Daily Sitka Sentinel from Sitka, Alaska • Page 1

Member of the Associated Press A I I Volume 54 No. 9 GoodTimtfbr Tots five-l the annual event was sponsored by the Sit- ature By BRIAN S.AKRE Associated Press Writer It was.a subdued kickoff for what promises to be a election-year session as the 17th Alaska Legislature convened in the state Capitcjl. As usual; there was no major action on the first day of the session Monday. Lawmakers spent most of the day greeting old friends and talking politics in the U-shaped Capitol's sec-, ond-fioor hallway. The Senate began the 121-day session with a new member, a new committee room and a new journalistic dress code.

Senators adopted citations honoring the late Sens. Bettye Fahrenkamp of Fairbanks.and Robert "Bob" Ziegler- of Ketchikan. Both died last year. The Senate then formally named its newest committee room the Fahrenkamp Room. Sen.

Shirley Craft was formally to the Senate and escorted to Fahrenkamp's seat. Gov. Walter J. Hickel appointed the 64-year-old Fairbanks Democrat in August and she was swonrintp office in October; Scouts, carried the U.s; arid Alaska Several flags into the House, while Wterafe wor.e.g^istuties,.and-;buttons.to^]pbke -representing WarH; theJCbre- tun at proposed -Vietnanv-and-Persian-Gulf-wars- dress code for journalists who seek presented the colors in the Senate The The Revi Lew Rpoker of Northern buttons featured Zharoffs i face and Light Church in Juneau said the prayer in the Senate and remarked oh the unusually balmy weather that greeted legislators ai they returned to Juneau during the past week. "It's, good to have.yp^i back in the tropic of he said.

As if it began snowing on the Capitol a few minutes later. It could get downright hot in the Legislature this year; politically speaking. Uncertainty 'over legislative election districts, thanks to the continuing and the words, "Fred's Fashion Pofe" rZharoffi DrKbdiak, and chainiiari the Senate Rules "Committee; Said he-would make code advisory for now and see if reporters can police themselves for violations; He has said the is needed to promote decorum. Rep. Ramona Barnes asked the sergeant-at-arnis to request the five reporters who were wearing the badges on the House floor to remove them.

They complied. "I think it is in poor taste on the House floor," the Anchorage Republican said later. "It seems very disrespectful." Zharoff; himself wore one of the buttons Monday. The House began the session at 10:05 a.m., followed by the Senate seven minutes later. Several Girl reapportionment process, I has law- riyalcelrVanxious abbiitthe- cbihitig -ses- sion.All-60^eats -will -later this--year; and-some incumbents can be expected to run against one another.

Much of the conversation between lawmakers lounging; in me Capitol halhyays focused on reapportionment, who might run against whom, and the likelihood of Gov. Hickel's plan being adopted or revised. Outside me Capitol- about 40 protesters gathered at noon to support the recall against Hickel and Lt Gov. Jack CoghiH. Some carried signs witfi slogans such as 'Reject Wally World" and "Wally Don't Know Jack." Worker Discriiiimatipn Bill, Others in Hopper Draft Plan Would Give Owl a Little Less Land By SCOTT SONNER Associated Prsss Writer WASHINGTON (AP) A draft version of the government's recovery plan for the endangered spotted owl would protect slightly less land and allow potentially more logging than a 1990 proposal to cut Northwest timber harvests in half.

A copy of the Interior Department's draft plan obtained by The Associated Press on Monday is modeled largely after the conservation strategy Forest Service biologist Jack Ward Thomas and other government scientists offered in April 1990. Unlike the Thomas strategy, the new plan would allow some commercial thinning or salvage sales of dead trees within protected habitat if the cutting would not harm the habitat. "In the short term, the best biological approach would be simply to stop all timber harvest," the draft plan said. "However, such a solution has large economic effects and those economic consequences force difficult biological choices in the design of a recovery strategy." The Fish and Wildlife Service declared the owl a threatened species in June 1990, citing excessive logging as a threat to its survival. Last, week, under a federal court order, the service restricted logging across 6.9 million acres of Northwest forests it considers critical to the survival of the owl.

The Interior Department's recovery plan, expected to be made public next month, will provide specific guidelines as to how much logging and what kind of conservation measures should go on within those habitat boundaries. Environmentalists said the Thomas strategy is the minimum necessary to save the threatened owl from extinction and that any form bf logging within owl habitat is unacceptable. "This is weaker than Thomas. They don't provide assured protection for the (habitat areas)," said Frances Hunt of the National Wildlife Federa- Continued on Page 8 By ROGER F. NYHUS Associated Press Writer JUNEAU (AP) would not be able to.

discriminate against workers who legally use tobacco, alcohol or other products the job, under a bill introduced in the Senate Monday. Other new bills would give the Alaska Marine Highway System more buying flexibility, create the crime of conspiracy in Alaska law, exempt pregnant women from jury duty, and create a to license midwives. Sen. Jim Duncan, prime sponsor of Senate Bill 340, said his work-discrimination bill reflects a privacy has surfaced in other states. "This bill says hiring and firing must be based on work jperformance," not the legal use of products, Duncan said.

Hickel Picks Rexwinkel To Head Revenue Office JUNEAU (AP) Darrel Rexwinkel, who has served as acting commissioner of the state Revenue Department since Oct. 2, was named commissioner Monday by Gov. Walter J. Hickel. appointment ended weeks of speculation that Hickel might give the job to former state Sen.

Jan Faiks of Anchorage. He replaces Lee Fischer, whom Hickel fired over a technical violation of the state procurement code. The revenue commissioner is the state's chief tax collector. The department also distributes the annual Permanent Fund dividend from the state's oil-wealth savings account, and collects overdue child support. Rexwinkel, 51, has worked at Revenue since February.

He is a certified public accountant and was chief fiscal officer for Anchorage before joining the state. He has lived in Alaska since 1970. "Darrel has shown he is up to the job, and I am glad we are able to promote from within the department," Hickel said in a news release. "Alaska is very likely to be in for some rough seas as far as our revenue picture is concerned." Faiks had been considered for the job, but officials did not say why she was not chosen. She did not return a message left on her home answering machine Monday.

Rexwinkel made headlines in November when he fired William Floerchinger, an assistant commissioner who also was seeking the commissioner's job. The proposal is not intended to prevent companies from placing certain safety restrictions oh employees, such as airline pilots, the Juneau Democrat said. Seattle-based Alaska Airlines is one of a growing number of companies that does not hire smokers. "The trend is definitely in that direction," spokesman Greg Witter said. Studies that showed nonsmokers to be more healthy and productive prompted Alaska Airlines to adopt the policy, in' the early 1980s for all employees, Witter said.

Smoking employees were grandfathered into the policy but are not allowed to smoke in company facilities. Duncan said he was unaware of Alaska Airlines' policy. Bills introduced in the House and Senate would'establish the Alaska Marine Highway Commission to oversee the state ferry system, as well as public hearings on rate and schedule changes. House Bill 380 and SB339, sponsored by Duncan, also would let the system set its own purchasing regulations related to ferry repair, maintenance and reconstruction. Rep.

Jerry Mackie, D-Craig, is the prime sponsor oftheHB380. The change would allow the system to fix ferries more quickly and save the state money in lost fares, Mackie said. The crime of conspiracy would be added to state law and penalties established under SB343. "It's a major tool in dealing with ongoing criminal enterprises, such as drugs and prostitution," said Sen. Rick Halford, R-Chugiak, the bill's prime sponsor.

"It has been a priority of law enforcement agencies for years," he said. "It helps us deal with organized crime." Pregnant women and people with children under 6 years old who regu- Continued on Page 8 Sitka Alaska 35c Hickel Seeks Delay In Mailing IFQ Plan JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) Gov. Walter J. Hickel on Monday asked the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to delay sending its controversial halibut and black cod fishing quota plan to the Department of Commerce for approval He asked the counciTiu wait until April, when a federal study about the potential impacts of the plan on coastal communities is complete. In a news release issued Monday, Hickel said he wants the results of the study, being prepared by-the National Marine Fisheries Service to be analyzed before the plan goes to Washington, D.C.

The study is due out in March. Some fishing groups and city and community councils in southern and western Alaska have fought the proposed system of permits known as ITQ's, or Individual Transferable Quotas. The fisheries council is meeting this week in Ore. It ap- proved the quota plan last December, but some said they would ask council members to reconsider. "Many of our coastal community residents have expressed concerns about sending the ITQ proposal to the Secretary of Commerce before we have access to the completed study," Hickel said in a letter to council chairman Rick Lauber cited in the news release.

concur with these Clem Tillion; Hickel's fisheries adviser and the state's representative on the North Pacific council, said Monday afternoon that Hickel's request signals no change in state support for the plan. "Have we changed our position? Or has the governor changed his position? No," Tillion said by telephone from his home at Halibut Cove. "The state supports the program and is convinced the study will show it is beneficial for Alaska to do this," he said. Tillion said the governor was "reacting to a lot of the community councils who don't know anything about fishing." A The fishery plan would divide up the billion halibut black cod fisheries among fishermen who have a-history of fishing for those species, and create. transferable permits that could be bought and sold.

It would be the first time limits to entry into lucrative halibut and codjfishery in the North Pacific implemented. Coastal residents and other critics have said permit system-- if adopted would fall under the control of large corporate fishing interests, and that; smaller fishermen and communities would suffer. They say it would privatize a public resource that should be open to ail AlaskarisY Proponents of the plan say it would allow the resource to be better managed and would put an end to the free-for-all fishing mayhem of the current system. JUNEAU (AP) Recent changes in the pension program for state and school cbtild save the state school districts universities much more. The percentage of money the state and municipalities contribute to the Public Employees Retirement System for each employee is dropping.

this year due to legislation thattook effect in 1986, said Bob Staliiaker, deputy director'of the state Retirement and Benefits Division. But school districts and the university system may face retirement payments about one-third higher than their current rate for the fiscal year starting July 1. The increase, from 11.87 percenf: of employees' salaries to 15.69 percent, could cost school districts statewide about $15 million, said Carl Rose of the Association of Alaska School Boards. Changes to the Teachers Retirement System result from legislation passed in 1990. Most state," municipal and non- teaching school workers belong to the public employees system; Most public school 'teacherSj and University of Alaska professors are in the Teachers Retirement System.

The state would save about $4.5 million based; on we year 1991 estimate of $619 million for Who 7 ate part of Alaska -or other accounting systems, according to the Juneau Empire newspaper. The state pays; 15.64 percent of its employees' salaries into the Public- Employees Retirement System. That figure is expected to drop to 14.92 percent beginning July 1, said Jere Walkush of the Retirement and Benefits Division. Legislation raised age age at which retirees have their health benefits fully paid. A guaranteed cost-of-living adjustment was added, but the long-term goal was to cut costs, Stalnaker said Monday.

The changes are designed to lower or at least contain the employer cost of state retirement programs, Stalnaker said. The contribution rate varies each governmental agency in the Public Employees Retirement System because of differences in the; age of the work force and other factors, Stalnaker saidi The same rate is used for all schools and university branches involved in the teachers system, he said. Sitka High School to Change Hours Starting On Monday By Sentinel Staff Sitka High School students will begin their day a little earlier next Monday as the school begins its spring semester on a new schedule. Classes Monday will start at 8:10 10 minutes earlier than the current schedule, and school will let out at 3:05 p.m. every day but Thursday.

The school day will end at 2 p.m. on Thursdays, when there wfll be a faculty planning period from 2'to 3:30 p.m. Total time spent hi classes is 10 minutes more than the current schedule, said SHS Principal Lee Demmert, The schedule revision will consolidate the planning time for teachers instead of having it spread out through the week, he said. In the current semester, teachers have 15 minutes before school and 30 minutes after for planning, "allowing little time on either end to plan cross-curricular learning opportunities," he said. The new schedule retains the format of three days of 50-minute class periods and two days, Wednesday and Thursday, with 85-minute class periods.

The longer periods give students and faculty time "to accentuate aspects of the subject better than in the 50-minute period," said Demmert, Also, he said, there is more time for lab experiments and field trips in the longer class periods. Students have indicated by an overwhelmingly majority that they find the 85-minute period productive, he added. Available for students 2 to 3:15 pjn. Thursdays are voluntary classes in specialized areas, offered by organizations in town such as the Sitka Teen Resource Center, Alaska Marine Safety Education Association and Sit- Continued on Page 8 Personnel On Agenda Tonight By Sentinel Staff The City and Borough Assembly tonight is to discuss executive personnel matters, under an agenda item called "Why Are We losing Key People?" The item is listed for a "possible executive session," but City Administrator Stuart Denslow said he will ask for the parts concerning him to be discussed before the pub- At the Assembly's Dec. 24 meeting, Assembly member Dan Hackett cited the resignations last year of former Public Works Director Larry Harmon and former Electrical Superintendent Greg Grissom as indications that there were problems in the administration of city government At that meeting, however, a motion to have an executive session failed and the Assembly set the matter for discussion after the holidays..