tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1876793553666443582024-03-12T22:17:35.772-07:00The Palmer PostLocal news blog based in Palmer, Alaska.The Palmer Posthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249479869694993133noreply@blogger.comBlogger68125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-187679355366644358.post-75396805082613243082013-01-16T12:32:00.000-08:002013-01-16T12:32:00.118-08:00Cash mob coming to a business near you!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuoirmSeo9-sNBfw8PYm_8fhBTkNPJVQfz9ur2t7kbqA4wm4kYoqClmAiEiWlVYi3uE12ESl-s0XcrmwdxRqbZjQIobKlT8jmSCQyQ494xg9SxpkaJJag08QQ39HYNT1evpVZbrmHn1s0/s1600/angry-mob.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuoirmSeo9-sNBfw8PYm_8fhBTkNPJVQfz9ur2t7kbqA4wm4kYoqClmAiEiWlVYi3uE12ESl-s0XcrmwdxRqbZjQIobKlT8jmSCQyQ494xg9SxpkaJJag08QQ39HYNT1evpVZbrmHn1s0/s200/angry-mob.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No, not THAT kind of mob ...<br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-ONHtRuVFrEoRdNSOKJ_sUb77Sc-5H-AAHQhz6NaF2QaV7T086joPlbRvP5pRY1thLT85z14urAHeKhzCPXiEB9cVUlZjZlpgWaPUJw87Vg0-YcLlBxmxS-xhsSGC0VpxW7zjGWTBxR4/s1600/cash+mob+palmer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-ONHtRuVFrEoRdNSOKJ_sUb77Sc-5H-AAHQhz6NaF2QaV7T086joPlbRvP5pRY1thLT85z14urAHeKhzCPXiEB9cVUlZjZlpgWaPUJw87Vg0-YcLlBxmxS-xhsSGC0VpxW7zjGWTBxR4/s200/cash+mob+palmer.jpg" width="170" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">THIS kind of mob!<br /><div style="text-align: left;">
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A mob will descend on Palmer Bar Thursday at 6:30 p.m. It's OK. The mob will be holding $20 bills. It's very business-friendly. </div>
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Most people are familiar with flash mobs - the sudden and seemingly unscripted appearance of large groups of singers or dancers as coordinated by smart phone. </div>
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Well, tomorrow night marks Palmer's first cash mob, an idea dreamed up by local business owners Denise Statz (NonEssentials) and Teresa Roy (Cover Ups). Roy says the mob encourages people to "shop local, eat local, drink and meet local." Find them on Facebook at cash mob Palmer AK. Everybody is encouraged to bring a $20 and meet one new person. Future mobs are planned. </div>
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The Palmer Posthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249479869694993133noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-187679355366644358.post-4487507676135005442013-01-14T10:34:00.001-08:002013-01-14T10:34:19.493-08:00Putting the Post on a temporary hold<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjy6tGVxFMi-0XrUA1pGAV9N1yWSDKhKcBYgKxnfF8u5MXO7IxtlsMvJYwhtBZl_ikFkbguI6cZPIRDa3dcaFyifkrrecVoB3hBjxGAGEK0qC1ScFm9xYhsF8gRbysDYReeJpUFm8Z7BM/s1600/Post+hiatus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjy6tGVxFMi-0XrUA1pGAV9N1yWSDKhKcBYgKxnfF8u5MXO7IxtlsMvJYwhtBZl_ikFkbguI6cZPIRDa3dcaFyifkrrecVoB3hBjxGAGEK0qC1ScFm9xYhsF8gRbysDYReeJpUFm8Z7BM/s400/Post+hiatus.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
As some of you few but loyal followers may have noticed, the Post has been mighty quiet these past weeks. Well. We've been pondering our future. And, sad to say, we've decided to put the Post on hiatus.<br />
<br />
Our lives are currently too busy to spend the kind of time necessary to making this blog as informative and lively as we'd hoped. We founded the Post as a way to make use of our journalistic talents and fill a gap in local news coverage. But we're finding we end up posting whatever story we have the time for in a given week. That's not journalism, and our community deserves better.<br />
<br />
Rindi and Melodie are moving on to other things. Zaz will carry on; send any communications her way at palmerpostnews@gmail.com. We'll try to update as often as we can but you won't be seeing weekly Wednesday updates. Check back regularly - you never know what might appear!<br />
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-- Rindi, Melodie and ZazThe Palmer Posthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249479869694993133noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-187679355366644358.post-20545224355011662002012-12-19T09:12:00.003-08:002012-12-19T09:12:49.969-08:00Council vs Mayor: City hall infighting goes public<div style="text-align: left;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNPHi2AR8fWp3tFDeN3d7XKle00bKlFVtxsSEuAgFAA2BQVQuqkNiWbSu_GWTmxct7n3eQuzz-G6RfSOOuD9KtrohCxU7sHJyEen7A0tfZMQk5jfNZpeUgu8ZlctILpLsK-1gDbuzbuwQ/s1600/city+hall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNPHi2AR8fWp3tFDeN3d7XKle00bKlFVtxsSEuAgFAA2BQVQuqkNiWbSu_GWTmxct7n3eQuzz-G6RfSOOuD9KtrohCxU7sHJyEen7A0tfZMQk5jfNZpeUgu8ZlctILpLsK-1gDbuzbuwQ/s320/city+hall.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The City of Palmer passed the 2013 budget.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The $14-plus million budget includes a new 80/20 health insurance split for employees who until now got free coverage. The admittedly sweet deal on health insurance made up for lower wages and helped the city retain staff. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">But instead of employee retention, the staffing issue that dominated conversation at last week’s budget meeting was Mayor DeLena Johnson’s assistant.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Make that former assistant.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">After an hour of sometimes bitter discussion, the council voted to ax Johnson’s part-time assistant on partisan lines. Yes, the Palmer City Council is a nonpartisan entity. But on this body, and most like it, certain issues reveal political divides. And there is an election coming up in the fall. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Johnson said the position meant that, for the first time, someone answered the phone on behalf of the mayor. The mayor said the position wasn’t about improving communication between her office and the council as much as it was about adding an element of professionalism to her efforts as the city’s lobbyist in Juneau. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The largely self-described conservatives on the council - Edna DeVries, Kathrine Vanover, Linda Combs, Richard Best - voted to ax the assistant. Best raised the motion; he opposed the position last year. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">“This is not about personalities,” Best said during the Dec. 11 meeting. He went on to describe the assistant as “an experiment last year to give the mayor an assistant to improve communication with the council. I think communication over the past year has gotten worse.”</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">That thought - the anti-assistant sentiment wasn’t personal, the degraded level of communication between mayor and council - was echoed by the four councilors. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Several also questioned the city attorney on the legal merits of the position. City code dictates the mayor “shall not direct the appointment or removal of any administration officer or employee of the city.” The attorney at one point said the assistant, who technically falls under the supervision of the city clerk, didn’t violate those provisions. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The opposing members remained unconvinced.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“Communication between the mayor’s office and this council has disintegrated,” Vanover said. “I’m not blaming that on the mayor. It is just a fact and it bothers me. I hate, and I will say this in public, infighting.” </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">She went on to point out that city employes are being asked to give up their generous health insurance deal. “What have we as a council given up?” she asked. “This is our give-up. Not because the mayor doesn’t deserve it because that’s not true but we all have to contribute.”</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Johnson was not pleased.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">“I have watched this council, probably two or three people, spend a lot of time on managing the mayor’s office,” she said. “There’s probably a lot more interest in managing the mayor’s office than managing the manager. I see this as a good position doing good things ... I never asked for an assistant. I asked for assistance.”</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Deputy mayor Brad Hanson scolded his fellow councilors. He said the creation of the mayor’s assistant wasn’t just to improve communication but “fulfill other inadequacies within the city.”</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">“It appears to me it’s more political than it is professional,” Hanson said. “I hope we can put some ill feelings, some unproductive activities, some undermining of one another to bed so we can deal with issues that are far more pressing.” </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">-- Zaz Hollander</span></div>
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</span>The Palmer Posthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249479869694993133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-187679355366644358.post-53954697262554430322012-12-12T23:25:00.001-08:002012-12-13T22:53:49.077-08:00Wind didn't freeze the Christmas spirit <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJnNLxONPeAEFNOyCL_R3bnAKUqJ1NdTwZ6fF7hqM1AOadau-YYfGSYT9fxbF-VLNTf5IM0Xx9abFiz8Ua0lK1-njt3df5PYa0NarBWyeyRorTwv0mZdfN5EIErRPxJyNdGcUcNQWjTB0/s1600/image.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJnNLxONPeAEFNOyCL_R3bnAKUqJ1NdTwZ6fF7hqM1AOadau-YYfGSYT9fxbF-VLNTf5IM0Xx9abFiz8Ua0lK1-njt3df5PYa0NarBWyeyRorTwv0mZdfN5EIErRPxJyNdGcUcNQWjTB0/s320/image.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Kristy Thom-Bernier<br />
A worker from the Williams Reindeer Farm<br />
minded one of the festively festooned deer <br />
on display at Colony Christmas Saturday.</td></tr>
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UPDATE: A new fireworks date is pending. Check back after the weekend for more details.<br />
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Colony Christmas was full of good cheer despite the blustery
wind that killed the fireworks display (more on that in a minute) and drove
people to the attractions indoors. Holiday warmth, fun events and good sales or
attractions at downtown businesses made up for the bitter weather. </div>
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The temps even seemed to warm a little during the 5 p.m.
parade – or perhaps that was a sugar-fueled warmth from the holiday treats
handed out. But the breeze didn’t calm enough for the fireworks to be lit. The
good news is, the fireworks display will be held soon. Chamber officials are
meeting tomorrow morning to discuss when to hold the postponed show. We’ll
update this post when we know the details.<br />
<br />
-- Rindi White</div>
<!--EndFragment-->The Palmer Posthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249479869694993133noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-187679355366644358.post-30776251107370432462012-11-28T10:00:00.001-08:002012-11-28T11:43:25.673-08:00High pressure system steals winter from snow lovers<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX5Q3PFRmOMCaM3l1gy4_ExTeWzVdUzq2fAk4tnXHRyFyvnLazuMbr9GFSV_lJSVzhnAUF18Pn6-_7fNg9uQPAsx7MusdnJGuUVy3U_GJeq5tyhdJPSnsc2sapyFA4L6cm-Jjaogmcyqg/s1600/strabel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX5Q3PFRmOMCaM3l1gy4_ExTeWzVdUzq2fAk4tnXHRyFyvnLazuMbr9GFSV_lJSVzhnAUF18Pn6-_7fNg9uQPAsx7MusdnJGuUVy3U_GJeq5tyhdJPSnsc2sapyFA4L6cm-Jjaogmcyqg/s320/strabel.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Zaz Hollander<br />
The sort-of snowy road to Mountain Streams B & B </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Got snow? Nope. In fact, we've got so little snow that snowplow drivers are sitting idle, snowmachines are sitting in the garage and homeowners are sweating the specter of frozen pipes brought on by low snow insulation. Even a big gala opening for the Mat-Su Borough's new Nordic Center at Government Peak is on temporary hold - no snow, no nordic skiing. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">What gives, Mother Nature? </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Two simple words, meteorologist Dan Peterson responds when asked: High pressure. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">"It always blocks out the lows. All the way through Tuesday," Peterson says. He's polite but sounds like he's tolerating these questions until he can get back to his real job as a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Anchorage. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">How many times can you tell somebody why it's not snowing? It's weather. It happens. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But I get excited. He said through Tuesday! Does that mean we're getting snow on Tuesday?? </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Calm down, kid. Peterson says that's just the extent the National Weather Service forecasts into the future. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">OK, so this year feels pretty unusual. When was the last year we had so little snow this far into what Alaskans consider winter? </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Peterson thinks on that for a minute. He goes to the data. 1995. There was less than an inch of snow on the ground at this time of year. That's at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, where the Weather Service measures such things. This year, there's 2 inches at the airport.</span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">"It's not even close," he says.</span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It's also not enough for plow trucks to get to work, snowmachiners to get to play or pipes to get cozied up in a layer of white. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And what kind of winter postpones the inaugural"Skiapaloosa"? That's the Government Peak Nordic Center Ribbon Cutting Ceremony, featuring a Skate Clinic, races, Moonlight Ski Tour and Junior Nordic Social. Watch the Mat-Su Ski Club Web site <a href="http://www.matsuski.org/"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px color: #000099; text-decoration: underline;">http://www.matsuski.org</span></a> for more information. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Meanwhile, you can check Government Peak snow levels - or lack thereof - via the new weather station at Mountain Streams B & B, the lodge owned by Hatcher Pass nordic ski patriarch Ed Strabel and his wife, Glynn, at the base of Government Peak and just down the road from the new center. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Times; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Here's a link: <a href="http://i.wund.com/auto/iphone/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KAKPALME26"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">http://i.wund.com/auto/iphone/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KAKPALME26</span></a></span></div>
</div>
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</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
-- Zaz Hollander</div>
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The Palmer Posthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249479869694993133noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-187679355366644358.post-75208298089213415562012-11-22T00:22:00.000-08:002012-11-22T00:22:06.586-08:00Mat-Su delegation holds key positions in Legislature
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://67.39.100.124/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Alaska.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://67.39.100.124/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Alaska.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo from <a href="http://67.39.100.124/wordpress/" target="_blank">LobbyComply</a>, a blog of <br />State and Federal Communications Inc.<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The dust has settled and, with the makeup of the Alaska
House and Senate finalized, it looks like Mat-Su is in a fairly good position. </div>
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Sen. Charlie Huggins, R-Wasilla, is the Senate President; a
job former SPs have said means doing a lot of handholding. But the Senate
President also steers the action in the Senate and appoints members to
committees, such as the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee, which
ultimately hammers out the state budget.</div>
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In a press availability following the announcement of new leadership
positions, Huggins said he plans to focus on cutting state spending, increasing
oil production (likely by working with Gov. Sean Parnell on his plan to cut oil
taxes) and bring affordable energy to the state’s users. </div>
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Newly elected Sen. Mike Dunleavy chairs the Labor and
Commerce Committee in the Senate. Dunleavy is also a member of the TAPS
Throughput Decline Committee and is a member of the powerful Senate Finance
Committee. </div>
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Mat-Su was also favored in the House. Rep. Bill Stoltze, a
Republican who represents Chugiak and Butte, as well as a few other parts of
Mat-Su, remains co-chair of the House Finance Committee, along with Republican
Rep. Alan Austerman of Kodiak. Rep. Mark Neuman, R-Big Lake, is a member of
that committee. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Also in the house, Rep. Wes Keller, R-Wasilla, chairs the
Judiciary Committee, Rep. Eric Feige, R-Chickaloon, co-chairs the House
Resources Committee with Rep. Dan Saddler, R-JBER/Eagle River and Rep. Lynn
Gattis, R-Wasilla, chairs the House Education Committee. Rep. Shelley Hughes,
R-Palmer, was chosen as chair of the Economic Development, Trade and Tourism
Special Committee in the House. </div>
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In case our readers have forgotten, Feige, a pilot and
bed-and-breakfast operator, is married to Corri Feige, the former spokeswoman
for Evergreen Resources, a company that wanted to drill for shallow natural gas
in Mat-Su. She has since been project manager for a few other resource-based
companies. </div>
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Gattis was elected to the Mat-Su School Board in 2010. She
favors school vouchers, backs equal time in the classroom for creationism and
evolution and is open to the idea of regional schools for rural areas of the
state, according to a Zaz Hollander story in the Frontiersman about her
appointment to the Education Committee. Gattis said she plans to resign from the
School Board in order to serve in the Legislature. Her campaign manager, Erick
Cordero, is School Board vice-president. He’ll be heading to Juneau with Gattis
as a legislative aide but plans to stay on the school board. </div>
<!--EndFragment-->The Palmer Posthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249479869694993133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-187679355366644358.post-33759656115274803102012-11-14T08:24:00.000-08:002012-11-28T10:09:32.108-08:00Mat Maid purchase mooving slowly<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuVdlLGCigqbw9PZaBOib49CBA-iCsyOkbnsZFCMW63iDNoFdqUib_hyFQaFGujFyPBkX9ItxLKELyT2YNNVj7Z93VIHmOBsLaYP9PXJVB37Qog9rdA944CDgSo6-zxZmKtjUlkID_7bk/s1600/Photo1alaskana.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="157" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuVdlLGCigqbw9PZaBOib49CBA-iCsyOkbnsZFCMW63iDNoFdqUib_hyFQaFGujFyPBkX9ItxLKELyT2YNNVj7Z93VIHmOBsLaYP9PXJVB37Qog9rdA944CDgSo6-zxZmKtjUlkID_7bk/s320/Photo1alaskana.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Alaskana Bookstore<br />
Photos by Zaz Hollander<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><br /></span></span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Since 2008 or so, the City of Palmer has been trying to buy up the checkerboard of properties that make up the Matanuska Maid block. Voters two years ago very narrowly OK’d the city spending up to $3 million in a bond to buy the properties. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Where do things stand today?</span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Not too far along, given the pollutants in the ground at as-yet unknown levels. Oh, also the fires that consumed first one warehouse, then the other on the 9-acre site. And apparently too-low offers on six of seven parcels.</span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">As community development director Sandra Garley tells it, the city had appraisals done on all seven properties that make up the site. Seven property owners received offers. </span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Only one property - the circa-1935 building that houses the Alaskana Bookstore at 564 S. Denali St. - is in the purchase loop. The city executed an agreement there that allows officials onto the property to start doing environmental studies. Even that is just a $5,000 “binder” as Garley calls it, to get a local environmental engineer on site to look at contamination from past uses.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“One thing the council said very clearly when we started the process: ‘We want to know before we buy anything, what is the environmental liability?’” Garley said. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSVF3ZGF_kSVS20HL4lx5TTa1tTQCXDQKoRrnjkbMRAUlDNB9GYXN5rcUIiDgMCEkh9ZAI6bE2cfObBIs-3ux59hWjlL0x4CWp3F2r826mc7zHG2_e3MWM2vcFw3FztVyT4W3Sik6bVRA/s1600/Alaskanadog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSVF3ZGF_kSVS20HL4lx5TTa1tTQCXDQKoRrnjkbMRAUlDNB9GYXN5rcUIiDgMCEkh9ZAI6bE2cfObBIs-3ux59hWjlL0x4CWp3F2r826mc7zHG2_e3MWM2vcFw3FztVyT4W3Sik6bVRA/s200/Alaskanadog.jpg" width="200" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We’re not talking about manure here - no cows. But the original colony garage occupied the property, as did a powerhouse and two warehouses, both now lost to fire. That’s left pesticides and fertilizers, oils from the garage. Some, like oil and gas, tend to evaporate when exposed, Garley said. But chemicals in pesticides and fertilizers linger - it’s just not clear in what amount.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Anybody who buys contaminated property is liable to clean it up under U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations, though the original owner also remains liable. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The city got a $70,000 Brownfields grant from EPA. The agency uses the money to drill holes and sample for contamination. Before they enter any property, the city has to get permission, a la Alaskana Bookstore. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The agency will wait and do sampling on the properties as a group, rather than come up from Seattle to do each site, Garley said. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Meanwhile, city officials are still working on those six other parcels. The biggest and most expensive, at eight acres, is owned by the state Department of Natural Resources through the Agricultural Revolving Loan Fund. The city hopes to do a land swap, Garley said. That hasn’t happened yet. The powerhouse parcel is owned by the Palmer Arts Council. Jeff Johnson owns the parcel with mini-storage warehouses. Attorney Bill Ingaldson owns the warehouse property. </span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“We’re proceeding slowly which can be frustrating to the property owners but we’re being careful because it’s a huge expense to the city,” Garley said. “There’s an upside but there are some downsides too.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">She expects a report to the city council this month or next. </span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: 0.0px;">-- Zaz Hollander</span></div>
The Palmer Posthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249479869694993133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-187679355366644358.post-3402881993307187332012-11-07T23:23:00.000-08:002012-11-07T23:25:03.394-08:00Pair of juvenile reindeer escape for mini-migration<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPnswUdvrRz5Hy7uIqHpjmB4gYKgvGoTVTz75qiQlUYYtGvsWe9mU9d-eUGlEODUosQwvZyFInOu3KaCFrU767_BzxPr8XICOy9SoSBBrQndVKXFzjtL0HhVIKcZN6kHw_f_F9TYj-fy0/s1600/IMG_1520.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPnswUdvrRz5Hy7uIqHpjmB4gYKgvGoTVTz75qiQlUYYtGvsWe9mU9d-eUGlEODUosQwvZyFInOu3KaCFrU767_BzxPr8XICOy9SoSBBrQndVKXFzjtL0HhVIKcZN6kHw_f_F9TYj-fy0/s320/IMG_1520.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Rindi White<br />
A reindeer grazes at the Williams Reindeer<br />
Farm in October.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Caribou are on the move around Alaska and, this week, a pair
of domesticated reindeer that had been recently relocated to a home off Trunk
Road staged their own little mini-migration. </div>
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<br /></div>
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But these little deer weren’t looking for winter browse; the
pair of 6-month-old reindeer wanted to find their herd. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Williams Reindeer
Farm manager Denise Hardy (she’s a Williams by birth, a Hardy by marriage) said the pair were two of nine weaned reindeer sold to families in Fairbanks, Southcentral
and the Kenai Peninsula for 4Hers to raise and tame.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They are generally hauled to their new homes in August but another
project kept the young reindeer at the farm until this week. On Monday the
Trunk Road family took their pair of bucks home. On Tuesday they escaped. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So while many were awaiting election updates, Hardy and her
crew were driving through neighborhoods looking for the reindeer. She said the pair apparently got split up after making their escape. One made it all the way to
Sears on the Seward-Meridian Parkway before returning to his new family’s yard.
The other headed south to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center and the Parks Highway.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“We kept getting calls from people, that there’s a reindeer
running down the new Trunk Road, or there’s a reindeer near the hospital,”
Hardy said. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She said a Mat-Su Borough Animal Care and Regulation officer
successfully roped that deer and brought it safely back to its new family, but
not before the deer had crossed Parks Highway a few times. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hardy said she was amazed that the other reindeer made
it back to its new owner’s yard after its little trek to Sears. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“He hadn’t even been there 24 hours and he still managed to
get back there,” she said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“They are domesticated deer. They were born on our farm and
they’ve always been around other animals on the farm. We hoped that they would
find a farm and just hang out there,” she said. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Reindeer occasionally get out on the farm, Hardy said. But
being herd animals, they don’t venture far. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“They run around the fence and try to figure out how to get
back in. When these poor little guys were transported to a whole new area, they
were just trying to get back to their herd,” she said. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The pair of bucks made it back home safely – the one that
traveled to Sears was skittish but eventually boarded a trailer that Ernie, a
friendly 7-year-old neutered male reindeer from the younger bucks’ herd, was
in. Hardy had brought the elder deer along to help calm and lure the
juveniles – a strategy that paid off. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hardy said the pair are adjusting to their new home in the
trailer, with Ernie’s company for now. Soon they’ll be learning how to walk on
a halter with their new owners and, by next summer, will likely be trotting
around a show ring at the Alaska State Fair. Raising and showing reindeer is
becoming more popular, Hardy said. Four were at the fair this year; three from
the Williams farm and one from another reindeer farm. With nine being groomed
for the fair next year, chances are competition is going to be tough.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In related news, the Reindeer Farm held its second round of Halloween Fun events this year, with a hay bale maze, haunted barn, country hoe-down, pony rides, pumpkin patch and more. People from all over the area descended on the farm each Saturday in October for fall fun. Hardy said a Christmas celebration is planned as well, with hay rides, singing, tours of the reindeer herd and visits with Santa. It's scheduled for Dec. 21 through 24. For more information about the event, check out the farm's <a href="http://www.reindeerfarm.com/Pages/Events.aspx" target="_blank">events page</a>.<br />
<br />
-- Rindi White</div>
<!--EndFragment-->The Palmer Posthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249479869694993133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-187679355366644358.post-34699129655153185612012-10-31T14:07:00.001-07:002012-10-31T14:07:03.755-07:00Waste on council's plate this budget season<br />
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd82ssWuHSnLsejMR91SOoImRj6OIccKBsThty8RotbElRQxn-hh6yACmArog2NYEi1iudL9OD67EMSdxdhNvjdud1slxrdP_gbJ9M-ZrX30ngRlJWXoQmjwXUc45s2pP2ZlfWfji1CnQ/s1600/landfill_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd82ssWuHSnLsejMR91SOoImRj6OIccKBsThty8RotbElRQxn-hh6yACmArog2NYEi1iudL9OD67EMSdxdhNvjdud1slxrdP_gbJ9M-ZrX30ngRlJWXoQmjwXUc45s2pP2ZlfWfji1CnQ/s320/landfill_01.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Mat-Su Borough Landfill</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The biggest loser in the City of Palmer’s proposed budget involves solid waste instead of waistlines.<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">As reflected in the proposed budget presented in mid-October by city manager Doug Griffin, the Solid Waste fund reflects a deficit of $102,295 for 2013. Chalk it up to flat revenues and a "significant increase in tipping fees at the Borough Landfill in each of the last two years,” Griffin states. “This highlights a need for a review of solid waste rates to get this service back to at least a break-even enterprise operation.”</span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The manager otherwise anticipates small spending increases throughout the budget plus a nearly $200,000 general fund surplus, according to a written summary. An exception: The Fire Department budget increases more 15 percent, from $604,221 to $715,586, including a substantial compensation increase for volunteer fire fighters. The Greater Palmer Fire Service Association will pay half of the salary increase. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Animal Control expenditures will also increase significantly, from $4,000 to $16,000. The budget was increased to account for proposed increases in shelter fees that the Mat-Su Borough is planning, although the contract is not yet finalized, according to the budget summary. </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">A few slightly larger increases would bring the deputy clerk up to full time - an 8 percent increase from this year - and hire a part-time assistant for the airport manager. </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And in one of the most hotly discussed aspects of the budget, employee health insurance, Griffin suggests that employees now totally covered by the city move to an 80/20 plan “with relatively modest deductibles. If premiums increase 11 percent or less, employees will still not have to contribute, he said. </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In other waste-related news, the city council on Tuesday night approved spending $58,338 on a water/wastewater service rate study by consultant HDR. The city got a grant from the Legislature to fund a rate study. </span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Check out the manager's budget at <a href="http://cityofpalmer.org/vertical/Sites/%7BCEEE28AE-9003-4337-8BE2-A1961FF16E3D%7D/uploads/2013_Budget_for_web.pdf" target="_blank">the city's Web site, </a></span></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">-- Zaz Hollander</span></span></div>
The Palmer Posthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249479869694993133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-187679355366644358.post-51305450889268661332012-10-25T17:53:00.000-07:002012-10-25T17:53:08.428-07:00Big Cabbage collaboration<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxpzXfYjidtVWiN5fwS-7g-zW1eSw_NF8uxA5TT26w8Jw5Xsa22mTrHyn5eSWXIw54cICO21nIkOOFqhR22mffwroZjyG5vJNosCvb-0t5iSHRs8_cCqpppUJ0k5iBVrGAM7_TUfTB_Ys/s1600/cabbage.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxpzXfYjidtVWiN5fwS-7g-zW1eSw_NF8uxA5TT26w8Jw5Xsa22mTrHyn5eSWXIw54cICO21nIkOOFqhR22mffwroZjyG5vJNosCvb-0t5iSHRs8_cCqpppUJ0k5iBVrGAM7_TUfTB_Ys/s1600/cabbage.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bumper sticker courtesy Radio Free Palmer</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Election time is nearly here. Speaking of which, don't forget to vote Nov. 6 or check <a href="http://www.elections.alaska.gov/" target="_blank">here</a> for info on where to vote on election day or earlier. Now's the time to decide which state and national candidates to cast a vote for, and to mull whether a Constitutional Convention should be held and why the Department of Transportation wants permission to issue bonds for $453 million.<br />
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<br /></div>
<div>
Just in time for the election, Radio Free Palmer is debuting a new show, "Valley Edition." The show debuts at 5 p.m. Nov. 2 and will be rebroadcast at 8:30 a.m. Monday. If those times don't work, check the <a href="http://radiofreepalmer.org/" target="_blank">Big Cabbage website</a> to download it to hear at your leisure. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The show is styled on the popular KAKM "Anchorage Edition"show hosted by Alaska pundit Michael Carey, with topical discussion by journalists from Anchorage and Fairbanks. Radio Free Palmer member Mike Chmielewski will be moderating Valley Edition. On the hook for the first show are: Mark Kelsey, Frontiersman newspaper publisher; Terry Snyder, operator of <a href="http://citizenlobbyist.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Citizen Lobbyist</a>, a blog about local issues; and the Post's very own Zaz Hollander. While election coverage will certainly be discussed, Chmielewski said it might not be the sole issue of the day. </div>
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The best part is, Radio Free Palmer plans to broadcast the show weekly. So tune in Nov. 9 for post-election coverage and then keep tuning in to see what comes up!</div>
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<div>
-- Rindi White</div>
The Palmer Posthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249479869694993133noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-187679355366644358.post-22599292269947621512012-10-17T19:27:00.001-07:002012-10-17T19:27:52.798-07:00Salvation Army hopes to open 'Lunchbox' in Palmer<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeuh0BG94rpasc6fxh6l2M9xGEe_e6Tv8vgbVfRFPZq4FzP4DDQEtOHuJYny3uTG45olmVBC-LYmJZe3zZdAsdeHU-sacgpirK3EFFQDSlMP3BBIfrN4LAy4Os1NwpCcdZ6xJ2lkJLjWQ/s1600/lunchbox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeuh0BG94rpasc6fxh6l2M9xGEe_e6Tv8vgbVfRFPZq4FzP4DDQEtOHuJYny3uTG45olmVBC-LYmJZe3zZdAsdeHU-sacgpirK3EFFQDSlMP3BBIfrN4LAy4Os1NwpCcdZ6xJ2lkJLjWQ/s320/lunchbox.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">-- Photo courtesy The Children's Lunchbox</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; line-height: 22.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 20.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Bean’s Cafe started feeding the Mat-Su when its child feeding program,The Children’s Lunchbox, began serving meals here last December. Then things took off in April with a new kitchen in partnership with the Wasilla clubhouse of Boys & Girls Club - Alaska. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; line-height: 22.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 20.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Now the Salvation Army hopes a similar partnership will result in a similar meal program for children in Palmer. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; line-height: 22.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 20.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The Children’s Lunchbox operates under the umbrella of Bean’s Cafe, Anchorage’s long-established nonprofit that feeds adults. Founded in 1998, the Lunchbox program provides healthy meals for school-age children in a safe environment with a $500,000 annual budget. The program is expected to hand out about 200,000 meals this year in the form of breakfast, lunch and after-school meals, as well as weekend food delivered to students every Friday.</span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; line-height: 22.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 20.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">More than 100 of those meals are now going to children in the Valley, according to program director Lynette Ortolano. Several local organizations helped fund the Mat-Su expansion of The Children’s Lunchbox: Matanuska Electric Association; Bishop’s Attic II; and the Mat-Su Health Foundation. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; line-height: 22.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 20.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The Children’s Lunchbox provides meals to Denali Family Services and the Sutton Library. Willow schools asked for a weekend food program, Ortolano said. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; line-height: 22.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 20.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The Salvation Army in Palmer also hopes to start feeding students in partnership with The Children’s Lunchbox, said Mark Davey, who pastors at the Palmer center with his wife, Lisa. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; line-height: 22.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 20.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Like many students around Alaska, some children in Palmer get their only healthy meals - breakfast and lunch - at school. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; line-height: 22.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 20.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“There are some kids, once they’re done with school, they have no nutritional meal to eat for dinner,” Davey said. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; line-height: 22.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 20.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Improving nutrition means increased productivity in school as well as decreased obesity - after all, a bag of chips is cheaper than a bag of apples, as Davey notes. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; line-height: 22.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 20.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But there’s a challenge with the Salvation Army program, Ortolano said. The organization’s facility is too far from a school to qualify for reimbursement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture program that underpins partnerships with The Children’s Lunchbox. To get paid back for money spent, the Salvation Army and The Children’s Lunchbox will need to collect a stack of information - income data, among other things - before the Palmer program can qualify. </span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; line-height: 22.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 20.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It’s not ideal, Ortolano said, but "we're willing to go that route” if necessary.</span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; line-height: 22.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 20.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Ortolano, who lives in the Valley, said she knows there’s a need for help here. She points to estimates of 890 homeless teenagers with the Mat-Su Borough School District, “and that’s not the little kids at all. That combined with the school-lunch data ... there are a lot of families who are struggling to have access to decent food.”</span></div>
<div style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; line-height: 22.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 20.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">-- Zaz Hollander</span></div>
The Palmer Posthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249479869694993133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-187679355366644358.post-85395683261871846322012-10-10T16:13:00.001-07:002012-10-11T06:43:58.258-07:00Smoke 'em if you got 'em (until the new year)<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.allstatesign.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/w/-/w-ns203-lg.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.allstatesign.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/w/-/w-ns203-lg.gif" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Voters passed a smoking ban this month, with 60 percent of
voters in favor of the measure. So are smokers in local bars being asked to
stub it out?</div>
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<br /></div>
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Not quite yet, said city manager Doug Griffin. The measure
goes into effect in January. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Griffin said city leaders will meet with business owners in
the next month or so to answer questions and help them
understand what’s expected under the new rules. They’ll also be answering
questions about two other recently passed city ordinances – one changing
business license rules and one changing how the city sales tax is remitted.
More on those later. </div>
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The smoking ban doesn’t just focus on bars – it prohibits
smoking in any business where the public might have access. That’s the garage
of your favorite auto shop, the wash bay at the car wash, pretty much anywhere
that is not your personal vehicle or property, Griffin said. Standing on a
stoop outside the door doesn’t pass muster either; smokers have to be at least
20 feet away from entrances and also 20 feet away from playgrounds or outdoor
seating before they light up. The distance jumps to 50 feet outside health
clinics. Places where alcohol is served get a small break; smokers must only be
10 feet away from their doors.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Get caught smoking in the wrong spot and you could get stung
in the wallet – up to $100 for the first infraction and $300 if you get caught
three times in two years. What’s more, if someone spots a smoker in violation,
they can take it to court and get up to $300 from the wayward smoker. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Businesses are required to tell smokers to scram, and to
report violators if they don’t. Griffin said he wasn’t sure whether a business
could be held liable for people violating the smoking ban on their premises. If
a business had posted a “no smoking within 20 feet of the entrance” sign and
had done all it was required to do, then probably not, but he’d have to run
that question by the city attorney. He also said he’d check on whether the city
is going to require signs prohibiting smoking be posted – if so, city employees
may be making signs to hand out to businesses, he said. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Griffin said the measure is based on one in Juneau that has
weathered legal challenges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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The other two issues Griffin plans to meet with business
leaders about focus on recent changes to city business license and sales tax
collection rules. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In September, the council agreed to add a few options for
people doing business in the city. Business owners will be able to get two-year
licenses, just like the state of Alaska provides, or they can get a license for
a three-day event, such as Colony Days. The council also created a state fair
business license. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Fees for the new licenses haven’t been set – that’s
something the council will do when it considers the city budget next month. But
Griffin said he’s not recommending any changes. A yearly city business license
currently runs $25; he’ll suggest the biennial license be $50, he said. For the
shorter licenses, it’s a matter of finding a fair number. The three-day license
might be $10, he said.</div>
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“We’re trying to find a sweet spot here, of getting them in
(to buy a license),” he said. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Griffin said he’s also trying to make sure businesses are on
equal footing – a weekend operator shouldn’t get an advantage over a year-round
business. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Paired with the business license changes are new rules for
sales tax collection. Currently, any business operating in the city – including
vendors only working during the fair – have to submit monthly sales tax
reports. Forgetting a report could cost $20, even if no business has been
conducted. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The changes set up several tiers of duty for business
owners. Businesses doing between $100,000 and $250,000 in taxable sales will be
able to submit quarterly sales tax returns and sellers making fewer than
$100,000 in taxable sales can submit twice a year. State fair vendors can turn
in just one tax report, in October, and special event vendors can turn their
reports in the month after their event ends. Businesses doing more than
$250,000 in taxable sales will have to turn in monthly reports. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Griffin said the measure aims to streamline reporting and
make it easier for businesses and city employees. Processing $0 monthly reports
in December from a business owner who operated a booth at the fair ends up
being a “needless paper chase, wasting their time and ours,” he said.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Keep an eye on the Greater Palmer Chamber of Commerce schedule for a city presentation about the new rules. Their web site is <a href="http://www.palmerchamber.org/" target="_blank">here. </a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-- Rindi White</div>
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<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment-->The Palmer Posthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249479869694993133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-187679355366644358.post-53008809203590428382012-10-03T17:00:00.002-07:002012-10-03T17:00:16.236-07:00Local election coverage in ADN the big loser <br />
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I woke up this morning to check the news on unofficial election results for Palmer. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It wasn't easy.</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">City council incumbents Richard Best and Ken Erbey easily retained their seats against challenger Elden Tritch. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">A surprise, at least to me: the smoking ban in Palmer bars passed by a wide margin with roughly 60 percent of the 735 ballots tallied this week in favor. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Another surprise: the Anchorage Daily News, at least in the form of ADN.com, had nothing on the Palmer, Wasilla, Houston or boroughwide elections. Including the election of the mayor of the Mat-Su Borough. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">They did run a story on the Anchorage budget. Yet another homicide investigation. Both stories take time and resources. But there was also a “rare century-old Alaska $5 bill to be auctioned in Texas,” updated at 6:01 a.m. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I kept checking for at least a brief mention of Palmer and the Mat-Su. By noon, still nothing. Oh, except an AP story on Juneau, Sitka, North Pole and Fairbanks election results. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The Frontiersman’s Web site had election news leading the page, but they’ve recently switched to an online subscription model and I haven’t signed up. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Long rant short, I was hard-pressed to get local election results with any kind of analysis from my usual media sources this morning. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I got them at the Mat-Su Borough Web site, where results were immediately available, probably thanks to former journalist Patty Sullivan who is still invested in getting information to the public quickly, accurately and in a readily accessible form. I went to the City of Palmer Web site, where clerk Janette Bower posted a link to election results in the same manner: right there on the home page. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I know how hard everyone is working at the Daily News these days. The three Post founders met there, and we realize that the editorial staff has been gutted by layoffs and attrition. I still know many reporters and editors there. I respect them. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But it just takes a few minutes to post a paragraph summarizing election results and add a link to the actual information. Just a few minutes to let Mat-Su readers know the paper hasn't written us off entirely unless if we do something crazy, illegal or in the path of a natural disaster. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">By the way, I sent an e-mail to the news desk wondering about the omission. I still haven’t heard back. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Here’s a link to Palmer’s election results: http://cityofpalmer.org/vertical/Sites/%7BCEEE28AE-9003-4337-8BE2-A1961FF16E3D%7D/uploads/Unofficial_Election_Results.pdf</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">-- Zaz Hollander</span></div>
<div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
The Palmer Posthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249479869694993133noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-187679355366644358.post-27103999960304280542012-09-28T00:04:00.001-07:002012-09-28T00:04:33.873-07:00Academy Charter growing in leaps
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-OaUUmgehfJ0skpOxtS5PJyjvs826XYcHGRNWr5eLEs-6htYLEHchsWkhBw7gyiJbq0j7EWIWM4VW8ETHN5-bORQ6ASAh_xWuBsmmZyEC5jpCie4LdZVSLwDIZgW4aM0WhP1-gso5q7w/s1600/JOEY.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-OaUUmgehfJ0skpOxtS5PJyjvs826XYcHGRNWr5eLEs-6htYLEHchsWkhBw7gyiJbq0j7EWIWM4VW8ETHN5-bORQ6ASAh_xWuBsmmZyEC5jpCie4LdZVSLwDIZgW4aM0WhP1-gso5q7w/s640/JOEY.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo Courtesy Academy Charter School<br />Sixth-grade student Jolene Malone, center, helps pour concrete for her school's addition this summer. Her father, Don Malone, is on the right, in the orange safety vest.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
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A 10-classroom addition at Academy Charter School is on
track to be finished by the end of December. That’s great news for the school,
which has been operating out of portable buildings almost since it opened in
1996. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“December 30 is
the date on the contract for us to move in. We’ll have one week before school
starts up to move out of the portables,” said an excited Academy principal Barbara
Gerard. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<br /></div>
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Gerard said the contractor – Dowland Construction – poured the second-story floor and is finishing the roof. Then it’ll be time to paint and get the windows in before freeze-up. A paved parking lot and hook-up to city sewer services are also on the before-winter checklist. </div>
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The new building will house grades K-5 but it’s just one
step toward Academy’s final goal, to have a high school and playground at their
site. The school has $2 million from the state legislature for its next phase
of construction – 10 additional classrooms for grades 6-8 and rooms for art and
Spanish, as well as library space. The library and other classes are currently
housed in portables on the 3.77-acre school site. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Gerard said that project would likely be put out to bid this
fall and complete sometime next year. She’s hoping it will be ready for fall
2013 classes but it could be another end-of-year completion. Either way, Gerard
said she’d take it. </div>
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“Next Christmas would be wonderful,” she said. </div>
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Down the road, Gerard said the school plans to add grades
9-12 and a theater – perhaps one that the whole community can use, she said.
The school doesn’t have funding for those phases yet, she said. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
“That’s all in the future,” Gerard said.</div>
<!--EndFragment-->The Palmer Posthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249479869694993133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-187679355366644358.post-24534755358139701832012-09-19T14:05:00.002-07:002012-09-19T15:45:59.478-07:00City employees face health insurance hike<br />
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
The City of Palmer offers one of the state’s richest health-benefit packages in the state. And it’s busting the city’s budget.</div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Employee health benefits are so generous - the city’s 68 covered employees pay no premiums - that officials say they can’t afford to keep up the status quo.</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">With next year’s budget talks underway, Palmer administrators say the city needs to make the transition from the current health insurance plan to one that costs the city less - and employees more. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But employees say they take jobs here with the understanding that high benefits will balance out Palmer’s notoriously low pay rates. For example, a deputy city clerk at Palmer starts at $20.84 an hour; that position is currently staffed at 28 hours. The same position in Wasilla starts at $25.36. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The city council held a special meeting Tuesday night to discuss the health insurance issue, along with budget and capital project matters. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Council members expressed reluctance to make any health-insurance decisions until the budget and health-care cost picture gets more clear in the coming months. The city will approve a budget in December. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Council member Edna DeVries said she wanted the overall picture before making a decision on employee health benefits. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But DeVries - and several other council members - pledged not to ask Palmer taxpayers to shoulder the financial burden.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“I’m not going to raise sales taxes, I’m not going to raise the property tax rate, I’m not going to go into reserves no matter what the budget looks like,” DeVries said. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Health insurance cost the city $1.5 million this year, according to City Manager Doug Griffin. Costs are expected to rise 11 or 12 percent next year, an account executive from insurance carrier Alaska USA Insurance Brokers told the council Tuesday. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">At the meeting, Griffin unveiled his two leading employee health insurance proposals after employees panned a half-dozen options sent them in July. More than a dozen city employees came out to hear the discussion; none spoke. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Griffin proposed keeping the current plan, which offers a 90-10 co-pay split and low deductibles, but with employees paying 5 percent of the premiums. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">That option, however, probably won’t save the city any money, Griffin realized as the night went on. The 5 percent savings from employee contributions would be more than offset by the anticipated increase in health costs next year.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The other option he floated was one with an 80-20 split for co-pay and higher deductibles. That option could save the city about 11 percent, at least enough to offset the projected cost increases, officials calculated as the meeting continued. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Council member Richard Best voiced his support for the 90-10 plan as a transition to an 80-20 split in the future, as did council members Linda Combs and Ken Erbey. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Council member Brad Hanson agreed with DeVries on keeping the burden off individual taxpayer and waiting for more budget information. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“I know this is very very difficult situation for everybody but a 90-10 plan is something the city is not going to be able to afford long term,” Hanson said.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Mayor DeLena Johnson expressed her support for the 80-20 split and urged the council to think broadly about the insurance questions. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The council took no action Tuesday night on employee benefits. The next budget discussion is scheduled for Oct. 16. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">-- Zaz Hollander</span></div>
The Palmer Posthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249479869694993133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-187679355366644358.post-75687972515202391812012-09-12T13:10:00.001-07:002012-09-12T13:11:24.397-07:00Help wanted: Palmer dismisses finance director<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The City of Palmer is once again headed into budget season without a finance director.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The city hired Brant Mursch as finance director in October 2011. Last month, Mursch was out. The city is now seeking its third finance director in the last two years. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">City manager Doug Griffin would only say that the decision to remove Mursch involved a “personnel issue that I’m really not at liberty to talk about to any great degree.” </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Mayor DeLena Johnson hadn’t talked with Griffin at length about what happened, she said. She was out of town at the time. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“I’ve been assured there’s no concern regarding the finances,” Johnson said. “That’s one thing I’ve been told, one thing I asked for reassurance on.”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The city made it through budget-setting last year with an acting finance director, Gina Davis. She’ll be back in that position this year, the mayor said. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Davis may not be overjoyed to be there again, deputy mayor Richard Best said. “She knows what it took to pretty much do it on her own last year.”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Best said he’d heard the “personnel issue” explanation as well but the council has no authority to get more information. Best said he personally got along well with Mursch and that he was doing a good job for the city. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“He was, what, 10 months into it? There was interest for him to really have his teeth sunk into things,” he said. “I was looking forward to this budget cycle.”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Whatever happened did not involve any misuse of the city’s money, Griffin said when asked. Mursch did a good job improving the city’s rate of return on investments, the city manager said. The financial report was “done to a higher standard,” he said. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Before coming to Palmer, Mursch spent about two years as the finance director for the Bristol Bay Borough. Nobody there could say much about him; there’s been a lot of turnover down in Naknek, several staffers said. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Before that, Mursch worked as director of finance for a nonprofit called Health Care for the Homeless in Milwaukee, Wisc. starting in August 2005, according to a brief write-up in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He’d previously served as financial operations administrator at Cameo Care, a nursing home in Milwaukee. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Mursch did not return a call to his home this week. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The city is recruiting for a new director through ads on its Web site and in newspapers. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">-- Zaz Hollander</span></div>
The Palmer Posthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249479869694993133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-187679355366644358.post-35271767050502607032012-09-05T16:52:00.001-07:002012-09-07T00:21:52.935-07:00Yahoo, Mat-Su's new view - someday<br />
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Homestead RV Park, the first RV park one encounters when driving to the Valley from Anchorage, has been shuttered all summer. For locals that means fewer traffic delays from motorhomes turning there but it’s led many to ask what’s in store for the spot, which has stunning views of Pioneer Peak and the Palmer Hay Flats.</div>
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Currently, Matanuska Electric Association owns the land, which includes acreage both on top of and below the bluff, including land along the flats. MEA spokeswoman Suzie Deuser said the cooperative needs the land for a larger right-of-way path as part of its Eklutna natural gas power plant project. But MEA is working with Mat-Su Convention and Visitors Bureau to use the prime property up top as a new spot for the Mat-Su Visitor Information Center.</div>
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Here's a clip from the May 2011 Gateway Gathering, where community leaders and MSCVB members toured and gave feedback on the best spot for a new visitor center. The clip begins at the state park across the highway from the RV park; at about the one-minute mark participants visit the RV park. </div>
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MSCVB has been housed for more than 20 years in a prow-front log cabin near Mat-Su Regional Medical Center. The visitor center predates the hospital and, with changes to the traffic flow from the expanded Parks Highway, hospital access and, most recently, Trunk Road, visitors to the center arrive with exclamations of “We finally made it!” said MSCVB director Bonnie Quill.<br />
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Quill said their visitor numbers are down significantly because of the easy-to-spot but hard-to-reach location. Fewer visitors mean fewer opportunities to suggest that tourists take a tour of local farms, stay overnight at a bed-and-breakfast or take a backcountry four-wheeler tour.</div>
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So MSCVB has been working for five years to find the perfect spot for a new visitor center. A federal grant helped narrow the list from 12 sites to one: the Homestead RV Park. In addition to an amazing view, Quill said the site is located ideally – it’s near the juncture of the Matanuska and Susitna valleys and has easy access just off the highway.</div>
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It’s also across the street from a state park Quill called a gem – Matanuska Lakes State Recreation Area. The two facilities could work together, she said, with MSCVB providing overflow parking on sunny days when park traffic trails out onto the highway. She’s even spoken with state Department of Transportation officials about installing an under- or overpass to allow traffic to go from one side to the other safely when the Glenn Highway is expanded.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo courtesy MSCVB<br />
The existing visitor center has limited space for meetings <br />
but sits on valuable commercial land.</td></tr>
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Ideally, Quill said, the new visitor center will be 20,000 square feet, with outside interpretive areas and space for community gatherings. It's comparable to the Begich-Boggs Visitor Center near Portage and, in a 2010 preliminary study, the cost to build was pegged at $14 million.</div>
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The only thing blocking MSCVB staff from packing up their offices at the log cabin and making the move is, well, money. Quill said she’s applied for $2 million in federal National Scenic Byways funding for site acquisition and design but was turned down. Another application just for site acquisition funding was also turned down. She said she’ll pursue state funding during the upcoming legislative session.</div>
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The center does have funding behind the plan. The Mat-Su Borough owns the 4.6 acres the visitor center sits on but the Assembly last year agreed to sell the land and dedicate the proceeds to the new visitor center. It’s hard to say exactly how much the land might sell for; land sales in that area have been quite competitive, Quill said.</div>
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Without money for the project in hand, Quill said it was impossible to say when the new visitor center would be built. But she plans to be talking up the project everywhere she can in the next year, so she hopes the project won’t stay on the shelf long.<br />
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-- Rindi White</div>
The Palmer Posthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249479869694993133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-187679355366644358.post-61710615359928447432012-08-29T12:27:00.001-07:002012-08-29T12:27:10.844-07:00Jammed! Perfect storm of traffic snarls sunny Saturday at Alaska State Fair <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Traffic backs up the Palmer-Wasilla Highway<br />last Saturday in this photo taken near<br />East Equestrian Street</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12px;">A beautiful day at the Alaska State Fair last Saturday kicked off with the always popular parade. A real-deal famous musical act - country mega-duo Big & Rich - played that night. And for once, a BP donation got kids under 12 in free ... on a weekend! </span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The result? The worst fair traffic in history. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">A trip to the fair Saturday turned into an hours-long wait as unprecedented congestion jammed the Glenn Highway and gridlocked the already-clogged Palmer-Wasilla Highway. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">By afternoon, miles of traffic extended away from the fair in both directions.</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Perplexed drivers got out of their cars with traffic at a standstill. At least one driver reported her car overheated. Another said she spent an hour and half alone in front of the Palmer Carrs store where Palmer-Wasilla hits the Glenn. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Big & Rich got stuck in traffic coming in from Anchorage. Crowds maxed out the fair’s sewer system. Six Shamrock Septic trucks called in for emergency pumping couldn’t clear the congestion either. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Thanks to quick thinking by fair staff and fast action from Palmer police, the band and the trucks got escorts. The concert started on time. The poop got pumped. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But the rest of us got stuck in traffic. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The fair’s own marketing director, Dean Phipps, confronted the problem first hand. Phipps took his son to a football game in Houston. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“It took me two hours to get back to the Fair,” Phipps said in an email this week. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So what happened? Inept parking lot staff? Not enough parking? Problems with crowd control at fair entrances?</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Everybody involved - Alaska State Fair officials, state transportation, Palmer police - agree on one thing: Saturday’s fair attendance was huge. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Rick Feller, a state transportation spokesman, said he was told Saturday that crowds broke records. Feller heard more than 50,000 people crammed into the fairgrounds. An official attendance number won’t come for a few weeks, when the fair finishes its tally.</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJlNUZLiDLuLbL6kYjoMohzUZwpcaCUt_aYommSE_Or-g80Ps0yxBTLp6fcTu-Is2xW5KbvizkSHlHNAXYCQiVaN5Nagdw5mEMOmNCYTz_ncPQKSkvnPuKMRO9ZKTzKIVngp3cQtvpf6M/s1600/Denali+with+girl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJlNUZLiDLuLbL6kYjoMohzUZwpcaCUt_aYommSE_Or-g80Ps0yxBTLp6fcTu-Is2xW5KbvizkSHlHNAXYCQiVaN5Nagdw5mEMOmNCYTz_ncPQKSkvnPuKMRO9ZKTzKIVngp3cQtvpf6M/s320/Denali+with+girl.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Julie Ebner, of Talkeetna, gets friendly with Denali<br />the llama at the Alaska State Fair on Tuesday.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In 16 years working the fair, Palmer police Commander Lance Ketterling said he’s rarely seen anything like it. But, Ketterling said, he also wasn’t surprised. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“When you have a weekend like that, especially when its sunny, you can almost anticipate big crowds,” he said. “This past Saturday was extremely busy. The overflow parking lot was heavily used. They just had a lot of people.”</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; line-height: 14.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 36.0px; min-height: 15.0px; text-indent: -36.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Ketterling said no major wrecks happened near the fair; Feller said he heard there were a few fender-benders that created a domino effect as the flow of traffic slowed. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Phipps said that, as far as the fair is concerned, the real problem is that the Glenn remains two lanes, instead of four, from the Parks Highway to Palmer. And Palmer-Wasilla will get crowded until the Bogard Road extension is done. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“It is a year-round situation that is heightened during the Fair,” he said. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">As for parking on Saturday, here’s the text of Phipps’ email on the subject:</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“We filled up all of our three main lots and then opened up our 20 acres of overflow parking in Brown lot, which is the area adjacent to Hamilton Farm. When that area started to fill, we filled in empty spaces in Yellow Lot that were vacated. We also did that for half of the available empty spaces in our Red lot. We have certified flaggers at key areas like the intersection at Purple Gate that are employed by Starplex. Palmer Police assisted in many areas helping with expediting traffic. We had a continuous flow of cars going in and being parked in several areas, but on a perfect storm day with sunny weather predicted and storms the following day, everyone got up and all came to the Fair at the same time.” </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In case you’re wondering, there’s no shuttle service at the Alaska State Fair as there is at some of the big fairs in the Lower 48; the fair couldn't work out a system with MASCOT. The Alaska Railroad operates a fair train, but it’s too pricey for most - around $50 for an adult round trip. Valley Mover makes the trip - once daily - for $12.50.</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> In the meantime, at least one problem highlighted by last weekend’s crowds appears fixable. </span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The fair has received funding for a new sewer system, Phipps said. It should be in the works soon. </span></div>
</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">-- Zaz Hollander</span></div>
<div style="font: 12.0px Times New Roman; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><br /></span></span></div>
The Palmer Posthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249479869694993133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-187679355366644358.post-5223848134542263462012-08-24T00:48:00.002-07:002012-08-24T00:48:48.995-07:00Boarded up but still open
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<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiusfjLriyQWI53gHQSwJ8lxkxEXJIE0ljjVvrx3wAQb7lkOp1hidZt-DHStITmQv6wlg-OrPUpdzxTN7avWKKLcbgk4WKM21kFbH2QuiIyFiRPuuDvOn9K3QzkEMdsppszm7zX8z1D7AA/s1600/July+24+2012+004.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiusfjLriyQWI53gHQSwJ8lxkxEXJIE0ljjVvrx3wAQb7lkOp1hidZt-DHStITmQv6wlg-OrPUpdzxTN7avWKKLcbgk4WKM21kFbH2QuiIyFiRPuuDvOn9K3QzkEMdsppszm7zX8z1D7AA/s320/July+24+2012+004.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo courtesy Mat-Su Borough<br />Boarded windows grace the front of the Mat-Su Borough <br />Administration building in Palmer. The boards will be gone <br />in November, when a new addition is framed in. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you haven’t noticed by now, the historic Mat-Su Borough
building, where people pay their property taxes, get driveway permits and
attend borough assembly meetings, is looking rough. East-facing windows <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in the stately 1935 former school
building are boarded up and the main entrance is fenced off with tall
chain-link.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The building is getting a large renovation, one that
Assembly members hope will allow borough residents better access at meetings
and also afford borough employees some much-needed additional office space. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The work means the main entrance to the building is closed off. Patrons can enter through the Information Technology department or through the doors on the west side of the building. Mat-Su Borough meetings, such as Assembly,
Planning Commission and Platting Board, are being held at the Mat-Su Borough
School District Administration building for the next few months. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://www.matsugov.us/docman/doc_view/3950-dsjbldgtomsbadmin2?tmpl=component&format=raw" target="_blank">Here's</a> a map to the School District Admin building. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Borough Public Works project manager Jeff Walden said construction
on the $5.8 million addition is expected to be complete by July 2013. The
windows are boarded up mostly as a precaution to borough workers through
November, when Walden said the new addition should be framed in. </div>
<!--EndFragment-->The Palmer Posthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249479869694993133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-187679355366644358.post-16632675984669968382012-08-07T10:58:00.000-07:002012-08-07T17:08:10.741-07:00Farewell to another piece of Mat Maid<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXksfs-Z5uuV-q2mfUdI6vXMMPFPh-WjmETdwwHQmoruAjxH2PFQUgq3l7cmhsY-AqzZh00eUy1vtETwIzRgV19LjwsNcqmg2UYH3sg95AfrZ2HXiAUW-Os_WneKwh1UuiQ-bKSrYAbMs/s1600/Mat+Maid+fire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXksfs-Z5uuV-q2mfUdI6vXMMPFPh-WjmETdwwHQmoruAjxH2PFQUgq3l7cmhsY-AqzZh00eUy1vtETwIzRgV19LjwsNcqmg2UYH3sg95AfrZ2HXiAUW-Os_WneKwh1UuiQ-bKSrYAbMs/s640/Mat+Maid+fire.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fire crews respond to the Mat Maid fire early the morning of Wednesday, Aug. 7 in a photo<br />
posted that morning on Facebook by Palmer Mayor DeLena Johnson.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A fast-moving fire destroyed the historic Matanuska Maid warehouse early this morning. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The building was long vacant. No injuries were reported.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Firefighters arriving on scene could see the building was likely a total loss, so they focused on a bigger problem: making sure the blaze didn't reach the nearby, petroleum-loaded Crowley Maritime tank farm.</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio0szrxuqTJuSeVsFgzVjlR8Wa8bAJwKdBLeATenaXqH6YSkLorXoHnTGtQ4C9rSZCeIKy9Gyogo8IQaFb4PRQXLFn95_OeXFKBKZMjxTfaVb_iTuyK4XWe9kTsGUuCt7XPYJt2vftTfY/s1600/Fireafter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio0szrxuqTJuSeVsFgzVjlR8Wa8bAJwKdBLeATenaXqH6YSkLorXoHnTGtQ4C9rSZCeIKy9Gyogo8IQaFb4PRQXLFn95_OeXFKBKZMjxTfaVb_iTuyK4XWe9kTsGUuCt7XPYJt2vftTfY/s200/Fireafter.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Rindi White<br />
By daylight, the Mat Maid warehouse was gone.<br />
The dairy's former bottling plant is part of the<br />
property on the right.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The first 9-1-1 call came at 3:33 a.m. from someone at Valley Hotel, Palmer public safety director Jon Owen said this morning. A total of 31 separate pieces of firefighting apparatus responded to the blaze, including three ladder trucks. Engines came from Palmer Fire Department and Mat-Su Central Fire Department, where responders mustered to an "all-call" from emergency dispatchers.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Palmer Fire Chief John McNutt was the first person to get to the fire. McNutt drove around the 9-acre Mat Maid complex and spotted flames shooting out from below the eaves. Within minutes, the roof was engulfed, Owen said.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Crews operating under a "surround and drown" strategy suppressed the fire. But their goal wasn't saving the old warehouse building, built in the 1930s, Owen said. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Their focus instead was preventing "the conflagration" sure to follow if the fire reached the adjacent Crowley Maritime Corp. fuel sales office next door, where all the petroleum products on site would pose a tremendous problem should they ignite, he said. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Palmer tank farm holds 100,000 gallons of petroleum products and serves as a distribution center for Anchorage, Palmer, Wasilla, and all the Matanuska Valley, according to Crowley's Web site.</span></span><br />
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The fire was knocked down by 6:40 a.m.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrtTeOS4_2nTf62Fzyid6vMU0SccokVyXhNuDyfPqkYOAYQ_uOj4cqVv0QQP2O807-sS0RrPcgxs5QAZ3WUtbsIuRTAIEs-aoyQ3DMmAFKKpq0aVcKWLVJCJccLvaOwk0PluPgdvVzprM/s1600/MatMaid1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrtTeOS4_2nTf62Fzyid6vMU0SccokVyXhNuDyfPqkYOAYQ_uOj4cqVv0QQP2O807-sS0RrPcgxs5QAZ3WUtbsIuRTAIEs-aoyQ3DMmAFKKpq0aVcKWLVJCJccLvaOwk0PluPgdvVzprM/s320/MatMaid1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photos courtesy Palmer police Officer Jason Crockett<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The warehouse used to be used for produce sold out of one end. Rindi remembers walking through it with owner Bill Ingaldson a few years back; during the visit, she picked up an old potato sack decorated with the Matanuska Maid in her skating costume. Palmerites may remember that former city manager Bill Allen hoped to put a convention center on the property. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is the second destructive fire at the Mat Maid complex. A wind-whipped arson fire set by three teenagers destroyed the hardware store in February, 2003. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Investigators were at the scene by 10 a.m. or so trying to determine the cause of the fire; finding </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the ignition source is key when there's no obvious heat source like a boiler, Owen said. Anything suspicious will be followed up. The investigation is being conducted by John Bond, an inspector with the Alaska State Fire Marshal's Office, and Palmer police Sgt. Shayne La Croix.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Anyone with information about this morning's fire is asked to call Sgt. La Croix at 745-4811.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9c2U3V7LY_olmTxXNfmdTcKrxoE073jyP8nPrj_jR3LgSk1iQKN9jdio2U1L0FZtOB9KOO4KIjWTZGc8jgGnXJ9QHZgfQgFwp5eNgL3PTdj0P_PnhnA8HvFzx0MrrBBAKgPxpdP4l6SA/s1600/MatMaid2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9c2U3V7LY_olmTxXNfmdTcKrxoE073jyP8nPrj_jR3LgSk1iQKN9jdio2U1L0FZtOB9KOO4KIjWTZGc8jgGnXJ9QHZgfQgFwp5eNgL3PTdj0P_PnhnA8HvFzx0MrrBBAKgPxpdP4l6SA/s200/MatMaid2.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">-- Zaz Hollander</span></div>
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<br /></div>The Palmer Posthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249479869694993133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-187679355366644358.post-73989656522258917452012-08-01T10:49:00.000-07:002012-08-01T10:49:33.620-07:00Back from our summer hiatus<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinwiRzUijl5II_iikP9g7l-BcM0eNnRT-aK1sb0G0Hq947pQg6lEOB4AWSRNzdAIjPh2saVPAlnAvxJQ-1MllCmxxmSSY1ch_AfpvHzaHbh9-d3gnw45YckmhVMZE9QunZad9o2IOa_1g/s1600/palmer+library.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinwiRzUijl5II_iikP9g7l-BcM0eNnRT-aK1sb0G0Hq947pQg6lEOB4AWSRNzdAIjPh2saVPAlnAvxJQ-1MllCmxxmSSY1ch_AfpvHzaHbh9-d3gnw45YckmhVMZE9QunZad9o2IOa_1g/s400/palmer+library.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;">This year's Summer Reading Program wrapped up Friday, July 27 with a finale party at the Palmer Library. <br /><br /> Look for new Palmer stories in the weeks ahead: progress on the borough building renovation, the Eagle Hotel opening, more money for the MTA Events Center and much more. Curious about something happening around town? Drop us a line and we'll get the scoop! <br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>The Palmer Posthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249479869694993133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-187679355366644358.post-91275601475439766732012-06-26T18:17:00.002-07:002012-06-26T18:17:28.065-07:00Post summer hiatusA new baby, a family crisis and graduate school demands are occupying our time these days. We're on hiatus until the end of July. Check back then and have a great summer! <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI42Iv8lBU8tVyFhyphenhyphen_z4_EMJWtg0XQXWSWVZsPz2DZwAyDjjF0XpTl7g6Jp116tNf_Uiu0-ZrrLDzesIRl7M3g-0lIstgi4Tz_XLq1Xlx8zSh04GZw_0uIxKPNEUWGF4hKnFmu9rrdABw/s1600/summer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI42Iv8lBU8tVyFhyphenhyphen_z4_EMJWtg0XQXWSWVZsPz2DZwAyDjjF0XpTl7g6Jp116tNf_Uiu0-ZrrLDzesIRl7M3g-0lIstgi4Tz_XLq1Xlx8zSh04GZw_0uIxKPNEUWGF4hKnFmu9rrdABw/s1600/summer.jpg" /></a></div>The Palmer Posthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249479869694993133noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-187679355366644358.post-70833034319903715292012-06-19T11:24:00.003-07:002012-06-19T11:24:36.341-07:00‘Palmer panhandler’ holds to Constitution<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoGtYc9pJepIz0hMGmHZiH9is05koGo84LOkls4FY2q4n2fyk_1f_Z3kqLpmFUmnNVupm-inX0vqarAziY5PX-0gs0g0EOCqFsrJHeNN7hh0nFNiIkelyH_S2-68FfZ74EOWWjv49NxR4/s1600/Daniel+on+corner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoGtYc9pJepIz0hMGmHZiH9is05koGo84LOkls4FY2q4n2fyk_1f_Z3kqLpmFUmnNVupm-inX0vqarAziY5PX-0gs0g0EOCqFsrJHeNN7hh0nFNiIkelyH_S2-68FfZ74EOWWjv49NxR4/s320/Daniel+on+corner.jpg" width="240" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">I spotted Daniel Bennett a few weeks ago at the heart of downtown Palmer - the corner of Evergreen and South Alaska, across from NonEssentials. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Bennett is known around town as “the Palmer panhandler” but I’d never seen him before. <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">I walked over. We chatted. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Turns out Bennett, who works the corner from a wheeled walker with a seat, is disabled. He’ll tell you that a drunk truck driver hit him in 1968. He lives on disability payments. A caretaker drives him around in a beat-up Grand Marquis. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">He can always use a little help, he says. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">But the 57-year-old Bennett also enjoys a little conversation. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">This self-described “Minister of Humor” knows a lot of jokes. G-rated jokes. Why don’t anteaters need much in the way of veterinary care? Anty-bodies. They’re full of ‘em.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">He also considers his pursuit of street-corner donations a constitutionally protected right. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Bennett displays a laminated sign. The front says, “NEED CASH PLEASE GIVE THANKS ALOT.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">The back features a mish-mash of personal affirmations including “We cannot condemn each other for misunderstanding one another’s separate realities.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">It also bears language from what Bennett considers the most pertinent section of the First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech ... or the right of people peaceably to assemble.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Speech that solicits funds is protected by the First Amendment, he says. The protections afforded by the First Amendment are nowhere stronger than in streets and parks. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">He’s argued that point during a 2007 public hearing in Juneau on a new panhandling ordinance (it clarified where and when people can panhandle, replacing an outright ban). </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">He also brought up the First Amendment in court - multiple times. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">A Wasilla police officer arrested Bennett at the Crusey Street McDonald’s in August 2010, one of several arrests he experienced at that location. The code he violated: a pedestrian on a highway may not solicit employm<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">ent, business or contributions.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Bennett, representing himself, argued his constitutional rights before Palmer District Judge John Wolfe. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Wolfe ultimately found Bennett not guilty, but not because the arrest was unconstitutional. Bennett’s solicitation occurred on the sidewalk, not the highway. Wolfe handed down another not guilty when Bennett was arrested later that year. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Magistrate Craig Condie found Bennett not guilty the next year.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Bennett remembers the magistrate saying something about the arrests being a waste of time. </span></span></div>
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Magistrates can’t comment on such stuff. Notes from that 2011 hearing weren’t available at the courthouse. </span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Bennett, who showed up as “Stone Eternal Love” on one court filing, said he leaves his fate up to the universe these days. Ask and ye shall receive, he told me. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">“It’s an act of faith,” he said. Then he raised his sign as another car drove past. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">-- Zaz Hollander</span></span></div>The Palmer Posthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249479869694993133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-187679355366644358.post-52423026017330059842012-06-13T08:23:00.000-07:002012-06-13T08:23:27.607-07:00New police chief says it's all about the team<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivw1niK-JFVLResilgsNwEyd_yMjxBspH1L7oqU4N9SXF4h4ifWS1CA1XFlMmKHxl21BTeemMYPCpMw347mEq55g9tZkjjOlJBbrpbGNueREwyo0usUoA3HU7YHNhTz1PucONWy-cZYIs/s1600/Remaley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivw1niK-JFVLResilgsNwEyd_yMjxBspH1L7oqU4N9SXF4h4ifWS1CA1XFlMmKHxl21BTeemMYPCpMw347mEq55g9tZkjjOlJBbrpbGNueREwyo0usUoA3HU7YHNhTz1PucONWy-cZYIs/s320/Remaley.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo courtesy Palmer Police Department<br />
Palmer Police Chief Tom Remaley</td></tr>
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For several years, Palmer’s police department struggled with
a problem. Instead of being a stable workplace for quality officers, it became
a stepping stone; officers would be hired, trained and then they’d move on to
other, higher-paying posts elsewhere.</div>
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In 2001 the city hired Russ Boatright, a recent retiree from
Anchorage Police Department, as its chief and he and other department leaders
worked to change the management philosophy, focusing on leadership and using strong
principals – respect, compassion, integrity, efficiency, fairness, balance,
ethical performance, reverence for the law and community-based policing – as
guidelines when choosing whom to hire, how to train officers, how to equip them
and how to help them do their jobs. </div>
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After a decade leading the department into one of the most
stable in the state, Boatright retired last month. The city
selected Tom Remaley, who served as interim chief in 1999 and actually hired
Boatright as a part-time officer prior to his being selected as chief, to lead
the department. </div>
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Remaley worked along with Boatright to implement the changes
that have brought about stability and accolades. He said the department now has
14 officers, most with advanced degrees and certificates from the
Alaska Police Standards Council, and most notably, who have an average of 9.5
years of experience with the department. A supporting cast of 12 dispatchers
help things run smoothly. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlF_5yBA4y6dCxt_OLvATko3Sydf7lY1CJEtivpUYVAnX05NQxzb8HVY7Zyt3kCKx4lF5hwP3eqnn9Mpu-pKzdvkHwl4YJFNX0Nia4jaY_pRahabwEWDyBOAlvnW6LVKN2rfUz5Tj8wKg/s1600/ppd+patch.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlF_5yBA4y6dCxt_OLvATko3Sydf7lY1CJEtivpUYVAnX05NQxzb8HVY7Zyt3kCKx4lF5hwP3eqnn9Mpu-pKzdvkHwl4YJFNX0Nia4jaY_pRahabwEWDyBOAlvnW6LVKN2rfUz5Tj8wKg/s1600/ppd+patch.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Courtesy Palmer Police Department<br />
The city police department patch</td></tr>
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Remaley prefers to play a supporting role and didn’t want to
be directly quoted in a story about his new post. He’s been an officer with the
department for nearly 20 years, starting out as a reserve officer in 1993 after
retiring from the military. He did a stint as a dispatcher in 1994 and in 1995
became a patrol officer, working his way up to lieutenant in 2005. </div>
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But it’s not about his accomplishments, Remaley said. It’s
about the team – a team that takes its oath to serve seriously. As an example,
he pointed to a robbery that happened in the early morning hours at McDonald’s
in late May. All three
suspects were in jail that evening, Remaley said. </div>
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Remaley wouldn’t hand over a recent photo to accompany this
post – he said he’s not photogenic and plans to be very involved in the
community, so if residents don’t know him by now, they will soon. We happened
to stumble on a slightly dated photo of him floating around online, however,
and couldn’t resist posting it. </div>
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Congratulations, Chief Remaley, and good luck! </div>
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-- Rindi White</div>The Palmer Posthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249479869694993133noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-187679355366644358.post-3080109475360050892012-06-06T23:15:00.004-07:002012-06-06T23:19:32.555-07:00Colony Days 2012<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIBgLn802URL6I7KUE7hzC64bf7KGVktuyfWz35BwnffBGAjH_AiZPAw44ksoX6Nm7CrzcWzKHErulAlMPFVAV6EGNiDjQ5kCelLUZSVVimeNb9-djb3orr7milHzxn-NDA1DgpB6vMpo/s1600/Colony_Days_Logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIBgLn802URL6I7KUE7hzC64bf7KGVktuyfWz35BwnffBGAjH_AiZPAw44ksoX6Nm7CrzcWzKHErulAlMPFVAV6EGNiDjQ5kCelLUZSVVimeNb9-djb3orr7milHzxn-NDA1DgpB6vMpo/s320/Colony_Days_Logo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Favorite Colony Days memory? Watching the parade with my
youngest child.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Least favorite Colony Days memory? Watching the parade with
my youngest child.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There’s something about outdoor community festivals that
brings out the best and worst in small children. After so many years as a parent,
I finally have a game plan down. And in honor of <a href="http://www.palmerchamber.org/events/colony-days/event-schedule.html">Palmer’s biggest community festival</a> this weekend, here are a few tips to surviving all the fun: </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Park close to the action. The fewer blocks you
have to walk towing a screaming toddler, the better. The parking lots behind
Valley Hotel are always a great bet. </span><br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Go early to avoid long lines. The petting zoo
opens at 11 a.m. on Friday and is a really popular stop for the under-six
crowd.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not to mention the bounce house,
the hay rides on Saturday…you get the idea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And FYI: South Alaska Street fills quickly on Saturday before the
parade. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Go early. Bring a chair and a bag for all the candy.</span></span><br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Plan your route. Decide what’s not to be missed – the reindeer petting, or mannequin head
bowling or face painting, all on Saturday? – and prioritize with a nice mix of
adult and child-friendly activities. </span><br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Pay it forward. Someday your child will be in
activities that cost a lot of money, and you’ll be delighted when the community
contributes. For example, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Palmer
wrestling is sponsoring kids’ games in conjunction with Usibelli coal mine this
year. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Palmer Food Bank is also
collecting donations at Just Sew all weekend. </span><br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Cute photo op: The Lady Bug Lady is hosting an
art project – painting rocks like lady bugs! – followed by a mass release of
lady bugs into the garden next to the Palmer Visitor Center at 2 p.m. Saturday.
</span><br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">6.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Look for free stuff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The congregation of St. John Lutheran Church
is hosting a community picnic, complete with hot dogs and drinks, from noon-3
p.m. Saturday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stick around until 2 p.m.
to delight your child with falling moose poop, as the Kiwanis hosts their Moose
Poop Palooza drop at<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2 p.m. There’s also
free face painting offered by Church on the Rock, and free music concerts all
day Saturday.</span><br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">7.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Save the best for last. My youngest is obsessed
with trains. It’s the only time he’ll stand in one spot for longer than 15
seconds. That miniature train setup at the Palmer depot is a great motivator
when his behavior slides south. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For race
car fans, there’s the pinewood derby race hosted by Cub Scout Pack 354 at 2
p.m. Saturday in the Mat-Su Borough gym.</span><br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">8.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Leave while everyone is still happy. Colony Days
lasts all weekend. If naptime interferes before you see it all, no
worries. Just come back tomorrow. <o:p></o:p></span></div>The Palmer Posthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04249479869694993133noreply@blogger.com1