Since the beach ices up during the winter, access to our home on the beach in Happy Valley is difficult, so we don’t have many drop-in visitors this time of year. However, when my son, Caleb, was taking ashes out one evening last week, he heard heavy footsteps approaching in the darkness. When he turned around, two foreboding shadows made his heart leap. A mama moose and her offspring had invited themselves over for a meal of alder and willow branches in our front yard. This duo has been hanging out for over a week now–even bedding down at night a few yards from our house. These visits as well as seeing seals and sea otters playfully floating by on the ice floe have caused a bit of distraction from our daily home-school routine, but we will never take for granted the joys and wonders of living here.

There will be a Fish and Game Advisory meeting this evening at 7 p.m. at Ninilchik School. Voting for federal subsistence proposals is on the agenda.

There will be an EMS-1 training offered at Ninilchik Emergency Services building on Thursday, Feb. 28. For more information, call Mike Chihuly at 567-3374 or Gina Wiste at 252-2196.

12 young people from the Ninilchik area from grades 3 through 11 participated in the Kenai Peninsula district-wide 4-H Public Presentation and Educational Display Contests held at the borough building in Soldotna on Saturday. Willie and Marilyn Morris of Happy Valley went to observe the competition and to provide moral support to the kids. “I was so impressed with their ability to speak and perform under stress,” Marilyn exclaimed. She added, “I wish that I could be a kid all over again and get the 4-H experience of learning by doing and gain public speaking skills while I was young.” Participants were Sarah Cobb, Mattie Cobb, Caleb Daniels, Joanna Daniels, Naomi Hess, Hannah Kelson, Esther Knox, Kody Knox, Misty Knox, Krystal Robuck, David Pherson, and Carla Pherson. Videos tapings of the presentation finalists will be sent to Juneau for the statewide competition.

Argent Kvasnikoff , son of Jack and Marla Kvasnikoff and graduate of Ninilchik School, was elected Capilano College International Student Liaison in February. Argent is a freshman at Capilano in Vancouver, Canada, studying Linguistics and First Nations Studies. As International Student Liaison, he works with students from around the world, assisting them with interpretive needs, host family placement, legal referrals and coordinates twice monthly events to give international students opportunities for touring the local area and meeting with other area students. Marla said that Argent credits his fluency in several languages and his volunteer hours with the International Student committee for his election as the International Student liaison and is thrilled to have the opportunity to meet and interact with so many people from around the globe.

Josh Denna has signed a football scholarship to play at Valley City State University, in North Dakota. Josh, a senior at Soldotna High School, is a Kasilof lad. His mother is Laura Lahndt, his grandmother is Joan Lahndt, and his great-grandmother was Enid McLane, the very matriarch of Kasilof education.

Enid, the first territorial teacher in Kasilof, opened classes in the 1932-33 school year. Then, the school was on the Cohoe side of the river, and it remained there until about a month into the 1938 school year. The Cohoe school building now resides on Larry Meyer’s property off Yukon Road. That building is one of several historic cabins that Larry has restored.

In 1938 the old Alaska Packers Association hospital was moved from the river to the Kasilof airport. It then became the territorial schoolhouse, but the change was controversial. Kasilof River had no bridge and crossing the river was very difficult when ice was unstable. Between 1932-38, Enid had moved across the river each season when school started. Once the school came to the east side of the river, she could remain at home. Her daughters, Joan and Jettie, graduated from 8th grade at Kasilof in the spring of 1939. For three school seasons Enid accompanied them to Washington where they lived with their grandmother, Bertha Stryker, and attended school. Enid’s husband, Archie, often had to run their Kasilof farm without her. “Education was very important to my parents and Dad made many sacrifices for it,” Joan said.

In 1939-40 John Cowles was the Kasilof teacher, in 1940-41 Marie Fox took that position and Fred Caldwell held that post for the 1941-42 season. The coming of World War II saw several families leave Kasilof and enrollment dropped too low to open the school. Enid taught at Kenai for 1942-43, 1943-44, and 1944-45. In subsequent columns I’ll follow this narrative through to Tustumena School and the current principal, Ken Halverson.

The airport schoolhouse was eventually moved and became the McLane Center. It houses the Kasilof Historical Association museum where public presentations are made the second Thursday of winter months. On February 14, Linda Chamberlain PhD, MPH, gave one of these presentations. She spoke on the history of Alaska dogmushing mail, with a focus on the Kenai Peninsula. A full house attended including distinguished pioneers such as Dolly Farnsworth, Marge and Peggy Mullen, Al Hershberger, Ty Hanley, Guy Tri and many more.

Linda is a scientist educated at Yale and John Hopkins Universities. She married Al Breitzman and they live 14 miles east of Homer. There they have Howling Husky Homestead, which includes a dogmushing museum. Linda has been trained on how violence effects brain development and offers expertise to service providers who work with traumatized children. She has adapted a technique using the various positions of dogs in a team to illustrate the necessity of people working together.

Carol Joyce, the Kasilof postmistress, saw Linda’s presentation. Carol will be attending a postmasters meeting in Anchorage and intends to let other postmasters know about Linda’s research on dogmushing mail. Linda is writing a book on this subject.

Happy President’s Day! Or should I say, Happy Washington’s Birthday?
In 1879, Washington’s Birthday had become the first federal holiday to single out an individual’s birth date, but the honor didn’t last.
In 1968, the Ninetieth Congress proposed a bill to celebrate Washington’s birthday on the third Monday of February for social and economic reasons, and honoring our first president on his actual birthday was forever lost. In 1971, merchants in Texas renamed the holiday, “Presidents’ Day” in order to expand their sales dates from Lincoln’s birthday on Feb. 12 to Washington’s birthday on the 22. It is unclear why and when Washington’s birthday “officially” became accepted as “Presidents’ Day.”

Recently, home-schooled 10th grader, Sarah Cobb wrote a speech on the United States Constitution and entered the American Legion Oratorical contest sponsored by the American Legion Post in Kenai. Her speech entitled, “Authority, Our Privilege” won her a $750 U.S. Savings bonds and qualified her to compete at the state level in Anchorage on Feb. 23. Sarah will be doing her speech for the American Legion Posts in Ninilchik and Anchor Point in the near future. Sarah is the daughter of Larry and Suzan Cobb.

Marlys Kvasnikoff would like to thank the community for their sympathy and support upon the sudden death of her son, Joseph Kvasnikoff. She said that she is always amazed at how our community comes together to support one another during times of grief and crisis.

Ninilchik Emergency Services is providing an EMT-1 Class on February 28th free of charge, at the NES building on Kingsley Road in Ninilchik. If you would consider being trained to become part of a dedicated crew who volunteer their time to help with emergencies in our community, please call Fire Chief Mike Chihuly @ 567-3374 or EMT Chief Gina Wiste @ 252-2196.

Winners of Ninilchik Community Library’s Valentine raffle were Tim Meyers who won the box of Valentine goodies and Shirley Chihuly who won the Valentine lap quilt.

The Biggest Loser Contest held at Ninilchik Health and Wellness Club is in full swing. Congratulations to Cindy Crabb for losing the most weight last month. Cindy said that working out regularly at Ninilchik’s Health Club and modifying her food portions helped her lose the 10.75 pounds last month and won her a $100 cash prize.

There will be a Quality Schools Institute community meeting at the Kenai Peninsula Fairgrounds today from noon -4 p.m. The meeting will continue tomorrow, (Feb. 19) with a subcommittee meeting from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and an Interested Community meeting from 6-7:30 p.m.
The intent of the meeting is to open a dialogue about the continuation and creation of various safe, supervised, social opportunities for young people in our community.

Happy Birthday to Beth Garrison, Tom Spencer, and Mary Jean Kitchens today; Brenda Jackinsky Feb. 19, Joseph Leman, Tiffany Stoncipher, George Pollard and Tony Amato on Feb. 21; Mandi Patrick and Michael Chapman on Feb. 22; and Jim Pennintton and MacKenzie Lindeman on Feb. 23.

Roland Maw of Cohoe has been busy. He was nominated by Governor Palin and in September appointed by President Bush to the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC), a group with three members each from Canada, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the U.S. They direct high seas research and keep tabs on enforcement of the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention, which, by 1994, banned high seas driftnet fishing. In early October, Roland attended a NPAFC meeting in Vladivostok, Russia’s largest seaport on the Pacific Ocean. There he discovered that participating Coast Guards had caught eight vessels fishing drift nets on the high seas. Ships were confiscated and the crews arrested. 90 tons of salmon, tuna, shark and seabird were found on one vessel.

Early January saw Roland attending a NPAFC meeting in Washington D.C. At this meeting they reviewed scientific packages designed for drifting nets. The packages will be used when nets are lost or abandoned because of storms or vessels fleeing capture. Pursuit boats are not equipped to retrieve nets, which can be over 30 miles long. The devices track nets and collect data.

Years ago Roland met Alaine Shields, whose father was dean of graduate studies at the University of Montana - Western. Roland earned a doctor’s degree in forest and wildlife management and married Alaine. They celebrated their 40th anniversary in December.

Roland is executive director of the United Cook Inlet Drift Association. On their behalf he traveled to Kodiak in late January and spent nearly two weeks in Anchorage in early February, attending Board of Fisheries meetings. Roland owns the “Americus” and has operated it for two seasons as the Cook Inlet sockeye test fishing boat. Maw’s own a second home in Montana.

Among neighborhood names attending the February BOF meetings, were Jeff Beaudoin, Dyer VanDevere and Brent Johnson. Brent is president of Kenai Peninsula Fishermen’s Association. Horace Blanchard, a Kalifornsky Beach setnetter, flew up from Louisiana and his neighbor, Greg Johnson, came from Washington.

At those meetings a regulation was established to allow two drift-permit holders to co-op on one vessel. This allows them to add 300 foot of net to their previous maximum allotment of 900 feet. The BOF also directed managers to use near-shore setnets as a tool to avoid use of the Kasilof “Terminal Harvest Area,” and flexible management to achieve river escapement goals.

On 2-19-08 Roland will be traveling to United Fishermen of Alaska meetings in Juneau. A week or two later he will head for Montana.

A Fish and Wildlife Service pick-up is often parked along the Sterling Highway just north of Coal Creek. Protection officers use this highway pull-off to unload snow machines and access the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. They patrol the Refuge to keep an eye out for hunting or trapping violations, as well as snow machine use. The Refuge boundary is only about a mile east of the highway at this pull-off. Coal Creek Lake, a water body a bit larger than Johnson Lake, is a couple miles east of the Refuge boundary.

My apology to Susan Steinbach. In last week’s column I said she was an RN. She is actually a certified nurses assistant (CNA).

Mark and Sarah Rozak have moved into their new house, which has a view of the Kenai Mountains. It’s on Moraine Vista Street and sits high on the hill above Rhino Linings. Mark’s mother is Darlene Rozak and his father was the late Greg Rozak, who owned Rozak Excavating. Mark now runs that business. John Evanson, owner of Pioneer Construction built the house. Both above and below ground, it is made of concrete filled foam blocks with an energy equivalence of R-40. Pioneer Construction is home-based at mile 7, Kalifornsky Beach Road.

In 2005 Dave and Pat Wolf bought a house with some history on Carol Road, off Cohoe Loop. The house started about 1978 as a project of Jack Beesler’s. Bill Toombs was a contractor in Fairbanks where he mostly worked on commercial buildings. He was a friend of Beesler’s and ended up buying the old Paul and Wanda Richards property on Carol Road. Bill and Jody Toombs built a new house there and moved in about 1978. They also ended up finishing and owning the house Beesler started. Bill was a friend of Paul Stevens who also built on Carol Road. Paul was a janitor at Tustumena School and his daughter is Pauline Mills, the Tustumena School secretary of several years.

Dwight and Lenoria Johnson bought the house from Toombs in 1980. Dwight was a Unical employee and worked on Inlet oil platforms. He eventually went to work, month on and month off, in Indonesian oil fields and the Johnson’s sold the house, in 1995, to Randy and Lynda Wandler. Randy works on the North Slope, but they moved to Wyoming. Wolf’s are schoolteachers.

In the end of August, Jack and Suzanne Fisler moved into their new house on Tustumena Lake Road. They were married in 1990 and spent 16 years in a trailer house.

“This is our retirement home,” Jack said.

His parents, Earl and Dorothy Fisler moved there from Oregon in 1957. They came because land was available for homesteading. Earl was a navy vet who had been involved in five major engagements in the Pacific Ocean during World War II. He and Dorothy ran a home farm where they grew alfalfa, and kept horses and milk cows. They also raised pigs, chickens, and rabbits. They primarily used their farm products at home, but sold the surplus to local markets. Earl worked for the Highway Department and Dorothy put in a term on the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly. Jack is a retired heavy equipment operator and Suzanne retired from the federal Fish and Wildlife Service, where she worked out of the Soldotna River Center.

Recently, Governor Palin appointed Suzanne to the Natural Resources Conservation and Development Board. Her first meeting will take place in March in Juneau. The Board meets quarterly, usually in Anchorage. They give advice to the commissioner of the State Department of Natural Resources and the State Soil and Water Conservation Corps, as well as its federal counterpart, the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

I am aware that many, kind and generous neighborly acts go on in our community that are quietly woven into the unique fabric that makes up our small town. When I observe deeds such as plowing snow for the elderly, sanding icy driveways and taking food to a shut-ins, usually the neighbor who performs the deed brushes it aside and would rather it went unnoticed.

Recently, when I took a group of 4-H members to Nadine Russo’s house in Ninilchik for knitting lessons, I was greeted at the door by a neighbor whom I never met before. After introductions, I found out that her name was Sheri Marrufo who lives off of Resch Road about a mile from my place in Happy Valley. She had stopped by Nadine’s house to get some advice on flooring for the house she and her husband are building, and while there, her dogs, Benji and Benji’s mom, Xena, had locked her out of her car. As she was waiting for her neighbor to bring a spare set of keys, I found out that she and her husband, Joe, are both Teamsters who drive truck in Prudhoe Bay. They bought property here in 1999 and moved from Anchorage in 2001. Sheri said that she is excited about retirement, which is right around the corner for her. She hopes to be able to finish their new house as well as have more time for gardening and for getting into fly-fishing.

I didn’t get to meet Sandy Jazkin, the neighbor who drove the 24-mile round trip on that cold winter day to rescue Sheri, but I’m sure she is just like many others in our community, ready to help a neighbor–at the drop of a hat– in the time of need.

68 people turned out for the Republican poll held in Ninilchik. The votes were as follows: Romney, 34; Huckabee 17; McCain, 10; Ron Paul, 5; and 2 undecided. Democrats in Ninilchik area voted in Soldotna, so I was unable to obtain their results. When I asked Crystal Robuck, 10, a third grader at Ninilchik School who she would vote for, she replied, “I’d vote for Hillary Clinton because she is a girl and wants to help us with health care.”

Ninilchik Invitational Basketball Tournament will be held at Ninilchik School Thursday through Saturday. This is our chance to get out and support the Ninilchik Wolverines boys and girls basketball teams. Concessions will be available at the games. The community is invited to attend the homecoming bonfire held in the lot across from the fairgrounds at 6 p.m. tomorrow.

Willard and Ruthe Bauman’s daughter, Cathy Andrew, flew in from Colorado Springs to surprise her dad, Willard, for his 75th birthday, which is tomorrow, Feb. 12. Other birthdays this week are Mary Ellen Doty, Shyanne Saliee, and Cole Ogren-Butail today; Mechaela Fender on Feb. 12; Michelle Quinton on Feb. 13; Debbie Amato on Feb. 14; and Naomi Deutschle on Feb. 15.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Congratulations to our two local Jr. T mushers, Merissa Osmar of Clam Gulch and Rebekah Ruzicka of Anchor point who competed in the Jr. T dogsled race held in Kasilof on Jan 26. The Jr. T is a 50-mile round trip race in the Caribou Hills for mushers under 18.

I spoke with Rebekah Ruzicka 15, who is home schooled and the daughter of Doug and Debbie Ruzicka, about her experience with the Jr. T. Even though she came in next to last, she said that she had a lot of fun racing and she highly recommends the sport to anyone. She said that she participated in the Jr. Iditarod last year and that her family has been very supportive of her racing. She especially enjoys the quietness while mushing, surrounded by the beauty of Alaska’s great outdoors. She warns new mushers to be prepared with the right clothing in order to stay warm. “It’s always a lot colder than you would ever expect,” she exclaimed. With her lead dog, Kayak, she is planning to race in the Jr. Iditarod held on Feb. 23 this year. Shameka Nelson of Anchor Point is also signed up for the race. The Jr. Iditarod is approximately 145 miles long starting in the Wasilla area with an overnight at Yentna and return for a finish in Willow. Teens 14 - 17 can still sign up for the Jr. Iditarod, but entries must be in no later than February 9. You can get more information at http://www.jriditarod.com

The Ninilchik Community Library will be having a Valentine bake sale in the Post Office lobby on Feb. 9 from 9 a.m.-noon. The drawing for the Valentine goodie box and the lap quilt will be on the same day at the library. Debra Henderson said that there’s still time to get your tickets and that she would like to thank everyone in advance for their support. For information please call the library 567-3333 during open hours.

The next Domestic Engineers meeting will be held on Feb. 23rd at Pat Togni’s home. For the rest of the year, the meetings will be held on second Saturday of every month at 2 p.m. to accommodate working ladies who would like to come. The Domestic Engineers recently donated $200 help with prizes to encourage those who are competing in the “Biggest Loser Contest” held at Ninilchik’s Health and Wellness Club.

Terri Leman reported that there is a new masseuse across the hall from Ninilchik’s Health and Wellness Club located at the Kenai Peninsula State Fairground. Masseuse Mitzi Smith has over 11 years experience and offers Swedish massage, deep tissue massage, reflexology, and trigger point therapy and is available Mon-Wed-Fri. from noon - 7 p.m. Please call the Health Club at 567-3880 for fees and to make an appointment.

Our local dentist, Dr. Zizi Zoubek and her staff are happy to report that their practice, Ninilchik Family Dentistry, has moved to their new location on Aspen Street off of Kingsley Road.

Congratulations to Carol Twait of Cohoe, who retired in December. Carol was a registered nurse (RN) who worked for over 15 years at Heritage Place, a long-term health care facility in Soldotna. Carol also taught certified nursing assistant (CNA) classes. Her husband, Roger, retired a year earlier from a maintenance position at Soldotna’s Sports Center.

Roger and his brother, Dennis Twait, were Minnesota farmers. In the early ‘80s farming there was doing a face-plant, so, in 1984, they sold the farm and moved to Cohoe. Dennis went to work in the oil fields and his wife, Pat, got a job at Kasilof Grocery, working for Don Rivers. She stayed on when Bob and Mary Lambe bought the grocery and renamed it the “Mercantile.” Pat retired in 2000.

Twait’s were attracted to the Peninsula because of their cousins, Bob and Bill Twait, of Hope. Bob and Bill’s uncle was Iver Nearhouse, the late owner of the Hope General Store and now an esteemed forefather of that town. In fact, Hope and Cohoe have another connection. Pete and Annie Hatch grew up in the Jesse Lee Home, a Methodist orphanage in Seward from 1925-64. They married and became Cohoe setnetters, but lived in Hope. In the spring Pete would put his 19’ skiff in Turnagin Arm and take it to Cohoe. We shouldn’t blame him for today’s gas shortage. His skiff had no motor. Pete worked the tides and the trip took three or four days. Bob and Linda Ducker of Cohoe Loop bought Hatch’s site. Their sons, Dan, Mark and Aaron inherited the site and still fish it. Roger and Carol Twait have three daughters and a son, whom all live “outside.” They are currently visiting children in Arizona.

Heritage Place is familiar to many Kasilovians. Susan Steinbach of Tustumena Lake Road is a RN there. Lowell Perry is another Tustumena Lake Roader who works at Heritage Place. Lowell became a certified nursing assistant in October and got a job at Heritage Place that same month. In December, his stepfather, Mike Hinsberger, was moved to Heritage Place from Lynchburg, Virginia. Mike worked for Skytower, a communications tower contractor. He and his boss suffered a 40-foot fall in March 2006, after a cable broke. His boss was killed, but Mike has been left bedridden. Severe brain injuries are ranked 1-8 on something known as the Rancho Los Amigos Scale. By this reckoning, a comatose person is a 1 and Mike is a low 3. He requires a lot of care. To keep his limbs limber, splints are put on his fingers, elbows and ankles in a cycle of two hours on, two off. Mike and his wife, Rebecca, left Kasilof in 2003 to help Becky’s daughter, Lana Perry, pursue a career in ballet. Lana is now in college, but Becky and her youngest children, Noah and Leah, moved back to their Tustumena Lake Road home last spring. Becky first came to Kasilof in 1973. She bought Cohoe property from Kuhns and built a log cabin there in 1975.