Carnival, Dog Races
Make Fairbanks Merry
ALASKA HUSKY, SYMBOL OF THE NORTH—This Alaska husky is
as happy as a lark at the prospects of the North American Sled Dog
Championship races in Fairbanks this week and the event filled days
of the Fairbanks Winter Carnival. Besides a bustling midway, there’ll
he parades, pageants, shows, exhibits, contests, races, tournaments,
teas, bails, dances, and the burning of Old Man Winter.
—Photo by Grassi M. Proff
LAST YEAR’S WINNER—Dr. Roland Lombard, of Massachusetts,
received royal congratulations from Faith Williams (left), Miss
Golden Heart City, and Georgiana Harwood (right). Miss Fairbanks,
oa his victory last year iin the Open North American Sled Dog
Championship. This year Lombard will be running against Beattus
Moses, of Allakaket, the 19G1 sled dog champion, and ehampions
of other years. —Photo by Colin Mick
By Thomas Snapp
Times Staff Writer
Eighteen persons from all parts
of Northern and Interior Alaska are
now overcoming serious physical
handicaps thanks to their efforts
and the. help of a state agency.
These 18 persons have battled
such dread diseases as tuberculosis
and polio, operations such as ampu
tations. and disabilities such as loss
of hearing and eyesight. But what
is significant, they are winning the
battle.
Thus they are giving stimulus to
others to also overcome physical
handicaps.
The eighteen have learned to pro
vide for their own selfcare, they are
learning or have learned occupa
tions to fit their specific handicaps,
abilities and aptitudes.
Further, they are obtaining work
and becoming useful, happy people.
They are being assisted with guid
ance and training by the Fairbanks
branch of the state office of Voca
tional Rehabilitation.
Miss Dorothy Craig, rehabilitation
counselor, travels widely in inter
;or and northern Alaska, directing
fhe program. She is a woman of
deep concern and untiring efforts.
But to grasp the tremendous re
sults of the program, one needs to
look specifically at the program
and the individual cases.
Polio Victim
A recent Eskimo graduate from
Nome High School, crippled from
oolio. is about to complete his first
vear of office training at Tacoma
Technical School.
A plan is under way whereby
'his young man will be returned to
Alaska this summer for a three
months on-the-iob training period
before he continues on into a second
vear of a course which will earn
him an Office Clerk and Bookkeep
:ng certificate.
Improved Health
A 24-vear-old Eskimo from a
"■oastal village, handicapped by im
oaired hearing, poor eye sight and
badly in need of dental care, has
been aided bv physical restoration
'n the form of glasses, hearing aid
ind dentures.
With his general health improved,
as well as his vision and hearing,
his young man has been provided
vocational evaluation which re
cently led to his being placed in
carpentry training.
Typing Training
Two Fairbanks women are taking
‘yping training with promises of
'ocal employment upon completion.
Both have physical handicaps de
manding they be trained for indoor
office-type work.
One has had advanced pulmon
ary tuberculosis with a resultant
breathing impairment. The other
has suffered an industrial accident
to her legs requiring that she have
a sitting rather than a standing job.
Mechanic Training
A young Indian man, handicapped
by a decided hearing loss, has been
fitted with a hearing aid. He re
cently has enrolled in Aircraft Me
chanic training at Seattle Technical
School.
RCA Trainees
A recently returned RCA (New
York City) trained Eskimo is await
ing an Alaska DEW-line electronics
assignment.
“Seeing this handsome, alert
young fellow ready for technical
employment, one would never sus
pect that he too had suffered a bout
with tuberculosis,” said Miss Craig.
A second Eskimo youth has re
cently been entered in the Los
Angeles RCA electronic technican
training program. Upon completion
of training, he will return to Alaska
for a DEW-line assignment.
/ Sewing, Knitting
Two women, confined to wheel
chairs (one handicapped from tu
berculosis and further crippled
from a leg amputation), have been
assisted into home employment.•' ■ *
Both are enjoying current earn
ings from their hand sewing and
knitting. They are experts in their
own personal self-care and cheer
fully and skillfully help with daily
household tasks about them.
Provision of a sewing machine
has recently helped a Fairbanks
woman into a home seamstress and
alteration business.
Aircraft Mechanics
Three trained rehabilitation cli
ents are now successfully employed
as aircraft mechanics with Wien
Airlines. Another has been em
ployed as an airlines radio operator
and maintenance technican.
A 25-year-old Seward Peninsula
Eskimo is successfully employed
as a cook-baker at a PHS-Alaska
Native Hospital in the State.
Sanitation Aide
A far north resident, since being
fitted with a suitable hearing aid.
has continued to work as a Village
Sanitation Aide. He recently earned
a job promotion after completing
some advanced sanitation training.
Multilith Operators
Two native men, both handi
capped from long bouts with pul
monary tuberculosis, have finished
training as multilith operators and
are now ready for employment.
Two white males, both severely
injured in industrial accidents, have
benefited from vocational rehabili
tation services.
One. after onJthe-|iob training,
became employed as a hospital
room fireman. The other is under
going vocational training at the
Tacoma Goodwill Industries.
Instrument Repair
A 23-year-old white male para
plegic. confined to wheel-chair liv
ing. is currently making a name for
simself in aircraft instrumentation
repair training. Another Eskimo
paraplegic, further handicapped by
advanced tuberculosis and depend
ent on his wheel chair, is being
helped to earn a long overdue 8th
grade diploma.
At the same time he is benefiting
from business education training
which will fit him into local em
ployment as an office clerk in a
Bering Sea Coastal community.
Secretarial Training
A 21-year-old Eskimo girl, a for
mer tuberculosis patient, is in her
second year of secretarial training
and is expected to return to Alaska
for employment sometime this sum
mer.
University Students
Of the five University of Alaska
students being helped by the Office
of Vocational Rehabilitation, two
will be graduating as native teach
ers within this year.
One student is training to be a
civil engineer: one is majoring in
marketing and management, and
one in sociology.
Three of these young men have
made satisfactory recoveries from
pulmonary tuberculosis: the other
two. because of recently acquired
handicaps requiring them to leave
the field of heavy construction, are
training for employment to fit their
handicaps.
Story Book Ending
A pretty Eskimo girl, trained in
office procedures, is presently em
ployed as a secretary at the Arctic
Research Laboratory. Her sltory.
beginning with tuberculosis, has
ended not only with physical reha
bilitation and a good job but with
marrjage that promises a story book
conclusion “and they lived happily
ever after.”
Of the Alaskans benefited this
past year, nine are now earning a
total of $867.45 in weekly wages.
Seven are wholely self supporting
and two are partially so.
Waiting For Chance
Other handicapped Alaskans are
waiting their opportunity to prove
their worth as wage earners. For
some handicapped individuals, voca
tional training has not been avail
able either because of the severity
of the handicaps or beeause of lacit
of facilities. Guidance and coun
seling are given them in their daily
living.
Special services, such as Talking
Book Library service for the Blind,
and artificial limbs, hearing aids,
glasses have been provided others.
Financial assistance may include
transportation, board and room, tui
tion, books and fees, tools and
equipment, as well as emergency
needs while training. Individual
costs vary from $100 to $3,000 per
year.
Cooperation
The tremendous accomplishments
of the vocational rehabilitation pro
gram has been made possible
through cooperative help that has
stemmed from the medical profes
sion. the clergy, business and in
dustry, health, welfare, education
and employment agencies. Special
aid has come from individuals as
well as civic groups and voluntary
health agencies.
The Fairbanks Tuberculosis Com
mittee of the Fairbanks Woman’s
Club has been particularly helpful.
Individual Efforts
But it is to each of the handi
capped that Miss Dorothy Graig
gives credit for the accomplish
ments.
“With each individual making a
good adjustment to life, the Alaska
Office of Vocational Rehabilitation
could not relate these success stor
ies.” she said.
"Each is to be complimented for
weathering multiple trials and trib
ulations in order to overcome a
handicap and become a useful
citizen.”
Is Government
Bucking Nature?
By Fred Stlckman, Sr.
Forty-nine years ago was the first
day I went to school. I was six
years old then. The sisters in the
Catholic School at Nulato told me
I wore a dress and my hair was
braided.
Well, after several years, I start
ed learning my Catechism. And the
first question in it was “Who made
the world?” The answer, “God
made the world.”
Now what makes me write this
is, "Why is the government spend
ing money for nothing?” It’s foolish.
God created this world for us. He
caused the heavy run of fish, that
is, the salmon that come up every
year at the same time. He also put
in lots of different fish that stay
in the river year around. The fish
lay in the Yukon River and its
tributaries for us to live on. It's all
by the will of God.
Every year, as you will notice,
there is a flood somewhere along
the Yukon River. Well, there is a
reason for that. The lakes get dry.
In any one area in almost seven
years, a flood comes along to fill
them up again. That’s why there
are muskrats, beaver, otter, mink,
in those lakes. We native people
know the floods will come and ex
pect them. The floods have a rea
son. Why is the government trying
to prevent them by bombing the
ice jams?
The reason I'm writing this is
the U. S. Government is bucking
God. The U. S. Government is
spending a lot of money to stop
forest fires, floods and game shoot
ing.
Five years ago my adopted bro
ther, Daniel Sipray at Nulato, came
to me and said, “Fred, what do you
think about this bombing?” The
CX. S. Air Force was bombing at
Bishop Mountain, 30 miles above
Nulato, and another place 9 miles
below Nulato, and a third place '
24 miles below the village. He said,
“Fred, they’re trying to force na
ture!"
r And he was-eight.11. know.; it now. ,