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Front Page • If not Sarah,who? • Begich's campaign trail runs through Nome • Long lines, delayed mail irk Nome post office customers Page 2 - Opinion • Editorial • Weather Statistics • The other Nome Police Department officers... Page 3 - Local • Youth charged with skimming at least $12,000 from Hansons • Post Office - continued from page 1 Page 4 - Local • Palin - continued from page 1 • Begich - continued from page 1 Page 5 Page 6 -Regional • Voters strike down initiatives in primary elections, support    incumbents Page 7 - Regional • NSEDC creates for-profit subsidiary Page 8 - Labor Day

Page 9 - Regional • Subsistence silver catch limit doubles Page 10 - Regional • All Around the Sound Page 11 • Employment • Real Estate • Legals • Seawall • Trooper Beat Page 12 • The other police officers - continued from page 2 • More Legals - continued from page 11 Page 13 • Court • The other police officers - continued from page 12 Page 14 • More Court - continued from page 13 Page 15 • Serving the Community of Nome Page 16 • Native corps. to harness wind power at Banner Peak

If not Sarah,who?

Who Alaskans will call governor rests on more than one election result

By Sandra L. Medearis
Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin has not resigned as governor of Alaska and will continue to command state government as she whirls around the country with Republican candidate Sen. John McCain campaigning for the Nov. 4 U.S. presidential election.

Palin released a statement Friday, Sept. 29, from Dayton, Ohio, where McCain announced his selection."It is the honor of my life to represent you as your governor, and over the next two months I will continue to do so. As the mother of five, I know how to multi-task," Palin said. In a statement released Monday, Palin announced that she would soon be a grandmother. Her 17-yearold daughter, Bristol, is five months pregnant and will soon be married.

Should voters elect McCain and Palin over Democratic candidates Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Joe Biden, who would mind the store in Juneau? That depends. State law says Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell would become governor and current Attorney General Talis Colberg would follow him into the lieutenant governor's seat when Palin took office in Washington, D. C., Jan. 20. Palin's chief of staff Mike Nizich is traveling with her.

However, earlier this week, Parnell was still waiting to hear the outcome of his close race against Rep. Don Young in the Republican primary. If Parnell prevails and then wins a seat in Congress, Colberg continued on page 4

Begich's campaign trail runs through Nome

By Diana Haecker
With the results of the primary election barely in, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Mark Begich visited Nome last Friday, making the Gold Rush City one of the first stops on his campaign trail.

Begich garnered 360 votes in Nome at the primary polls last week. Incumbent U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens received 233 Republican votes from Nome.

The Nome Democrats held a meet and greet session with Begich in the Polar Cafe. He then visited Nome businesses and held another public meeting at the XYZ Center. Alaska State Sen. Donny Olson with his wife, Willow, and newborn son, Donald, also attended the meet and greet.

Begich avoided discussing Ted Stevens' grand jury indictment on seven counts of filing false financial disclosures, focusing instead on his agenda of energy, health care, education, government accountability and bringing "the public back into the term ‘public service,'" Begich said.

"I want to be the person to represent Alaskan families in Washington," Begich said at the Polar Cafe.

On Friday, the news that John McCain picked Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate on the Republican
ticket for the U.S. presidency shook not only Alaska but also the nation and the world. Before Be- continued on page 4

Long lines, delayed mail irk Nome post office customers

By Diana Haecker
After a year without a postmaster and mounting public discontent with long lines and delayed mail in Nome, the area manager for Nome's post office operations last week traveled to Nome to interview candidates for the postmaster job, U.S. Post Office
spokeswoman Darus Macy confirmed last week.

Geno Castignetti, who manages post offices with zip codes starting with 997, came to Nome to choose a new postmaster. According to Macy, Castignetti also observed the window operation at the Nome post office, finding that it was busy for the whole time of his visit.

Castignetti trailed a review team who evaluated the Nome post office operations two weeks ago.

For months now, disgruntled postal customers have complained about long waiting lines, delayed mail delivery and lost mail. The criticism always is directed against the system, not the few employees at the main office on Front Street or the postal annex on Port Road, say complainants.

Nome resident Adam Lust shot off a letter to Dianne Horbochuk, Alaska USPS district manager, stressing that "our local post office crew deserve to be commended for their professional and outgoing attitudes." However, Lust said that lines 15 people deep are the norm rather than exception and that delays in postal service are a result of reduced staff.

"It's simply ludicrous to believe that five employees are supposed to operate the Nome Post Office and the Nome mail sorting facility, which together serve the 9,000 plus residents of Nome and the Seward Peninsula," wrote Lust. continued on page 3