First City futsal Indian nation destroys own buildings over • Trio to join team at Arctic leadership dispute, Winter Games, See page 6 Page 8

42 º/39º Weather, page 3 $K1.00 ETCHIKAN WEDNESDAY, FEB. 26, 2020 T WDITTER.COAM/KDNI NEWLS Y N WWW.KEETCHIWKANDAILYNSEWS.COM 14 PAGES Old Glory Rests Murkowski Recall effort talks Tongass collecting Discusses her support for the Tongass exemption from federal Roadless Rule signatures By SAM STOCKBRIDGE 71,252 signatures required Daily News Staff Writer U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, discussed her support for exempting the Tongass National Forest from the federal Roadless Rule, and other legislation to initiate recall election that she said would affect residents during an interview at the Daily News office on Thursday. Murkowski visited Anchorage, Juneau, JUNEAU(AP) — A campaign to recall Alaska's gov - Sitka and Ketchikan over the course of last week, spending Thursday and Friday ernor has started with the distribution of petition book - in Ketchikan. lets that will be used to collect signatures. Murkowski said she was "frustrated" by misperceptions about how Southeast The Alaska Division of Elections delivered the book - Alaska communities would be affected if the Tongass was exempted from the lets that organizers will use to try to gather the mini - Roadless Rule, saying that other guidelines and restrictions would still limit de - mum of 71,252 signatures required to initiate an velopment in the Tongass, even without the Roadless Rule. Murkowski is in election to recall Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy, favor of a complete exemption for the Tongass. KTOO-FM reported. "With the designations that are in place — monuments and natural settings Organizers received the booklets Friday before mail - — ... a little more than 80% of the Tongass is off limits — period. To anybody. ing about 60 packages to supporters. The recall group said Dunleavy, who took office in See ‘Murkowski,’ page 2 late 2018, violated the law by not appointing a judge within a required time frame, misused state funds for partisan online ads and mailers and improperly used his veto authority to "attack the judiciary." Dunleavy said campaigners want to remove him Contracts, goals from office to keep him from implementing his agenda. The recall organizers gathered 46,405 valid signa - tures over five weeks to apply for the recall. But the campaign must start over with a new signature drive on Board agenda to put the recall on the ballot. The campaign has established 44 different locations statewide to gather signatures. Campaign kickoff events are scheduled for the up - School Board also will consider coming weekend in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau. The effort will also include roving signature gather - adopting new grad requirements ers, campaign manager Claire Pywell said. "We want it to be easy, so when someone's leaving By SAM STOCKBRIDGE ered in January. the house, right, or they're taking the kids to gymnas - Daily News Staff Writer The originally proposed require - tics or they're going to the grocery store later, they can The Ketchikan School Board will con - ments included a contentious recom - just go to the website and look up where they can reli - sider adopting a set of new graduation mendation: requiring one semester of ably find a signature gatherer, and go and get it done," requirements at its regular meeting on American government to graduate in - Pywell said. Wednesday. It also is set to approve 15 stead of the two prescribed by the cur - Recall organizers have said they want to hold the administrator contracts for the 2020- rent requirements, though the total election as soon as possible. 2021 school year. number of social studies classes needed The petition must be submitted before April 20 to Graduation requirements to graduate would not decrease. guarantee a special election before the Aug. 18 primary. The School Board could approve re - The administrative team that recom - The effort could be halted if the Alaska Supreme visions to the Ketchikan School Dis - mended the changes explained that it Court overrules a Superior Court decision allowing the trict's graduation requirements for high hoped to give students flexibility to petition to move forward. Arguments in the case are school students at its regularly sched - choose which classes they wanted to scheduled for March 25. uled meeting. The revisions up for con - take. But several parents and commu - Grounds for recall in Alaska are lack of fitness, in - sideration were debuted at the board's nity members criticized the reduction An American flag catches no wind Feb. 17 near the Westflight docking facility. c o m p e t e n c e , n e g l e c t o f d u t i e s o r c o r r u p t io n . T h e r e c a ll Feb. 12 meeting, and are a modified at board meetings after the recommen - group is not alleging corruption. form of proposed graduation require - dations were announced. Staff photo by Dustin Safranek ment changes that the board consid - See ‘School Board,’ page 3 As world scrambles, experts warn virus spread in US certain

By ADAM GELLER and KIM TONG-HYUNG severe illness," Dr. Nancy Messonnier of the U.S. Centers Associated Press for Disease Control and Prevention said in a call with re - NEW YORK — U.S. health officials warned Tuesday that porters. Report: New virus could the burgeoning coronavirus is certain to spread more widely The CDC's call for Americans to be prepared added new in the country at some point, even as their counterparts in urgency to response efforts that, until this week, focused on hurt Hawaii's tourism Europe and Asia scrambled to contain new outbreaks of the a disease largely confined to China, where it apparently illness. originated, and neighboring countries. HONOLULU (AP) — A research report has predicted "It's not so much a question of if this will happen any - In other developments Tuesday: Hawaii may be hit by the economic fallout of a new virus, Ketchikan Daily News - 02/26/2020more, but rather moCopyre a que stReducedion of exactly w tohen 54%this wil l from• N eoriginalw clusters of tothe ifitllne sletters popped pageup far from China, negatively affecting the tourism industry. happen — and how many people in this country will have causing increased concerns for officials in some of the The University of Hawaii Economic Research Organi - wealthiest nations in Europe and Asia, as well as in coun - In this Feb. 20 file photo, people wear masks as zation said the spread of COVID-19 could undermine pre - tries with far fewer resources. But many remained uncertain vious predictions that 2020 would be a better year for they commute during the morning rush hour in about how best to contain it. See ‘Hawaii,’ page 2 Chuo district in Tokyo. AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato See ‘Coronavirus,’ page 3 Budget cuts left AMHS with only one operating mainline ferry While presidential candidates and lawmak - ers in Washington decry the wobbly state of ‘The ferry is an important enough lever that it has Then the Matanuska broke down America's infrastructure and pitch multibil - By IAN DUNCAN When they finally arrived, Milos, her hus - lion-dollar plans to fix it, the collapse of pushed us from economic growth into economic decline.’ The Washington Post band and their cat, Squeaks, were only 70 Alaska's ferry system this winter dramatically The change in the noise coming from the miles from home in Haines, a small commu - illustrates how years of problems and a final — Clay Coplin, Cordova mayor Matanuska's engines was a clue something nity up the from Juneau. But they blow in the form of a slashed budget caused a was wrong with the ferry. A peek out the win - were effectively stranded. vital transportation link to fail altogether. for a week with their 1988 Nissan Pathfinder. stretches into the northern Pacific, covering dow was confirmation. A 30% budget cut imposed on the ferry sys - When a road is riddled with potholes or a Finally, the weather improved enough for her some 3,500 miles in all. In the last budget year "We were creeping along," said Adrianne tem last year and unforeseen maintenance rickety bridge has to be closed, there's likely to fly home, while the SUV made its way on a it carried about 250,000 passengers and Milos, one of the passengers making what problems meant the Matanuska was the only to be another way around. That's not the case barge. 100,000 vehicles. should have been a three-day trip from mainline ferry operating on the Alaska Marine with Alaska's ferries, which serve three dozen People in remote Alaskan settlements say "We got so used to having it over the last 50- Bellingham, Washington, home to Alaska in Highway System. Now it was broken down, communities, many of which aren't connected it's hard for outsiders to grasp how important some years," said Milos, a retiree who initially late January. presenting more than an inconvenience to to the rest of the continent by roads at all. the AMHS is to them. The ferry network dates moved to Haines to take a job working on the The crew came on loudspeakers and an - Milos and fellow passengers: Communities al - In Juneau, Milos and her husband packed back to the earliest years of statehood in the ferries. "It is our highway." nounced they'd be bringing the ship into ready reeling from service cuts faced a month up their cat in a catamaran arranged by the 1960s. It serves the islands in the southeastern It's used to get groceries to stores, send Juneau at half speed. with next to no ferries at all. ferry service and took up residence on board part of the state and the Aleutian chain that See ‘AMHS,’ page 5

Ketchikan, Alaska SPORTS • WORLD • ALASKA • NATION Today’s Trivia: Which Kayhi students were honored ©2020 Page 14 : Kayhi DDF seniors recall time with program VOL. 92 NO. 47 at Senior Night on Saturday? (USPS 293-940) www.ketchikandailynews.com Answer, Page 2

Copyright (c)2020 Ketchikan Daily News, Edition 02/26/2020 February 26, 2020 9:43 am (GMT +9:00) Powered by TECNAVIA Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020 KETCHIKAN DAILY NEWS NATION 5 Calif. wildfire victims fear they'll be last in payout SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A $13.5 bil- that could make it more difficult for Cal- cases, still grieving loved ones who per- "I want you to know that many of us lion settlement between victims of Cali- ifornia Gov. Gavin Newsom to follow ished during the worst wildfires in mod- understand what is happening and that fornia's catastrophic wildfires and the through on threats of a government- ern U.S. history. we will move heaven and earth to stop utility blamed for causing them was sup- backed takeover if PG&E doesn't make Montali, who also presided over it," vowed Lisa Williams, 59, another posed to bring some peace and hope to reforms. PG&E's previous bankruptcy from survivor of the 2018 Camp Fire, in a people still reeling from the devastation. A government takeover would likely 2001-2004, has never left any doubt that Feb. 6 letter. Williams, who now lives in Instead, the deal has sparked confu- cause the company's stock to drop, fur- compensating the wildfire victims is his Las Vegas, started a wildfire victims sion, resentment, suspicion and despair ther diminishing the value of the vic- top priority in the new case, which group on Facebook opposing the cur- as the victims, government agencies, and tims' settlement. began in January 2019. Claimants have rent deal. lawyers grapple for their piece of the pie. "They are turning the victims into since filed more than $50 billion in Compounding frustration over the More than 81,000 have filed claims to human shields," Sweet said. "You only wildfire claims, which the utility has plan to pay them in stock, PG&E agreed the settlement fund, setting the stage for go into bankruptcy because there isn't proposed settling for a total of $25.5 bil- to an all-cash settlement of $11 billion a potential scrum as Pacific Gas & Elec- enough to go around for everyone." lion, which includes reimbursement for to reimburse about 110 insurers for tric scrambles to emerge from one of the Barker, who lost her Paradise home, insurers and other things. losses paid out to policyholders. most complex bankruptcy cases in U.S. is among dozens making passionate Attorneys representing the victims "Not only do we have to wait to get history by June 30. pleas to Montali asking him to rework a concede the settlement isn't perfect, but paid but we'd have to depend on the "How is it in any way fair that the ac- deal he approved in December. More they say it's the best deal possible under company's recovery," said Meek, who tual victims of this fire, or any of the than 1,600 wildfire victims signed an the circumstances. said he has moved many times since los- fires, are put at the very, very bottom of online petition calling the settlement Still, there is a growing sentiment ing his house, and is nowhere close to the priority list," wrote Michelle Barker, unfair. among victims that they're getting such rebuilding on his property. "If a fire 54, in a recent letter to U.S Bankruptcy In this Tuesday photo, Jason Meek, whose house was destroyed in PG&E "is building off of our losses in a raw deal they should reject it, even if comes again, what will happen to the Judge Dennis Montali, who is oversee- 2017, stands in the driveway and looks out at the charred remains a sense," said Jason Meek, 48, whose that means waiting longer to be paid. stock price?" ing the settlement. Barker lost her home of his home in Santa Rosa, Calif. AP Photo/Eric Risberg Northern California wine country home to the 2018 fire that wiped out Paradise, was destroyed in 2017. "It's important California. wildfires. Health chain Adventist Health tlement, or $6.75 billion, would be paid in my view that this settlement is done The tensions may boil over during a with thought and care." Ketchikan Daily News - 02/26/2020is also seekingCopy Reduced at least $1 to billion 81% forfromin original stock from to fit PG&E, letter the page company re- hearing Wednesday focusing on losses from its heavily damaged hospital sponsible for ruining their lives. The possibility of government agen- whether federal and state agencies are in Paradise, and lawyers could try to take The stock payment may prove a cies tapping the fund has outraged peo- entitled to tap the fund to recoup any of up to a third. clever strategy, said San Francisco bank- ple still looking for new places to live February 11th to February 29th the $4 billion they doled out after the Victims are also upset that half the set- ruptcy attorney Michael Sweet, because after losing their homes and, in some ALL Custom Framing AMHS Continued from page 1 salmon to market, dispatch school isn't scheduled to arrive until after the Also 25%25% OFF All Ready-Made OFF Frames and Photo Frames groups to basketball tournaments, take season begins, meaning workers and pregnant women to the hospital and their equipment will struggle to get Full Service Frame Shop bring their newborn babies home again. there in time. Transportation officials The mayor of one coastal town de- said they're working on getting a ship no job is too small or too large scribed how a woman had to convince out there in April. We offer Corporate Design & Framing her doctors to induce labor so her baby "The ferry is an important enough Design and hang your existing art or update with a new mat or frame would be born in time for her to get lever that it has pushed us from eco- COME TO THE EXPERTS SINCE 1972 home before the ferry service halted for nomic growth into economic decline," Follow us on Facebook & Twitter for events and sales the winter. Koplin said. "We can already see that." 318 Mission Street - 247-4730 - Hours Tues-Sat 10-5 - www.scanlongallery.com Lawmakers, officials and residents The governor ordered consultants to agree that the system's problems have produce a study presenting options for been slowly mounting for years. The reducing the ferries' cost to taxpayers ferries' steel hulls are pitched in a con- and ensuring their future. Even support- stant battle against rust-causing salt ers of the system complain about water, making for hefty maintenance chronic mismanagement. bills. The Matanuska (named for the "The system does require a lot of Matanuska Glacier) and its sister ship money because it has been managed are 57 years old, which drives up costs. into that situation where it's the busi- The current crisis began last Febru- ness model, you throw more money at ary, when Alaska's new Republican gov- The Alaska Marine Highway System ferry Matanuska travels south it to keep it running," Koplin said. ernor, Mike Dunleavy, introduced a to Bellingham, Wash. on Dec. 2 near Mountain Point. In recent years, two new ships were budget that slashed state services across Staff photo by Dustin Safranek built at a cost of about $100 million. Be- the board. Among them was a proposal cause they weren't equipped with crew to cut nearly $100 million from the ferry "We expected it to be taking care of Thompson thinks he could eventually quarters, they can't be used on longer network's $140 million operating most of the slack and it broke down," reestablish a steady supply chain, but routes. budget. The ferry system was just one said MacKinnon, who was appointed by without the ferries, he wonders Two high-speed ferries made of alu- target of Dunleavy's cost-cutting, which Dunleavy. "It's the brand-new equip- whether people will just drift away minum launched 15 years ago proved also took aim at the state university sys- ment that failed." from the village. unsuitable for Alaska's punishing seas, tem. His administration said the moves This winter, towns and villages across "What will be fatal to the business is said MacKinnon, the state transporta- were necessary in the face of declining the state have been dealing with the if we start loosing massive amounts of tion commissioner. The state is now try- oil revenue. consequences, figuring out alternatives population," he said. ing to sell them. Lawmakers, who say the proposed to life without the ferry. There are pri- One family in another town has al- "This system has been changing cut to the ferry system would have led vate barge services and small planes, ready decided to leave. course every few years," MacKinnon to it shutting down entirely by last Oc- but both are expensive, and bad winter Amanda Wiese had been thinking said. tober, pushed back, reducing the ferry weather often leaves aircraft grounded. about moving her family from her He said the proposed budget was in- budget cut to $43 million. Nevertheless, The governor himself recently had to hometown of Cordova, a fishing com- tended as the beginning of a process the state Department of Transportation cancel a town hall in a community munity across the that would lead the ferry system to a still had to reduce service dramatically, served by the ferry because the weather from Anchorage, to a nearby commu- more sustainable future. leaving some communities with no fer- was too bad to fly, prompting jibes on nity that's on the road system. Dun- "The cut that was imposed was sup- ries through the winter, under a sched- Twitter. leavy announcing his budget last year posed to start a conversation," he said. ule it described in a news release as Shayne Thompson and his wife run sealed it, she said. The study Dunleavy ordered was re- "fiscally constrained." the Angoon Trading Co., a small store So Wiese and her husband put their leased last month and found ending Juneau and the communities that dot in a village of about 500 people nestled home on the market, were lucky to see public support for the ferries altogether the waterfront on the islands reaching against the water on Admiralty Island. it prompt a bidding war, and slowly would be both impractical and deeply along the Canadian border toward He's been running out of fresh milk, moved. unpopular. Now a committee will study Washington would still be served by fruit and vegetables. The process was more difficult with- its alternative recommendations, while Adopt A Pet Matanuska — until it broke down. The Someone posted pictures of the out ferries. Normally, Wiese said, they lawmakers work to restore operating ship isn't expected to be fixed until April store's bare shelves and coolers to Face- would have used the system to trans- funds for the coming year. at the earliest. Of the 12 vessels in the book, and the images were soon shared port their belongings. Instead, their One overhaul proposal is to turn over system's fleet, only the smallest is still among residents feeling the effects of truck and car were shipped on a private management of the system to a public running, providing short-distance shut- the ferry disruption. Images from an- service, her husband flew back and they corporation, an idea supporters say tle service. other store showed blackened bananas chartered a friend's fishing boat to com- could ensure long-term planning is pri- John MacKinnon, Alaska's trans- and more empty shelves. plete the journey this weekend. oritized. portation commissioner, acknowledged Thompson experimented with bring- "It's been this long process," Wiese Milos, the formerly stranded passen- that the budget cut left longer gaps in ing in goods by air, but that didn't work said. ger, said that kind of approach could winter service than his department out, so he's been using private boats. Cordova Mayor Clay Koplin said the work. would have liked and led to some ships "We get a landing craft or a barge in cuts to the ferry service almost immedi- "Get it out of the politicians' control," being taken offline altogether. But the and we're all stocked up for about two ately became a drag on the economy of she said. "Get some people in there that Matanuska had just gotten new engines to three weeks, and then toward the end his otherwise prospering fishing town. have some entrepreneurial experience installed, so officials thought it could be of the third week things are starting to Salmon from the annual catch can fetch and make these decisions to keep it relied on. look a little bit shy," Thompson said. nearly $75 per pound, but the next ferry afloat, not to keep a politician afloat." 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