Becky Long from Alaska Survival, the group bringing the lawsuit, says the Susitna-Matanuska Area Plan, or SMAP, adopted in August, violates Alaska law and opens the door for increased pressure from development, which would significantly alter rural life and livelihoods.

Long: “We just feel that this final plan that they’ve come up with that will really change the character of the land, besides impacting our lives, it will impact the economy”

The lawsuit claims the land uses as defined by the Chase, Talkeetna or Susitna comprehensive plans were not fully considered and incorporated into SMAP as required by Alaska Statute.

According to Long, residents of the northern Susitna valley have gone to great effort to craft comprehensive plans that reflect their values. She says one example of an area whose new land use designation under SMAP is in conflict with local comprehensive plan is in the Susitna council area.

Long: “they identified state land in the eastern portion, where they said that this area should remain as open space, in public ownership, to be used for a variety of recreational purposes. Well, this final SMAP plan went against that. They have unit S-24 which is in the eastern part of the Y community council’s comprehensive plan, it’s designated settlement. That goes against their recommendation in the plan.”

Marty Parsons oversaw the group that worked on SMAP for the last two and a half years. Parsons had not had a chance to review the appeal and so couldn’t comment on it directly, but he maintains that DNR upheld applicable statues and constitutional law.

Parsons: “Our division works diligently to make sure that we work with the public, with the affected communities, and with the affected municipalities so that we try to incorporate as many of the management concepts that they would like to see into the area plan.”

Parsons says 16 meetings were held area-wide, and one-hundred-ninety-six people attended those meetings. In response to the concerns about land disposals, he says that an area classified as settlement still has to go through several steps before the land would be sold.

Parsons:         “there are lands that are designated for settlement. But before any of those lands would be offered for sale, we go through a preliminary decision process, we go through a public review of that decision, often times there are public meetings held in the areas where the land disposals will take place, we take the comments into consideration that the public has brought to us, we produce a final finding, and that goes out again for more public review with an opportunity for an appeal or a request for reconsideration, or some subsequent action after the final finding has been adopted.”

Long maintains that the process should have had more opportunity for public input on the process. While meetings were held locally in Talkeetna, they took place in April during breakup, and travel was limited for residents in bush areas.

Long: “my point is if you’re going to go against so many recommendations in these three comprehensive plans, there needs to be more discussion between the state and the people on this”

Unless an out-of-court settlement can be reached, the appeal process is expected the take about 6 months before  judgment can be issued.

The council board election will be held October 4th with the upcoming Mat Su Borough regular election. Council Board nominations were the first item under New Business and included four candidates: Ed Craver, Larry Dearman, Cary Birdsall and Rick Schreiber. Birdsall and Schreiber are currently serving on the board with terms expiring in November. Three candidates elected Oct. 4th, will begin their two year terms on the TCCI Board of Directors at the councilʼs Annual Meeting, November 7th, 2011.

The Oct. 4th community council ballot will also include an advisory voteconcerning the proposed Susitna-Watana Hydro project. The council is currently working to keep the community informed as the project develops and ensuring citizen participation in the process through meetings such as the recent August 29th agency panel discussion. In an effort to better serve the community, the council moved to add the question “ Do you support the building of the proposed Susitna Dam” to the ballot.

Other council business included a report from the Revenue Sharing Committee announcing the beginning of the fiscal year 2010 revenue sharing process. New applications are available at the Talkeetna Public Library, the Talkeetna Post Office and from the committee chair, Howard Carbone. The application deadline is October 14th and, following the selection process, the committee expects to have the funds distributed by the end of the year. Progress reports from the fiscal year 2009 revenue sharing awardees were also reviewed including Sunshine Transit, the Su Valley Moose Club, KTNA and the Talkeetna Cemetery.

Under unfinished business, the council revisited the need to contact Mat Su Borough Community Development Manager James King, and invite him to the October 3rd regular meeting to discuss local park improvements.

King is overseeing the $170,000 borough allocation for upgrades to three Talkeetna parks : Christiansen Lake Park, X&Y Lakes Park, and the Downtown park. The borough funds are currently designated for improvements such as picnic tables, grills, and signage, as well as possible reconstruction of the downtown pavilion and new informational kiosks.

The council has since arranged for King to be in Talkeetna Oct. 3rd when he will tour the three parks and participate in a community meeting at the Talkeetna Elementary School gym from 5-7 pm to discuss the improvements. The community is encouraged to attend and share their views of how to best utilize these funds.

King will also attend the councilʼs Oct. 3rd regular meeting at 7 pm, in the Talkeetna Elementary School.

This year, the winner in the poetry competition, for 4^th through 6^th grade was Cassidy Race of Talkeetna Elementary. Race is now in 7^th grade, but was a 6^th grader when she entered the contest in April.

Her winning poem, Thoughts, was part of KTNA’s special on the writing, reading and poetry lessons that Talkeetna resident Ed Craver taught last spring at Talkeetna Elementary.

Cassidy said her mother, Sarah, broke the news to her, “Cassidy, I have some wonderful news, she said, when I got home”  Race said,”…oh my gosh I won this!”

Cassidy says she didn’t think about how many she was competing against, but she was happy with her work and wanted to share.  She said,

“I wasn’t really thinking about how many were entering.  I had a great poem I want to share it with the world.”

She thinks she’d like to write more, but where does one go if one starts out on top? When asked if she’ll continue to write she seems a bit dubious, “I’d like to (keep writing) but I don’t know if I can do another poem as good as this one”

There were a number of categories in the contest -  fiction  and  non fiction, with 3 age levels, poetry with 4 age levels, as well as a story category for small children.  The grand prize winner this year was Cecilia Worth of Homer.

The creative writing and poetry contest is held annually each spring with winners announced in summer.

listen to the full story:

Download audio file (20110823PoetryWinner.mp3)

in tka. Im sd.

Download audio file (20110818BigWildRide.mp3)

State Troopers received a report that a 44-year-old male had suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head while at a cabin near mile 1.8 of the Talkeetna Spur Road.  The report came in close to 5 a.m. Sunday morning.

Witnesses reported that the deceased, and another man, had been playing a game similar to Russian Roulette earlier in the evening.  Alcohol was a factor.  The 5 people involved were highly intoxicated at the time, according to troopers.

Troopers continue to withhold the name of the deceased man until relatives are notified.

(the man was identified as James Campbell of Talkeetna)

Download audio file (20110811SchoolBonds.mp3)

Download audio file (20110810DACShow.mp3)

Download audio file (20110808WaterMeters.mp3)

Download audio file (20110804TKAmtgVotes.mp3)

The Talkeetna Sewer and Water board voted Wednesday afternoon on a number of actions after months of discussion on a $100,000 debt.  The financial problems of the utility finally caught the eye of Mat Su Borough mayor Larry DeVilbiss and Assembly when the $44 increase per customer proposal went in front of the Assembly for a vote.

The Assembly has given the utility board 90 days total to come up with alternatives.  Assemblyman Vern Halter attended the latest utility board meeting and tried to give advice.

Vern Halter: “…and then we could do the bed tax grant monies, we could get the letter to Senator Huggins and Newman right away, asking for the 20, 30, $35,000 coming in yearly to this area.  You’ve a letter to the Denali Commission right away through the Talkeetna  Sewer and Water Board saying, this is the problem, we would like some help and I suppose you would have to define it real clearly.”

The looming debt stems from a number of issues.  The utility currently owes money on loans from past grants to improve or upgrade the system, the water plant operator has become almost full time instead of part time and there have been a number of emergency situations this past winter that required contractor assistance.

Kathy Stoltz says past finances on the utilities books are finally clear. She has been questioning the Borough’s financial records on the system. Stoltz said the misunderstanding was due to terminology and the type of accounting at the Borough level.  Dawn Jones also got involved in the process and she is questioning terms of past grants.

The borough employees in attendance said she would have to fill out freedom of information act forms to receive documents.  Jim Kellard, board president, says the utility board itself does not have any of the documents related to grants or loans on the system.

The utility advisory board voted to approve a Borough Assembly action that would lead to meter installation for all customers.  They will be sending letters asking for financial assistance from the Denali Commission as well as the state legislature.  They are also asking the Talkeetna Community Council to look at the possibility of using some of the recently received Borough parks funds to pay for a bathroom in the Village Park.

Mayor Larry DeVilbiss attended the meeting and speculates that a service area might be the resolution for the future.

Larry DeVilbiss: “I think the ultimate goal here should be, to be, sustainable and I think that’s not going to be achieved until you take in the whole user group.  And I think that’s, I think the metering will help determining where the water is going, and adjust, and bring some justice to the user fees.”

He admits that the village utility is unique and it may continue to be a struggle.

Larry DeVilbiss: “Normally this would be handled through our CA and so what’s happening here, the Assembly is operating as our CA and it’s a painful way to do business in a Borough this big.”

The discussion of the grants continued after the meeting and will most likely come forward again at next month’s meeting.

The Utility Advisory Board meets the first Wed of the month at the Talkeenta Fire Hall.

(this story was transcribed)

Download audio file (20110802Pedouins.mp3)

Last August, a bright yellow 14-foot long bicycle with 2 adults and 3 very small children aboard, pedaled along the Parks Highway and down the Spur Road into Talkeetna.  The Harrison family was seeing the U.S. by bicycle with an added goal of spending the winter in Fairbanks.  After pedaling 7000 miles, they did just that, spending almost 11 months in a dry cabin near Fairbanks and writing a book about their cross country bicycle adventure.

The family has started what they are calling their blue collar book tour as they try and sell the story of the journey to those that are interested.  Bill Harrison is head of the family troupe and says,  “This is the story from Kentucky to Fairbanks, Alaska.  A year and 13 days on the road and we’ve picked out 21 places along our journey and we’ve talked about the people, places, the texture as well as other stories that trigger those stories that trigger stories of our past—Like us meeting at the bottom of the Grand Cannon, which is pretty incredible, or my Grandpa crossing the Mississippi in 1900 and hear I am on the verge of doing the same thing.”

The self published book was written during the long dark winter, and might actually lead  to another adventure book someday.

Amarins, mother of the 3 small girls, gushes about Fairbanks in winter, “The winter was beautiful it was definitely the one thing I would want to do again, again, again!  We had crisp, crystal clear skies, they might have been long skies; but the constellations you see, the stars, and the moon reflecting off the snow… I mean I could read a newspaper in the full moon, in the night, you know!  I was shocked!”

After a couple of loops thru town, the 2 work at attaching the bicycle back on the bus for the trip to Wasilla.  They seem a bit melancholy. Both say that even though it might appear easier to be driving than cycling, they prefer the slow pace of the bicycle.

They are both unsure of the book sales tour. they say they’ve poured their soul into the book, but Amarins is matter of fact about the entire process, “Life is a funny thing and we have to laugh at ourselves. You know you set goals,  but if you don’t set goals,  you never strive for anything, but you know if you do set goals  you might not always hit them, but at least you came closer than if you had never tried anything.  You gotta aim for something.  You can’t move if you’re standing still and you can’t change directions either, if your standing still.  It’s better to go the wrong direction first, and then turn around and go back, than it is to stand still and never decide on anything.”

The family didn’t have much time to spend in the upper valley.  The dusty blue bus continues to need parts and they are headed to Wasilla to do repairs.  The bus tops out at 40 miles per hour and Bill estimates it costs a dollar a mile to operate.

Although the family relies on donations and book sales along the way, the entire journey to the lower 48 includes a number of projects, where they will spend time helping those in need. They’ll spend 2 days in Wasilla putting a roof on a friend’s house and Friday afternoon at REI in Anchorage. The family hopes to hit all lower 48 states.  Fans can follow the family on their website at pedouins

Download audio file (20110726Chatauqua.mp3)

Shows are at 8:30 pm Wednesday at the Sheldon Community Arts Hanger and 7 pm Thursday.  Go to denaliartscouncil dot org for information and click on “events”

Download audio file (20110725DamConf.mp3)

Listen to the entire press conference and questions (about 27 minutes; question period is poorer audio)

Download audio file (SusitnaPressConf.mp3)

Assemblyman Vern Halter put a stop to the proposed engineering contract to study how and where to install meters for both residents and commercial properties.

Jeff Walden, project manager, on Monday said  that roughly 300-thousand dollars was leftover from the arsenic treatment system grant.  That money, he says, was to be used to install both commercial and residential meters for the Talkeetna sewer and water system.   Walden says the USDA grant requires installation of meters as an integrity check on the system.  Without meters is there is no way of knowing whether there is a leak in the system.

Halter is concerned with what is occurring with the utility and said paying an engineering firm to study the meters was not a good use of money when there are companies that can be hired that will just install the meters as needed.

Talkeetna resident Kathy Stoltz was at the Borough Assembly meeting and was shocked to hear the proposed meter study.  She clearly remembers a Water and Sewer Board meeting where operations manager Chuck Braun said there was 225-thousand dollars left in the grant and that the money ‘ABSOLUTELY COULD NOT’ be used to install meters — it was too far out of scope of the grant.

The issue is most likely only delayed. Walden wasn’t available for comment AFTER the Assembly decision but has said it is part of the grant agreement with USDA to install meters for all customers.  It is unknown at this point who will pay and how those meters will be installed.

Download audio file (20110712DACBathrooms.mp3)

MEA has started a round UP program.  Customers bills will be rounded up to the nearest dollar and the 50 cents or less will be given to charities in the valley that apply for the program.

Customers will automatically be part of the round up program unless they contact MEA and tell them they DON’T want to be part of the program.

MEA put the item on the latest ballot.  That item might have been the most controversial vote, but members voted 2 to1 for the round up program.  Normally, only 9 to 12 percent of MEA members vote in the annual election and this year was no different.  Close to 5,800 people voted in this year’s election — about 10% of the total customers. There were a few bylaw changes on the ballot as well as the Round UP program.  The election was held on April 26^th this year.

A Charitable Board of Directors will meet each month and decide on which non-profit the funds from the round up program will be dedicated.  Non profits can apply to be part of the program and be eligible to receive funds.  MEA estimates about $170,000 each year will be given to non profits as part of the Round Up program.

NOTE TO RESPONDERS – this is a news story about MEA’s decision. KTNA Community Radio has nothing to do with the MEA opt out program.

Download audio file (AMNews-20110713.mp3)

The annual slow pitch, double elimination tournament brought in a dozen teams and perhaps close to 200 people, both competing and watching the tournament play throughout the weekend.  The weather was a complete opposite of last year and allowed teams to compete without rain for the entire 3 days.

One by one, teams were eliminated from the tournament and the undefeated Talkeetna Spurs, sponsored by the VFW Post 3836, took on the Fairviews’ Mandingos in the final game Sunday evening.  At one point the Spurs had surged ahead by a score of 7 to 1.  The Mandingos came back in true Talkeetna style and tied the game. The Mandingos won in the final inning in the final minutes, 9 to 8. Fans that had been loudly cheering for the Spurs minutes before, were cheering just as loudly for the Mandingos in their strong comeback effort.

This was the 16^th annual softball tournament, originally played as part of the (now non-existant) Moose Dropping Festival.

Download audio file (20110627PreSchoolGone.mp3)

Download audio file (20110624SewerIncrease.mp3)

RESTORATION IN PROGRESS – The YCC, US Fish & Wildlife, AK Dept F&G, Mat Su Borough and the USSWCD work to repair salmon habitat along Sunshine Creek.

Sunshine Creek, north of Talkeetna, is a popular location for anglers at this time of year.  The Creek has seen severe  stream bank deterioration over the past few years.  This week, over a dozen youth from the Upper Valley, ages 14 to 17,  are working to improve the salmon habitat in the area.  Sue Deyoe visited the work project and has this story:

Download audio file (20110623-YCCSunshine.mp3)

Download audio file (20110515BoroParks.mp3)

Download audio file (20110609SunshineNewVan.mp3)

NSI representative Deb Wessler spoke at the Talkeetna Community Council Monday evening and said that NSI was applying to the Borough to have the water source plan be placed on the Capital Improvement Project list.

She asked the council’s Board of Directors for a letter of support.  The council unanimously voted to send a letter to the Borough supporting the plan, dependent on receiving the financial information required.

However, later in the meeting, a lengthy discussion took place on the CIP list and the number of projects that the Borough has listed for Talkeetna.  Assemblyman Vern Halter said there would be little chance for a project to be placed on the list that is speculative.  The building and land has not yet been purchased and the purchase date is unknown.

Currently, the Riverfront Management Plan is on the CIP list as well as a swimming pool at the high school.  There was no action taken on placing any new projects on the list, although Halter said he was sure the Road Service area board and the Fire Service board would be coming up with projects.

The deadline for submission for the 2012 CIP list is June 30^th