The South Kenai Peninsula Hospital Service Area Board will hold its regular monthly board meeting virtually via ZOOM at 6:30 p.m. tonight, Thursday. The Zoom link is available on the Kenai Peninsula Borough website at kpb.us. The South Kenai Peninsula Hospital Service Area Board is an elected board that oversees local tax dollars for a healthier community.

Rep. Sarah Vance (R-Homer) will hold an Ice Cream Campaign Kick-off event from 2-4 p.m. this Sunday at Karen Hornaday Park. This is an event to celebrate Flag Day and help re-elect Vance. Participants are encouraged to bring their family, friends and their American flag for free ice cream in the park. Campaign donations will be welcome. People will be free to wear a mask and socially distance at this event, to the extent they are comfortable with. For more information, visit the Vote Sarah Vance page on Facebook.

The Anchor Point Fire & Emergency Medical Service Area Board will hold its next board meeting at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday June 17. Further information on location and delivery will be released at a later time.

Kachemak Crane Watch keeps track of nesting cranes and wants your observations of crane colts. Send your report to reports@cranewatch.org or call 235-6262. Include date, time, location, number of colts and your contact information so the Crane Watch can call for more information. After30 days of incubation, sandhill crane eggs hatch. Crane colts and other baby wildlife are very vulnerable, so please keep dogs on a leash and cats at home.

The Kenai Peninsula Borough Solid Waste facilities are now open Sundays. 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.

Kenai Peninsula Votes tidbit:

The fight for black people to have the ability to vote was an arduous journey, continuing long after the Civil War was over.

The 15th Amendment was ratified in 1870, which prohibited the federal government and each state from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen’s “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” However, it was not duly enforced. In the South, there were laws that dehumanized black people, referred to as “Jim Crow” laws. Some of these laws made it almost impossible for a black person to register to vote, much less to vote. For instance, when a black person came to register to vote, they might have to take a literacy test and answer questions that weren’t relevant to voting, or they might have to pay a Poll Tax when they came to vote.

Ironically (given the events of recent weeks), what spurred the movement to get rid of “Jim Crow” voting laws in the South was the murder of Jimmy Lee Jackson, by police, as he took shelter in a café after he and his mother participated in a peaceful protest in Alabama.

His death was a major catalyst to the marches from Selma to Montgomery that ended up gaining the political traction needed to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which basically did away with the prohibitive voting laws in the South against black people.

So why is voting important? Each person has to make up their own mind about this question. But if you understand history, and recognize the hardships and battles that had to be fought to vote, you might feel that it is your duty to let others know what is on your mind by voting. Your voice matters — please vote.

Anchor Point Senior Citizens

The Anchor Point Senior Center on Milo Fritz Avenue is closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Congregate meals and the Helping Hands Thrift Store also are closed. The Anchor Point Senior Center serves take-out meals on Monday and Thursday evenings with pickup from 5-6 p.m. Donations for Helping Hands Thrift Store can dropped off. The office staff are at work and available by phone for addressing needs. For information, call 235-7786.

Friendship Center

Friendship Center Adult Day Services is closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Call 235-4556.

Homer Senior Citizens

All activities are canceled and the Homer Senior Center is closed to the general public during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Homer Senior Citizens congregate lunch is closed, but meals can be picked up at noon from Monday-Friday. You must call 907-235-7655 by 10 a.m. daily to reserve your meal.

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Hospice of Homer

Hospice of Homer requests that anyone who needs to borrow or return medical equipment or to pick up disposable personal care items, call the office. Staff will check availability and arrange a time for pick up.

Anyone needing access to grief counseling or other services should also call to talk with a staff member. Staff will be available Monday-Thursday at 235-6899.

Support Group meetings have been canceled.

Hospice of Homer has had an unusually high demand for medical equipment recently and are in great need of many items. Anyone wishing to help can go to Smile.amazon.com.

Select Hospice of Homer as your charity then select Charity List and choose any of the items on our List of Current Needs. All donated equipment is loaned out free of charge to anyone who needs it in the Homer vicinity and a percentage of the purchase is donated to Hospice of Homer.

Kachemak Bay Campus

Fall registration is open now. Now is the perfect time to pick-up a class you might have missed during the spring semester. Visit this link to see what we have on offer: https://tinyurl.com/y9bdk3fm. Call 235-7743 with questions.

For the fall, the printed schedule is back. Register now to hold your place in your local campus classes. Want a sneak peak? Visit this online link, https://bit.ly/2wRIxEA to see what KBC is offering our community; call 235-1655 to talk to an advisor.

The Kenai Peninsula Borough Homer Annex is closed to walk-in traffic during the COVID-19 pandemic at its location at 638 East Pioneer Ave. in the Homer Borough Maintenance building east of the Homer Volunteer Fire Department. The office is staffed for help by phone or email. For more information call 235-9837 or email Tamarron Baxter at tbaxter@kpb.us. Forms for property tax exemptions or appeals are available outside on the door, and a dropbox is available for completed forms.

Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center

The Alaska Islands & Ocean Visitor Center operations are temporarily suspended following guidelines from the CDC and recommendations from state and local health authorities. Updates will be posted to the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge website and social media channels. The Beluga Slough Trail and other outdoor areas on the refuge will remain open to provide healthy options for recreation and relaxation. A reopening date has not been determined at this time.

Updates about the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s response to coronavirus will be posted at https://www.fws.gov/home/public-health-update.html. Please check with individual refuges or facilities regarding the change of operations or postponement of events and programs.

To reach refuge staff call 907-235-6546 or email alaskamaritime@fws.gov.

South Peninsula Hospital

Got symptoms? Get tested!

Symptoms of COVID-19 include: cough, chills, difficulty breathing, diminished sense of taste or smell, diarrhea, fatigue, fever, headache, muscle/joint aches, nausea, rash, chills with shivering, runny nose, sore throat, or increased sputum (phlegm) production.

Three ways to get tested if you have symptoms:

• Call your provider

• Call the hospital Covid Nurse 235-0235

• Just show up! Come to the drive through testing in the hospital’s main entrance parking lot.

COVID-19 testing does not require a referral and there is no charge to the individual, regardless of insurance or not. Testing is offered 24/7 in the tent in the hospital’s main entrance parking lot. Call 235-0235 en route to be met outside for a drive by swabbing.

South Peninsula Hospital is offering free COVID-19 testing at the Boat House Pavilion on the Homer Spit daily (except Wednesdays) through Saturday, June 13, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. There is no charge to the individual for testing. This testing is offered only to individuals who fit one of the following criteria:

· working in critical infrastructure or the fishing industry,

· have had recent travel out of state,

· have been exposed to someone with a confirmed case of COVID-19,

· they have new onset of any symptom related to COVID-19,

· have a provider referral.

Results should be available within 48 hours via the hospital’s patient portal. No appointments are necessary. Individuals are asked to provide a driver’s license or state I.D., email address, social security number and phone number to register, and show an insurance card if insured. The pavilion is located at the top of ramp two, near the public restrooms at the Homer Harbor.

Additional testing is available 24/7 at the hospital’s main entrance parking lot at 4300 Bartlett Street, Homer. For more information about testing, call the COVID-19 nurse at the hospital at 235-0235. For more information on South Peninsula Hospital’s COVID-19 response, contact Derotha Ferraro at (907) 399-6212.