Increasing inmate population at a local correctional facility is creating numerous logistical and financial challenges for state Department of Corrections officials.

Wildwood Correctional Center in Kenai housed an average of 400 inmates in 2010, up from an average of 370 three years earlier, forcing officials to find more space to house pretrial and convicted inmates.

DOC first recognized the problem at Wildwood -- a former military base in Kenai -- six years ago and looked at an unused building on the institution's property.

Two Kenai residents face charges of burglary, theft and vehicle theft.

Alaska State Troopers detained Aaron Tolton, 35, and Mathew Braswell, 19, after an allegedly stolen Ford F-150 went into the ditch at Mile 77 of the Seward Highway. Troopers observed several items outside the vehicle where it had entered the ditch that matched property stolen in an Oct. 25 burglary, according to court records.

The site of two Dena’ina traditional houses, or nichils, dating back to 1500 A.D. located in Old Town Kenai have remained unmarked for decades.

But hopefully not for long.

Rebecca Lambourn, Kenai Parks and Recreation Commission member, said the commission has proposed placing four signs around Old Town. A sign at the archeological site will teach locals and tourists about the houses while three additional signs will share similar historical tidbits of the olden days of Kenai.  

Sitting alone at a back table, Kit Daszynski ate turkey drenched in brown gravy. He read a worn out hardbound copy of “The Hash Knife” by Zane Grey, a 1930’s Western, as he chewed dark meat. 

Before noon on Thanksgiving, Daszynski ate his dinner. It was the first year he attended Salvation Army’s dinner service hosted by the Soldotna Rotary Club. 

“I had no place else to go. Well, I had other places to go but this was the best option,” he said. “The food is excellent. I like the turkey. I don’t get to eat it that often.”