...flew his first plane at age 15. "He was a great guy, always straightforward," said Kenai Peninsula Assembly member Gary Knopp. "There was no pretense about him. He was very sincere." Chris Heintz of Sterling remembers watching Michel's...

...assembly representative experience between the nine members. While Fischer has served nearly 25 years on the assembly, Gary Knopp, soon to be the body's longest-tenured member, has served a fifth of what Fischer has served. Though the loss...