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HAPPY TRAILS— Abby Bachelder skies along East Front Street on a return trip from the Swanberg Dredge on a blustery Friday afternoon. Photo by Nils Hahn C VOLUME CXIII NO. 4 January 24, 2013 Coast Guard finds more than 600 gallons of petroleum products on the frozen-in tug boat Rustler By Diana Haecker the vessel frozen in at the Nome har- leum products on board the tug. discovered more oil, they had to Nome port barge ramp. When U.S. Coast Guard’s marine bor and be done with it by Sunday “The mess was bigger than we arrange for more supplies to shipped The tugboat’s owner, Mike Ben- science technician first class Francis night. thought,” said Schiano. “We were to Nome. choff, was on hand to help in the ef- Schiano arrived in Nome last As of Monday afternoon, they prepared for what was reported and In addition to the reported an- fort. Wednesday with a crew of environ- were still cleaning up a greasy mess had to readjust our plans for the extra tifreeze, paint canisters and oil stored The Coast Guard has been in- mental technicians to clean up petro- inside the Rustler. product we found.” in drums, there were at least ten volved since November 2012 after leum products from the inside of the Instead of the reported 100 to 200 Schiano said that he would’ve voids and tanks containing petro- they received a report of a potential tugboat Rustler, they expected to re- gallons of lube oil, they found more hired at least one more technician to leum products. The voids and tanks, pollution threat from the tug Rustler. move about 100 to 200 gallons from than 600 gallons of assorted petro- come to Nome. Also, because they Schiano explained, were not sup- “Through our investigations and posed to hold any petroleum prod- contacts with the responsible party, ucts. Mr. Benchoff, we established that The cleanup crew consisted of the there is a potential threat to the envi- Coast Guard’s Federal On Scene Co- ronment and we are here to mitigate ordinator Schiano, his colleague the threat,” Schiano told the Nugget Matt Renfroe and four environmen- last Wednesday, as the cleanup crew tal cleanup technicians with the en- set up shop in the harbormaster’s of- vironmental services company fice at the port. ChemTrack, based in Anchorage. After working on the vessel for They arrived in Nome on Jan. 15 more than five days, Schiano said on to clean out oil from the tugboat Rustler, sitting frozen-in at the continued on page 16 Jeff King wins Kusko 300 sled dog race By Diana Haecker King finished the K300 at 11 a.m. Denali Park musher Jeff King, 56, on Sunday morning with 12 dogs in won the prestigious Kuskokwim 300 harness and an elapsed time of 41 sled dog race last Sunday for the hours and 10 seconds. He told re- ninth time. porters at the finish line that his dog His last victory was in 2006. team was very powerful, at times King bested a competitive field of even too powerful. King pointed to 21 mushers, including five former his trashed sled brake as testimony K300 champs and an array of top Id- to the strength of his sled dogs. itarod mushers. An hour and five minutes after King took home $22,000 for win- King, Tony Browning, 55, crossed ning the roughly 300 mile race, and the finish line with 10 dogs. Brown- Photo by Diana Haecker the distinction of being the musher ing, a former Nome resident, was with the most K300 first place tro- PREPARATIONS— Mike Benchoff, middle, assists ChemTrack environmental cleanup technicians Chris Mc- continued on page 16 Donnell and Brian Davis. The Coast Guard hired ChemTrack to assist in the removal of petroleum products phies in the history of the race. from the frozen-in vessel Rustler in the Nome harbor. Nome and region well immunized against seasonal flu By Diana Haecker tients in Alaska or the region isn’t rate than other areas,” Dr. Head ex- The flu season had an intense be- known, the Alaska Dept. of Health plained. ginning and so far a total of 20 chil- and Social Services Epidemiology At NSHC alone, over 75 percent dren nationwide have died from the keeps track of trends through labo- of all employees have received their flu, according to the Centers for Dis- ratory test results from the Alaska flu shot. ease Control and Prevention. State Virology Laboratory. And Beyond that, Louis Murphy with The agency reports that across the those, Nurse Epidemiologist Donna NSHC’s employee health and infec- nation, almost all states showed in- Fearey with the DHHS says, indi- tions control division said that more creased influenza activity over the cate that we’re in for a bad flu year. than 1,500 people in Nome and the last month. In Alaska, the flu is also “It looks to be a pretty severe flu region were immunized this season. widespread but no influenza-related season nationally,” said Fearey. The “We offered free flu shots at the deaths of a child have been reported. flu hit earlier than usual and it ap- Resource Fair and the Nome Health While the total number of flu pa- pears that the strain H3 of the in- Fair,” said Murphy. fluenza A type is the most common Dr. Head said he can’t say how strain to attack people during this many patients were diagnosed with On the Web: year’s flu season. “The H3 strain es- the flu. pecially, can be very hard on elderly “Many times we don’t run the www.nomenugget.net people,” Fearey added. tests because they don’t change the E-mail: But the flu hasn’t hit Nome and treatment plan and are expensive. the region too hard yet, according to By the time the test results are [email protected] Norton Sound Health Corporation back, the patients are already in Chief of Staff Dr. David Head. treatment and it really doesn’t make Dr. Head said that the region is any difference,” Dr. Head explained. seeing a “normal” flu season. Fearey with the DHHS echoed “So far, we don’t see an increase that many providers don’t run the Photo by Nili Sundown in flu activity,” Dr. Head said. tests but that doesn’t help compiling NINE TIME K300 CHAMPION— Jeff King embraces his lead dogs The reason? after winning the 2013 Kuskokwim 300 sled dog race last Sunday in “We have a higher immunization continued on page 4 Bethel. 2 THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2013OPINION THE NOME NUGGET Letters Dear Nancy, doms. strictions matter? guards in banks, jewelry stores, etc. the populace? And have you also no- Joe Biden has made his recom- There are proposals to re-enact Obama’s plan wants to increase And there would be no need for ticed that the states where concealed mendations to the President who has and strengthen Clinton’s Federal As- background checks including access armed Law Enforcement officers, as or open carry is allowed have the in turn released a lengthy list of re- sault Weapons Ban of 1994. This to medical records. In such an in- they “don’t stop a determined lowest violent crime rates? If legally sponses to the recent multiple mur- law banned firearms that ‘possess stance a war veteran found with psy- shooter”. armed, law-abiding individuals had ders in Connecticut. the cosmetic features of a rifle… that chological trauma from his service And how about the statement that been present on the school grounds Many are positive moves includ- is fully automatic.’ Not fully auto- may be banned from ever owning a we should allow students to carry of Newton or any other school where ing efforts to improve training for re- matic weapons which are covered by hunting rifle. Murderer Adam Lanza guns? Do you honestly believe that shootings have taken place, I submit sponse to armed attacks and other laws, firearms that look like was protected from such diagnoses everyone who holds a gun is auto- that probably fewer, and maybe increasing police officers on the them. In the law assault weapons are by his first victim and mother. I matically a bully, NRA member, many fewer, deaths would have oc- street and in schools; support for those with pistol grips, removable question would such a requirement mentally incompetent, or on their curred while waiting for armed Law emergency response plans for and high capacity magazines and filters out the potential murderers? way to shoot up a school? Have you Enforcement Officers to arrive. schools and colleges; gun owner other features. The anti-gun watch- Connecticut murderer noticed in the last few years that the Nancy, criminals don’t fill out pa- safety campaigns and improved dog group, the Brady Center to Pre- Adam Lanza used stolen firearms; vast majority of these regretful inci- perwork or submit to background standards for gun locks and safes. vent Gun Violence examined the Columbine’s Harris and Klebold dents occur in places where carrying checks to obtain their guns. Please Also there are plans for better fol- impact of the law after 10 years and used other persons to purchase a weapon is against the law (for the visit your Webster’s to verify the def- low-up on lost and stolen guns and found these types of firearms made weapons for them. Increasing back- law-abiding folks that DON’T carry inition of a “criminal”. And while for returning seized firearms, of guns up only 1.6 percent of crimes.

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