thesewardphoenixlog

Students will test Japanese skills with accent on exchange

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 11:15:00 -0800

The long tables in the upstairs Legends room buckled under the weight of nachos, meatballs and salads of every kind imaginable. Behind the feast, people ate, laughed and talked, mostly in English but every so often, a splash of Japanese rose up through the air.

It was the Seward International Friendship Association’s potluck, held on July 25 to welcome the four cultural exchange students from Obihiro, Japan, and say goodbye to the four Seward residents who left for Japan on Aug. 4.

The sister-city exchange program began in 1973 as a way of merging ties with Japan.

It offers high school students a chance to immerse themselves in another culture. An adult version, added in 2004, takes place every other year.

This year’s Japanese sister students were Nana Muratsu, 17; Suzuka Horii, 16;
Chisaki Kodama, 16; and Hirona Nakaya, 17. They were shy but determined to learn more about life in Seward.

“I cannot keep my face from smiling,” Kodama said.

The girls wore their school uniforms and gave short speeches. Their voices were halting, their teeth very white. They were adorable.

According to Deb Bond, sister-city coordinator, it’s not always easy finding host families.

“I cannot stress how difficult it is,” she said.

Host Anita Schoening, mother of Hallee, 1, and Shelby, 8, didn’t mind taking some of girls into house. It was fun, she said, and good for her children to be around other cultures.

Hallee appeared to feel the same way. She tugged on Muratsu’s dress and played happily with her shoes.

Seward exchange students Trever Clark, 16, and David Herbert, 17, spent time talking with the Japanese students in preparation of their own two-week trip to Obihiro. The students lodge with different host families through their stay and live as actual Japanese residents, not tourists, following daily routines, eating traditional foods and speaking the language.

Herbert has always been interested in other cultures, especially Japan’s.

“I like a anime, and I want to learn more about the history (of the country),” he said.

The language problem will prove difficult, he said. But what worries him the most is that he doesn’t like fish.

“My dad is a fisherman but I do not, I mean do not, like to eat fish,” he said.

Clark, on the other hand, didn’t care about the food, he just couldn’t wait to get over there.

“I’ve been wanting to do this for quite a while,” he said. “Like when I was younger I saw all these people doing this and I thought it would be fun.”

He’s been learning Japanese through an online class.

“I’m looking forward to it all: seeing other places, eating the food, seeing the city, the culture, the clothing,” he said.

He feels pretty confident since, as he said with a laugh, he’s traveled to other foreign countries.

“Canada,” he said, “that’s foreign, right? And the United States, that’s pretty much another country down there.”

Mother-daughter duo Mary Daniels, 66, and Marci Treadwell, 42, make up this year’s adult exchange. The two have been active in the organization, Mary by hosting students and chaperoning Marci, who traveled to Japan through the exchange program as a high school student.

They know a “tiny bit” of the language and are looking forward to reacquainting themselves with the families they met years ago.

“We’re probably the first mother-daughter team to go,” Daniels said.

“Oh yes,” Treadwell said. “It’s going to be a great and wonderful adventure.”

Cinthia Ritchie can be reached at 907-342-2428 or toll free at 800-770-9830, ext. 428.

Beached carcass may be thing of legends

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 11:13:00 -0800

Residents from a Western Alaska island are turning to Cup’ig lore and the expertise of scientists to identify the strange remains of an animal coughed up by the Bering Sea.

At least one resident of Mekoryuk – Nunivak Island’s only village – thinks the smooth-skinned corpse might be the lake-dwelling beast rumored about in local legend.

An e-mailed photo of the animal – sporting what appears to be a tail – has reached several computers, including one belonging Mike Castellini, director of the Coastal Marine Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

It’s impossible to identify the animal from the photo, but several scientists have tried, Castellini said.

“It’s been sent to stranding experts and scientists as far as the Smithsonian and everyone is going, ‘No idea,’ ” Castellini said.

It could be a mangled beluga whale, the identifying parts obscured in the photo, he said.

A team of UAF scientists who happen to be on the island studying subsistence foods are trying to line up a boat ride to the remote site to see the creature for themselves, Castellini said.

It’s not a whale, said Barry Whitman, who e-mailed the photo to Castellini.

Whitman and his wife, Lisa, spotted the pinkish hunk of flesh while returning to the village of about 200 from a salmon fishing trip on the island’s east side on Tuesday, July 22.

From far way, the bulky body looked walrus-like.

Thinking it might have valuable tusks they could salvage, the couple motored in for a closer look, scaring off scavenging sea gulls. Barry pulled the skiff within a few feet of the thing but didn’t slide ashore for fear of banging the boat against rocks.

Lisa stood in the bow snapping several photos showing the animal from a single angle.

Whitman, 30, grew up hunting and fishing near the village of 200.

“I’ve seen decomposed walrus and whales and this was just something else,” he said.

A thick coat of hair seemed to cover the underside. Barry couldn’t figure out the head from the tail.

Lisa had the best view. She said the 3-foot long tail – or what she thinks was the tale – seemed to end in a diamond shape. The animal’s body was about 6 feet long, she said. The head may have been removed or hidden in sand, she said.

“I was pretty baffled,” said Lisa, an optometry technician at Bethel’s regional hospital.

The couple spent only a few minutes at the carcass because they had to catch their fishing partner. Moses Whitman Sr., Barry’s dad, was heading back to Mekoryuk in a larger boat that couldn’t come close to shore.

The couple had hoped to return to the site later but the weather was too windy in the short time Barry had in Mekoryuk – he needed to get back to Bethel where he’s a pilot.

Moses said he’s never seen any animal like the one in the photo.

The photo reminds him of an old Cup’ig story about an animal that lived in a pond.

Around the early 1960s, he remembers seeing evidence of large creatures that had traveled between a pond on Nunivak Island and the Bering Sea.

“Seemed like somebody bulldozed a path out to the ocean and there was three of them,” he said.

That animal was called “qaqrat” in Cup’ig, the island’s Native language, said Howard Amos, who helped author the Cup’ig dictionary and administers the village’s elementary’s Cup’ig program.

Phonetically, that’s pronounced “koo-gat.” It means “beast-walrus,” Amos said.

According to legend, when the beast-walrus left the lake and moved to the ocean, the lake dried up, Amos said. The animal was walrus-like and wasn’t aggressive to humans.

Whatever the animal is, Whitman would love to find out.

“I always believed there was something more out there than whales and walruses and what we know is out there because the ocean is huge,” he said.

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

Artist’s view from three dimensions

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 11:10:00 -0800

Gail Richards stands in front of an easel set up in the middle of her Seward living room, an oversized blue button-down shirt swinging across her hips.

“My painting shirt,” she says, swiping at a smear of green down the side.

Next to her is a newspaper-covered table scattered with tubes of acrylic paints, paper napkins and a mason jar filled with the somewhat murky water she uses to clean her brushes.

Richards, who wrote under contract for The Log, recently resigned to concentrate on her painting.

Since then she’s been on a roll, painting through days of what she calls “my mad and passionate spurts.”

Today Richards’ youngest son, Keith, 10, and husband Michael are out to lunch and she has the house to herself. An industrial-style lamp casts angles of light across the room, and James Taylor’s voice rises up smooth and loud. She hums along as she dabs matte over her latest painting, to give it depth.

Richards, whose show “The Search” is featured this month at Ranting Raven, finds that music helps her dig down and uncover the rhythms and nuances behind her paintings.

“I can’t paint when I don’t have music,” she says, adding that she usually listens to music mixed for her by her family, which also include four grown children.

“As I listen I think of a particular son or daughter who is going through a tough time, and I’m right there, I’m in those trees, I’m in the shadows.”

Richards also likes to play around with depth, likes her paintings to look as three-dimensional as possible.

“I want it to feel as if a person is there, right there,” she says, motioning with her hands as if she just can’t wait to pull you inside one of her scenes.

From writing to painting
Richards comes from an artistic family. Her grandfather was an oil painter, her grandmother painted fine china, and she grew up watching her mother sketch and paint with oils. Still, it took her over 40 years to realize her talent. Growing up, her older sister claimed the title as family artist.

“I loved to write so I figured she was the artist and I was the writer,” Richards says.

She talks about cutting classes in high school and heading to the Sacramento airport in order to “absorb the emotion exchanged between people greeting or saying goodbye to loved ones.”

She didn’t paint the scenes she witnessed though, she wrote about them instead and worked as a freelance writer for 20 years. She didn’t think about painting until she was pregnant with her son Keith 10 years ago.

“So I called my sister and asked her what I would need to start painting,” she says. “I had just quit my staff job at The Log and needed a hobby.”

She signed up for a class with Lee George and soon found her niche.

“He kept telling me to show my stuff and I couldn’t, I was petrified. How could I put myself out there and have it criticized?”

After George died in a drowning accident on Six-Mile River several years ago, Richards began to enter shows as a tribute.

“He taught me how to really look at things, and that has made all the difference,” she says. “Now when I drive down the highway, I don’t see mountains and valleys, I see colors and shapes.”

Richards’ work has been featured at Resurrect Art and Coffee House, The Ranting Raven, Edgewater Hotel and Homer’s Picture Alaska Art Gallery in 2007, where she’s scheduled as the First Friday artist for this coming September. She’s also completed original drawings of historic airplanes for the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum in Anchorage.

“You have to be self-driven,” she says. “You have to work hard to make things happen.”

Coming home
There’s something vibrant about Richards’ work, something that pulses behind her ordinary sea and nature scenes and transforms them into something both sadly noble and achingly hopeful. Always there’s a flash of color from somewhere unexpected: the edge of a building, the curve of a cloud, that reassures you that it’s OK to open up and feel.

“I don’t like to think of myself as being a person who is moved by emotion, but really I am,” she says ruefully.

Then she starts talking about a painting she’s titled “Embrasing the Future” which shows an old man in a boat, a storm raging all around and a brilliant sunset in the background, all which veers crazily off the canvas.

“My husband says, ‘Why is the guy going off the deep end?’ But it’s not about that. It’s about growing old and all the adventures that wait. Who’s to say the guy’s going off the edge?”

This is one of Richards’ favorite paintings, reminding her as it does of how we’re all growing older yet also shows how much we still have left. She still isn’t sure why she painted such a vivid sunset.

“What does it mean?” She shakes her head lightly. “Is it the sunset of his life?”

Some of her paintings don’t turn out the way she envisioned, and when they don’t sell, she brings them home and hangs them on her walls until she can figure out what is missing.

“And I wonder, ‘Why doesn’t someone love them?’” she says.

But most of the time someone does love them, and her paintings hang in living rooms and dining rooms across the country. Ending a painting is satisfying, she says. It’s like finishing a story. It’s very pleasing.

“Selling a painting is like sending a child out in the world,” she says. “It’s like watching them get married.”

Then there’s a noise outside and Richards’ husband and son walk in, smelling like the outdoors. Richards turns off her lamp and smiles.

It’s nice having the house to herself, she says. But it’s even nicer painting alone all day and having her family come home to her in the evening.

“People connect to my paintings because they think they see something of themselves in there,” she says. “But really I think it reminds them of coming home.”

Cinthia Ritchie can be reached at 907-342-2428 or toll free at 800-770-9830, ext. 428.

Crimes, punishments and misfortunes abound

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:35:00 -0800

A lot of strange things happen around the state, and some of the best of them end up on the Alaska State Troopers police log.

Stinky collision
Something fishy was sure going on when Alaska State Troopers responded to a two-vehicle crash at Mile 12.8 of the Seward Highway on July 22. Reports indicate that Daniel Stanley, 57, of Eagle River, was cruising toward Anchorage in a 1999 Kenworth pulling double trailers filled with approximately 46,000 pounds of fish.
Problems began when Taylor executed a sharp right-hand turn and the first trailer overturned, sliding 500-feet down the roadway and flipping on the driver’s side.
The tractor, both trailers and container holding the fish came down to rest, blocking all three lanes of traffic.
Stanley was reportedly uninjured.
An oncoming 1982 Chevrolet van driven by Linda Wade, 51, of Soldotna was forced to swerve off the roadway to avoid a head-on collision with the sliding vehicle and
trailers. She flipped the van, sustained injuries from the crash, was treated on scene and then responded to Providence hospital in Seward for treatment.
The van was estimated as a total loss. The tractor was estimated at approximately $15,000 damage.
An estimate of the fish smell was not available at this writing.
State of Alaska commercial motor vehicle inspection officers responded to the crash and cited Stanley with two violations. He was issued a summons for reckless driving by the troopers.
One lane of travel was opened within two hours and the entire roadway was back open about eight hours after the crash.

Bad bears
What’s up with those Cooper Landing bears? First they’re breaking into trailers for a little party and now they’re attacking folks right outside their doors? Is it something in the water making them so snarly? And, more to the point, what can Seward residents do to keep those bad boys and mad mama bears from wandering over to our neighborhood?
Here’s a recap of the Cooper Landing mauling: At around 10:58 p.m. July 23, Kenai Princess Lodge employee Abby Sisk, 21, of Odgen, Utah, was walking on a trail near the lodge when she was attacked by a brown bear, according to Alaska State Trooper reports.
Lodge visitor Robert VinZant heard the attack, looked out and saw the bear standing on top of Sisk with her head in its jaws.
VinZant managed to chase the bear away. Sisk suffered severe facial and head lacerations and was transported to Central Peninsula Hospital in Soldotna by Cooper Landing Ambulance. She was later transferred to Providence Hospital in Anchorage where she underwent jaw surgery July 26.
The bear was described as a “very large” male standing 7 to 8 feet tall, and weighing between 500 and 800 pounds.
Responding troopers were unable to locate the bad bruin.

Salmon stealing
William D. Keefe of Eugene, Ore., reportedly tried to snatch too many salmon from Resurrection Bay and was nabbed by Alaska Wildlife Troopers, Seward Post, on July 23. Keefe was discovered to have 16 cohos in his possession; the limit is six. Bail was set at $310 and 10 salmon were seized and donated to charity.

Emergency steal
Troopers reported the theft of the Naukati ambulance from the mud bog races around 5 p.m. July 20. The vehicle was located about an hour later with minor damages. Investigation is ongoing.

Driving without thinking
Eddie Stanley Jr., 45, of Cooper Landing, was charged with driving with a revoked license after he drove to the Cooper Landing state trooper office for an unrelated issue on July 18. Stanley was issued a summons to appear in Seward court at a later date.

Shot in his sleep
Early in the morning of July 26, troopers report that Michael A. Martin, 18, of North Pole, was manipulating the bolt of his 30-06 rifle when it discharged. The bullet whizzed through the wall and struck a 19-year-old sleeping male. The victim was treated for gunshot wounds to his arm and leg; the injuries were not life threatening. No foul play is suspected.

Dirty side of karma
A creative and smelly attempt to get even with fellow inmates, backfired on a group of inmates at Anvil Mountain Correctional Center in Nome, the Arctic Sounder reported.
On July 22, a group of three inmates attempted to shower two other inmates with a bag full of human feces and urine, according to the Alaska State Troopers.
Oliver Lane, 21, of Kotzebue, and two other unnamed inmates allegedly defecated and urinated into a small empty chips bag and stuffed the open end of the bag underneath a door facing into the jail cell of another inmate.
According to the troopers, Lane planned to step on the bag, spraying the contents over the person in the targeted cell. The plan did not work out as he had anticipated.
Instead, the closed end of the bag exploded when Lane stomped on it, spraying Lane and the two co-conspirators who were in the back of the cell.
Lane was charged with harassment, attempted harassment and disorderly conduct. Charges on two other inmates are pending.

Bourgeois conquers another mountain

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:34:00 -0800

You just can’t stop this gal.

Cedar Bourgeois, the petite yet gritty-tough Seward runner, racked up another mountain victory.

Bourgeois, who claimed her fifth consecutive Mount Marathon race July 4, barely had time for a breather before winning the 15th annual Alpine Adventure Run on July 18 in Sitka.

The race follows the Harbor Mountain Rim Trail and gains 2,500 feet over its seven-mile course.

Bourgeois completed the course in 1 hour, 23 minutes, smashing the previous record by five minutes. Course conditions were reportedly rough, with spots of rain and heavy fog.

Mount Marathon winner Brad Precosky won the men’s division with a time of 1 hour, 15 minutes. Fity-five runners competed in this year’s race.

Lucky lady’s life is big, blue notes

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:32:00 -0800

In the dimly lit Resurrect Art Coffeehouse last Saturday night, Soldotna singer Stefanie Bouchard bent over her guitar and threw out her big, big voice.

“I’m gonna get my high heels on, ‘cause it’s Friday night and time to play,” she sang.

“Even good girls need to lose control.”

A scattering of tables listened raptly while outside, emergency crews trampled up Mount Marathon to rescue two German tourists with big dreams and short hiking skills.

“Wednesday I do laundry, God knows I love the smell of bleach,” Bouchard sang on, unconcerned with what might be unfolding outside the cafe’s doors.

Bouchard’s lyrics combine humor with sexy undertones that are edgy yet comforting.

She raises her voice in a gutsy, don’t-mess-with-me tone, and immediately after, softens down until she’s almost purring.

The 33-year-old sassy singer teaches private piano and voice lessons in Soldotna and performs as part of The Charmers Daughters duo most weekends.

“Except Melissa is pregnant right now, so we’re a bit limited in what we do,” she said with a laugh.

Bouchard moved up to Alaska with her family when she was 8 and started singing with her father a few years later. She’s always loved music.

“My family has a joke that when I was born, the doctor slapped my butt and I hit B-flat,” she said.

She describes her musical tastes as eclectic and tributes some of this to her parents’ influence.

“I’ve been on a Johnny Cash kick lately,” she said. “He has this incredible gift for taking a song someone else did, looking on it in a way no one else did and really personalizing it.”

Bouchard sees songwriting as a cathartic process, a chance to turn the “terrible and negative” times into something positive. Or at the very least, a learning experience.

“I’m grateful for the crappy experiences I’ve gone through,” she said. “I’m grateful for those challenges and trials and tough days because it’s made me a diverse person.”

Or as she sings in “Lucky One,” a song so soft yet strong it can send shivers down your back:

“I’m the lucky one, always the lucky one, that’s me.”

Cinthia Ritchie can be reached at 907-342-2428 or toll free at 800-770-9830, ext. 428.

Finding your karaoke muse

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:31:00 -0800

It’s no secret that a high-energy session of karaoke brings joy to millions of Japanese citizens. As an exhilarating pastime, it has become a national sensation, capturing the hearts and minds of people all over the country, from all walks of life. And why not? Pretending to be Japanese pop icon Ayumi Hamasaki, even if only for a moment, can be enough to make a dream come true. My stars align when I’m John Denver, but that’s just me.

Even here in Seward, we do our best to swoon our fellow thirsty customers at certain local establishments now and then. Sometimes they’re amazed. At others, horrified. But above all, it’s about having a good time unleashing your inner diva or dynamo.

But a question looms. Can we, as Americans and relative newcomers to the magic of the “Empty Orchestra,” compete with our Pacific neighbors across the pond? Are there any amongst us brave enough to travel to a faraway place, to the land where karaoke was born? Have we Eagles, bold and true, to challenge the Cranes in a battle of wind and words? The answer to all these questions is yes.

Each year, Seward selects a few of its finest, a handful of heroes, to venture forth on the wings of freedom and friendship to our Japanese sister city, Obihiro. In light of this brave venture, I offer them this book, “101 Favorite Songs Taught in Japanese Schools,” to insure that when that microphone comes their way, they’ll be ready.

That’s no jive, either. The hits within this book are true show-stoppers. Guaranteed to represent Seward’s proud history of karaoke greatness while appealing to the sentimental values of the Japanese people. Songs like “Chicks,” “Mountain Monkeys” or “Goldfish taking a Nap” are not only pleasing to the ear, but carry generations of cultural heritage that will be vital in making a good first impression.
But don’t take my word for it. See if you can pick up what I’m puttin’ down with rhymes like these: “How cute the goldfish in a red costume in a sleep, Wake up, wake up, I’ll give you some nice food I keep. How cute the goldfish bubbling out a foam or two, He’s about to wake up from his drowsy dream, too.”
Bingo! Nobody can top that. Who would dare try?
Oh, and one final word of advice to our brave voyagers. I know it may be tempting in times of stress, but please, whatever you do, no matter how scary it is up on that stage, don’t attempt “Mr. Roboto.” There’s just so many arigatou‘s.

Good luck out there, or should I say, genki de ne! Make Seward proud.

Ryan Reynolds can be found at the Library smelling old books and sometimes wearing argyle socks. He can be reached at 224-4082 or rreynolds@cityofseward.net.

Gas prices up, salmon derby tickets down

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:28:00 -0800

The Seward Salmon Derby committee has reduced entry fees for the 2008 derby, according to a spokesperson at the Seward Chamber of Commerce.

The prices have reverted to 2005 rates.

Three years ago, the chamber unveiled new derby headquarters building geared to meet city code requirements. Expenses for the new building were covered through surcharges of $2 on a full derby ticket and $1 on a daily.

Because of rising fuel, charter and lodging prices, the chamber’s board of directors has decided to remove the surcharge. While the building has yet to be paid off, the chamber feels it is close to meeting its goal.

The 2008 Silver Salmon Derby runs Aug.9-17. Prices include $10,000, a fishing trip to Costa Rica and a $50,000 bounty on anyone lucky enough to reel in a tagged fish.

Inexperienced climber rescued above Seward

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:58:00 -0800

Mount Marathon proved too much for one German tourist.

Marleen Mohle, 25, of Berlin was rescued from the mountain July 26 after eight hours of emergency efforts by Alaska State Troopers, Seward Police, Seward Fire Department and Alaska Mountain Rescue Group. Her companion, Sebastian Stange, 29, also of Berlin, was with her.

The Seward Fire Department received a call from Stange around 3:15 p.m., who requested help for Mohle, who had slipped on a steep rocky area and was too scared to move.

The mountain, made popular by the annual Fourth of July Mount Marathon race, is notorious among locals for its steep assent and even steeper descent. Warnings are posted at the trailhead advising of “difficult” and “very difficult” climbing conditions, and only experienced hikers are recommended to continue.

Mohle and Stange weren’t on the race trail, though. They had veered off to the left into an area of loose rock and ridges.

According to Dave Squires, chief of the Seward Fire Department, after Stange called for help on his cell, he hiked down and discussed Mohle’s location with rescue workers.

He then requested permission to hike halfway back up again in order to watch rescue efforts.

He was told to not head all the way up.

“The last thing we needed was for him to get stuck too,” Squires said.

Stange ignored the advice, hiked back up and situated himself to the upper right-hand side of Mohle. It was unclear if he was stuck or there to give Mohle morale support.

According to Jonathan Gage, of the Seward Fire Department, Mohle was perched on a small ledge, leaning over and almost hugging the rock in front of her. It was raining, and she was reportedly shivering.

By 6:30 p.m., a helicopter landed on the mountain and three members of the Alaska Mountain Rescue Group began a long and arduous trudge through heavily forested terrain.

“Getting up to reach them isn’t the problem,” Seward Fire Department president Jillian Chapman remarked. “It’s getting them back down again.”

Binoculars all around
Throughout the eight-hour duration, a companionable group of troopers, police, fire department crews and locals gathered at the fire station, binoculars peeled to their eyes, heads tilted back. Every so often tourists wandered over to see what everyone was looking at. Three guys up fishing from Florida immediately grabbed their video camera and began filming.

“Maybe we’ll stick it on YouTube,” one of them said.

According to Fire Department Capt. Dale Butts, hikers get stuck up on the Mount Marathon more than they most might realize. It’s a tough climb, and it’s not unusual for the inexperienced to make it partially up and not have the energy or know-how to get back down again. Someone was rescued from same area about two years ago, and there have been reports of serious injuries.

“Whoa, she’s hanging on for dear life,” cried a tourist from Michigan as she looked through a pair of borrowed binoculars.

By 7:50 p.m. rescue crews, who set off periodic flares to gauge their location, were closing in on the stranded hikers.

“He’s (Stange’s) getting antsy,” Butts said, looking up from the telescope. “I can tell by his expression. He’s rocking back and forth.”

A half hour later, Mohle was shivering so hard Butts could “see her knees shaking together.”

Rescue crew hiked above the pair, repelled down and reached them by 8:45 p.m.

Mohle and Stange were lowered down and safely off the mountain by 11:20 p.m.

According to troopers, the couple was weak and tired but not seriously injured.

Cinthia Ritchie can be reached at (907) 342-2428 or toll free at (800) 770-9830, ext. 428.

Rural life opens U.S. health secretary’s eyes

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:54:00 -0800

KWETHLUK – A member of President Bush’s Cabinet walked away from a tour of a Western Alaska village with a better understanding of the problems that leave Alaska Natives riddled with health problems.

“This is just unacceptable,” said Mike Leavitt, who heads the Department of Health and Human Services, as he stared at a festering sewage lagoon on the edge of Kwethluk, a Yup’ik village of about 750.

Frothy, olive-colored “Honeybucket Lake,” as residents call it, is where the village dumps its feces because, like dozens of rural Alaska communities, it lacks flush toilets and running water.

Diapers, toilet paper and plastic trash bags sat in the muck and ringed the muddy banks. A wide trail of trash rose up a far bank.

“When it floods, it seeps out,” mixing with floodwaters that reach town and turn dirt roads into a soupy mess, said tribal administrator Herman Evan.

He and other village leaders suggested that may be one reason children often miss school with diarrhea, fevers and other illnesses. Also, the lack of tap water makes it difficult to wash hands – most villagers draw their drinking water from the Kwethluk River.

Leavitt, a lean man who peppered people with questions and folded his hands as he listened, flew to Bethel and Kwethluk in a government jet on Wednesday during a three-day swing through Alaska.

He said he requested the Southwest Alaska tour to understand the unique challenges facing Bush health care and to see solutions offered by the tribal-run hospital that provides services across the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.

Toward the end of the day, he said the trip gave him an eye-opening view of village life that will lead to better-informed decisions as he reviews budgets totaling in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

“I have seen people living in remote, impoverished conditions all over the world, but there’s a uniqueness to what I saw here in Alaska,” he said.

He said he was impressed with the high “degree of ingenuity” and passion employed by health aides, administrators and others who are trying to fix the problems.

Throughout the day, Leavitt, health secretary since 2005, got an earful from health care officials and other leaders of the Y-K Delta, one of the nation’s poorest regions.

The day started with a visit to a behavioral health center in Bethel, where psychiatrists, teachers and other experts help troubled boys recover from a history of huffing gas and other inhalants.

Dan Winkelman, general counsel for the Bethel-based Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp., which operates the region’s lone hospital and dozens of village clinics, presented grim statistics on an overhead projector.

Native women have the highest per capita rates of cancer mortality in the nation, and Native men aren’t far behind, Winkelman said.

He and others pointed out that Natives suffer the nation’s highest per capita rates of dental disease and are plagued by diabetes, suicide, respiratory illnesses, obesity and accidental deaths often caused by alcohol.

They offered reasons for the illnesses, such as limited access to hospitals and a lack of flush toilets and easily available drinking water. Other reasons mentioned include dust clouds that fill villages during windy summers and a changing diet with more processed foods and less wild meat. Many Natives also make poor personal choices, using drugs, drinking liquor or eating too much junk food, they said.

Constructing clinics
Health care improvements have been made in recent years. YKHC has built dozens of clinics and employs health aides in 50 communities who provide basic care. It’s also capitalizing on telemedicine, even providing patients with psychiatrists through videoconferences at the Bethel hospital.

And it recently launched a program to put dental health aides in villages. The aides are a step below dentists and can extract and fill cavities.

But the officials told Leavitt the system needed more money to hire health care professionals, study illnesses and to build facilities such as a regional nursing home in Bethel so dying elders are no longer sent 400 miles to Anchorage.

Around noon, during the skiff ride along the glassy Kuskowkim River linking Bethel to Kwethluk, Leavitt traded in shiny dress shoes for a pair of rubber boots and slipped a float coat over his blue jacket.

In the village, the scent of burning plastic wafted past visitors, perhaps the result of smoke coiling from trash mounds at the dump. Children pedaled bikes and the occasional four-wheeler sped down muddy roads that residents said become impassable when winter snow melts into spring.

A stout woman in a fleece jacket stood on a porch outside the bingo hall. She said village leaders had waited more than an hour for Leavitt and his entourage.

“My butt is sore from sitting,” she said, shaking hands with the secretary.

“There’s not much I can do about that,” he said. “There’s not much you’d like me to do about that.”

Inside the dusty hall, where mosquitoes whirred above plywood floors and colorful bingo posters adorned walls, village leaders described their village’s wide-ranging problems.

George Guy, the village corporation’s business manager, described the poverty that stems from few jobs and said the village deserves the same amenities as the rest of the country, including flush toilets and tap water.

“Maybe you can relay the message to President Bush that we live in a Third World country,” Guy said.

During the Kwethluk visit, which included a tour of the new clinic, Leavitt seemed especially taken by Evan, the tribal administrator who trouped Leavitt and his entourage through the village.

Leavitt asked Evan why he chose to live in Kwethluk.

Evan, a graying man with black hiking boots, said he was educated at a tribal college in Kansas and lived in the Lower 48 for two decades. But he returned to his village because he wanted to help improve life for his relatives.

The tribal government can’t afford to pay Evan full-time, so he volunteers after noon each day, trying to speed up a project that should bring running water to the village, battling river erosion and looking for money to improve roads. Leavitt, who doesn’t expect to continue as secretary once Bush leaves office in January, cautioned that he couldn’t simply write a check to fix rural Alaska’s health care problems, though he wished he could.

But on the return skiff ride to Bethel, he said he’ll have a better idea how the department should spend its money in rural Alaska in the next two years.

“For example, I’ll ask how much can be allocated to sanitation, and I’ll think of Herman instead of just looking at numbers and I’ll say to myself, ‘This is unacceptable.’”

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

New concept in long-term care hits Seward

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:50:00 -0800

In a plot behind the Seward High School, bulldozers and other machines busily cleared land for the new long-term care center slated to open in the fall of 2009.

The facility is part of the Green House Project, an innovative concept that replaces institutionalized elder care with a home-like atmosphere.

It’s the first such project in Alaska and one of only approximately 15 around the country, with another 40 or so in the developmental stages.

“These will be actual homes,” said Valerie Gunchuck, director of nursing at Wesley Rehabilitation and Care Nursing Home in Seward. “There is nothing institutional about them. We don’t even like to use that word.”

The Seward center, modeled after existing Green Houses, will be made up of four homes with a separate administrative building. Each house will contain 10 bedrooms with private baths directly off a centralized area termed the “hearth,” a large communal living room and kitchen which, according to Gunchuck, will look like “any other kitchen and living room in any of a thousand of houses you might enter.”

Houses will have enclosed patio areas and yards, with possible gardens. Pets are optional, depending upon the rules of that particular house.

All 31 Wesley residents will be transitioned to the center. Once situated, they’ll prepare meals together in one large kitchen and eat in a family-styled dining room. They’ll also be encouraged to decorate their bedrooms with furniture from their own home.

“They can do that here of course, but it still looks like a hospital room,” Gunchuck said. “You can only make a hospital room look like a bedroom so much.”

Freedom to do laundry
The Green House Project was the brainchild of Dr. William Thomas, a Harvard-trained gerontologist who had previously created the Eden Alternative, radical approach to elder care that emphasized dignity and emotional harmony. The first Green House opened in Tupelo, Miss., in 2003. According to a study through the University of Minnesota, Green House elders reported higher levels of satisfaction, less depression, less incontinence, less use of anti-psychotics and less decline.

Ruta Kadonoff, deputy director of the Green House project, is not surprised by the findings. The organization’s philosophy emphasizes people before schedules, granting residents the freedom to do as they choose, whether it be gardening, laundry or help with the cooking.

“There are people who are absolutely happy to do things for themselves and others who say, ‘I’ve done this all my life and don’t want to do it any longer,’” she said.

“They have the option to contribute and share as they want. That’s a basic human need.”

The Green House will replace the aging Wesley, which was built in the 1940s; the nursing home additions were made in the late 1960s.

“The rooms themselves are not necessarily what you’d want to spend the rest of your life in,” Gunchuck said wryly.

The concept arrived in Seward through Kathleen Kloster, Providence Seward Medical and Care Center administrator, who heard about it at a conference two years ago.

“As I listened, I thought, ‘That’s what we have to do,’” she said. “I literally elbowed myself to the front of the group and asked how I could make this happen.”

The Wesley team applied for and received a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant to cover training, job transitions and other management costs.

According to Kloster, traditional nursing homes came about in the mid-‘60s, when Medicaid started paying for long-term care. Since this was regarded as a step away from hospitals, the facilities were designed to resemble institutions.

Green Houses meet all state and federal regulations, and costs are reportedly comparable to standard nursing homes.

“In some (organizations) it’s exactly the same and in others it’s slightly more. I think the biggest difference I’m aware of is $15 a day,” Kadonoff said.

According to Kadonoff, any nursing home resident can successfully live in a Green House, and that includes dementia patients and those confined to their beds.

“If you have an elder who chooses or is not able to come out of their rooms, we can open their doors and they can see and hear the activities going on around the hearth,” Kloster said. “They can smell the smells. They don’t have to be isolated.”

Multi-tasking Shahbatz
One major shift in the Green House concept is the role of the certified nurse’s aide.

The CNAs, who work the closest with the elderly, have been given the expanded role of shahbaz, a type of multi-tasking elder midwife who tackles housekeeping, laundry and cooking duties as well caring for residents.

“Think of it as your elderly aunt coming and being with you,” Gunchuck said. “You would do everything to help out, not just one thing. That’s what we (the shahbazim—plural of shahbatz) will do.”

Nurses aides will receive 120 hours of additional training in such areas as culinary skills, communication skills, Green House philosophy and team management.

According to Kloster, wages of Seward Shahbazim will increase to reflect their new position. Green House shahbazs also sit down to meals with the residents.

“They all eat together at a regular dining room table with regular dining room chairs,” said Gunchuck. “Families can also eat with the elders and stay overnight.

“It’s just like home.”

All about comfort
According to Kadonoff, the results brought about by Green Houses around the country have been nothing short of amazing. She cited examples of residents who hadn’t been able to feed themselves suddenly eating and others getting up out of their wheelchairs for the first time in months.

“Think of it,” Gunchuck said. “If all of us were taken out of our comfort zones, which are our homes, we would withdraw and become anxious too.”

By making the move into a homey environment with kitchens, living rooms and bedrooms, people feel less confused and more comforted. Kloster sees the kitchen as a key factor.

“So much of our life revolves around food,” she said. “When you’re put in a nursing home, that’s taken away.”

Simple things like the smell of soup cooking or biscuits baking, she said can help bring back memories that remind the elderly of home.

The transition from traditional nursing home to a Green House setting might prove confusing for long-term residents, and staff plans on recruiting local volunteers to sit with residents and keep them company.

Most of the Wesley elders, though, are excited.

“One always says, ‘How’s the facility coming along? I want my room to be pale yellow,’” said Kloster.

The Green House gives them something than something to look forward to, she said. It gives them hope.

“The kind of losses you suffer when you go in a nursing home. ...” Kloster was quiet for a moment.

“With a Green House, there are still losses. But we also bring back life.”

Cinthia Ritchie can be reached at (907) 342-2428 or toll free at (800) 770-9830, ext. 428.

Stevens indicted on seven counts

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 09:55:00 -0800

WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator and a figure in Alaska politics since before statehood, has been indicted on seven counts of falsely reporting hundreds of thousands of dollars in services he received from a company that helped renovate his home.

Stevens, 84, has been dogged by a federal investigation into whether he pushed for fishing legislation that also benefited his son, an Alaska lobbyist.

From May 1999 to August 2007, prosecutors said Stevens concealed "his continuing receipt of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of things of value from a private corporation." The indictment released Tuesday said the items included: home improvements to his vacation home in Alaska, including a new first floor, garage, wraparound deck, plumbing, electrical wiring; as well as car exchanges, a Viking gas grill, furniture and tools.

Justice Department officials were holding a news conference later Tuesday to discuss the charges.

Messages left Tuesday at both Stevens' Senate office in Washington and his campaign office in Anchorage were not immediately returned.

Prosecutors said Stevens "took multiple steps to continue" receiving things from oil services company VECO Corp., and its founder, Bill Allen. At the time, the indictment says, Allen and other VECO employees were soliciting Stevens for "multiple official actions .... knowing that Stevens could and did use his official position and his office on behalf of VECO during that same time period."

VECO's requests included funding and other aid for the oil services company's projects and partnerships in Pakistan and Russia. It also included federal grants from several agencies — as well as help in building a national gas pipeline in Alaska's North Slope Region, according to the indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Washington.

Service dog brought help, companionship and love to Seward teen

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:15:00 -0800

The first few days were the hardest.

That’s when Breeann Campbell missed her dog the most. Ingram Gerard Shay-Campbell, as he was formally called, died of vascular cancer June 24.

“We bawled for three weeks straight,” said Angela Campbell, Breeann’s mother.

Campbell, a shiny-haired young women about to leave for college, had Ingram for five years. The 9-year-old golden retriever entered her life as a service dog her first year in high school. Ingram was to help Campbell, who has cerebral palsy, carry books, pick up dropped pencils and open doors.

But he soon became much, much more.

“During the period right before Breeann’s freshmen year, it was really difficult,” Angela said. “It’s hard having a disability when you’re a teenager.”

But Campbell wasn’t to be deterred. She researched service animals and soon connected with Carole Shay of Alaska Assistance Dogs in Wasilla. Campbell’s personality profile fit with Ingram’s, who was on leave from a California job assignment due to allergies.

“He picked Breeann right out,” said Angela. “It was like he knew he was supposed to be with us.”

Lonely no more
Ingram was trained in 90 different commands but it was her companionship Campbell cherished the most. She remembers herself as a loner and said she was sad a lot.

“I was pretty much on my own all the time, and I didn’t talk to many people,” she said.

That changed after Ingram came into her life. Having the dog beside her gave her a newfound confidence to approach people and forge friendships.

“Having him there with me when I got stressed out or sad, it made a difference,” she said.

Ingram also helped by carrying her books and bags in a saddle around his back. He opened handicap accessible doors, picked up items she dropped and carried papers and assignments to classmates.

“I think Ingram was a social icebreaker,” Angela said. “People, especially teens, are often hesitant to approach someone with a disability. But they would came over and said ‘Hi’ and found that Breeann is intelligent and beautiful and just a wonderful person,” Angela said.

“I see Ingram as a miracle.”

Last days, future plans
Campbell planned on heading off to the University of Alaska in August to pursue an English degree. It was a big jump, and she was aware of the obstacles she’d encounter.

But she was determined. She wants to be a writer one day.

“When Breeann said she wanted to go off to college and live in a dorm, I didn’t know what to do,” Angela said. “All these things ran through my head: What if she falls?

What if something happens to her? But knowing Ingram was beside her, I felt way more confident.”

Less than two months before the semester was to begin, Ingram began throwing up.

He was rushed to the animal clinic, tests were given. A few days later he died of vascular cancer.

“There was nothing anyone could have done,” Angela said with a catch in her throat.

“But at least we know he didn’t suffer.”

After his death, Campbell began to reconsider her college plans.

“I didn’t think I could do it without Ingram,” she said.

The family contacted Shay and were put on the waiting list for a replacement dog through Assistant Dog Institute in Santa Rosa, Calif. In the meantime, Shay loaned Campbell Ingram’s cousin, a demonstration service dog named Tigger.

“It’s nice to have another dog in the house again,” Campbell said. “After Ingram passed away, it was really empty.”

With Tigger at her side, she’s decided to go ahead with her school plans. He’ll be a big help, and she’ll have an automatic friend.

“This is what he (Ingram) would have wanted and this is what I ultimately want, to go off to college and do my own thing,” Campbell said.

Still, it’s hard not to think of Ingram. He was a special dog, an intuitive dog able to pick up on her moods and feelings. She’s not sure when or if she’ll ever get over his death.

“I miss him every day,” she said. “It’s only been three weeks. It feels like forever in one sense and like it just happened yesterday in another.”

Cinthia Ritchie can be reached at (907) 342-2428 or toll free at (800) 770-9830, ext. 428.

For racers, pathway to finish runs wild

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:13:00 -0800

Imagine a race with no trail, no set course and no aid stations.

Add glaciers, rough rivers and a whole lot of brush. Sprinkle in a couple of big backcountry bears and you’ve pretty much got the setup for the Alaska Mountain Wilderness Classic.

The race, in its 27th year, offers a starting and ending point somewhere in Alaska.

That’s it: The rest is up to the runners.

It’s a tough trek, said local outdoorsman Jerry Dixon, 59, who entered this year’s competition with 81-year old veteran racer Dick Griffin.

“It’s a wild race where one gets to push the edge of his personal envelope,” Dixon said.

The race began in 1982 and offers a different course every year, each averaging around 200 miles. Past races have taken runners from Eureka to Talkeetna, Hope to Homer and Menasha to Denali National Park. There is never a set route.

That, according to Dixon, is up to the racer.

“You’re bushwhacking, crossing rivers,” he said. “You have seven days to finish.”

Racers follow a few basic rules: No traveling on roads. No motorized vehicles.

Everything must be carried in, and no food or equipment can be picked up or dropped.

While racers must finish within a week, winners usually reach the ending point within three to four days. Most racing is done by foot and Alpacka rafts, though bicycles and skis are sometimes used as well.

This year’s trek took place June 14-21 and stretched approximately 175 miles from Chicken to Central.

Sixteen racers began and nine made it to the grueling end. Success rates for finishing average less than 60 percent.

Last year’s race featured 34 starters, 17 finishers and one helicopter rescue.

According to Dixon, some of this year’s racers spent 24 hours and only made it seven miles across boggy tundra.

“The yahoos that go on to win travel 23 hours a day,” Dixon said. “They carry just the clothes they’re wearing and stuff Power Bars and Cliff Bars (on themselves). Some might get just four hours of sleep in four days.”

Dixon and Griffin took six days to finish. They carried tents, sleeping bags, stoves, food and fuel. Requirements also mandate all participants to carry an Alpacka raft, a waterproof bag and a satellite phone, in case of emergencies.

The trek took them through Yukon Charley Rivers National Reserve and down the Yukon River in their rafts.

“Each day on the Yukon we got hit by three to four thunderstorms,” Dixon said. “The lightning would flash, thunder would crash and the rain filled our boats.”

The four winning racers crossed the finish line together with a time just under five days. According to the AMWC race report, “the course will long be remembered as one of extreme difficulty and attrition.”

Dixon described the race as making him feel as if he were “20 years old again.”

“Every time I traverse a mountain range I learn something,” he said.

Cinthia Ritchie can be reached at (907) 342-2428 or toll free at (800) 770-9830, ext. 428.

Seward man is dead after head-on collision

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:12:00 -0800

A Seward man died July 14 after a head-on collision on the Seward Highway, according to an Alaska State Trooper report.

Jeffrey McClure, 42, was traveling south around 8:13 p.m. in a Ford F-150 pickup when he collided with an Acura heading north. The accident happened near Mile 99, by Bird Point.

Troopers from Girdwood and Seward responded, along with the Girdwood and Anchorage fire departments and emergency medical services.

McClure was pronounced dead at the scene. He was not wearing a seat belt.

According to the report, both vehicles were completely destroyed on impact.

Danielle Jennett, 23, the driver of the Acura and her passenger, Riley McVitty, 23, both of Anchorage, were trapped inside their car and extricated after an extensive process.

Jennett was transported to the Alaska Native Medical Center in a ground ambulance and McVitty was flown to Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage aboard a LifeGuard helicopter. Both were initially listed in critical condition.

McVitty died July 17 at Providence Alaska Medical Center.

Jennett was in critical but stable condition at the Alaska Native Medical Center at the time of this writing.

An investigation is ongoing.

Veendam cruise ship sickness caused by norovirus, CDC says

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:57:00 -0800

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently confirmed that a norovirus was what sickened 124 people on the cruise ship Veendam in June.

The CDC says 12 of 556 crew members and 112 of 1,313 passengers got sick during the Holland America Line cruise ship’s voyage from Vancouver through Alaska.

The Veendam docked in Seward the morning of June 20 and left around 9 p.m. the same day following a regularly scheduled port call.

A report says most sick people had diarrhea and vomiting.

Beth Funk, medical epidemiologist for the Alaska Division of Public Health, said that people shouldn’t panic when they hear of norovirus outbreaks. If they washed their hands properly and at the right times, they shouldn’t have to worry.

According to the Juneau Empire, records show the Veendam had two norovirus outbreaks in 2004, three in 2005 and one in 2006.

The incubation period for the virus is 24-48 hours. Symptoms include diarrhea and vomiting and people normally recover after a day or two. The virus can be contracted by eating food, touching surfaces or contacting already contaminated people.

Birthday book lights a candle for party poopers

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:54:00 -0800

For a moment I am lost in thought.

A blank, white, furry piece of cloth has been placed over my head. I still draw breath, though slowly, and yet vision fails me. A baseball bat taps against my ribs, snapping me into focus. Coarse metal runs slick beneath my hands.

Sweating. Muscles tense. I breathe faster, heart pounding as suddenly hands from all directions reach out, grabbing me, spinning me. I would swing the bat but cannot move my arms. Faster, I’m going faster, faster … and then, all is quiet. All present are still.

Waiting on a moment. I move forward, lurch two steps and swing hard.

Life is never dull at a children’s birthday party. Why, I can think of few more daring tests of skill than can be found right here in this book: “Birthday Parties for Children.”

Want to practice knocking someone senseless by leaping over their back? Simulate drowning with floating fruit? Or the aforementioned “Hit something really hard with a stick blindfolded” game?

It’s all right here. What I can’t believe is how did they know that people that love danger also really love cake and ice cream? I mean, I could go for some right now, and I love danger.

But seriously, no matter what your current level of enthusiasm at this special, tender moment in a child’s life, when it comes to birthdays, it’s time to put on our game faces and roar the tiger in the teeth. ’Cause you’re not gonna win this time, clown! I’ll yank that nose right off your face! You don’t scare me anymore!

Why I oughta … I’m … talking about clowns again. I’m not supposed to do that anymore. Like it out here. OK, so deep breaths — one, two, three, and I’m back.

Which reminds me of my next point. Helium kills brain cells. If you thought you’d get off scot-free after all those years of chipmunk-voice-magic fun, you were wrong.

Take a good look at the clown, kid. A life on helium is no life at all. Lousy balloon-sniffing makeup bums. Get a haircut and buy smaller shoes! Don’t you laugh at me! Not this time! Not … not again.

I’m sorry friends, but I don’t think I can go on. Too many memories. So many memories.

But hey, don’t let my closet full of skeletons turn you off from a great book. Show those tykes a terrific time on their next special day by stopping by the library and checking out “Birthday Parties for Children.”

But please, don’t invite you-know-who.

Ryan Reynolds can be found at the library smelling old books and sometimes wearing argyle socks. He can be reached at 224-4082 or rreynolds@cityofseward.net.

‘It makes me really, really happy,’ mini-race winner says

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:42:00 -0800

Allie Toloff loves to run. The soon-to-be 7-year-old raced to a victory in this year’s Mini Mount Marathon race July 4.

This was her second consecutive win.

The race, which stretches from the starting line on Adams Street to the Seward Fire Station, covers about half a block.

Allie, who enters second grade at Seward Elementary School this year, runs in her yard almost every day.

“I run a long time,” she said.

She typically plays a baseball game where she hits the ball and runs around and around the bases.

“It makes me really, really happy,” she said. “But sometimes it makes me tired.”

She entered the race to have fun but also to see how well she could do.

“I thought it was important for me to win, very much,” she said.

Mother Jodi Toloff took Allie to practice on the sidewalk where the race was to be held.

“I didn’t push her,” she said. “I talked to her several times and said, ‘You’re not always going to win and you have to remember that.”

This was Allie’s last year to compete in the mini race, which accepts runners age 2-6.

Next year she’s eligible for the Junior Mount Marathon, slotted for ages 7-17.

A few days after winning the race, Allie tackled the junior portion with her father and brother. The course is a steep climb halfway up the mountain, with a precarious downhill featuring loose footing, scree and slippery rocks.

Allie took it too fast, tripped and lost her footing.

“I started running down the shoot and then I did a flip and slid on my belly and started rolling down the hill, but the soft rock stopped me,” she said.

She ended up with bruises and cuts under her lip and on each of her arms and knees.

“I’m pretty much better now, though,” she said.

Pete Toloff, Allie’s father, thinks it best that she wait a few years before attempting the junior division. The course is tough, he said, and dangerous in places, especially for young children.

“Unless she really wants to do it, we’re going to work on hills and other things,” he said. “We’ll see how it goes and maybe we’ll wait two years or so to do it.”

Her mother is a bit more reluctant.

“It’s frightening, the idea of her doing the mountain, especially as a 7-year-old,” she said. “I want her to wear a helmet. It’s too scary.”

Allie has no intention of running the junior race, at least not at this point.

“I don’t want to hike it again,” she said. “I thought it was like the little race, but it wasn’t.”

Cinthia Ritchie can be reached at (907) 342-2428 or toll free at (800) 770-9830, ext. 428.

No limits for WEIO athletes

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:38:00 -0800

They came from villages across remote corners of the state to celebrate age-old traditions of Alaska Native culture.

They came with their stunning regalia, songs and dances, ivory and wood carvings, and brought with them skills to test in games that have been played in the past to hone hunting abilities as well as stave off listlessness in the dead of winter.

During the World Eskimo Indian Olympics held July 16-19 in Fairbanks, people of Aleut, Athabascan, Inupiat, Yup’ik, Tsimpsian, Haida, Tlingit and Siberian Yupik blood gathered for the four-day celebration at the Carlson Center. The events were varied and included the blanket toss, greased pole walk, Alaskan high kick, one-hand reach, and ear pull, just to name a few. Those who came to watch were not disappointed as each event brought reactions that ranged from thunderous applause and cheering to gasps of disbelief.

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.