Daily Sitka Sentinel from Sitka, Alaska • Page 10

Page 10, Daily Sitka Sentinel, Silka, Alaska, Wednesday, December 14,1988 CHINA CURIO CABINETS and DRESSERS You'll find a beautiful assortment of styles at THE FINISHING TOUCH SOLID WOOD FURNITURE COMPLETE HOME FURNISHINGS STORE Locally Owned We guarantee every product we sell! Next to Dp 'n Sp--747-855B open Christmas Lay Aways Available Consider It Sold! Sentinel Classifieds Kiana to Keep Ban on Alcohol KIANA (AP) Voters decided overwhelmingly Tuesday mat the sale and importation of alcohol in Kiana will remain illegal. Residents voted 76-34. in favor of retaining a ban on alcohol in the community 57 miles east of Kotzebue. Results did not include two absentee ballots. Of all the villages within the boundaries of the NANA Regional only Kpbuk and Kotzebue allow the possession of alcohol.

Kobuk is considered "wet" because the sale of alcohol is permitted. Kotzebue is "damp" because only possession is allowed, a restriction affirmed in a vote earlier this montth. Kiana has 189 registered voters among its 406 residents. Last Decem-. ber, residents voted 71-68 to keep the community "dry." Alaskan Receives Lung Transplant DENVER (AP) A 61-year-old Alaska man who underwent a lung transplant at AMI-St.

Luke's hospital was reported in critical but stable condition Tuesday. The single-lung transplant procedure was the first attempted in the Rocky Mountain area, said hospital spokesman Bert Newman. The patient, whose name was not released, had between six months and a year to live without the procedure, doctors said, He suffers from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, an ongoing disease in which the immune system attacks lung tissue, Newman said. Newman said the procedure took between four and five hours and physicians replaced the left lung while leaving the right lung in place and functioning. He said the right lung should continue to function and assist the new lung during the critical first month following, after which the new lung will take over the full function.

Only about 40 lung-only transplants have been conducted in the United States and Canada, Newman said. He said about 60 or 70 heart-lung transplants are done each year. Vinaml Canby. THE NEW YORK TIMES Sheila Benson LOS ANCELES TIMES Friday, Dec. 16 7:30 pm Centennial Bldg.

Sponsored by the Sitka Film Society SITKA American Legion POST 13 LIVE MUSIC Sat. and Sunday thru New Year's Eve. "Noodles" playing music from the past 40 years -including country western and rock 'n roll! Music begins at 9pm Fri. Sat. begins at 5pm Sun.

Members and Guests Only. Alaska RR Vetoes Plan to Zap Moose ANCHORAGE (AP) The Alaska Railroad has rejected a proposal to try to keep moose out of the way of trains by jolting them with electricity when they wander on the tracks. Alaska Department of Fsih and Game biologists figured a harmless shock from wires run between the rails would encourage moose to slay away from the tracks, thus saving the lives of hundreds of animals run down by trains each winter. The proposed system, dubbed a "horizontal fence" by biologists, was patterned on the idea of the electric fences used to contain livestock elsewhere. Although there is no actual barrier, moose that step on file wire act as if they've run into a fence.

Researcher Chuck Schwartz of Kenai thinks moose could be taught that walking on the tracks is an activity to be avoided. "If this would work, you're talking about saving large numbers of moose," Schwartz said. The railroad rejected the idea because of concern employees might be the ones shocked, said spokeswoman Hamilton. "We believe it would be a real hazard to us." Dan Timm, regional supervisor for Fish and Game, said he was disappointed the railroad wouldn't even test the idea. "We really argued a long time," Timm said.

Schwartz said the fence is no threat 'to humans. The manufacturer guarantees the fence is harmless, he said. The fence carries 6,000 to 7,000 volts of electricity, Schwartz said, but it pulses through the line so quickly that it is harmless to people who come in contact. Has he ever tested it himself? "I didn't," Schwartz said. "I don't have the nerve.

A guy who works for me did." The result? When the man was wearing rubber boots, he hardly felt a thing, Schwartz said. And without the rubber boots? "It shocks the hell out of you," Schwartz said. Moose deaths along the rails are heavy in years of deep snow when the animals take to the tracks in search of easy walking. Last winter, 315 were killed between Seward and Fairbanks, one less than the record set in the winter of 1984-85. Since then, state biologists have sought ways to protect the moose.

They have experimented with changes in railroad operations "and studied electric and chemical deterrents. Last winter they spent eight days and an estimated $11,000 experimenting with train speeds, Whistles, lights and combinations of all three in an effort to save moose. They learned that a slow, noisy train kills moose just as efficiently as a fast, silent train, said biologist Carl Grauvogel of Palmer. they've got on the track, it's almost too late he said. Grauvogel said moose see an un- coming train as a big predator and do what comes naturally they Usually they run down, the tracks because that's where the running is easiest.

Sooner or later, the train catches up. "The moose is always overtaken and killed," said Grauvogel, who rode the trains as an observer during last winter's experiments. Even slowing the trains from their normal 49 mph to 18 or 20 mph doesn't save the moose, he said. About the only way to save a moose once it gets on the track is for the train to stop so the animal can slow down and wade into the snow on either side of the rails, Grauvogel said. The experiments convinced biologists they to find some way to keep the moose from ever getting the tracks.

Faced with Ihe railroad's rejection of their latest plan, biologists are studying traditional vertical fencing paralleling a 50-mile section of railway between Willow and Talkeetna where most of the (train kills occur. An electric fence would bs substantially cheaper thai: a son-electrified moose-proof fence, which must be much stronger, Schwaiiz said, but the costs are still prohibitive. "I expect, roughly, it would cost around $30 million, so it's real hard to push Timm said. "We don't feel good about the costs." The railroad doesn'i. like the cost, either, but it supports the vertical electric fencing, Hamilton said.

It would be safer for employees, she said. "We're going to work with diem (Fish and Game) on it," Hamilton said. "There's an interest here in resolving the moose problem because there's a lot of people concerned about it." Schwartz said he has no doubts electric fences would work if built. He studied several styles at Fish and Game's moose research station on the Kenai Peninsula last fall. Auto Insurance Law Expires on January 1 ANCHORAGE (AP) Alaska's mandatory auto insurance law expires.

Jan. 1, and state officials are worried its lapse may mean higher rates and higher risks for drivers. The 1984 law requiring all drivers to carry insurance self-destructs the first of the year because of a built-in sunset provision. An extension of the law cleared the House during the last session of the Legislature, but died in the Senate Rules Committee. An estimated 21 percent of Alaska drivers were without insurance before the law was enacted, says state Rep.

Dave Donley, D-Anchorage. The number of uninsured motorists has dropped to 9 percent.since the law was enacted, according to state figures. Keith Silver, owner of City Insurance in Anchorage, says he already is seeing a reversal in the trend. City Insurance specializes in high-risk motorists. Silver says he believes the pending demise of the mandatory insurance law is directly responsible for a 25 percent decline in the number of policies he's written so far this month.

"My clients have told me that after Jan. 1 they don't care if they have insurance," Silver says. Donley says he intends to reintroduce the law next month. If the Senate concurs, it could be back on (he books by March, he says. "It's going to be in the Senate's ballpark," Donely says.

"It depends on how long they Want Alaskans to be exposed to something like this. "We need to protect ourselves from these irresponsible people that some of our politicians are allowing back on the street." Donely says polls show 80 percent of Alaskans support the mandatory insurance law. He blames state Sen. Dick Eliason, R-Sitka, for allowing the extension to die in his committee. Eliason was traveling in Washington state and could not be reached for comment.

But an aide, Sheila Peterson, says Eliason has long been opposed to mandatory insurance. She says his concerns couldn't be addressed adequately in the final hectic week in which the bill reached his committee. Eliason again will be in a key position as chairman of the Labor and "We had bull mo in each (fenced) 1- ably the strongest urge in moos- whsn they're rut(in the moose respected the electric fence entirely. I felt pretty good, overall, about the practical applications of it all. Although electric fences are still in the exoerimentai stage Alaska, Schwartz added, they are fairly mon for protecting farms and nurseries from wildlife in other states and expects to see the fences put to that use in Alaska soon, even IT they aren't used along the railway.

"Every year we get calls about moose, and it's a chronic problem, Schwartz said. A minimal investment in electric fencing could be. used to keep, moose out of greenhouses, gardens and small vegetable farms; he said. It's also possible electric fences could prove a cost-effective means to keep brown bears out of dumps in southeast Alaska, Schwartz Commerce Committee to determine the fate of the insurance law. Don Koch, market surveillance chief for the state Division of Insurance, says the law was successful, and was not expensive to administer.

"I think it can be said that the law did work," says Koch. "I think there were a lot of other political considerations out there, and it got sidetracked." Insurance industry figures show that 41 states Have'sbrne auto insurance law, and Alalska will be the first state to let such a law lapse. State Farm, one of the nation's largest auto insurers, refunded money to policy holders in Alaska this year because claims were not as large as anticipated. AFN Convention Set in Anchorage ANCHORAGE (AP) After a one-year hiatus, the Alaska Federation of Natives says it is moving its annual convention back to Anchorage. After years in Anchorage, the state's largest convention was moved to Fairbanks this year.

But the board of directors decided last week to return to Anchorage. "The AFN convention is an important annual event for both Alaska natives and the communities that host it," said Mary Jane Fate, co-chairman of the AFN. "We appreciate the support that Fairbanks gave us this past year, and look forward to returning there in the future." But the board took no action on a resolution requesting that the convention site be alternated between the two cities. The Alaska Visitors Association estimates the economic impact of the convention at SI million as it attracts 1,500 to 2,000 participants. I'll show you how Allstate gets the right coverage for your car, life, home, boat, RV, and business." Insurance needs can be varied and specific.

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