Town hall meeting with trooper leadership Saturday in Kenai

  • By DAN BALMER
  • Thursday, October 16, 2014 10:29pm
  • News

A town hall meeting to continue the discussion of the recent drug-related burglaries that have surfaced throughout the Kenai Peninsula will be held Saturday at the Kenai Visitor and Cultural Center.

The event starts with free hot dogs and a visit with Governor Sean Parnell from noon to 1:30 p.m. Then the public is invited to participate in a town hall forum at 1:30 p.m. to discuss the theft and drug issues with Alaska State Trooper leadership.

Colonel James Cockrell, Director of the Alaska State Troopers and Captain Andy Greenstreet Soldotna E Detachment Commander will be in attendance, along with the property crime suppression unit. Representatives from the Health and Social Services and the Kenai District Attorney’s Office have been invited to the meeting, but their attendance has not been confirmed, said Sen. Peter Micciche R-Soldotna.

Micciche and House Speaker Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, have organized the meeting to allow the public to share options on what the state can do to address the problem. Micciche said it has been well documented that the troopers are understaffed statewide and wondered if the personnel could be shifted to better accommodate the growing population on the Kenai Peninsula. He said he is interested to hear if more funding toward drug treatment programs could help the problem.

The recent thefts in Nikiski and Kasilof have demonstrated the peninsula has a big drug problem, he said.

More in News

A map of 2025 construction projects scheduled for the Kenai Peninsula. (Provided by Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities)
Department of Transportation announces construction plans

Most of the projects include work to various major highways.

Seward City Hall is seen under cloudy skies in Seward, Alaska, on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Seward adds full-time staffer for recently restarted teen rec room

Seward’s Parks and Recreation Department reclaimed responsibility for teen programming at the start of this year.

Gavin Ley stands with the “Go-Shopping Kart” he designed and built in his career and technical education courses at Nikiski Middle/High School in Nikiski, Alaska, on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Nikiski students learn professional skills through technical education

Career and technical education gives students opportunity to learn skills, express themselves creatively, work cooperatively and make decisions.

Nikiski teachers, students and parents applaud Nikiski Middle/High Principal Mike Crain as he’s recognized as the Alaska Association of Secondary School Principals 2025 Region III Principal of the Year by the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education during their meeting in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Nikiski principal named Region III principal of the year

Crain has served as Nikiski’s principal for three years.

An 86 pound Kenai River king salmon is measured in Soldotna, Alaska, on June 29, 1995. (M. Scott Moon/Peninsula Clarion File)
Kenai River king salmon fishing closed entirely for 3rd year

Kenai River king salmon were designated a stock of management concern in 2023.

The Kenai Peninsula College Main Entrance on Aug. 18, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
University of Alaska Board of Regents to meet in Soldotna

The last time the board met on the Kenai Peninsula was April 2012.

Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education member Penny Vadla and student representative Emerson Kapp speak to the joint Alaska House and Senate education committees in Juneau, Alaska, on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (Screenshot courtesy Gavel Alaska/KTOO)
KPBSD among dozens of districts to deliver in-person testimony to Alaska Legislature

Districts spotlighted programs already lost over years of stagnant funding that hasn’t met inflationary pressure.

Rep. Bill Elam, R-Nikiski, speaks during a town hall meeting hosted by his office at the Nikiski Community Recreation Center in Nikiski, Alaska, on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Education dominates Elam’s 1st town hall as state rep

Education funding dominated much of the conversation.

Kenai Middle School Principal Vaughn Dosko points out elements of a redesign plan for the front of the school on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Work soon to begin on Kenai Middle security upgrades

The security upgrades are among several key KPBSD maintenance projects included in a bond approved by borough voters in October 2022.

Most Read