Peek at the Past

Here’s what made the news 19 years ago, from the Nov. 6, 1992, edition of the Mat-Su Frontiersman:

Stations switch to ‘clear’ gas

Valley motorists with a burning desire to avoid oxygenated gas and its higher price can get relief from the gas — but not the higher price. Fisher Fuel of Big Lake, a Tesoro distributor, will bypass the refiner’s oxygenated fuel supply in Anchorage, going straight to Tesoro’s bulk plant in Kenai.

All 18 privately owned stations Fisher supplies will have “clear gas” available next week, Brad Fisher said. George Jennings at Houston’s Meadowood Tesoro says he’s going clear, but his station will have to pump up the prices to meet the cost of having the fuel trucked farther.

The price of gas is a result of cost, freight, volume and the forces of free enterprise, explained Tesoro service oil and gas manager Chuck Stielstra. All the gas that comes to Anchorage from Kenai comes by pipeline and arrives oxygenated. Tesoro has no extra tanks to store clear gas in Anchorage for the Mat-Su Valley, which is not under a recent federal mandate requiring Anchorage and Fairbanks to use oxygenated gas.

While Mapco and Tesoro as refiners set the price to distributors, the two companies also compete with the distributors’ stations, marketing through Mapco Express and 7-Eleven (Tesoro) retail stations. “I don’t want to get in a war with a direct competitor who holds the aces,” said one distributor. “They can just raise my price in Kenai.”

Young, Murkowski carry Mat-Su comfortably

Alaska’s Republican congressional delegation fought off two challenges from Democrats Tuesday as voters turned out in high numbers across the Mat-Su Borough to re-elect the veteran politicians. The state’s voters also put to rest for another decade the question of holding a constitutional convention. When it came to Alaska’s only statewide proposition — should there be a constitutional convention — borough voters rejected the question by a 2-1 margin. Not one borough precinct voted to open the document.

Moe shifts focus to technical ski events

For the last few years, Tommy Moe has been viewed as a skier with a lot of unfulfilled potential. Moe, a 22-year-old Palmer resident, burst onto the international scene in 1986 when he took a bronze medal in a Nor-Am super giant slalom race in Alberta. But other than a handful of top-15 World Cup finishes the past three years and an appearance at the 1992 Albertville Olympics, Moe hasn’t fulfilled that early promise. Moe has moved away from speed events, like the downhill, and is spending more time with technical events, like the giant slalom. Moe is hoping to regain his edge as he enters his seventh season on the U.S. Ski Team and is hoping to solidify a spot on the U.S. team for the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics.

It cost what?

According to advertisements, in 1992 you could:

• See a matinee at Mat-Su Cinema for $3.

• Purchase a new, three-bedroom home in Wasilla for $98,500.

• Drive a model-year Chevy Lumina minivan for $16,000.