In spite of withering weather, spectators turned out in droves to watch the start of the Tustumena 200 dog sled race. Tammy Kehl lives just south of Sandwick Ave.

“Something about seeing that dog team go by that just makes me feel Alaskan,” she said

Though Tammy has lived here four years, this was her first time of watching the race. And she had help. Her 84-year-old mother, Dorothy Kehl of Anchorage, is spending the week with her. Kehl’s also turned out to watch 8th grader, Jared Duncan, compete in the 2nd annual spaghetti-eating contest at Rocky’s Café. Dorothy Kehl and Jared’s great grandmother, Marion Blossom, were sisters. Jared is also an acquaintance of the proprietor, Rocky Laster. Rocky once worked on a Kasilof dock which Jared and his dad, Heath Duncan, frequented with their drift boat, the Wasgo.

The other entrants were also local: Carl Hatten, Arlin Snooks Jr., Rocky Laster, and defending champion, Joseph Robertia. Joseph came in with a crown and left with a crown. Not to mention $100 and other prizes. Stocky Rocky made it interesting for a plate or two, but it became apparent that he was just a slurping usurper, next to the inertia of Robertia.

Where did the strings of pasta bathed in meat sauce go? Smack down the digestive track. First, teeth masticate food. Then, the tongue feeds chewed goo into the esophagus, which is the first part of the alimentary canal. The esophagus muscles the munch into the stomach. This is where eating contests are won or lost. Stomachs are somewhat dissimiliar. Some are long and some are short and each has a different capacity. Empty stomachs simply collapse like an empty bag and then bulge out as they are filled. The alimentary canal runs from the stomach to the small intestine and then to the large intestine.

Eating contests are no place for the casual masticator. Joseph seems to have picked up something from watching seagulls —chewing is purely optional. And he must sport esophagus muscles like an elephant’s trunk. He had the biggest fan section. His wife’s parents, Bill and Rusty Morrow came all the way from Boston to cheer him on. O.K., Joseph’s wife, Colleen, was competing in the T-200, too. Colleen’s brother, Will, and his wife, Kristin, were there from Kenai with their two small children. Will happens to be city editor for the Peninsula Clarion and Joseph is a reporter. Except for Joseph, the eaters were all rookies. At 13, Jared looks like trouble and I don’t expect that crown to get too comfortable for Joseph.

Happy 85th birthday to Edith “Edie” Russell on the 27th. She was in the hospitat recently but got out on Christmas Day. Edie was 48 when she moved to Clam Gulch with her husband, Jim, and six children, Jim, Wanda, Nancy, Neva, Ron and Ricky. Except for Ricky, the kids stayed in Alaska, and of that high-five, only Nancy has wandered out of the Clam Gulch-Cohoe area, though Wanda passed away from cancer years ago. She was married to Paul Richards and lived on what is now Carol Road, off Cohoe Loop. Paul’s sister was Pearl Kingsley and it was Pearl’s husband, Clovis, for whom Kingsley Road, in Ninilchik, was named, though when Clovis lived there he had remarried Diane Larson. Edie now lives in Cohoe with her daughter, Neva Osmar. Tim Osmar, the famous local musher, is her grandson.

In rural communities such as ours, difficult circumstances often reveal how many lives have been touched by a single individual or, in this instance, by a horse named Nikki. Those who have attended horse camp in Ninilchik during the past two decades got to know the beloved little mustang because she was used to help train young equestrians how to saddle, bridle, ride and properly show a horse year after year. Countless youngsters Peninsulawide got to know her from the horse rides they took while attending the Kenai Peninsula State Fair.

Nikki was born in 1985 and was purchased in 1987 by Pam Rodrigus, formerly of Anchor Point, for her daughters, Aurora Rodrigus and BJ Parr. Shirley Schollenberg, Trail Blazers 4-H Club leader and director of the annual 4-H horse camp said that Nikki was often used over the years by kids who did not have a horse of their own to take to camp. She said that Nikki was unique because her gentle spirit made a novice rider feel safe, yet, she possessed enough spunk to make her pupils earn the right to ride her and obey their commands.

Before Pam moved out of state, she sold Nikki to Sara Martin in Ninilchik. In 2001, Sara needed to move on so she posted an ad on the Ninilchik Post Office bulletin board that caught the eye of Ron Blough who bought the horse for his 12-yr-old granddaughter, Abi Daniels. I was present when misty-eyed Sara handed the lead rope to Abi, but Abi assured her that Nikki would be well loved and cared for. Nikki was Abi’s dream come true and she couldn’t believe that her mom (that happens to be me) really let her have a horse of her very own. Abi learned valuable lessons as she took total responsibility for her horse: feeding, watering, cleaning out the stable, and earning money to pay for feed.

When Abi outgrew Nikki, like previous owners, she was hesitant to give her up, but sold her to Larry and Suzan Cobb for their daughter, Sarah Cobb, another dreamer who longed to own a horse. When Sarah moved on to a more challenging horse, her younger sister, Mattie became the proud new owner. Last summer, when Mattie got a new horse, 10-yr-old Hannah Kelson started using her to learn to ride and took her to beginner horse camp.

It was a very sad day last week, when Nikki fractured her leg, and the vet had to put her down. Suzan Cobb said that her family was so touched by the outpouring of help and support they received. Now that Nikki’s work is over, the last horse camp attended, the last ride on Ninilchik beach, and the last blue ribbon won, she made her final ride home after 23 years of training riders. Several of her pupils have expressed that lessons learned from Nikki helped mold their lives, and, like that special first love, their first horse will never be forgotten.

In last week’s column, a plea was made for information leading to the return of the Jaws of Life extraction tool that was missing from the Ninilchik Emergency Services building. The good news is that it was not stolen, but had been misplaced and was found soon after the notice was put up on the Ninilchik Post Office bulletin board.

I read with interest the Jan. 6th article in the Peninsula Clarion’s Sunday paper written by Ninilchik Emergency Services chief, Mike Chihuly, on the challenges of running a fire department in a small community such as ours. Until I read the article, I never realized the extent of the training and volunteer hours that goes into helping to keep our community safe. If you see a volunteer EMT or firefighter around town, I would like to encourage you to express your appreciation for their time and dedication.

Kenai Peninsula Fairgrounds manager, Lara McGinnis informed me that there will be a fundraiser committee meeting on Thurs. Jan. 24th at 6 p.m. at the fair grounds in the teen center. Volunteers and ideas are needed to help make the Kenai Peninsula State Fair successful in 2008. Lara would also like to remind all area teens that there is a Teen Night every Friday from 5 to 10 p.m. Admission is $3 to enter. If you have any questions concerning the teen night or fundraiser committee meeting, call Lara at 567-3670.

Ninilchik Community Library board of directors, Debra Henderson said that a new community cookbook is being planned, and your participation is encouraged. The tentative title will be ” A Ninilchik Christmas to Remember”. Debra further explained, “We would like to collect favorite recipes from our community members to be put in a beautiful spiral bound cookbook. Since each recipe selected will show the name of the contributor, I am sure that friends and family members will especially enjoy this cookbook for Christmas, which could become a treasured keepsake for many years. If you would like to participate, print or type 2-3 of your favorite Christmas recipes and email them to Debra at debra_henderson@hotmail.com. She requests that you include the name of your recipe, and if there are duplicate recipes, the first one received will be selected for the cookbook. Debra said that the recipes should be submitted as soon as possible. The deadline for submissions is Memorial Day so the cookbooks can be printed and made available by Thanksgiving 2008.

There will be public health clinic in Anchor Point on Jan. 23 from 2-4 p.m. at the Seldovia Village Tribe Health Clinic at 34361 Old Sterling Highway located across the street from Anchor River Inn, in the building that was previously operated as a dentist’s office.

Birthdays this week are William Cardwell today, Debbie Cary and Christy Drake on Jan. 24; Kilina Klaich on Jan. 25; and Nick Cooper and Linda Updegraff on Jan. 26.

Special thanks to those who are generously plowing and sanding for our community residents in need.

Irvin and Mildred Evenson are in Kasilof this winter. They have over-wintered in Texas for the last 30 years but decided to stay home for this season’s dip in daylight and mercury.

I asked what prompted breaking such a long tradition?

“We’re just getting to old to travel,” Mildred answered. Then she looked out a window and I followed her gaze down a high hill and across a sweeping view of the Kasilof River. She added, “This is much better scenery than looking at a mobile home across from you.”

Irv and Mildred have been around a while. Mildred will be 89 March 11, Irv 94 on March 16. Both of them were up and serving me coffee and cookies and sounding like they have more character than a pair of Care Bears. Irv came to Alaska from Wisconsin in 1936 after a stint with the Civilian Conservation Corps. Friends in Palmer who were part of the Alaska Rural Rehabilitation Corporation (“Colony”) wrote to him to say, “Get up here quick!” Jobs were plentiful and wages were 60¢ an hour. ASAP Irv caught a boat out of Seattle. But he didn’t join the Colony, he stayed in Anchorage. In 1938 Irv got an opportunity to work in maintenance for the Red Salmon cannery in Bristol Bay. When the cannery got flooded with fish he was pressed into helping on “the line.”

At the cannery he met Walter Jackinsky, who was fishing with his brother, Ed. Ed planned to do something else the next summer, so Walter asked Irv to fish with him. The 1939 season became Irv’s first experience drift fishing. Walter Jackinsky is now another spry nonagenarian, a famous retired Alaska State Ferry captain and an author. He lives near Ninilchik.

In the fall of 1939 Irv made a trip to Wisconsin. There, friends wanted him to accompany them to a dance, but Irv didn’t have a date. So they arranged a blind date with Mildred Cox. She and Irv dated all winter and in the spring Irv went back to Alaska and again drifted in Bristol Bay.

In the spring of 1940 Irv returned to Alaska and fished again in Bristol Bay. Mildred joined him that fall in Anchorage, where they were married by Commissioner Tom Price on September 6, 1940. They moved into a tent on 10th Street, which was pitched beside an under-construction cabin. In 1943 they went to Bristol Bay where Mildred worked in the cannery and Irv fished. That fall they bought property on Sand Lake and started a potato farm. The property had gravel, however, which turned out to be a bit more valuable than the spuds. Irv and Mildred have three sons, Dick, Bob and Dan.

By 1964 Anchorage had grown to big for Evensons. So they took out a government lease on the bluff off Cohoe Loop, by Hermansen’s beach site and next to Wesley Killcheski’s place. Several years later Killcheski rode a snowmachine through the ice on Tustumena Lake and was lost.

Also in 1964 Irv decided to go drift fishing in Cook Inlet. He had a brand new fiberglass boat built for $16,000 and delivered by barge to Kodiak. It was called the Keta (Latinized Koryak word for “chum salmon”). Evenson’s didn’t like the wind on the bluff so Irv bought a hundred acres on Kasilof River about mile 1.5 Kalifornsky Beach Road. He moved his Cohoe cabin over and also his outhouse.

This outhouse has a history. The holey building was first constructed on their Anchorage property. It followed them to Sand Lake and was transplanted to Cohoe. When Irv attempted to move it to Kasilof, an awkward situation arose. He loaded it on a truck, but as he bumped along by Bottleneck Lakes, the crazy building hopped off. It was too heavy to reload by himself, so he had to go for help. The helpers got a hearty laugh at Irv’s wayward outhouse. The important building was later lent to their son, Bob, and has since been returned. Some folks have ventilated privies, but this is a venerated one.

In 1981 Irv sold the Keta. He had it 16 years and sold it for $32,000, twice what he had paid for it. And he bought a new fiberglass boat, the Snow Flake. It cost $130,000 and he ran it up from Seattle. When Irv was done fishing it he gave it to his boys. The three boys all also live in Kasilof.

Paul Gray of Soldotna showed his documentary “Homesteading Doctors on the Last Frontier” at the Kasilof Historical Association’s January meeting in the McLane Center. In addition to historic footage of pioneer doctors Isaac and Gaede, Per Osmar of Clam Gulch and Bob and Mary Haeg of Cohoe are featured. Haeg’s were Chinitna Bay pioneers. The movie will air on KIMO in February.

I’ve seen a lot of neighbors out enjoying the gorgeous snow! Many are taking advantage of snow machining in the Caribou Hills, and I enjoyed joining a group of young people and adults sledding on Knob Hill last week. There were 32 participants from Ninilchik, Happy Valley, Anchor Point, and Nikolaevsk. Steve and Bea Klaich, who live near the base of Knob Hill, graciously opened their home to help warm up the sledding party with hot chocolate, lots of food and games afterwards.

Last week, Shirley Schollenberg had a surprise birthday party in her barn in Happy Valley. Yes, I said barn. Some of the members of her 4-H club, the Trail Blazers, got together and had her lured from her house to the barn where they had prepared a table spread with a birthday cake and finger foods, and decorated with balloons and streamers. I wish I could have been there to see the look on her face when she entered the barn!

Kenai Peninsula Fair manager, Lara McGinnis reported that this year’s theme for the Kenai Peninsula Fair is “Where Pigs Fly”. She said that she would like to see your participation at the fair board meetings that are held on the first Thursday of every month at 7:00 p.m. at the fairgrounds. She is also asking for volunteers to step up to help with the “Celebrity Waiter” fundraiser that will be held in April. Please call Lara at 567-3670 if you can help out in any way.

If you are a junior in high school and interested in the legislative process for local and state government, you may be interested in the American Legion Girls State or Boys State held in Wasilla each year. Alaska Girls State Co-Chairman, Debra Henderson said to keep an eye out for the information packets that will be delivered to your school this month. The dates for the American Legion Girls State will be June 7-13th and American Legion Boys State will be June 14th-20th. Ninilchik’s American Legion Ladies Auxiliary helps to sponsor a young person each year. If you would like any information please contact Debra at debra_henderson@hotmail.com.

The Ninilchik Community Library is holding a Valentine raffle. First prize will be a basket of Valentine goodies and second prize will be a 50″ x 80″ Valentine lap quilt. Tickets are 50 cents each and the drawing will be held on February 9 at the library.

I noticed that on the Ninilchik Post Office bulletin board there is a reward for any information leading to the return of the jaws of life extraction tool that was stolen from Ninilchik Emergency Services. If you know anything about this, please call 567-3374 or leave an anonymous message at 567-3342.

Birthdays this week are Lara McGinnis tomorrow, Jan. 15; Andy Patrick on Jan. 16; Marta Simpson on Jan 17; Dave Cooper Jr. and Stephanie Spencer on Jan. 18; Talya Encelewski and Amanda Fender-Alms on Jan. 19; and Lily Vanek on Jan. 20.

Enjoy the snow!

Robert and Stacy Correia of Clam Gulch had the final local baby of 2007. Eight pound-ten ounce Jared Luke Correia was born at 1:04 a.m. December 29. A pioneering spirit is still alive in Clam Gulch. The baby was born by flashlight in a setnet cabin, which was in winter quarters on Correia’s property, half a mile north of Falls Creek. Bree Little of Kasilof assisted Stacy while Robert kept a fire crackling away in the stove. Snow fell as if by script to make a perfect winter night.

“Its a tender thing to have a home birth,” Stacy said. “I really felt the presence of God the whole time.”

God and pioneers notwithstanding, friends and neighbors breathed a collective sigh of relief when the baby and mother came through the experience in good health.

Jared joins siblings, Caroline Grace, 10, Ray James, 7, Tyrell Jean, 6, and Anthony Robert, 3. His paternal grandparents are Bob Correia (now married to Liz) of Tustumena Lake Road and Nita Galloway (now married to Martin) off Crooked Creek Road, his maternal grandparents are Rick and Sally Huddleston of Soldotna. His great –grandparents are Shirley Hatten of Clam Gulch, Sam and Billie Huddleston of Kenai and Bob Brown and Evalyn Petsche of Florida.

Congratulations to Clam Gulch setnetter Joel Doner, who was elected January 8 to the Anchorage Fish and Game Advisory Committee (AC). He beat former Board of Fish chairman Art Nelson by one vote to gain the position. Joel lives in Anchorage but his grandfather homesteaded in Anchor Point in 1950 and started setnetting in Clam Gulch in 1962. Joel is the lone commercial fisher on the Anchorage AC. Some readers may remember Joel from a fish he caught in 2006. It was an Atlantic Salmon and almost certainly an escapee from a fish farm. Farming salmon is illegal in Alaska, but net pens holding Atlantic Salmon in Canada, Washington and Oregon often brake. Escaped Atlantic salmon threaten Alaska’s healthy salmon populations, which is typical with the introduction of any exotic species. Joel’s Atlantic salmon is the only verified one to turn up in Cook Inlet so far. There have been several elsewhere in Alaska.

Since the days when Bob and Mary Lambe owned the Mercantile, there has been a shelf of Kasilof Library books there. The Laster family has carried on that tradition. The books are 50¢ for paperbacks and $1 for hard covers. All the proceeds go to the library. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but you won’t get the whole story from the movie. You have to read the book.

January 26 the Tustumena 200 dogsled race will start. The Mercantile will serve free coffee that day from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. and all-you-can-eat spaghetti for $9.99 from noon to 8 p.m. At 4 p.m. they will hold the 2nd annual Kasilof spaghetti-eating contest. Joseph Robertia of Cohoe won last year’s competition by a bite over Eric Haddock.

A week before Christmas, Kristy Sellers of South Cohoe broke her back after getting bucked off her horse. Anchorage surgeons gained access to her lower spine by a long lateral incision (from belly to back). Kristy was repaired with cadaver and titanium parts. She is a psychologist at Central Peninsula hospital and is frustrated in convalescence, wanting to get back to work. Kristy’s husband, Mike, is the principal at Nikolaevsk School, near Anchor Point.

Now that Kasilof has snow and cold weather, the snow can be used to good advantage. Depending on fluff, snow has an “R” value similar to fiberglass insulation. It can be shoveled against a house to prevent heat loss, especially in places where water pipes are exposed to freezing. Shoveling snow is great exercise and stacking it against a house will cut fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions —thus deterring global warming.

Kasilof Community Church is offering Beth Moore Bible studies on the Book of Psalms. One starts at 1:00 p.m. Wednesday, January 16th, the other at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, January 17th. The Wednesday class has a nursery. For more information call 262-7512.

Have you noticed two young ladies laughing and having fun while shoveling snow and cleaning in the mornings at the Ninilchik Post Office during the past two weeks? They were Kristy Knox and Abi Daniels filling in for Erin Knox who was spending her Christmas vacation in Nome with her husband Jeriah Knox who is working on a construction job there. Both girls were home for their Christmas break from college at Bob Jones University in South Carolina and said they were especially enjoying the snow. Kristy is a junior majoring in International Studies with a minor in Spanish, and Abi is a freshman majoring in Organizational Communications with a minor in Counseling. Kristy’s 21st birthday was on Jan 2, and to celebrate, her family took her skiing to Alyeska Ski Resort. One of Abi’s Christmas gifts was a lift ticket for Alyeska, and she is enjoying it today with her family before she has to board the plane to fly back to college this evening.

Ninilchik Community Library raffle winners were Raven Patrick, who won the Christmas stocking full of goodies, and Craig Haulk, who won the DVD player.

Suzan Cobb had a visit from her brother, David Anderson of Cordova and his son, Davey last week. When I met David on New Year’s Eve, it was interesting to find out that by default, he was having a class reunion at the New Year’s Eve celebration we were attending that evening because his cousin, Jody (Anderson) Gardner, of Ninilchik was present. She and Dave made up the entire graduating class 1986 at a small school in a logging camp at Port Alice of Heceta Island in the Tongess National Forest in Southeast, Alaska.

Newly elected officers of the Domestic Engineers are Pat Togni, president; Cindy Crabb, vise president; Anne Florey, secretary; Martha Ogren, treasurer; Liz Kruzick, historian; Judy Harper, corresponding secretary; and Roswitha Miller, membership chair. The next meeting is slated for Jan 10th at Cindy Crabb’s residence. At the meeting they will be forming a work party to send out valentines to soldiers who are serving overseas. Pat Togni told me that they are always looking for new members and like to hear suggestions from the community for worthwhile projects that will support our community. If you have questions about joining the Domestic Engineers or directions to their meetings, give Judy Harper a call at 567-4487.

Homer Public Heath will be providing well child exams by appointment from 9 a.m. to noon on January 9 at the Ninilchik Community Clinic. Immunizations will take place from 1 to 3 p.m. If you have any questions call 235-8857.

Birthdays this week are Wilma McHone and Valley Rae Cooper on Jan 8; Tabetha Albee on Jan. 11; and Joann Steik and Riley Drake on Jan. 12.

Please help me by sending in news about your family, friends and organizations, so that this column can reflect all parts of our community. Have a wonderful week!

Over 200 people gathered on Dean Osmar’s beachfront property in Cohoe on Dec. 31 to honor his wife, Sarah Armstrong. She died in a car crash the day before Christmas. Dean is an Iditarod-winning dog musher, a prestigious setnet fisherman, an avid hunter, and a son of Clam Gulch pioneer, Per Osmar. Sarah took her lawyer’s education and her model’s looks with her a dozen years ago to the Cohoe Woods to be with Dean.

The path to the bluff-top gravesite was lined with candles in ice globes. The weather pulled up at 20° F. and the wind waited while a gentle surf tumbled ashore. The crowd filed by Sarah’s open casket. It was a simple affair of pine. Nearby, two chest-high fires percolated away.

Sarah’s stepfather, Don Moon, a retired Episcopal minister from Illinois, led the service. Standing next to him was Sarah’s twin sister, Meg, her mother Joanne, and other family members. Don opened the service and led everyone in reciting Psalm 23. Meg read, So we’ll go no more a-roving (1817 Byron) and was followed by Sarah’s neighbor, Colleen Robertia, who sang The Rose (1977 McBroom). Her words floated like snowflakes, crisp and clear as the heavens on a splendid night.

Colleen’s husband, Joseph, a journalist and dog musher, talked about Sarah and read a poem by his wife, which was printed in the handout. Kasilof musher Jon Little also spoke warmly of her. During the entire service Dean stood stoically with his arm around Joanne, Meg was transparent with pain, and the surf never failed to fall.

Karl Kircher told how setnetters along the coast call Dean to get information pertinent to positioning their nets, with reference to floating logs. Karl said that after Sarah came, callers realized they could get also get good information from her. He went on, “Sarah gave people the impression that they were important to her. She used every meeting as an opportunity to brighten your day.”

Brian O’Neil of Minnesota spoke. He is the lead attorney on behalf of fishers in the aged Exxon oil spill litigation. He hired Sarah in the mid “80s and remarked at her talent. He mentioned how she was incredibly well read in “the classics.” He believed her relationship with Dean had solved a persistent restlessness in her spirit. Brian said her favorite poem was Paradise Lost (1667 Milton). Recently, however, she has grown to prefer —and he recited, “I wandered lonely as a cloud, that floats on high o’er vales and hills, when all at once I saw a crowd, a host, of golden daffodils…” (From Daffodils Wordsworth 1807).

Jocelyn, Dean and Neva’s daughter, (Dean is divorced) told how her siblings grew to love Sarah after she joined them. “She loved children and animals,” Jocelyn said. Meg led a group singing of Try to Remember (1960 Jones). Evy Gebhardt, a neighbor of Dean’s and the wife of musher, Paul Gebhard, told how Sarah had left so suddenly that many couldn’t be here. She said Jerry Wills was one of these and read a letter from him. An excerpt from which read, “Besides her outstanding beauty, her smile was like dessert at a banquet.” Jerry is a Kasilof pioneer and a long time drift fisher.

Don prayed, “…Make us, like her, an instrument of peace,” speaking of Sarah. He went on, “It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.…”

A family member led in singing I’ll be Seeing You (1938 Kahal). Then Colleen sang You Are My Sunshine (1940 Davis). Both of the songs Colleen sang are Bette Midler hits. Colleen’s voice was better than middling.

A reception followed in Dean’s house. There finger food was heaped till the tables couldn’t contain it.

Many guests came from far away. Other members of Sarah’s family included: Her younger sister, Jenny; stepsister Sharon Moon; stepbrother Stephan Moon and his partner Diana Lowry; sister by marriage Joanna Baas and her son Alex Ortiz; Aunt Joyce Bavas; Uncle Tom Wiegand and his son Tom; niece Jessica Armstrong; and two friends from England, Helen and Sophia Browning. Helen and Sarah met at Oxford University, where Sarah once attended school. Sophia was Sarah’s godchild.

Every one who attended was special, but perhaps a few of these people can be pointed out. A list of such is: Dean’s Dad, Per Osmar, he is over 90. Dean’s son Tim Osmar and his wife, Tawny, and children. Tim made it hobbling on crutches because of a badly broken leg. His accident happened fighting a forest fire in June. Paul Ruesch, the F&G commercial fishery area management biologist who managed the Cook Inlet for years. He is retired. Also among F&G biologists was Bruce and Mary King. John and Aileen Huey, who setnet in Clam Gulch from the early 1950s – the late 1970s. Bob Toll, who ran the Iditarod back in the 80s and has setnet for about 30 years. Bob and Dean Osmar were friends of Clam Gulch mechanic Reginald “Woody” Woods, who has been deceased for more than a decade. Paul Dale and his wife Brenda Stoops, they own Snug Harbor Seafoods. Robert Correia, An old neighbor and long-time friend of Dean’s. Robert has drift fished something like 40 years. Pete Ehrhardt , a Kenai attorney for whom Sarah Armstong had been working part time. Attorney Joseph Kashi and his wife, Kathleen Dinius. Bob and Janet Clucas. Jant came to Clam Gulch with her parents only a few months after Dean came with Per and Fran. Bob and Janet have setnet together since 1959. Linda Wright. Linda’s husband, Seth, died in 2002. Linda and Seth were neighbors of Dean when they all lived at mile 1 south Cohoe Loop. Allen Perry, a veteran of several Iditarod races and a long time Bristol Bay drifter. Gary Katsion, owner of Clam Gulch Lodge and a neighbor of Per’s. Gary brought Per and often helps drive him places. Jennifer Dulmage, Per’s care-giver. Karl and Cindy Kircher, Cohoe setnetters. Robert and Kris Williams, Cohoe setnetters. Jan Casey, a postmistress at Clam Gulch. Carol Joyce and her husband, Bill. Carol is postmistress at Kasilof. Geri Ranson, a long time Cohoe setnetter. Jon and Bree Little, Kasilof mushers.

Many other people were there. If someone has a more complete list, e-mail it to ragweb@gci.net and I’ll put it on here.

Katja Wolfe is the new Kasilof Public Librarian. She moved here from the Chicago area about a year ago. She is the wife of Matt Wolfe. The library is in Tustumena School, hours are Mon., Tue., and Thurs. 2:30-6:00. The Library Board thanks Teri Josephson, the previous librarian, for all her work. The best way to welcome a new librarian is stop by and check out a book.

You are invited to a family New Year’s eve party at Tustumena School beginning at 8 p.m. Kasilof Community Church has organized the party, which features refreshments, finger foods, movies, games and fun.

A tragic Christmas Eve traffic accident in Kasilof took the life of Cohoe resident Sarah Armstrong. Her pick-up went off slick roads and slid sideways into a tree. Sarah was the wife of Dean Osmar and has been part of the community since the early ‘90s.

Sixty-five year-old Larry Gjovig, owner of the J-Bar-B Club, died Dec. 17. Under his management, the J-Bar-B hosted frequent fund-raisers for people with health crises. The fate of the restaurant / lounge will be known after Larry’s estate is settled. Larry was a big supporter and participant in the Peninsula Ice Racing Association (PIRA). He has served as president of that group and raced yearly for over 20 years.

In memory of Larry, this might be a good time to come out and watch ice races. The first race of the season will be January 6 at Decanter Inn from noon to 4:00 p.m. Watching is free for spectators. Anyone can join the group and compete in the 2008 events, just contact PIRA president Ralph Mills at 262-7364 or call the Decanter Inn.

Car inspection is mandatory for participants. Requirements include: rear wheel drive only; traction devices (studs, screws and bolts) are allowed on front tires only; all glass, except windshield and rear window must be removed (or rolled down); headlights and tail lights must be removed; and no fluid leaks are allowed. PIRA broke off from the Homer ice-racing club in the early 1970s and has been active every year since then. According to PIRA officials, Homer and Kasilof are the only places on the Peninsula that ice racing is held. Events such as occur weekly at the Decanter Inn are not available in Anchorage.

PIRA requires 18” of ice. This is because more than 10 cars are usually on the ice. Sometimes the Homer club has come to Kasilof to race because they don’t have enough ice there. Races will be held every Sunday for 8-12 weeks, depending on how long the ice holds, except, the race will be on Saturday the week of the Super Bowl. The first race will be preceded by time trials to determine the line up. After that week, spectator races will be featured. In those heats spectators can pay $5 and drive one of the qualified cars in a race with other spectators. More fun can’t be sat on in one situation.

New Year’s resolutions are popular in Kasilof, but pointless without solid documentation. Problem is, most participants make resolutions requiring discipline, but fall off the wagon as pages peel from the calendar. This year offer your diet, exercise or other tasteful resolution in the Kasilof Neighbor’s column and let it appear before God and thousands of readers. You won’t be breaking that commitment in a whim! Happy New Year!