VILLAGE FINISHES SEAWALL—On October 3, on the same day
of the Barrow storm, the village of Point Hope was flooded by heavy
waves. Having been authorized by Governor Egan, the men of the
village started the project of building a seawall. $4,500 was made
available through the Rural Development Program to cover the
cost of the project. Empty oil drums were used, filled with sand
and gravel. New BIA school building, just completed, can be seen
ip the background.
Pt. Hope Net vs
New Sign Tells of Village
POINT HOPE, October 16 — The
new Point Hope sign is up. It is
near the airstrip. It was put up by
Laurie Kingik and John Tingook.
It is four feet by eigth feet and is
on 34 inch plywood.
Andrew Tooyak painted three
coats of white paint on it. John
Guinn, a junior at the University
of Alaska, did the lettering on
paper for the sign.
Betty McKenzie lettered the sign
itself from that and painted the
lettering. Dr. Bill Pogue, a honey
mooning tourist from Los Angeles,
helped choose the words for the
sign.
The aim was to put as much in
teresting information as possible
without being cluttered. The sign
reads, Point Hope, Alaska, 130
Miles Above The Arctic Circle, Pop.
350, Estab. Date Unknown. “Polar
Bear Hunters’ Paradise” “Home Of
The Bowhead Whale Hunters”
Governed By Village Council—Dan
Lisbourne, President.
New School
On Friday morning, October 11,
all three classes at Point Hope be
gan using the new school. Everyone
is pleased with the beautiful build
ing and furnishings. There are 92
pupils enrolled as follows:
Miss Abee—Grades 6-7-8—30 pu
pils; Mr. Hall—Grades 3-4-5—32
pupils; Mrs. Hall—Grades B-l-2—
30 pupils.
A fourth classroom is used as a
multipurpose room for the school
lunch, PTA meetings, school films,
or other meetings. It seats about
100 people.
Miss Abee moved into the old
school. Her quarters and old class
room building are being converted
into two sets of teachers’ quarters.
The new quarters will be finished
by Christmas if all goes well.
Tribal Operations Officer
Arthur Nagozuk, Jr., Tribal Op
erations Assistant for the Nome
District, plans to visit Point Hope
on or about October 23. A council
meeting is planned for that even
ing to go over the provisions of
the 4th Class City Incorporation
Act of 1957, and any other things
in connection with the council
work.
A general meeting of the village
on the 24th may be considered if
I there is enough interest for incor
' poration as a 4th Class City.
Nagozruk's father was the school
teacher at Point Hope about 10
years ago.
Orders Trout
The Point Hope Native Store has
ordered 300 pounds of frozen trout
from Kivalina by air freight. There
is a shortage of fresh meat in the
village.
Those at fishing camp on the
Kukpuk River have not returned.
Mr. McKenzie flew over their
camps on October 12 and dropped
some things.
Store Buys Register
The Native Store has a new $700
cash register. It makes out receipts
and totals each day's sales. It saves
the store manager a lot of time.
-
Mr. Businessman:
An ad in TUNDRA TIMES will carry the
message of your goods and services to all
p$rts of Alaska.
Help increase Alaska Native spending
power by supporting TUNDRA TIMES, the
newspaper devoted to bettering economic
conditions in the state.
Contact: TUNDRA TIMES,
Box 1287, Fairbanks
'Lethargic Leaders?' . . .
(Continued from Page 1)
1—We have good soil here: ex
perimentation with small gardens
showed we could easily raise all
the vegetables needed for our own
consumption, with more for sale
to neighboring Army installations
and villages. After months of cor
pondence, we discovered an Agen
cy willing to help use with the
necessary equipment to clear up a
large piece of land for cultivation.
At the cost of a thousand dollars,
they sent us an Air Force Surplus
bulldozer . . . which on arrival
proved a perfectly useless piece of
junk: radiator and engine had been
frozen and were cracked beyond re
pair.
Well, it makes a nice toy for the
kids and is a source of nuts and
bolts for our local mechanics: ex
pensive though! It took another year
to obtain another machine in slightly
better shape.
But now we are stuck again: how
can we obtain a plow and set of
discs to prepare the ground we
have cleared? No visible answer to
our efforts and prayers yet.
Another Agency though took
some interest in our project, and
made several trips here (usually by
chartered plane) to observe and
counsel. Could they help us get the
needed implements? No, all they
can do is give advice: all their
money is earmarked for travel.
2. —A Welfare Agent not so long
ago made a trip to the village to
find out why nobody from here had
ever applied for their services:
salesman's trip you could call it.
We were told how to fill up the
necessary forms.
When queried about the problem
of the general welfare of people
who are neither too old or too sick
to provide for themselves thru
their own work instead of handouts,
and what the Agency could do to
help find work, or even create work
since they apparently had money
to give away, the Agent simply an
swered that it was not ‘the philos
ophy of the Agency.’
So the checks have been coming
ever since: why shouldn’t one
quietly go to sleep since Uncle will
take care of everything?
The same can be said of the aid
received by unwed mothers: ex
cept in the eyes of Church and
Law, these women are married all
right; everyone knows the father
of their children, even if he chose
to remain in his own house and
I live there. Quite a cozy arrange
ment: all the fun, none of the re
sponsibilities . , . and a double in
come to boot!
3. —Our lethargic leaders decided
a safe and handy water supply was
needed: they made an application,
and a drilling rig complete with the
operating ‘expert’ were flown in.
Two wells were drilled, haphazardn
ly and without any previous geo
logical study of any kind.
Hard, foul-smelling iron water
finally appeared after a couple
months; meanwhile, in the absence
of many of our men, the expert
had the run of the town . . . and
he seemed to have lots of time on
his hands as his rig was always
breaking and he had to wait for
parts.
Before the job could be complet
ed and the test pump lowered In
the well, orders came to dismantle
the rig and ship it immediately to
a village 300 miles from here. A
few months later the rig was flown
back here, with a new crew this
time. They found out that one of
the wells had not been drilled
straight and the test pump could
not be put in place.
A new well was started and new
casing flown in . . . then a new
order came to dismantle the rig
once more and fly it at once to
another village 500 miles away.
That was three year ago . . . we
still pack our water from a creek
a half a mile away.
4.—Another summer saw the vil
lage lethargically sitting in tbs
sun, watching a crew of rather ir
responsible men build up the air
field. At least the 60.000 dollar job
accomplished something; we have
the best field in the area, but at
the time only one of our lethargic
men was able to wrestle up a few
odd jobs and dollars around that
construction project; the rest of
them? What is not Welfare? . . .
5.—An addition to the school was
built: for once, local labor was
used: only the directing foreman
and two helpers were imported.
By the end of summer, building
completed, except for the entrance
door; the hardware for the lock
ing device had not been sent with
the other material.
The foreman immediately re
quested Fairbanks Office to send
one; answer: Fairbanks handles
only Maintenance. Construction
items have to come from . . . Ari
zona!
For some three weeks, the Fore
man and one helper sat here doing
nothing except waiting for that
lock and drawing their away-from
home pay . . . and they would still
be doing just that, had it not been
that the Foreman was called home
for urgent family matters and quit.
That was three years ago . . . and
there is still no lock on that front
door.
6. —A winch used in the above
construction had been left here.
Then it was needed in another vil
lage a hundred miles away from
here. The Office 300 miles away
promptly chartered a plane and
hired two men to come here; their
mission: wait for a coming barge
and load the winch on it. (Seems
to me a 5c. letter could have ac
complished just that by request
ing two of our local men to do the
job).
The two strangers waited here
for several days, then tried to
board the barge with the winch for
the trip down the river; sorry, said
the Captain, we're not licensed to
carry passengers.
Local lethargic people, always
anxious to make a few pennies im
mediately offered their services
and boats to take the men to their
new destination. Approval had
first to be obtained from ‘the Of
fice'; another day or two passed,
idle, and the answer came ... in
the shape of a plane chartered
again three hunred miles from here
to make that hundred mile trip.
7. —Another penny post card it
seems would nicely have taken care
of still another ‘official’ trip:
three days spent for a single one
hour meeting with village people;
the agenda? the Agency was in no
position to do anything to help the
village before 1965, at the earliest.
8. —For several years a campaign
has been going on in an attempt
to have the people take more in
terest in the operation of their
school, so they feel ‘involved’ in
the process of educating their chil
dren. That's wonderful! So we
started PTA, held meetings, etc.
. . . But comes the clincher that
still shows the old paternalistic
hand of Uncle under the new
pseudo-democratic glove.
X . . . had wonderful new Teach
ers: all agreed the children had
never liked school better nor bene
ftited so much from it; the kids
were really opening up and matur
ing fast. Reportedly, the methods
used were not always those found
in ‘the Book’; three different su
pervisors were summoned from far
away to investigate . . . and a
couple of outstanding and wonder
fully dedicated Teachers had to go!
PTA consultation? Or even just
a few tests of the children? maybe
a few visits and talks with the
Parents and other responsible
in the village? . . .
No, this was strictly a Secret
Service operation; one meeting was
called though ... to talk for sev
eral hours about the ‘good old days’,
when the village was in a different
location and people lived different
ly: not one word was said about
the concern of the Agency over
the present Teachers performance.
Their dismissal came as a shock
for all of us, but apparently some
are certain that no good pudding
can come from a recipe different
from their own: they even refuse
to taste such. Pseudo-democratic?
. . . See what I mean?
9.—Three months ago, entirely
unannounced, and in the absence
of the school personnel, ten tons or
more of foodstuff for the lunch pro
gram was unloaded on the river
bank, in the mud. on a rainy day.
Our lethargic village leaders took
it upon themselves to pack every
thing on their back to the safety
of the school buildings at the other
end of town, quite a job!
Then they wrote to the Agency
concerned, sending their time sheet
and asking for the usual wages.
They are still waiting for some
one to WAKE UP to their urgent
need for this money they have
earned ... Or should they apply
for Welfare? Might be faster! Le
thargic? Who?
10. —For the two years the Dena
Nena Henash Conferences have
forcefully brought to light the
widespread abuses that can and of
ten do take places in our villages’
combination Post Office-Trading
Post.
Relief was officially promised by
eager politicians and Oficers of
several Agencies. We’re still wait
ing (O. very patiently: we're le
thargic you know) to hear the re
sult of their thoughts and confer
ences on the subject.
11. —Much TALK about develop
ment these days: new desks, depart,
ments and high salaries are con
tinually added to the ‘Machine’.
So another expert with dispatched
to X . . .
He was presented with several
requests for assistance in small
projects by some of the lethargic
folks who thought they might get
into business of one form or an
other. So far so good . . . blit the
final verdict from above was once
again: sorry, we can only offer ad
vice at this time, no money avail
able.
Another case of huge appropria
tions that are absorbed along the
way just to keep the machine turn
ing. a self-devouring monster; no
thing ever seems to even trickle
down to the grassroots where just
a few humble drops could accom
plish so much.
Our would-be self-supporting
businessmen will be back on Wel
fare this winter . . . but such money
could not be used to start these
businesses: it's contrary to ‘philo
sophical’ principles.
Now, YOU figure out the balance
sheet of the operation: How many
thousands of dollars actually avail
able to serve the people have been
spent? What did they buy? And
there is every reason to suspect
that all of our Bush villages could
produce a similar balance sheet , . .
So my question: WHERE ARE
THE LETHARGIC LEADERS?
YOUR answer?
(To be continued)
1
Letter to Editor
Barrow, Alaska
October 26, 1963
Dear Editor:
Congratulations for the successful
year of Tundra Times.
I have continued to read and re
read each paper.
I admire the solid footing of your
independent paper, the Voice of the
Arctic, the Interior and the Aleu
tian Chain.
Enclosed please find a check for
$5 for erenwal of my subscription.
Yours sincerely,
Fred K. Ipalook.
If at first you do succeed, don'*
take any more chances.—Kin Hub
bard 1 \ A