May 15, 2008

Nome Weather

Front Page • Council mulls return of tax on groceries • Schools request nearly a half million more from City • Campaign leads Begich to Nome Page 2 - Opinion / Local • Editorial • Nugget reporter wins Communicators' "Sweepstakes" • Power out at night: Half of Nome late to work Monday morning • Weather Statistics Page 3 - Local • Northwest Campus honors grads Page 4 - Local • City manager search delayed once again • Tax - continued from page 1 • Schools - continued from page 1 Page 5 - Local • Hospital • Woman rescued from sea ice Page 6 - Local • Alternative energy is where you find it Page 7 - Local • Large mine team says "no" many times before saying "yes" Page 8 - Regional • Norton Sound's summer 2008 commercial crab fishery    quota rises to 412,000 pounds • Permitting - continued from page 7 Page 9 - Strait Talk Page 10 - Strait Talk Page 11 - Strait Talk

Page 12 - Strait Talk Page 13 - Strait Talk Page 14 - Strait Talk Page 15 - Strait Talk Page 16 - Strait Talk Page 17 - Local • Saying in Sincerely • Souper-Bowl attracts huge crowd Page 18 - Local • Of food and toxins • JROTC honored at awards night Page 19 • National Guardsmen recognized • JROTC - continued from page 18 Page 20 • Employment • Seawall • Real Estate • Legals • Trooper Beat Page 21 • Obituaries • More Legals • Arson awareness: Don't play with fire Page 22 • All Around the Sound • Village News • Court • Serving the Community of Nome Page 23 • Serving the Community of Nome Page 24 • Spring arrives in Nome

Council mulls return of tax on groceries

By Sandra L. Medearis
A measure to keep the City's 5 percent sales tax off food indefinitely fell by the wayside Monday night.

The exemption would have gone out of effect at the end of the month.

In first reading two weeks ago an ordinance took the tax off permanently; however, the Nome Common Council on second reading this week accepted an amendment offered by Councilman Jerald Brown ending the exemption June 30 to give the
panel an opportunity to get the budget in hand first. Councilman Randy Pomeranz cast the only "no" vote on the updated ordinance.

The current 2008 spending plan is falling around $600,000 short. Sales tax on groceries is a big producer for sales tax, and when it is in effect, it brings in between $800,000 and $900,000.

Still, Council in its backup justification for removing the tax permanently cited the increased cost of running a household because of the"unexpected and unusually rapid rise in fuel prices," to "enhance the ability of Nome's citizenry to provide for their families during winter months."

The tax relief does not affect restaurant food or takeout to be eaten immediately whether consumed on or off sales premises. The City has savings in its piggy bank, but this money has to go for making up for the tax holiday and new expenses such as meeting a bill for the causeway that has come due, Councilwoman Mary Knodel said.

At a work session before the regular Council meeting May 12, the Nome Public School staff presented a budget that asks the City for about $400,000 more than last year. A lion's share of the increase comes continued on page 4

Schools request nearly a half million more from City

By Sandra L. Medearis
As they enter the budget season for adopting a 2009 spending plan for City services, the Nome Common Council received a package from the schools detailing what staff and administrators thought they needed to provide a learning program, meet school operation and maintenance costs and get raises.

The bottom line next year requires $2.1 million in round numbers, about $415,000 over last year's request. This year the City contributed about $1.7 million. The letter wrapping the budget, over Stan and Amy Lujan's signature (superintendent and business manager), pooh-poohed the additional $415,000 as "a very reasonable request," considering that increase boosted the City's contribution to 74 percent when the statewide average is 91 percent. The letter did not compare community revenue resources that are robust in some places and weaker in others.

The district faces higher expenses directly from energy costs at a projected increase of $355,400 for heat and electricity with other hikes in related freight and other costs, as well as rises in benefits and salary costs, Stan Lujan told the Council. The school received $142,730 from the Legislature to meet high energy costs, but that left $212,670 of the expected increase uncovered.

Maintenance staff said upgrades had beencontinued on page 4

Signs of new hospital emerge

Just free of snow, tundra receives new covering of gravel where facility will sit

By Diana Haecker
The first tangible sign of the Norton Sound Health Corporation's new hospital was visible when three test piles were driven into the tundra north of the Nome Bypass Road and dozers cleared the site free of snow.

Then, last Thursday, a milestone happened as Q Trucking "broke ground" and trucked in gravel from the Bessie Pit to the site. Rolls of geotextile lay ready to be rolled out to cover the tundra. Charlie Reader's crew soon began spreading the gravel on the site—about 420 feet long and 240 feet wide—creating the pad for the hospital and a foundation for the parking lot.

The building will not be situated on gravel, but is designed to rest on 200 pilings that are driven down all the way to bedrock to prevent shifting. The ground beneath has two to nine feet of ice-rich peat and silt.Below that is silt and sand, and bedrock is at 24 to 34 feet underground. An average of 5 feet of gravel is placed on top of the geotextile to prevent gravel sinking into the mud. Also, sandwiched in between layers of gravel, there will be pink insulation to keep the ground cold. In addition, thermo-syphons will be installed, which are self-powered refrigeration devices that are used to help keep the permafrost cool.

After years of plotting designs and pleading with funding agencies, NSHC is now in the phase of manifesting a new hospital that is slated to open its doors for service as early as 2013.

Compared to the complications, time constraints and high costs of building a large project in the sub-Arctic, the real battle for NSHC takes place in congressional chambers, on departmental priority lists and in the political arena.

As a tribal organization, NSHC is eligible for funds from the federal department of the Indian Health Service, but has to compete with requests from all over the nation for new tribal health care facilities.

NSHC secured money from the Denali Commission, $15 million so far, to get the project where it is today. The $15 million bought NSHC a design, gravel and steel piles, while the corporation put in funding requests to IHS in the hopes of getting the construction started next year. NSHC currently is second on IHS's nation-wide priority list continued on page 5

STOPPING TRAFFIC — Q Trucking owner Charlie Reader and daughter, Chelsea Reader, direct traffic while the company hauls gravel to the new hospital site. Photo by Diana Haecker