Greater Kenai obituaries from the Peninsula Clarion and other Alaska obituary sources. Explore life stories, offer tributes/condolences, send flowers or create a lasting online memorial for loved ones.

This past weekend, dozens of Kenai Peninsula students attended an event in Anchorage for which they and their teachers and coaches had been preparing them for weeks, maybe even months. It was a competition of sorts, and an assessment from the top professionals in their fields, to see how our students measure up to the rest of the state. This was the musicians' version of State Track Meets -- the ASAA Solo/Ensemble event that takes place locally at the individual school level, and finally in early May, culminates in the events in Anchorage.

Cars are not babysitters, they are babykillers. (Recently) I took my mother to the Salvation Army in Soldotna. As I got out of our Blazer, I noticed a toddler in a car that I parked next to. I looked in the car and there was no one in there with the child. No one near the car. I went inside the store to report the unattended child. As I went back to watch over the child, I saw a woman getting in the car. With wittnesses present I told her, "Your car is not a babysitter, cars are babykillers.

It's like refining gold. "The more you put it through the fire, the shinier and shinier it gets," said James Triplett, an ex-prison inmate and newly dedicated Christian. "I looked at it as character building." The 50-year-old Kenai resident was referring to the time he spent enrolled in a faith-based class at Wildwood Correctional Center. Establishing a relationship with Jesus changed his life for the better, he said.

Soldotna elementary and middle school students recently were given surveys for their parents to fill out. The parents were asked to write the safety concerns they had about allowing their children to bike or walk to school. Soldotna Police Department Chief John Lucking has reviewed some of those surveys, and the parents' majority concern: moose. Addressing wildlife interaction will prove difficult, but grant monies are flowing toward safer to-and-from travel options for Soldotna's young students.

The KCHS athletic department would like to thank the City of Kenai for its continued support of our athletic teams and allowing us to use city facilities for our sporting events and practices. We would also like to thank Dale Sandahl, Craig and Connie Jung, and the many volunteers that continue to help and support our teams year after year. Thank you to all of our parents, KCHS alumni clubs, and local businesses that contribute to our athletic programs as well.