with their permission for us to publish any such photographs.

4. Please do not submit portrait photos. Do not submit photographs whose content would not be appropriate for publication in a family newspaper. Do not submit photos of illegal subject matter. All such photos will be deleted immediately without notice to you and at the sole discretion of the editor.

5. Photographers must include their name, telephone number, email address, town of residency and each photo’s date, location and subject matter.

6. Submitted JPEG images should be of the best possible technical quality. Good technique and technical quality are important, but originality, creativity, interesting subject matter, artistic merit and good composition are even more important.

7. By submitting photos, you agree to our publication of them in the Redoubt Reporter newspaper and on our website. The Redoubt Reporter will have the right of first publication of your photos. However, you will retain the copyright for all other purposes and your name will be listed if we publish any of your photos.

8. Our decisions about what’s published or selected for exhibition are final and are admittedly subjective. Space is limited, and the judging panel and editor reserve the right to choose photos at their discretion.

9. Retain your original digital files of all submitted images. We are not responsible for preserving copies of your digital images.