Cooper Landing News

By Mona Painter
Turnagain Times Cooper Landing Correspondent

Photo courtesy of Mayme Ohnemus Moms Virginia Morgan, Nicole Mitchell, Heather Harrison, and Kristin Blair and Dad Iver Ohnemus join some of the children on the community hall steps after the big Easter egg hunt April 11. Prizes won are proudly displayed by some of the kids while other just enjoy posing for the camera. Heather was in charge of the event which was co-sponsored by the Cooper Landing Chamber of Commerce and the Cooper Landing Community Club.

Easter egg hunters made tracks around the community center
One hundred feet in a wide variety of boots and shoes left footprints of all sizes in the snow and mud around the community hall during the kids Easter egg hunt April 11. Grandparents, moms, dads, little kids, bigger kids, and friends gathered to share in the fun. The footprints in the softball field snow led the youngest kid group to eggs hidden under clumps of grass sticking out of the snow. Divided into three age groups, and under the direction of Heather Harrison, the kids looked for plastic eggs, which contained candies and numbered papers, which they used to redeem prizes laid out on tables inside the community hall. Juice and cheese sticks were the refreshments.

National Heritage area signed into law
After 11 years to work, the Kenai Mountains-Turnagain Arm National Heritage Alaska is now official since it was included in legislation passed by Congress and in a bill signed by President Obama recently. This heritage area recognizes several kinds of historic travel including dog teams, trains, and vehicles over miner’s trails, the Alaska Railroad, and portions of the Seward and Sterling Highways from Cooper Landing to Seward to Girdwood and beyond. Monies received from a Federal Highways Administration grant several years ago went into projects in each community in the heritage area. In Cooper Landing much needed work on the museum buildings came from this grant. Jim Richardson is the chair of KMTA Corridor Communities Association, and with much help from Janet McCabe and Keith Tryck and others will now move into the next phase of this project with the ultimate goal of getting funding for projects for local communities, agencies, and other entities to identify and document historic areas and activities for the benefit of visiting tourists, as well as Alaskans traveling to the area.

Busy day at community hall
Saturday, April 18, is a busy day at the community hall. Cooper Landing Senior Citizens Corp. Inc. is putting on an all-you-can-eat pancake fund raising breakfast from 8 a.m. to noon. Beginning at 2 p.m. the Cooper Landing Historical Society meeting features a program on the history of Camp Fire USA and Camp Kushtaka in Cooper Landing. Everyone is welcome.

Earth Day Fair April 22
Tommy Gossard and the Cooper Landing School kids, Shelby Lubich, Bobbie Jo Skibo, Deb Carlson, and Heidi Cox with the pre-schoolers are all working toward the April 22 Earth Day Fair at the school from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Paper boxes, ripped panty hose, metal hangers, and toilet paper rolls are some of the supplies needed for various activities. There will be something for all ages plus free Green Cleaning Products. Deb continues with her pedometer project to raise funds for our Walkable Community effort so will have those little gadgets on hand with the log sheets. You can even get your blood pressure checked at the fair.

New business opens for quilters
Congratulations to Jeanne Acton on the opening of Bearly Threaded Quilting at Mile 47.5 of the Sterling Highway next to the CL Chamber of Commerce visitors cabin. Jeanne has all kinds of quilting supplies, designer fabrics including a wide variety of Alaskan designs, and she does custom quilting with long-arm machines. The shop is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The phone number is 907-401-0544.

Bears are coming out
Governor Sarah Palin designated April 2009 as Alaska Bear Awareness Month and the Kenai Brown Bear Committee (KBBC) is raising awareness of the brown bear situation on the Kenai Peninsula. KBBC is a multi-stakeholder group whose mission is to decrease the number of brown bears killed in defense of life or property and increases the public’s knowledge about those bears. Last year nine brown bear were killed in the Russian River area. They start coming out in April, hungry and on the prowl, so now’s the time to put away the attractants: garbage, animal food, birdseed; you know the drill. Electric fencing works really well for keeping bears out of chicken coops and other places. Remember the TV spot with the dumb grandma who has to be reminded every year by those smart grandkids to keep the dog food inside the house and the garbage in a bear-proof container, or locked in the outhouse. For more information log onto the website: www.alaskabears.alaska.gov.

Kingfisher Roadhouse re-opens
Coming up in May is the grand re-opening on May 1 of Kingfisher Roadhouse. Dominic and the gang will have the restaurant open from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday until June when they will be open all week. A Sunday “Benny Brunch” from 8 a.m. until noon begins on May 10, Mother’s Day.

Spring Shoot Off at the gun club
On May 2, the Cooper Landing Gun Club is having a Spring Shoot Off at the Bean Creek Gun Range beginning at 11 a.m. with a trap shot and ending at 4 p.m. with a Charging Bear event. For more information call 599-0004 or 599-0037. Sunrise Inn is offering discounted rooms if you mention “Spring Shoot.”

Will Troyer program for peninsula meeting
May 2 is also the date for the Kenai Peninsula Historical Assoc. meeting hosted by CL Historical Society in the community hall down Bean Creek Road from the gun range. The KPHA meeting begins at 10 a.m. with lunch at noon and an afternoon program by “Bear Wrangler” Will Troyer. This is open to all interested.