Today is Memorial Day and is selected by Congress as a day of rememberance for soldiers who were killed in action. Every soldier who never came home should always be remembered by all the people and politicians who have never gone to war.

Tom Osterman of south Cohoe was selected as an intern for Senator Stevens and Tom will soon travel to Washington DC. His airfare is provided and he will be paid for his work, although he must provide for his own housing. Competition is keen for the 30 internship jobs available each year in Congress. Tom is an exceptional student who graduated with a 3.95 GPA from Skyview High School this spring. He will return June 28 to work in the setnet fishery.

King salmon fishing has been slow in the Kasilof River perhaps due to the early date and cold weather. An adventure there occurred recently aboard guide Tom Corr’s drift boat. A fisherman from out of state took attention from his pole to photo a beaver. Simultaneously, a king ate the bait and his pole vaulted into the river. “It took half an hour to track the pole down, and it still had the king on it.” Tom said.

The first local public hearing regarding a lower Kasilof River boat launch was held on May 21 at Tustumena School. About 100 people attended including Representative Mike Chenault, Senator Tom Wagoner, Department of Fish & Game Sport Fish Director Charlie Swanton, Mayor Williams Chief of Staff Tim Navarre, Acting Area Superintendent of Parks and Outdoor Recreation Jack Sinclair, the unofficial leader of the Satori Way neighbors, Cindy Smith, and many others. The big news of the evening was that Jim Trujillo, owner of Ed’s Kasilof Seafoods, has withdrawn his property for consideration as a public boat launch site. For Satori Way residents and local people with habitat concerns, this was welcome news. Trujillo has allowed his site to be used for a haul out, but most people were more comfortable with Jim’s oversight than the State’s. These people site problems with the state dipnet fishery and its impact on river mouth dunes, bears, and the historic “Watchman’s Cabin” as reasons for their misgivings. Twice the legislature has approved spending more than two million dollars to secure the Trujillo property or another appropriate site. Twice the governor has vetoed the funds. Testimony on the evening ran mostly in opposition of any facility that promoted powerboats on the lower Kasilof. This hearing offered direction for State Parks, who has hired the engineering firm of HDR Alaska, Inc. to evaluate the sites. HDR will look at several sites and make recommendations. Comments were collected in a big box at the meeting and further comments can be sent to Julie.Jessen@hdrnic.com.

Johnson Lake Road, Tustumena Lake Road, and Crooked Creek Road are all scheduled for some paving. According to Representative Mike Chenault about seven miles of these roads will be paved. A $50,000 grant for improvements at the Kasilof Historical Association’s museum was approved by the leislature and survived the governor’s veto process, but a $70,000 grant for a columbarium at Spruce Grove Memorial Park was vetoed.

Delores Carter of Moraine Vista Ave is battling pancreatic cancer. She and her husband, Steve, moved to Kasilof one exciting day in 1976. Their first child was on the way and Steve bet he could get their house done in time to move in before the baby was born. He had to settle for the day after, and they moved in as a threesome with baby Melissa.

Carter’s are from New Mexico and Steve is an oil field worker. Tara and Chase were sequentially born and life was good, but in 1997 the family was thrown into a crisis. Twelve-year-old Chase started running a low fever and then developed bruises the size of dinner plates. Upon finding out that the bruises were linked to school bullies, Delores said, “I went to school and told them this better stop.” Chase got sicker, however, and doctors knew they were dealing with something serious. He and Delores flew to Seattle where suspicions of leukemia were confirmed. But treatment for the disease had progressed remarkably. Survival rates were in the 50-60 percent range and Chase was cured after three years of treatment.

The Carter family rejoiced when Melissa married Brandon Creeze and they had baby Levi. Then a second crisis hit. Brandon died in a plane crash. Melissa was pregnant and Lydia was born several months after the accident. Melissa mourned for a couple years and Delores helped in every way she could. Eventually happy times returned. Tara, who has 7-year-old DeAnna, works as the Director of Activities at an assisted living center in Anchorage. Chase is in college and Melissa has a good job in Texas.

But another crisis descended. Deloris had pneumonia in 2006 and a long bout of diarrhea followed. After many doctor visits, in Dec 2007 cancer of the pancreas was determined. She had chemotherapy treatments in Anchorage, but then went to Tulsa, Oklahoma for two months of treatments. Chase dropped out of school to accompany her. At the time he was ready to student teach English classes in Russia and his sacrifice meant a lot to Delores. “He said I took care of him 10 years ago and he was going to take care of me, now,” she related, with a catch in her voice.

Now Chase is in summer school and on May 19 Delores goes to the Mayo clinic in Minnesota. Doctors say there are six types of pancreatic cancer. They hope to discover her type and direct treatment designed specifically for it. Meanwhile, Steve is set to retire from Chevron on May 31 and Melissa is transferring back to the Peninsula and going to work at Tesoro.

The Kasilof-Cohoe Cemetery Association met on May 13 at the McLane Center. Jan See chaired the meeting. Among those in attendance were Brock See, Mary Jo McElroy, Jerry & Peggy McGerry, Dick & Jean Evenson, Dave Letzring, Lyle Cole, Joan Lahndt, Susan McLane, Catherine Cassidy, and myself. The association is in the process of applying for non-profit status and attempting to get additional property from the state. The state has not yet let the association know of the fate of their grant. Cemetery plots can be bought for $300 and it s possible to bury two people on one plot.

The Soldotna Lions club will hold its annual Spruce Grove Memorial Park clean-up May 24 at 10:00 a.m. Lunch will follow at See’s. Jan See, the clerk of the Kasilof-Cohoe Cemetery Association, and Lyle Cole, the sextant; are held in high regard. Jan has served graciously for four years and Lyle for 46 years. Jan had invited the Lion’s Club (and any other workers who show up) to lunch.

Last week I mentioned Paul Fischer’s heart tune up. He didn’t get a stent, he got a Pacemaker and defibrillator implant. Now he can’t carry a cell phone in his left shirt pocket because they may interfere with his heartware. He suggested that I make a bundle by marketing right-pocket shirts. But I sew so little and know you dear readers can put money in your pocket with Paul’s Right-Wing idea.

Razor clams are a bust at Clam Gulch again. This failure is accentuated by their consistency for the past hundred years. In fact, having personally dug in barbaras, I can attest to clam shells being a common find. According to Nicky Szarzi, a Homer biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, the clams ran into trouble in 2001, but the problem didn’t show up until that age class matured, in 2004. Before the age of three years, clams are too small for people to notice. Clams eat phytoplankton, but biologists don’t know why the clams are failing to grow. Typically, razor clams are considered good eating size by the age of 5 or 6 years, and clams live to about 13 years old. Since the problem appeared beginning with the 2001 age class, it is not yet known whether the clams will also die prematurely.

Nicky says there are still plenty of little clams and digging won’t impact them. I can vouch for digging having no great impact —there aren’t many diggers. For more than 30 years low tides have attracted hundreds of diggers. Last week we had a couple extreme low tides, tolerable weather, and squat for diggers. The high price of gas and tiny size of clams seems to have withered the shovel wavers.

Mysteriously, the clams at Ninilchik are still big. Whatever the problem is, it starts several miles north of that hamlet. Clams reach sexual maturity at the age of 2 or 3 years, and yes, there are two sexes. Apparently, clams lead a sheltered life and dating doesn’t happen. Both sexes simply release their seed into the sea and the mixing Inlet joins the twain to form a life. The system has merit. There are none of the dating hardships so rampant with humans and moose. Baby clams go through a six-week phase as free swimmers. This is pretty amazing if we consider the tides. Somehow these lambs of the clam family stay on location, or enough of them make it back to the Clam Gulch area to sustain their existence. Eventually, clams grow a tiny shell and drop down out of the water column to the sand. The clams are protected by a state recognized beach designation. Clam Gulch State Critical Habitat Area stretches from Happy Valley to Cape Kasilof.

The Research Triangle Institute (RTI) of North Carolina has been in the local area performing interviews for the Substance Abuses and Mental Health Services Administration, a branch of the U.S. Public Health Service. RTI is conducting the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Lucky people who are selected for the 45-minute interview get paid $30 for their cooperation. The questions relate to substance abuse, income, and insurance. The government uses the information to determine the success of drug prevention programs and the need for treatment facilities, as well as numerous other applications. Lynda Purvis, one of the interviewers, was born in Fairbanks and has been staying at Clam Gulch Lodge.

The Spruce Grove Memorial Park cemetery association is holding a meeting at 5:30 May 13 at the McLane Center. The public is welcome.

Last week I mistakenly credited Nancy Kitchen with a bronze medal in a state bowling tournament. Louise Snyder actually won that medal, which was for a local seniors tournament. Her husband, Charles, died in November, and she will have a ceremony for scattering his ashes on Memorial Day at Snyder’s Hole in the Kasilof River. Louise plans to eventually move to Virginia to be near a son who lives there.

The Bush family has started a petition to name the Kasilof River bridge after Bobby Bush Jr. He was 41 when he died last July following a battle with diabetes and liver failure. The disease showed up out of the blue after he returned from a four-year stint in the army and a tour of duty in Iraq. Bobby was in a tank division involved in the initial attack of Desert Storm. At the time he got the disease, no one on either side of his family had any history of it. For Bobby, diabetes led to kidney failure and dependence on dialysis machines.

Soldotna’s bridge is named after David Douthit. Like David, Bobby graduated from Soldotna High School in 1984. David was the only Alaskan killed in Desert Storm. He was 24 and left behind a pregnant wife. Captain Benjamin Tiffner, son of Timothy and Judy Tiffner of Soldotna, was killed in action on November 7. Tiffner’s have called Soldotna “home” since 1998, but their roots are in West Virginia. That state has named a major highway bridge after Benjamin. Seventeen service men and women from Alaska have been killed in the on-going Iraq war. Including soldiers stationed in Alaska, that number jumps to 109.

Before joining the Army, Bobby Bush Jr. married a local woman and had a son, Blade, and daughter, Lacy. His marriage broke up, however, and while stationed in Germany he married a German who already had several children. They added a son, John, together but also divorced. Later Bobby had a second daughter, Mantanya, but didn’t remarry.

Frank Bush served in the Navy during WWII. Frank and his wife, Irene, moved to Kasilof in 1958. They raised nine children, several of whom, like Frank, have worked in the petroleum industry. Their children are Jimmy, Billy, Eddy, Bobby, Shiela, Ronny, Donny, Johnny, and David. Bobby married “Buttons,” and they had two children, Bobby Jr. and Karen. Buttons, from Tacoma, is an only daughter with 10 brothers. Karen works at the Mercantile, where the petition is available. Ultimately, the authority for naming a state bridge belongs to the state legislature.

Kasilof Public Library raised over $2,000 in their book fair, an amount considered excellent by librarian, Katja Wolfe. She extends her sincere thanks to the community for their support.

Assemblyman Paul Fischer had a Pacemaker and defibrillator installed during surgery in Anchorage on May Day.

On May 8 at 9:00 p.m. PBS television will air “Alaska, Off The Beaten Path,” a movie about the Haeg’s life in Chinitna Bay.