thetundradrums

Brown Jug stores sold to Canadian company

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:47:00 -0800

The largest independent chain of liquor stores in Anchorage has been purchased by a Canadian company.

Liquor Stores Income Fund of Edmonton, Alberta, signed an agreement to acquire all19 liquor stores owned by Brown Jug, according the Web site Quote.com. The acquisition is subject to completion of due diligence, customary closing conditions, and regulatory approvals. Closing is anticipated to take place by December 2008.

Brown Jug and its predecessors have been in the liquor retailing business in greater Anchorage for more than 50 years. In Alaska, there are reportedly 378 retail liquor outlets and approximately 88 stores in the greater Anchorage area. The fund’s managers say Brown Jug's sales represent about a 20 percent market share. The state of Alaska is said to have a favorable regulatory environment, limiting the number of stores in the state to 1 per 3,000 people in urban areas.

"We are very pleased with the planned acquisition of the Brown Jug stores as our initial entry into the U.S. market, as well as the addition of our new Canadian stores,” said Irving Kipnes, CEO of the fund. “Management estimates that the 19 Brown Jug stores will add in excess of 12 percent to current revenue levels in their first full year of operation.”

Liquor Stores Income Fund is a publicly traded Canadian income trust that participates in the retail liquor industry in Alberta, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia.

Grannik named Bethel district attorney

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:00:00 -0800

Andrew Grannik is the new Bethel district attorney, according to a statement released Tuesday by the State Department of Law.

Grannik replaces Lance Joanis, who was recently named Kenai’s district attorney.

“I am honored to have this opportunity,” Grannik said in the statement. “And I look forward to being a part of and serving the Bethel community and Yukon-Kuskokwim region.”

Grannik has worked for the Department of Law since 2005. He received his law degree from Northeastern University School of Law and received a bachelor’s degree in physics and chemistry of the ocean and environmental studies from Leningrad Hydro-Meteorological Institute in Russia.

“(Grannik) is a dedicated public servant who handles complex cases with confidence and energy,” said Alaska deputy attorney general Rick Svobodny. “He has passion for his job and will be diligent in his efforts to help provide Bethel and the surrounding communities with a safe place to live.”

Begich puts Kuskokwim River on campaign trail

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:09:00 -0800

As the reddish-brown rage of the Kuskokwim River and its neighboring sloughs and lakes churned in the day’s robust wind, Jerry Drake’s skiff did a decent impression of a pinball bouncing and bobbing inside one of those old arcade machines.

Drake, a Bethel resident for 30 years, masterfully guided the Alumaweld Talon, equipped with a 115 Mercury four-stroke engine, through the unrelenting water like a man who had seen it all before — and seen much worse.

Still, with a bit of a wink and a nod, Drake turned to his passengers. He couldn’t help himself because Mother Nature and the lack of boat traffic made it abundantly clear, this wasn’t ideal aquatic Alaska Bush travel weather.

“No U.S. senators are taking this kind of campaign trail,” Drake said.

Democratic senatorial candidate Mark Begich and staff member Susanne Fleek laughed as they braced themselves for the next up-and-down crash.

Begich, the Anchorage mayor who’s running for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Ted Stevens since 1968, spent July 7 and 8 visiting with residents in Bethel and the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Part of the itinerary called for the run-of-the-mill “meet and greet” session inside a Bethel office building.

But file the all-day boat trip to Kasigluk, Nunapitchuk and Napakiak on July 8 as anything but ordinary.

“I think you could call it the Alaska version of the old whistle-stop (train) tours,” Drake said. “This may be more down to earth.”

It proved another example of the unique and almost indescribable life lived by everyone on the Delta.

“It’s an unbelievable experience,” Begich said. “You not only meet people, but you see Alaska and it’s not from an airplane, a magazine or news article.”

Begich, Fleek and Drake set out for Kasigluk, located on the Johnson River 26 miles northeast of Bethel, shortly before 10 a.m. One of the key components of Begich’s campaign is his energy plan, which focuses heavily on the need for renewable energy sources.

Much of the talk during the bumpy boat ride downriver centered on the Alaska Village Electric Cooperative wind-power generators, which have been operating in Kasigluk since summer 2006. As the group’s boat neared the village, the 100-foot-tall turbine towers proved a sight to behold.

The turbines reportedly saved Kasigluk $70,000 on diesel in 2007, which helped hold down electric prices.

But before tower technician Moses White lead a tour of the wind energy machinery and the village’s power plant, other village residents marvel at what it took for Begich to make it in for the visit.

Gary Beaver said he had already met and talked with Begich during a previous visit to Bethel. Seeing the candidate arrive by boat, however, cast the politician in different light.

“It’s cool,” said Beaver, 30. “If you’re from another state of another city, you don’t have that experience.

“You just jump in your car and keep going.”

In the office of the Kasigluk Traditional Council where Begich meets a telecommunications technician who paints a grim picture of the area’s Internet access.

The man is in the middle of installing new equipment to improve the situation.

Begich said it’s this kind of first-hand meeting and discussion that makes visiting villages mandatory in his mind.

“The guy told us in short order about the basic Internet access,” Begich said. “The federal government would spend thousands of dollars studying something like this and would hold 30 hearings in (Washington) D.C.

“When you come out here, you get the real feel.”

Begich said he’s told time and time again about the importance of showing up in the villages. He said he hears about from residents in both rural and urban areas of the state.

White and three of his four daughters walked Begich’s traveling party back to the boat after the tour of Kasigluk’s wind energy operation.

Next stop is Nunapitchuk for a meeting with Alaska Native leader Robert Nick. Begich and Nick exchange pleasantries and some policy ideas while sitting on the couch in Nick’s home.

It’s not long before Nick walks the candidate through the village as it prepares for the upcoming Salmonberry Festival. Begich shakes hands with as many village residents as possible.

Some of the residents, especially children, are thrilled to grab a campaign button or T-shirt. Others aren’t quite sure what to make of the candidate.

Once snacks picked up from the Nunapitchuk general store are devoured, Begich’s traveling party makes it back to Drake’s boat to begin the return trip to Bethel. It’s decided another stop will be made in Napakiak.

It’s also decided that low tide could make for a tricky trek back to the city. How true. How true.

The boat slides and sticks into sandbars three times en route from Nunapitchuk to Napakiak. But ever the confident captain, Drake gets the boat out of trouble and back in action quickly.

Residents of Napakiak are putting the finishing touches on the re-roofing of the school.

The staff at Jung’s Trading Post price frozen vegetables and stack them accordingly in a freezer.

Begich and his crew make a lap around the village, stopping to chat with everyone on a four-wheeler.

After leaving Napakiak for a quick stop at Drake’s fish camp to test the family’s tasty smoked salmon strips, the boat docks in Bethel shortly before 8 p.m.

It’s been a long day full of choppy water and windy, dust-filled gusts.

“When you’re born and raised in the state, you’re aware of the everyday challenges, especially for those in rural Alaska,” Begich said. “I’ve stayed in homes with honeybuckets and been on the flights when you wondered if you’re going to get there.

“I don’t want to say (this trip) has been an eye-opener. It’s just been more of a reinforcement of what I thought and knew. It gave me a sense of the new challenges the people of rural Alaska face.”

Matt Nevala can be reached at (907) 348-2480 or toll free at (800) 770-9830, ext. 480.

State won’t offer ballots written in Yup’ik

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:07:00 -0800

The state of Alaska cannot legally be required to provide written voting materials in Yup’ik.

The ruling, made Tuesday, July 8, by U.S. District Judge Timothy Burgess, was handed down just before a three-judge panel heard arguments on whether the state of Alaska and the city of Bethel should be required, by court order, to provide Yup’ik-speaking voters language assistance in upcoming elections.

The ruling was based on a section of the Voting Rights Act that declares that, if a language is “historically unwritten,” a state would only have to provide oral voting assistance for speakers of that minority language.

In the late 19th century, Russian missionaries developed a form of written Yup’ik with Cyrillic. A more widely used version of written Yup’ik with English letters was developed by missionaries of the Moravian church in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in the early 20th century.

Modern written Yup’ik was developed in the 1960s by native Yup’ik speakers working in collaboration with linguists at the University of Alaska. The modern form replaced the old Moravian standard. It was disseminated in Yup’ik-English bilingual curricula and is used to this day.

When delivering his ruling, Burgess said that, in interpreting the definition of “historically unwritten,” he considered that the statute does not concern whether a language is currently written but whether it was a written language in the past.

He said that “one or two generations” of Yup’ik speakers using written Yup’ik did not constitute a historically written language.

After the ruling, the three-judge panel heard arguments on what, if any, help to Yup’ik-speaking voters the state and city of Bethel could be required by court order to provide, in time for primary elections Aug. 26 and general elections Nov. 4.

Plaintiffs in the suit are four Yup’ik elders and four Yup’ik village traditional councils in the Bethel area. Their legal representation set forth a list of criteria that would, in their view, be sufficient assistance provided by state and city government for Yup’ik speakers to be able to vote this fall.

At the top of the list is the provision of federal observers to document whether the help that governments offer to Yup’ik-speaking voters is implemented and whether it is effective.

The Native American Rights Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union are representing the plaintiffs.

At the July 8 hearing, Natalie Landreth, counsel for NARF, said that, while the state has recently ramped up efforts to help Yup’ik speakers to vote, “What they have done is inadequate.”

She added: “We’re seeing bits and pieces of the voting experiences being offered. They’ve stepped forward. But they’re not quite there.”

Sarah Felix, counsel for the state of Alaska, argued a court order was unnecessary.

She said the state of Alaska recently hired a Yup’ik translator to coordinate statewide assistance to Yup’ik speaking voters and that it now plans to provide a translator in all 38 voting precincts in the Bethel census area in time for the primary and general elections.

These translators would read aloud an approved written translation of the ballot to Yup’ik-speaking voters, Felix said.

Felix also said the state would let Yup’ik speakers know that help will be available to them so that they can vote. She said the state would do this by placing advertisements on local radio stations in Yup’ik and English and by making and distributing a poster..

When asked by U.S. Circuit Judge M. Margaret McKeown whether the poster advertising help at the polls for Yup’ik speakers would be printed in English and Yup’ik, Felix responded, “We will have that poster in English.”

She added her understanding of Burgess’ ruling was that the state could not be required to provide voting materials that were written in Yup’ik.

“How hard would it be to simply print that poster in Yup’ik?” McKeown asked.

“I don’t know how hard it would be, but I know the policy decision needs to be made by the lieutenant governor,” Felix said.

Gabriel Guest, vice president of the Kasigluk Traditional Council — which is one of the plaintiffs in the case — observed the hearing along with several others who had traveled from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta for the court proceeding.

He said there are about 10 elders in his village of 600 who speak only Yup’ik and don’t speak or understand any English, but many more whose first language is Yup’ik and who understand and speak it much better than English. Guest estimated about 80 percent of adults in his village fall in that category.

He said there have never been any translators assigned to his voting precinct to help Yup’ik speakers, but sometimes bilingual members of the community will volunteer to help an elder who wants to vote.

He said that, if a translator were on hand to read aloud a Yup’ik version of the ballot, it would make voting much less confusing to many people in his area.

He said he is especially concerned about those elders who only speak Yup’ik.

“Most of them don’t vote,” he said. “I think if this thing passes, they would vote.”

Mary Lochner can be reached at (907) 348-2438 or (800) 770-9830, ext. 438.

Chamber announces scholarship for business undergraduates

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:05:00 -0800

The Bethel Chamber of Commerce Board announced recently a one-time $750 scholarship to be awarded to a selected undergraduate college student in September.

The scholarship was adopted during the board’s annual banquet as part of its 2008 goals.

“We believe that investing in this region’s business owners and leaders of tomorrow will promote sustainability for Bethel’s economy,” board Vice President Jerry Drake said.

Applicants for the scholarship must be college sophomores or above and provide official transcripts and proof of enrollment in a business-related major. The application, and all supporting documentation, must be received no later than 6 p.m. on Aug. 15. Applications postmarked Aug. 15 or later will not be considered.

For more information, or to pick up an application, contact Tish Guinn at (907) 543-3773 or e-mail lguinn@bethelclinic.org.

McGrath recycles 4,739 pounds of old technology

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:04:00 -0800

Nell Huffman, environmental coordinator at Takotna Tribal Council, and I worked together with other surrounding villages in the region to set up electronic waste recycling on June 30.

With the support of many, this event turned out to be successful, as 4,739 pounds of e-waste was backhauled out of McGrath to Anchorage on Northern Air Cargo, where Total Reclaim picked it up to recycle.

Electronic waste is extremely toxic. It contains lead, mercury, PCBs and arsenic, and it should be kept out of the villages.

We believe by working together with our surrounding communities in the region, we can set an example for other communities by eliminating e-waste and other recyclables that have accumulated in rural communities throughout the years.

McGrath is located 221 miles northwest of Anchorage and 269 miles southwest of Fairbanks in Interior Alaska on the Kuskokwim River. Takotna is located 18 miles to the west of McGrath and Nikolai is 55 miles to the northeast. Since McGrath is the hub for surrounding villages, it is our recycling center point.

It is our hope that this is a starting point for cooperative efforts between the communities to address environmental concerns.

The McGrath Native Village Council’s Environmental Department consists of one employee, myself, and is the only presence in the community of McGrath able to address environmental issues. The council has received the EPA’s Indian General Assistance Program since 2002.

It is important to educate the McGrath community on important environmental issues and respecting our environment.

Takotna’s Environmental Department consists of two employees. This is the first year it has had the EPA’s Indian Assistance grant. The staff have been working hard to educate the village on environmental issues.

Working with McGrath, Nikolai and the Kuskokwim Watershed Council will enable us to better educate and protect our local area.

The success of this recycling event would not be possible without the support from our local airline, Tanana Air Service, Northern Air Cargo and Total Reclaim, which provides environmental services.

Elsie Bobby is McGrath Native Village Council’s environmental coordinator.

Bethel officials keep pushing for a pool

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:46:00 -0800

Walk out to Bethel’s city subdivision by Yuut Elitnaurviat: The People’s Learning Center and across the street from the Orutsararmiut Native Council multi-purpose building and you’ll see the sign — similar to a blue tarp — staring back at you.

It reads, “The Future Site of the Regional Aquatic Recreation Facility.”

Words on plastic now, Beverly Hoffman and other concerned Bethel residents and officials believe they’re another step closer to constructing a building sometime in the near future.

“I hope it’s not too much more of a long time,” Hoffman said. “We would like to start construction in summer 2009 and have (the facility) up and running a few years later.”

The Regional Aquatic Recreation Facility, also known less formally as the swimming pool and multi-use recreation center, is a project that’s been in the works by Hoffman and others for more than 20 years. Bethel officials recently released the request for qualifications (RFQ) to architectural firms for the design and building of the facility.

The city did so despite Gov. Sarah Palin’s May veto of a $2 million allocation for the facility in the state capital budget.

“We were deeply disappointed by the veto,” said Hoffman, chairwoman of the city’s ad hoc committee overseeing the aquatic center. “I don’t think she’s completely aware of the statistics and the rate of deaths by drowning we have here.”

Bethel residents approved a sales tax increase for construction and operation of the center in 2007, the same year City Manager Wally Baird created the ad hoc committee.

Hoffman, 57, said the need for an indoor swimming pool is critical for Bethel and all of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.

“I grew up here with a terrible fear of water and didn’t learn to swim,” she said.

Hoffman said that the original pool idea was born in the 1980s but was dismissed for more pressing needs. But the project gained new strength when a rash of drowning deaths hit the region in the 1990s.

So much of life in the region is centered on the water. Yet Hoffman said few people take the opportunity to learn how to swim or be safe in and around the Delta’s rivers and lakes.

“People continue to grow up here without any water safety instruction,” Hoffman said.

“Some people travel to Anchorage to stay in hotels with pools to learn how to swim.

“The pool would be for the communities in the region. We’re going to keep plugging away.”

Previous plans for the aquatic center came with a $20 million price tag. Hoffman suggested current plans can be modified to meet the financial times. Money for construction and long-term maintenance of the center will continue to be accumulated through the increased city sales tax and an endowment fund created for the center.

Hoffman said the city and her committee also expects to revisit financing of the center with the state Legislature next session.

“We worry about the cost of it all, but if it saves lives it’s worth the money,” Hoffman said. “Years ago, we all wanted a plush facility. Now, seriously, we’ll take what we can afford.

“I’ve worked on this thing for so long, it’s hard to describe what it will be like once it’s here. It’s very emotional.

“We’ll have a better place to leave. It’s really frustrating when people don’t see or feel that way. It’s not a ‘build it and people will come’ thing. It’s a ‘build it, we’re here’ thing.”

Responses for the city’s RFQ are due July 23. Hoffman’s committee, which features a dozen other residents, meets again at 5:15 p.m. on Thursday, July 17. For more information on the meeting, the committee or the aquatic center, call Hoffman at 543-3239 or visit www.cityofbethel.org.

Matt Nevala can be reached at (907) 348-2480 or toll free at (800) 770-9830, ext. 480.

Herron’s float wins big on Fourth of July

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:45:00 -0800

House District 38 candidate Bob Herron cleaned up in the awards category during Bethel’s Fourth of July parade.

On a float designed as a birthday cake celebrating Alaska’s 50 years of statehood and Bethel’s 50th birthday, Herron won four judges’ categories, including best float.

Herron’s effort also pulled in awards for the Happy Birthday Alaska: 50 Years Old, Judges’ Choice and Most Creative/Unusual.

The Kuskokwim 300 won the best float-group entry category.

The city of Bethel announced the 2008 Clean Up, Green Up winners as well.

Kyle Jones took first place with 56 tickets. Darla, Hazel and Paul Gregory finished second with 24 tickets.

Jones and the Gregorys received gift certificates for new bicycles.

There were 26 additional participants in the Clean Up Green Up contest: Valerie Link, Joe Moses, John Smart, Elijah Lamont, Sabrina Moses, Huey Samuelson, Curtis Konig, Tyler Konig, Jaydon Evan, Pat Kylook, Ana Alexie , Skylar Noes, Allison Barnes, Christopher Alexie, Bradley Samuelson, Travis Moses, Jackie Jenkins, Margo Mochin, Bradley Samuelson, Kaitlyn Evon, Jaylene Chaney, Margo Mochin, Jacklyn Kernak, Kyle Chung, Bethany Bell and Calvin Konig.

In a statement, the Bethel Parks and Recreation Department thanked the community for a wonderful celebration.

The department extended special “thank yous” to the following:
Knik Construction, Bethel Police Department, Kusko Towing, Bethel Public Works Department, Marty Langois, Bethel Lions Club, Lisa Myers, Northland Services, UniCom, the Bethel Utilities Corp., Magic Man DJ and Wilson Green for sound.

Oil exploration one step closer in northeast NPRA

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:49:00 -0800

The Bureau of Land Management plans to hold a lease sale this fall in the northeast portion of National Petroleum Reserve – Alaska, officials in Washington D.C announced today.

“This action sets the stage for a major lease sale this fall. This is welcome news at a time when Americans are paying record prices at the pump,” said C. Stephen Allred, assistant secretary for Land and Minerals.

At the same lease sale, the BLM also plans to offer land in the northwest portion of the NPR-A.

This lease sale has been derailed for at least two years after much legal action including a lawsuit by several conservation organizations and the North Slope Borough that challenged the completeness of the data included in the Environmental Impact Assessment.

“The rapid increase in energy costs facing our nation is driven by a worldwide imbalance in energy supply and demand,” Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne said.

“Developing the NPR-A in an environmentally sound manner will contribute to our domestic oil and natural gas supplies. Together with new production from other offshore and onshore areas, these increased supplies will help stabilize energy costs.”

The bureau estimates that about 8.4 billion barrels of oil can be produced from lands in the Northeast and Northwest portions of NPRA, in addition to trillions of cubic feet of natural gas.

“This decision provides for the protection of high value wildlife, including waterfowl and caribou, and meets the subsistence needs of North Slope residents while making lands with oil and gas potential available for leasing," said BLM-Alaska State Director Tom Lonnie.

The plan includes protections for the polar bear, including requirements to consider impacts on areas used by polar bears for denning.

Additionally, with the listing of the polar bear the agency will continue to work closely with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on future oil and gas activities.

According to the Record of Decision signed by Allred, the BLM defers leasing for 10 years on land currently unavailable for leasing north and east of Teshekpuk Lake.

State won’t offer Yup’ik ballots

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:59:00 -0800

The state of Alaska cannot legally be required to provide written voting materials in Yup’ik.

The ruling, made Tuesday, July 8, by U.S. District Judge Timothy Burgess, was handed down just before a three-judge panel heard arguments on whether the state of Alaska and the city of Bethel should be required, by court order, to provide Yup'ik-speaking voters with other forms of language assistance in upcoming elections.

Such assistance would include Yup’ik-speaking translators.

There is no date set on when the panel of federal judges will hand down their ruling.

Burgess' ruling was based on a section of the Voting Rights Act that declares that, if a language is “historically unwritten,” a state would only have to provide oral voting assistance for speakers of that minority language.

Modern written Yup’ik was developed in the 1960s by Native Yup’ik speakers working in collaboration with linguists at the University of Alaska. The modern form replaced the old Moravian standard. It was disseminated in Yup’ik-English bilingual curricula and is used to this day.

He said that “one or two generations” of Yup’ik speakers using written Yup’ik did not constitute a historically written language.

Plaintiffs in the suit are four Yup’ik elders and four Yup’ik village traditional councils in the Bethel area.

During the July 8 hearing, lawyers for the Yup'ik speakers set forth a list of criteria that would, in their view, be sufficient assistance provided by state and city government for Yup’ik speakers to be able to vote this fall.

At the top of the list is the provision of federal observers to document whether the help that governments offer to Yup’ik-speaking voters is implemented and whether it is effective.

The Native American Rights Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union are representing the plaintiffs.

Natalie Landreth, counsel for NARF, said that, while the state has recently ramped up efforts to help Yup’ik speakers to vote, “What they have done is inadequate.”

She added, “We’re seeing bits and pieces of the voting experiences being offered. They’ve stepped forward. But they’re not quite there.”

Sarah Felix, counsel for the state of Alaska, argued a court order was unnecessary. She said the state of Alaska recently hired a Yup’ik translator to coordinate statewide assistance to Yup’ik speaking voters and that it now plans to provide a translator in all 38 voting precincts in the Bethel census area in time for the primary and general elections.

The translators would read aloud an approved written translation of the ballot to Yup’ik-speaking voters, Felix said.

She added her understanding of Burgess’ ruling was that the state could not be required to provide voting materials that were written in Yup’ik.

“How hard would it be to simply print that poster in Yup’ik?” McKeown asked.

“I don’t know how hard it would be, but I know the policy decision needs to be made by the lieutenant governor,” Felix said.

He said that, if a translator were on hand to read aloud a Yup’ik version of the ballot, it would make voting much less confusing to many people in his area.

He said he is especially concerned about those elders who only speak Yup’ik.

“Most of them don’t vote,” he said. “I think if this thing passes, they would vote.”

Mary Lochner can be reached at (907) 348-2438 or (800) 770-9830, ext. 438.

Celebrating statehood ‘Tundra Style’

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:54:00 -0800

Through the creativity of the arts — activities such as singing, dancing, acting or painting — students in the Lower Kuskokwim School District will soon embark on an educational adventure to celebrate Alaska’s 50 years of statehood and learn about their region and the people in it, past and present.

“Students Celebrating Statehood: Tundra Style/Yupiulleg Nutemllarmek” is the name of the LKSD project spearheaded by Bev Williams, the district’s Literacy Through the Arts Project director.

“Tundra Style” was recently awarded a $70,000 Alaska Statehood Experience grant from the Alaska Humanities Forum and the Rasmuson Foundation.

“We’ve been seeing some real growth (from the students) as little performers,” Williams said. “With this grant, we have the opportunity to look at statehood and reflect on it from over the last 50 years.

“We’re going to have the students look at contributions (to the state) from a Yup’ik perspective.”

The “Tundra Style” project is one of 28 the Alaska Humanities Forum and the Rasmuson Foundation gave $921,284 to explore the history of Alaska statehood.

Williams said LKSD students from 10 targeted schools — Akiuk, Atmautluak, Ayaprun Elitnaurvik, Eek, Goodnews Bay, Kwigillingok, Mikelnguut Elitnaurvik, Napaskiak, Newtok and Tununak — will participate.

Those schools take part in an arts literacy project funded by the Alaska Native Education Program at the U.S. Department of Education.

Over the last two years, teachers and site administrators have been trained to integrate the arts across the curriculum to increase student motivation, attendance and literacy, particularly in writing, and to give students arts experiences in places with no visual art or music specialists.

Williams, who works out of Akiuk Memorial School in Kasigluk, said she marvels at watching students change in front of her eyes as they get more involved in artistic endeavors.

“Kids find something within themselves that allows them to become performers,” Williams said. “They lose that self-consciousness to get out in front of people in public.”

The “Tundra Style” students will work with guest teaching artists, elders, culture bearers and teachers to investigate what the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta was like before and after statehood. In the grant proposal, Williams wrote that students would reflect on their culture, identity, language and environment.

At the same time, they’ll study important milestones in state history and will compare what was happening in their region at those same times. Students will conduct research in old- and new-school ways, conducting interviews with elders as well as using Internet and library resources.

Each school then develops, rehearses and produces performances or visual art creations that showcase what the students learned. Examples could include a new Eskimo dance that tells the story of a historical milestone, recreating a piece of Alaska artwork and acting out a scene in front of it or writing a new song with lyrics that tell a story from the Y-K Delta.

The community from each school will be invited to watch each performance or art piece locally. Eventually, small groups of students from the schools will be chosen to perform in a large, combined-group show in Bethel sometime in the spring, most likely in April.

The grand performance in Bethel is a project highlight for Williams.

“It’s probably the part I find most appealing about the (Alaska Statehood Experience) grant,” she said. “The money will allow us to bring the kids together.

“We’re always able to bring students together for athletic events, but there never seems to be money available to bring kids from our villages together for an arts event.”

The Bethel performance will be filmed is expected to be broadcast on Alaska public television.

Williams used excerpts from Anne Fienup-Riordan’s book “Yuungnaqpiallerput
/The Way We Genuinely Live: Masterworks of Yup’ik Science and Survival” throughout her project proposal.

In the final summary, she quotes the book to reflect the genesis of the “Tundra Style” project.

“Elders often remark on the changing times, and most are thankful for the improved living conditions, warm homes and easier access to food. Looking back wistfully to their past, however, they regret the decline of sharing,” the quote reads.

Williams summed up the project this way:

“To share and celebrate what they have learned in a year-long project, 1,230 students from 10 (LKSD) sites will perform dances, music and theater and present visual art depicting life on the Y-K Delta before and after statehood alongside milestones in Alaska history to village audiences.

A smaller group of 60 of them will then participate in a final performance in Bethel, illustrating a “looking out and looking in,” helping students and communities reflect on how they are connected to each other and fellow Alaskans. This unique statehood presentation will be a central feature of the 2009 Arts and Academic Fair in Bethel, to which everyone is invited.”

Williams said “Tundra Style” meetings will begin later this month when educators and artists get together to map out the game plan. Teachers and art liaisons will start working with the students in October.

“The (guest) artists will get in there, and we’ll hit the ground running,” Williams said.

Matt Nevala can be reached at (907) 348-2480 or toll free at (800) 770-9830, ext. 480.

Former Bethel councilman stretches his legs

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:53:00 -0800

Andrei Jacobs needed to take a long walk.

He’d just lost his job, his house burned down and he was homeless.

So when his brother, Julien, told him about a cross-nation march to raise awareness about the need to protect sacred Native American sites, he jumped at the chance.

“It took me 10 minutes to decide,” he said.

Growing up, he had been inspired about the walk his mother once took.

In 1963, Blanche Jacobs, the paralegal from Bethel and once-pioneer health aide in Kongiganak village, joined the flood of people that marched through Washington, D.C., in support of civil rights. She was there at the Lincoln Memorial when Martin Luther King Jr. declared his dreams.

Andrei, part black, part Yup’ik and a former Bethel councilman, grew up hearing that story and others about Mom’s selfless public service. He always wanted to follow in her footsteps, to be part of a national crusade. This year’s march from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., gave him that chance.

“This is the most meaningful thing I can do that I know of,” said Andrei Jacobs, speaking by cell phone from a gas station in a Maryland town, where a support vehicle was getting a flat fixed.

Since traveling to New Mexico and joining the Longest Walk 2 — Jacobs joined late, in April — he’s walked through nine states, worn out two pairs of sneakers and dropped 15 pounds from his already slender frame.

He’s logged 1,400 miles — including 200 by jogging — a distance roughly equaling the span from the Yukon River’s mouth to the Alaska Panhandle.

Jacobs said he’s part of a ragtag and increasingly tight-knit parade of some 100 people that snaked across the southern U.S. before hitting the eastern seaboard at Georgia and trudging north.

Collectively, the group has logged the entire 4,500 miles on foot.

The walk commemorates the 30th anniversary of the original Longest Walk of 1978, when Native Americans also walked from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., to raise awareness about tribal sovereignty. The effort helped halt legislation that would have nullified treaties protecting that sovereignty, according to the Website www.longestwalk.org.

This year’s commemorative journey began in February, with walkers dividing into two groups. The northern walkers traversed America’s midsection, following the original route through states like Kansas and Missouri. They’ll soon meet Jacobs and the southern walkers in the nation’s capital.

It’s Jacobs’ job to pen a “manifesto” for the groups that will be delivered to Congress on Friday. It will broadly spell out positions and goals, with a focus on protecting sites such as San Francisco Peaks.

The volcanic mountain range in northern Arizona has important religious significance for several tribes, who say plans at a snow resort to manufacture snow from wastewater would desecrate the mountain.

Jacobs said the manifesto will also call for continued protection of traditional practices such as subsistence. The document will address the needs of other indigenous people from around the world and be presented to the United Nations.

The walk has been emotional, fun, and he’s learned a lot about Native American issues, he said.

The group has trudged through furious rainstorms, been pummeled by hail and blinded in sandstorms. They’ve watched moody sunsets and endured smothering heat on hikes that often exceed 15 miles a day.

They’ve mostly camped, getting support from vehicles carrying luggage and cooking food. The walk is also part anti-litter movement: They’ve filled 3,500 trash bags with roadside refuse.

In Texas, they pushed through a rainstorm swirling with 60 mph winds.

“When you’re done with that 15 miles you’re hugging each other and just shouting.

‘Man, we did it! We did it!’” he said.

Alex DeMarban can be reached at (907) 348-2444 or (800) 770-9830, ext. 444.

YKHC recognizes June’s health aides of the month

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:52:00 -0800

The Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp.’s community health aide program recently recognized Marlene Phillip and Justina Phillip of Tuluksak as June’s health aides of the month.

Marlene Phillip is a community health aide practitioner and has worked for YKHC for five years. In a statement, YKHC officials said she exhibits exceptional customer service and works closely with physicians to diagnose and treat health care needs.

Marlene recently completed a well child exam on a 2-year-old who she discovered had abnormal height and weight. The diagnosis led to further examination by a pediatrician.

“Her attention to detail and diligent work make her an excellent provider,” said Martha Attie, supervisor instructor. “Marlene is a lead health aide and is motivated, energetic, and a hard worker.”

Justina Phillip, who is not related to Marlene, was hired in November 2006 as a community health aide and is trained as a Level 3.

According to YKHC, Justina’s compassion for the sick coupled with her love of meeting new people has allowed her to become a standout health aide.

“She has complete Patient Encounter Forms and uses her Community Health Aide Manual and training guides regularly,” Attie said. “Justina performs well under pressure and will work on difficult skills until she masters them.”

Both Marlene and Justina Phillip will be honored in an upcoming luncheon at the Tuluksak clinic.

Each month, YKHC awards special recognition to an outstanding health aide.
Anyone who would like to recognize a particular health aide can contact the field supervision instructor at 543-6160.

For Bethel man, history stays in the present

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:05:00 -0800

Personally and professionally, Mike Martz’s interest in all types of history seldom subsides.

An avid reader, he studied early American history and the Civil War by devouring books on the subject as a kid. A former teacher turned KYUK television producer and documentarian, Martz has spent a great deal of time chronicling many of the cultural and social issues of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta’s Yup’ik people.

If it’s history, Martz wants to know about it. He believes others should as well, a take that makes the Bethel man a perfect fit for the Alaska Historical Commission.

“I’m not an academic scholar, there is a lot I don’t know,” Martz said. “But history has always been kind of interesting to me. It’s important to keep the past straight and accurate.

“If you lose track of history, you might not know where you’re going.”

Last month, Gov. Sarah Palin reappointed Martz to the nine-person Alaska Historical Commission. He was first appointed to the commission in 2006 by Gov. Frank Murkowski.

Members of the commission advise the governor on programs concerning state history and pre-history, historic sites and buildings and on geographic names. Two of the commission’s key responsibilities are reviewing nominations for the National Register of Historic Places and determining the correct and most appropriate names for geographic features.

If the old schoolhouse in your area needs preserving, the Alaska Historical Commission weighs the necessity. You want to name a nearby lake after a beloved relative? Talk to the commission — actually, try filling out the appropriate paperwork.

“Every state has some sort of history commission,” Martz said. “Something gets nominated for historic distinction and we discuss the pros and cons.

“Everybody debates in what is an amiable group.”

Martz said the commission meets four times a year. Travel to and from meetings is paid for by the state.

“We’re going to keep Mike as long as we can,” said Jo Antonson, the state’s deputy state historic preservation officer. “His training and work in film and audio is so helpful because we all tend to be book people.

“We’re thrilled with Mike’s interest and service and with his reappointment.”

Martz came to Alaska as a high school teacher in 1973, working in St. Marys, Bethel and Chevak. He started his first stint at KYUK in 1982 as a cameraman, editor, director and producer.

Martz left KYUK in the late 1990s to work as an independent producer and media technician for the Lower Kuskokwim School District before rejoining KYUK in 2000.

Martz’s documentary work includes “Uncle Sam’s Men,” the story of the service of Yup’ik men and women in the Alaska Territorial Guard during World War II. He also produced the award-winning “Platinum Dreams,” which told the 40-year history of Alaska’s only platinum mine.

Last summer, he spent 16 days embedded in Kuwait, where Alaskans, many from Western and Northern Alaska, provide security for convoys carrying supplies.

Martz is the only member of the Alaska Historical Commission from Western Alaska.

“That doesn’t make much of a difference in a practical sense,” he said. “But when nominations for geographic names from the region come up, a couple have, I maybe have a sense of how people might feel about them.”

Martz recalled a petition to give a river near Newtok a Yup’ik name. But he studied and found the nomination had misspelled the name, and a river with the proposed name already existed.

Always a history buff, Martz enjoys his role on the commission.

“I really like the meetings and being with the other people (on the commission),” Martz said. “I’m dealing with interesting subjects and I get to learn more about different parts of the state, locations and buildings I never knew anything about.”

Matt Nevala can be reached at (907) 348-2480 or toll free at (800) 770-9830, ext. 480.

Bethel’s youth shelter needs help to remain operational

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:01:00 -0800

Later this month, the state Department of Health and Social Services will officially start the search for someone to run the emergency youth shelter in Bethel.

In late May, increased costs and decreased state support forced the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp. to announce plans that it would soon close the Kuskokwim Emergency Youth Services facility.

The facility includes a shelter and short-term treatment services.

“Our grant funding has decreased, and utility costs are going up,” said Jack Robert Crow, YKHC vice president.

The regional hospital, which operates clinics throughout the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, is focused on providing quality care in economically sustainable areas, he said.

“It’s never easy to reduce services, but we can’t afford to increase contributions to our programs any more,” he said.

After the hospital’s announcement, state officials and YKHC worked out an agreement to keep the facility open until Sept. 30. The state will use the time to find a new operator for the shelter, said Renee Gayhart, the state’s tribal health liaison.

The hospital has agreed to offer training and technical assistance if an agency steps forward.

The state will begin accepting letters of interest no later than July 25. A bidding process will follow if more than one group expresses interest, Gayhart said.

The facility provides a dozen beds for children and teens from more than 50 communities. Many have suffered abuse at home and have nowhere to turn.

Eight beds are part of a receiving home that’s dedicated to youths in custody of the state Office of Children’s Services.

Four beds are for youths needing short-term treatment before transitioning to places such as Anchorage where more help is available, said Gayhart. That part of the shelter is known as the Residential Diagnostic Treatment Center.

The services have operated out of Bethel for more than a decade. State officials are confident the receiving home will remain in Bethel, Gayhart said.

Doing so is critical, she said.

“The preference is to have a kid close to home, so they can begin the whole reunification process” with supportive family and friends, Gayhart said.

After the hospital’s agreement with the state ends, the KEYS facility will no longer consist of the diagnostic treatment center. That service will be handled by the hospital’s outpatient clinic and by North Star Hospital in Anchorage, which provides behavioral health service for children and adolescents.

Last week, there were no youths using the diagnostic-treatment beds, Crow said.

Demand for the service has fallen.

“It’s probably an indication that we’re managing things better on the front end,” he said.

Alex DeMarban can be reached at (907) 348-2444 or (800) 770-9830, ext. 444.

UA regents approve degree program for fishery studies

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:26:00 -0800

The University of Alaska Board of Regents approved a new bachelor of arts in fisheries and a minor in fisheries the week of June 20. The degree and minor will be offered at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

The new B.A. is part of a multimillion-dollar expansion of the UAF fisheries program thanks to a generous grant from the Rasmuson Foundation.

The degree will prepare students for careers in fisheries business, policy, anthropology or rural community development. According to Trent Sutton, associate professor of fisheries and the coordinator for the undergraduate fisheries program, the program will train students in the social, economic and business aspects of fisheries.

“Our students will learn not only how to work with fish, but how to work with the diverse users of this vast natural resource,” Sutton said. “Alaska needs more fisheries experts, especially those trained in Alaska, and we intend to fill that need.”

The new program emphasizes hands-on learning through internships and undergraduate research. Students will work directly with fisheries experts in the workplace, the laboratory and in the field.

The program was created using input from members of Alaska’s fishing industry, including seafood processors, fishing companies and Alaska Native groups.

Another priority of the program is to increase the number of Alaska Native and rural Alaska students in fisheries. As part of this effort, classrooms have been equipped with advanced technology for distance delivery of classes.

Students will also be able to begin their studies at UAF, UAA or UAS and complete their degree through UAF in either Fairbanks or Juneau.

UAF already offers a bachelor of science in fisheries, which prepares students for careers in fisheries biology and management. As part of the UAF fisheries expansion, the B.S. curriculum is being updated and revitalized to include more opportunities for hands-on learning.

The minor in fisheries will allow students in other majors to gain a solid introductory background in fisheries. Both the B.A. and the minor become officially available in January 2009.

The UAF School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences conducts marine and fisheries research, education and outreach across Alaska, the Arctic and Antarctic.

Fifty-five faculty scientists and 135 students are engaged in building knowledge about Alaska and the world’s coastal and marine ecosystems.

SFOS is headquartered at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and serves the state from facilities located in Seward, Juneau, Anchorage and Kodiak.

Plentiful wind, wood and water hold keys to cheaper energy

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:12:00 -0800

A group of Dillingham fishermen hoping to reduce gas costs for the Bristol Bay fleet are sketching plans to turn salmon waste into fuel.

In Nunam Iqua in Western Alaska, a tiny utility hopes to spin power from the wind — electric use will jump when a new school opens and flush toilets arrive.

And in Fort Yukon in the Interior, Native groups hope to heat buildings with wood collected from fire-charred swaths of forest.

Throughout isolated, rural Alaska, where fuel prices often top $6 a gallon and produce enormous electric and heating bills, residents are racing to find cheaper energy using natural resources in their backyard.

The Denali Commission and Alaska Energy Authority are helping fuel the alternative energy stampede with state and federal funds. In June, the groups awarded $5 million to 33 projects around Alaska.

People in Nunam Iqua have to do something, said Carin Finch, a grant advisor at the city.

“We’re in shock,” she said.

The summer fuel barge hasn’t arrived, but gas and heating fuel prices in the village of 200 will likely barrel past $7 a gallon when it does. Electric bills will rise 40 percent.

“There’s grave concern,” she said. “We’re hoping the state can help electric utilities.”

Residents in the Yup’ik village started looking into building wind turbines in 2005 when officials realized plans for a new school would double the community’s electric use, Finch said. The school opens this fall. The load will increase further when houses finally get running water and toilets that flush, which require pumps, probably next year.

Tests show that there’s enough wind in the village, Finch said. But more studies are needed.

The city received $34,000 from the Denali Commission to determine if wind turbines are a good investment and if the tundra can support them.

If they can’t be built, residents will consider hydropower or some other form of alternative energy, she said.

“It’s the future,” Finch said.

Alaska Native groups in Fort Yukon hope to beat the “ungodly” fuel prices in that village — $6.49 a gallon for diesel — by harvesting wood downed by forest fires, said David Thomas, power plant operator in the village of 600.

About $800,000 from the Denali Commission will help buy equipment such as a brush cutter and backhoe.

“We’ll get a lumber company going, harvest wood, bring it back and then buy some big boilers to heat the buildings,” Thomas said.

The groups — the Council of Athabascan Tribal Governments and the Gwitchyaa Zhee Corp. — hope to employ a few residents who gather wood in winter and barge it down the river in summer.

“The money will stay in town, ya know,” Thomas said. “Hopefully it will knock down some of these diesel prices.”

In Dillingham, Steve Noonkesser has helped organize a group of fishermen and others who are studying ways to reduce the cost of energy. They hope to get cheaper gas for driftnet fishermen.

“They fish all over the bay and they’re really getting hit,” said Noonkesser, who fishes commercially from a shore-set net.

The group, which includes retired fishermen and people with electrical and welding skills, are looking into making a machine that can render oil from fish waste.

If it can be done economically, they’ll turn fish oil into biodiesel that can fuel boats.

That would be much cheaper than gasoline, Noonkesser said.

It would improve the bottom line for fishing operations and allow some people to stay in the region instead of moving to Anchorage for cheaper living, he added. That’s happened a lot in recent years, he said.

“This is a good place to live, and finding ways to continue to live here is pretty important to me,” he said.

The group might apply for an Alaska Energy Authority grant of $180,000 to help pay for the oil-rendering machine.

The authority announced the grant on June 20. It will be awarded by December, said James Jensen, an AEA assistant project manager.

The machine should be portable so it can travel between communities, rendering oil at different processing plants, he said.

The effort hopes to build on the success of UniSea Inc.’s Dutch Harbor operation, Jensen said. The seafood company’s processing plant there has saved loads of money by mixing fish oil with expensive diesel fuel to generate electricity.

Other big processing plants in Alaska use fish oil to heat buildings and make fish meal.

But smaller processing plants collectively throw away millions of gallons of fish waste a year without extracting the oil. Those smaller plants can’t afford the rendering equipment, and a portable machine could help them, said John Steigers, a consultant for the project.

The fish oil could be used by the processing plant or community in raw form to heat buildings. It could be mixed with diesel fuel to power electric turbines, as UniSea does.

Or it could be converted to biodiesel fuel, as Noonkesser proposes.

Creating biodiesel from fish waste is just one of the group’s ideas to bring down fuel prices in Dillingham, Noonkesser said.

“Anything that would reduce energy costs would be good,” he said.

Alex DeMarban can be reached at (907) 348-2444 or (800) 770-9830, ext. 444.

‘There’s nothing I can do. We’re helpless.’

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:09:00 -0800

Ross Mullins did everything a man could do.

He worked hard as a fisherman, starting with a small outfit in 1963, fishing for herring and pink salmon in Cordova.

When a pipeline was proposed to be built to Valdez, he publicly spoke his concerns for fishermen: that there wasn’t enough baseline scientific data to determine what was lost if an accident should occur and that human fallibility and oil tankers were a combination that eventually could spell disaster.

He grew his fishing business. He helped invest in the pink salmon hatchery the community pulled together to build.

The year 1989 was looking to be a good one. Cordova was expecting its biggest run in history. The hatchery was rolled out and ready to go. Prices for fish were good.

Like many others in the community, Mullins had invested in a new engine and gear to make good on the catch.

It didn’t happen all at once. The pieces of Mullins’ life fell apart slowly over time, like a column that retains its stance after a blow until the cracks racing around its surface presage chunks of falling debris.

After the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, the lawyers came, the media, the promises.

Mullins’ 2007 YouTube video posting shows what he recorded in 1989 three days after the spill: An Exxon representative promising, “We will consider whatever it takes to keep you whole.”

Exxon contends it compensated fishermen directly impacted by the spill for their losses through a $300 million payout in 1989. The claim prompts derisive disbelief from Alaska fishermen who saw perhaps one year’s compensation, which fell far short of losses that would mount for decades.

Lifeless water
In the years after the spill, Mullins said, the water in Prince William Sound was crystal clear.

But Mullins said it should have been thick with life.

“I could stand on the deck of my boat, look down in the water and see the bottom 50 feet down just as clear as looking through a window,” he said. “It never was that way before. The water was always soupy and green with life, with plankton, all the basic ingredients that make up the soup of life in the ocean that higher invertebrates feed on.”

In 1992 and 1993, the pink salmon and herring fisheries in Prince William Sound collapsed. The pinks rebounded in a couple years; the herring, not so. Commercial fishing for herring was closed in Prince William Sound in 1993 through 1996, and again from 1999 through 2006.

Mullins saw many a fellow fisherman go out of business after the early ’90s pink and herring fisheries collapse.

“You got payments of $15,000 to $30,000 a year to pay your boat mortgages,” he said. “You get two years where you don’t even break even, where you can’t hardly cover your insurance. What do you think happens? You’re in arrears.”

Some never recovered from the one-two punch of having no fish and plenty of bills. Mullins saw some very quick changes in his community of Cordova fishermen. Some boats were repossessed; some folks went bankrupt. Those who were more fortunate were able to refinance their boats.

Mullins hung on.

But the pieces kept falling.

Road to bankruptcy
After the fisheries collapses, Mullins went through a divorce. His finances kept slipping.

Finally, in 2004 he filed for bankruptcy.

Researchers say that when a person is impacted by a manmade, or technological, catastrophe, the psychological fallout is different from that of a natural disaster.

“The problem is there’s a responsible party,” said Steve Picou, a researcher with the University of South Alabama who studies the social and psychological impacts of catastrophes. “There’s anger, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression; communities really fragment.”

Unlike the celluloid heroes embedded in the American cultural consciousness, Mullins couldn’t just fight a “bad guy” and be done with it. He had to wait.

Living on Social Security and close to the edge, Mullins did what he could. He made symbolic gestures, participating in community events memorializing the oil spill. He tried to get the word out on the Internet.

Early on, he organized plaintiffs directly affected by the spill in an effort to get a fair shake for directly impacted fishermen. He fought the good fight. He held out hope.

Survivors of a technological disaster face denial of their experience, in a way that survivors of a natural disaster don’t, said Duane Gill, a co-author with Picou on social research on the impact of catastrophes. When toxic contaminants are involved, they tend to be invisible, and debates can ensue over whether toxins are related to ongoing problems.

Gill and Picou investigated Cordova after the spill in their research.

“Survivors of a technological disaster have a difficult time because people don’t want to hear about it,” Gill said. “They say, ‘Why don’t you get over it.’ Well you couldn’t get over it when the litigation’s still open or when the fishing hasn’t returned the way you think it should, when you go out and see fewer sea birds, or whatever it is that reminds you this event happened and hasn’t healed yet.”

On June 25, the U.S. Supreme Court returned its ruling that the 32,677 plaintiffs in the Exxon Valdez punitive damages suit would spread $507.5 million among their number instead of the $2.5 billion returned in 2006 by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Faith shattered
Mullins said he felt betrayed; his trust in the government and its justice system, shattered.

He said his share of the award won’t even cover payments for his bankruptcy proceeding.

“I was hoping for this settlement to help bring me to a level where I could finish my life with some dignity,” he said. “That’s not going to happen. There are many people in a similar situation.”

Gill said many survivors will be able to find closure after the Supreme Court ruling, because at least it will be over. But closure is more likely for those who retained strong social and economic resources after the spill, he said.

“It’s not a type A personality can get over that and a type B or C can’t,” Gill said. “It’s at a social and economic structural level as well.”

Gill said he and Picou pioneered peer listener groups that have helped many develop greater resilience in the face of disaster.

“People need to think of what they have. They need to look at their friends and family, the people that love them. And they need to be very strong and understanding that they will be able to cope with this decision and go on with their lives,” Picou said.

That may well be in the future for Mullins and other plaintiffs who have come under financial strain in the years since the spill. But on June 26, a day after the Supreme Court ruling on the Exxon suit, Mullins, who’d done everything he could do, was still reeling.

“There’s nothing I can do,” he said. “We’re helpless. This is a corrupt system that we’ve got.”

Mary Lochner can be reached at (907) 348-2438 or toll free at (800) 770-9830, ext. 438.

Exxon decision like a bad dream

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:07:00 -0800

Reaction among Alaska Natives to the Supreme Court’s decision to slash damages in the Exxon Valdez case to $507.5 million ranged from bitter disappointment to relief — however bittersweet — that it’s over.

Cordova resident Patience Andersen Faulkner, president of a group representing Prince William Sound communities affected by the oil industry, lay down in bed after she heard the news early Wednesday morning, June 25.

“I felt sick, physically sick. After a half an hour, I said I’m OK, I’m not going to throw up here, I’ll be OK,” she said.

To her and other Alaska Native plaintiffs who expect to collect money for their subsistence claim, the damages don’t come close to recouping what was lost.

About 4,500 subsistence users from the Sound to Kodiak and Chignik Lagoon on the Alaska Peninsula will split about $22.5 million of the award, said Lloyd Miller, attorney for those plaintiffs.

That’s $5,000 per person.

Interest will roughly double that average, Miller said.

Individuals from the most impacted communities, such as Tatitlek and Chenega Bay in the Sound, will get the largest payouts, because they were the closest villages to the grounded tanker at Bligh Reef.

About 20 tribal governments representing the subsistence users will split about $2.5 million, said Faulkner, a former legal technician with the litigation team for the plaintiffs.

The subsistence class was one of 53 groups that made claims in the lawsuit, she said.

Faulkner, who is Chugach Aleut, said the money won’t be enough. The greatest tragedy of the massive 1989 spill is how it changed the closeness of the region’s Alaska Native families, she said.

The sprawling slick devastated subsistence foods such as seal, clams and herring, ending or sharply reducing social activities such as the seal-butchering and clam-gathering that involved friends and family.

“I don’t drag anyone along with me to the grocery store, so you miss that camaraderie and the health checks on each other, the children learning from their grandmother,” she said. “That’s where the largest damage is. It makes us too much individuals and not enough togetherness.”

Some subsistence foods haven’t returned, such as herring, at least not in significant numbers, Faulkner said. And residents are still reluctant to eat some of the foods, including mussels from the Sound, fearing they may be polluted.

Losing those foods was more than just socially destructive. It was a huge financial blow.

Despite the slashed award, Faulkner felt more thankful than angry. She paid close attention over the years as Exxon Mobil Corp. made gains. The oil giant’s lawyers persuaded courts to reduce the original, jury-set punitive damage award of $5 billion in 1994 to $2.5 billion in 2006.

“The bottom line is I’m relieved it’s over because I don’t know how much more I could have taken,” she said.

Chenega Bay’s tribal government won’t end up with much, said Pete Kompkoff, president.

“Like a slap in the face to us,” Kompkoff said.

After the spill, Kompkoff could see the oil sheen from his windows. The damage forced him to sell his boats and get out of fishing.

Last week, no one in the village of 80 was happy about the Supreme Court ruling.

“People are just devastated by the amount it was reduced,” he said.

Bob Henrichs, president of the Eyak tribal government in Cordova, first heard about the spill when returning from the Lower 48 in his crab boat. After entering the Sound through Hinchinbrook Entrance, he was some 30 miles from Bligh Reef when he smelled oil.

“It smelled like shellac,” he said. “I knew we were in trouble.”

Henrichs owned two tender boats that delivered fish to processors. He said he ended up selling them because fishing prices dropped – in part from perceptions that the oil had tainted seafood.

Herring and king crab fisheries have also been closed since the spill.

“It meant the loss of our culture and our way of life,” he said.

Last week, he said he had no idea what the tribal government could expect as part of its subsistence claim.

“I haven’t thought about it,” he said. “Exxon has not been at the head of my priority list. I got better things to do with my life.”

Alex DeMarban can be reached at (907) 348-2444 or (800) 770-9830, ext. 444.

Bethel prepares for Independence Day celebration

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:06:00 -0800

A parade through town and a bevy of other activities highlight the schedule for Bethel’s Independence Day celebration, entitled “Happy Birthday Alaska! 50 Years Old.”

The parade begins at 10 a.m. on Friday, July 4, at the Joe Lomack building. Lineup for the parade begins an hour earlier.

The parade route will be lead by a grand marshal, and judges will track entries along the route, which begins at Swanson’s. It continues down to Chief Eddie Hoffman Highway to Watson’s Corner, past the Alaska Commercial Co. store before turning at Yolanda’s onto Mission Road at the Bethel Youth Center — a one-way road during the parade — and onto Akiachak Street towards Pinky’s Park.

An Independence Day celebration takes place from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. at Pinky’s Park.

The road paralleling Pinky’s Park will be closed for public safety for the day. Traffic will be restricted to only emergency traffic.

The celebration schedule includes:

• Vendor booths, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

• Entertainment, 11:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

• Youth games and family activities, 11 a.m.

• One-pitch adult softball tournament, 11:30 a.m.

• Community pillow fight and tug-of-war.

• Ribbons for parade entry winners, 5 p.m.

• Raffle ticket winners announced, 5:30 p.m.
Parade entry and vendor booth rental forms are available at the Bethel Youth Center or by calling Ronda Sargent at 543-2088. Parade entry forms can also be found at www.cityofbethel.org.

Entertainers who would like to perform should call Sargent at 543-7711.