Bear Creek Winery Garden of Lights will return this December with Christmas lights, hot chocolate, a bonfire and holiday music. Garden of Lights will be open from 5-7 p.m. Dec. 10-11 and Dec. 17-18. Admission is free. Bear Creek Winery is located three miles out East End Road.
The South Kenai Peninsula Hospital Service Area Board will hold its regular monthly meeting virtually via Zoom at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 9. The Committee of the Whole will meet at 5:30 p.m. before the regular meeting. The South Kenai Peninsula Hospital Service Area Board is an elected board that oversees local tax dollars for a healthier community. Learn about the workings of your hospital and your Service Area Board.
All are welcome to attend either or both meetings. The Zoom link is available on the Kenai Peninsula Borough calendar found at https://www.kpb.us/service-areas/south-kenai-peninsula-hospital-service-area and by emailing Devony at dlehnerediting@gmail.com.
The Loved & Lost Memorial Bench is being created to honor all those missing around Alaska, the nation, and the world. Three artists, 250 pounds of clay and more than five months in the making, work continues on the bench with a goal of placing it in its permanent spot outside the Homer Public Library. A memorial for Duffy and bench dedication event will be open to the public via Zoom, with details to be announced soon.
If you have a missing loved one and would like their photo included on the bench during the dedication event, please email a photo along with their name and date/location they went missing to Christina at lovedandlostmemorial@gmail.com. Fundraising efforts are ongoing with $10,000 still to be raised. Donations can be made online at gofundme.com/f/lovedandlostmemoria AND homerumcalaska.org/donate, and by check payable to HUMC, mailed to HUMC, 770 East End Rd, Homer, AK 99603 with memorial bench in the subject line.
You can also continue to drop dollars and change in donation jars around town – Chevron, Coles Market, Latitude 59 SBS, Ulmers and Wild Honey Bistro. If you’d like to support the bench as a major donor and receive name/logo recognition in a variety of ways, please contact Christina for more details and the donor form – lovedandlostmemorial@gmail.com, 907-435-7969.
Duffy’s family would like to share the modeling clay that has been used to create the 12 sculptures that will be depicted on the bench. If you are a local or statewide artist, school or arts organization interested in re-using some of the 200 pounds of clay, please contact Christina, 907-435-7969.
Anchor Point Group of Alcoholics Anonymous continues to meet in person at the Anchor Point Chamber of Commerce at 34175 Sterling Hwy (north of Chapman School) on Wednesday and Friday at 7 p.m. These are open meetings, and alcoholics and non-alcoholics are all welcome. For more information, call 907-223-9814.
Co-Dependents Anonymous is meeting in person at Homer Methodist Church, located at 770 East End Road. Please contact Kay at 907-399-6243 for more information. All are welcome.
Step into Freedom is a narcotics anonymous group that will be held at 7 p.m. every Thursday at the Glacierview Baptist Church “Big House” next to the main church. This group is for both women and men, and is open to non-addicts who would like to sit in on the meetings. For questions, call Jaclyn at 907-756-3530.
The Kenai Peninsula Borough Solid Waste facilities is closed on Sundays for the winter through April 24, 2022. For more information contact the KPB Solid Waste Department at (907) 262-9667.or check their webpage at https://www.kpb.us/swd-waste/about-solidwaste.
Anchor Point Senior Citizens
The Anchor Point Senior Center on Milo Fritz Avenue serves take-out meals on Thursday evenings with pickup from 5-6 p.m. Monday is Homemade Soup and Bread night. Serving two different soups to-go each week, from 4-6 p.m. Quart’s $12 / Pints $7. Reservations not required. Tuesday is Kickin’ Fried Chicken night. Serving from 4-6 p.m. Buckets or 3-piece meals. With or without Coleslaw and Biscuits. Walk in’s welcome or call ahead 235-7786. Thursday night is Home Cooked Dinner Night. Each Thursday is a different meal. Dine in or Take out. Served from 5-6:30 p.m. Reservations 235-7786.
Helping Hands Thrift Store is open on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and donations can be dropped off any time. The office staff are at work and available by phone for addressing needs. For information, call 235-7786.
All of our meals and programs are open to the public and do not require membership. Call 235-7786 for more information.
Homer Senior Citizens
Homer Senior Citizens Inc is closed to the public due to the HIGH spread of the virus in our community. We are being very COVID-conscious due to the vulnerability of the people we serve. Please follow the signage on the entrance doors, which follow our mitigation efforts based upon the community levels of spread.
You May Order a take-out meal from the Silver Lining Café or you may receive a meal at your home (if you do not have transportation at this time). Just call 235-7655 and reserve your meal. This week’s menu includes beef tacos with refried beans on Thursday; Sante Fe grilled chicken sandwich with avocado and bell peppers with potato salad on Friday; turkey with mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and green bean salad on Monday; pork shoulder with roasted potatoes, broccoli and baby carrots on Tuesday; and beef brisket with potato salad or cole slaw, asparagus and three bean salad on Wednesday.
Family members may visit their loved ones at the Terrace Assisted Living. Face masks and screening are required to enter our facility. Visitation is allowed in the resident’s apartment. If you are a friend and would like to schedule an indoor visit in our Visitation Room, please call Tanner at 235-7655 to schedule your visit.
Friendship Center Adult Day Services will reopen to the public once our community level of spread is back to Intermediate.
Please join us in our concentrated efforts to reduce the spread of this virus wear a mask and avoid indoor gatherings. Choosing to get vaccinated is the single most important action you can take to protect yourself and our community. We care about our community and want to rejoin it safely.
Hospice of Homer
Purchase a luminaria to support Hospice, and we’ll decorate it with the name of a loved one or a message for the community. Luminaria are $20 each and can be purchased at our office or on our website.
Join us Thursday, Dec. 16 at 6:30 p.m. for our second annual Light Up A Life event. The luminaria from our fundraiser will be lit and placed around WKFL Park where we’ll gather to bring light to a dark night. Share a story, wish your community members well, or just take in the light and a few cookies.
This prize for this year’s raffle is a striking Norman Lowell Lithograph of “Mt Redoubt (Ninilchik).” The lithograph is signed and numbered by the artist and beautifully framed. The drawing will take place at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 16.
Hospice of Homer seeks to start a general Bereavement Support Group. This will be a facilitated group that will meet in person and be subject to our current COVID guidelines. Hospice has specific groups for those who’ve lost a life partner or child, but this group would welcome anyone dealing with loss. If you’re interested in joining, please contact the office at 235-6899 to be added to the list. Day/time information will be sent to you directly once we have an understanding of group size.
The Bereaved Parents Support Group is a support group and mutual assistance self-help group offering friendship, understanding, hope, encouragement and healing to all bereaved parents. Our purpose is to provide support, share and emotionally assist parents through their grief. The group is intended to serve both newly bereaved parents and those who are continuing on their grief journey. Anyone that has lost a child knows, you don’t just stop grieving. A parent’s grief is as timeless as their love. For more information, please email thomasklingensmith@yahoo.com or call 303-949-8969.
Hospice of Homer has resumed its monthly Widows Support Group. This group is a place for those who have lost their partner to share and heal. It is a safe place for coming to terms with the powerful feelings and experiences only those who are walking the same path can truly understand. Participants will be following all COVID-19 protocols. RSVP is required if you plan to attend so organizers may plan accordingly for social distancing and group size limitations. Call 907-235-6899 to respond.
Homer Council on the Arts
Kenai Peninsula residents of all ages are invited to enter the 24th Kenai Peninsula Writers’ Contest. Categories include poetry, fiction and nonfiction. For contest rules and to enter, visit homerart.org/writers-contest. The deadline for entry is 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 10.
Volunteers are needed for a variety of tasks before, during, and after the Nutcracker Faire. If you’d like to find out more about volunteer positions, please call HCOA at 907-235-4288 or email hcoa@homerart.org. The Faire will take place on Dec. 4 from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and Dec. 5 from noon to 5 p.m. at Homer High School.
Kachemak Bay Campus
The Spring 2022 printed class schedule is available on campus, at the Homer Public Library and throughout town. Offerings can be found online at: https://kpc.alaska.edu/academics/schedule/. Be sure to contact an adviser to find the classes that are right for you. Visit us on campus or call (907) 235-7743.
Open registration for the spring semester for the general public (including high school students) began Nov. 22.
Basics of DC Electricity for Vessels with Adam Smude: Basic troubleshooting and theory of direct current systems on vessels. Topics include electrical terms and definitions, safety codes, fundamental diagrams, battery types and application, marine wiring and more. The class will be held Dec. 6-10, from 6-9 p.m. $175. To register visit https://kbcnoncredit.asapconnected.com/ or call Jill Burnham (907) 235-1674.
USCG approved Able Seaman certification is now available online. Complete the course in eight weeks and take the test here in Homer at KBC. Contact Marine Technology coordinator, Jesus Trejo, at 907-235-1622 for details. You may have more sea time than you think!
The Pratt Museum & Park
The Pratt Museum & Park is currently open for its fall hours from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday through Sunday and will be closed Monday through Wednesday. We will reopen on Dec. 2 to the public, following our normal schedule of 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. Additionally, the Pratt will be closed from Dec. 19 through Feb. 2, 2022.
Join us on Saturday, Dec. 18 from 1 – 2 p.m. for our FIRST free-family Saturday event. This will take place every third Saturday of the month and will include crafts, treats and story time for families. For December, welcome the snow and celebrate the Holidays with snowflake making, hot chocolate with marshmallows and story time. All the materials will be provided.
A new special exhibit has opened at The Pratt called “Ron Senungetuk: A Retrospective” and features work from the late iconic Alaska artist Ron Senungetuk. Senungetuk was a world-renowned sculptor, silversmith and woodcarver who blended ancestral Inupiaq forms with modern concepts and materials. This exhibition presents works created over his career, which have been featured in exhibitions and public art installations throughout Alaska and the U.S. He was a leading advocate for art in Alaska and helped establish the Native Art Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
South Peninsula Hospital
South Peninsula Hospital offers free testing and vaccinations for COVID-19. Free testing is offered daily 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. at the test site on Bartlett Street and 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. Thanksgiving Day. No appointment is necessary. Vaccines are offered walk-in or by appointment as supplies permit from Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Appointments can only be made online at www.sphosp.org. Vaccinations are open to anyone 5 years and older for Pfizer, and 18 years and older for all other brands. Call the COVID nurse at 235-0235 to discuss symptoms, or the COVID vaccine info line at 435-3188 for recorded updates. Free testing is now offered for anyone who recently attended a social gathering or who was in a crowded indoor space and close to others. Details are in the weekly newspaper ad, at www.sphosp.org or at 907-435-3188.
Pediatric vaccine appointments are also now available every Wednesday and Saturday at the SPH test and vaccine clinic on Bartlett Street. Pediatric doses of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine are now available for children ages 5-11. Appointments can be scheduled at sphosp.org. A parent or guardian must be present during the appointment.
Kenai Peninsula Votes Tidbit
The U.S. Constitution framers were ambiguous about who could vote and left it up to the states to decide “times, places and manner” of holding elections. In the beginning, only property-holding white men could vote. Changes came in 1870 with the 15th Amendment that stated voting is “a right regardless of race, color, or previous enslavement.” Women gained the right to vote with the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920. The 1924 Indian Citizenship Act gave Indigenous peoples born in the U.S. full citizenship and thus the right to vote. It was still up to the individual states to regulate their elections; voting obstruction was widely practiced with the use of poll taxes, literacy tests and other methods of intimidation aimed mainly at preventing African Americans and Indigenous peoples from voting.
The 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 24th Amendment preventing states from requiring a poll tax to vote started a shift, and with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, states were prevented from practicing any type of voter suppression. In 1971 the 26th Amendment lowered the age to vote to 18.
Additions followed: 1975 Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act required bilingual voting materials in certain jurisdictions. Section 208 provided voters reading assistance and a 1984 act was passed to require accessibility for the handicapped and elderly.
Section 203 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act had a 25-year expiration. It was renewed in 1992 and 2006, with an additional requirement for states that have a history of voter suppression to get Department of Justice or federal court preclearance to election changes and to provide voting materials in other languages besides English, including Indigenous.
A 2013 Supreme Court split decision ruled the preclearance formula was unconstitutional; states no longer had to prove discriminatory voting practices.
HR4, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act of 2021 would re-establish the 2006 version of Section 203 with new criteria. The bill passed the House in August this year.
Remember, all votes count and all voices matter.
