A search was launched Tuesday for a 55-year-old kayaker who did not return from a trip in Knik Arm near Anchorage, said the Coast Guard.
Bruce Gronewald was last seen around 10 p.m. Monday aboard a yellow kayak. He wore a blue life jacket over a black jacket and traveled alone, said Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Kelly Parker.
The last stop at N & N Market was quick. Shoppers who had been screened pulled out their phones and iPads for pictures. A crush of reporters maneuvered through the small store. Obama bounced a baby in his arms. The president said tribal organizations were working on ways to boost economic development to make goods more affordable, and also to develop locally produced items. He suggested reporters buy something. But there wasn’t even time to check the prices.
A few minutes after 2:30 p.m., Air Force One took off just as the rain picked back up. And the little town of Dillingham had plenty to talk about.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted the case, said ADA Station Communication was awarded subcontracts in 2014 and 2015 to install and upgrade fiber optic cables on JBER. On July 17, 2014, Jack and Herschell Becker met with the U.S. Air Force official to complete quality assurance inspections on some project locations, the release said.
During the inspections, the Air Force official found problems with the projects and requested the Beckers fix them. The next day, the Beckers offered the official $10,000 to just accept the shoddy fiber optic cable work. They said it would cost them $60,000 to fix it.
“During this meeting, the Beckers told the Air Force official they could ‘pad his pockets’ and ‘the less people that know the better,’” the release said. “The Beckers knew that the Air Force official would make the final decision on whether to accept the work as complete and wanted the Air Force official to overlook the discrepancies.”
The Air Force official declined the payment. The Beckers offered it again, the release said.
On Aug. 22, 2014, the Beckers met with the Air Force official who had, in the meantime, reported the $10,000 bribe to law enforcement and was then working at the direction of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. During the meeting, the Beckers and the official discussed the prior offer, the release said. Though President Obama’s visit thrilled many Alaskans, some of the happiest people in the state might be those who work in the tourism industry.
The goal of the trip was to focus attention on climate change, a subject of particular concern in Alaska and the Arctic because the Far North is warming at least twice as fast as the rest of the world. But when the president of the United States visits your state, extols its beauty and wildlife and takes to the Internet to post photos and videos showcasing Alaska scenery and Native culture, there’s a secondary effect -- a boost for tourism.
“We love all the attention,” said Cindy Clock, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce in Seward, one of the president’s destinations. “We just tell people, 'Now come here.’”
While his visits to Anchorage, Seward and Kenai Fjords National Park showcased easily accessible spots that already draw hundreds of thousands of tourists a year, the visits to Dillingham and Kotzebue put a spotlight on regions and cultures that don’t usually get as much attention, said Sarah Leonard, president of the Alaska Travel Industry Association.
“It struck me as, I think, special that he and his team took the time to visit some of the more remote places that most of our visitors don’t go,” she said.
Tourism promoters are especially pleased that Obama talked repeatedly about coming back for a longer trip with his wife and daughters.
“You cannot see Alaska in three days. It’s too big. It’s too vast. It’s too diverse. So I’m going to have to come back. I may not be president anymore, but hopefully I still get a pretty good reception,” he said in a speech in Kotzebue. “And just in case, I’ll bring Michelle, who I know will get a good reception.”
On the Internet, there are signs that Obama’s visit inspired some potential visitors.
The state’s tourism website, TravelAlaska.com, got some “nice increases” in hits, especially for pages on the places that Obama visited, said Kathy Dunn, tourism marketing manager for the Alaska Division of Economic Development. All that fish goes into a competitive global market and, in a word, the pink market stinks. A glut of pinks remains from Alaska’s record 2013 catch, and devalued currencies bedevil sales overseas.
“We’ve had some big years backed up and that ripples through the supply chain and affects prices, and it doesn’t help that the currency markets have gone against us so badly during this time when our supply has gone up so dramatically,” said Andy Wink, senior seafood analyst with the McDowell Group.
Exports typically account for 60 percent to 70 percent of Alaska’s seafood sales. Last week the euro was priced at $1.14, down from $1.32 at the same time last year. And the Japanese yen was at 84 cents, down from 96 cents.
“It gives you a sense of the dramatic shifts we’re seeing in the currency markets,” Wink added. “It’s been very difficult,” he added.
Another huge market hit comes from the ongoing U.S. seafood embargo by Russia – a big buyer of pink salmon roe. The roe usually accounts for a quarter of the value of the entire pink pack, sometimes more.
“Other than Japan, Russia is our largest market for salmon roe,” said Alexa Tonkovich, international program director for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. “Japan takes about $125 million worth of salmon roe and Russia takes about $46 million. The next closest market is China at $20 million. And if you don’t have diversified markets for a product, you’re in a less powerful negotiating position.”
“There is just not another market like Russia or Eastern Europe waiting out there with a strong currency to buy our pink roe,” Wink said. “It’s easy to see how it could drag down wholesale value by a quarter or a third compared to … years past.”