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FIRST BARGE INTO NOME— Alaska Marine Lines’ barge Westward Trader and its tug Polar Ranger were the first vessels of the summer to land in Nome. Photo by Diana Haecker C VOLUME CXV NO. 22 June 4, 2015 Nome judge charged with violations of judicial conduct By Diana Haecker ings,” reads the official complaint. The Commission on Judicial Con- “The statements indicated insen- duct has formally issued a complaint sitivity to the victims and witnesses against Superior Court Judge Timo- in criminal matters and insensitivity thy D. Dooley in Nome. to unrepresented parties in civil mat- The complaint centers on Judge ters.” Dooley’s remarks made from the The commission is tasked to in- bench in several different cases, and, vestigate judicial conduct if there are in one instance, offering a plea bar- complaints dealing with conduct that gain to an unrepresented defendant brings the judicial office into disre- from the bench. pute or conduct that is in violation of The commission found that a pre- the code of judicial conduct. liminary investigation showed prob- Canon 1 spells out the expected able cause that Dooley violated behavior of a judge to uphold the in- Alaska Statutes and canons. tegrity and independence of the judi- “From May 2013 through Sep- ciary. Canon 2 emphasizes that “in tember 2014, Judge Dooley made statements in several court proceed- continued on page 4 Council cuts back Nome’s property tax By Sandra L. Medearis Although the Nome Preschool Assn., The Nome Common Council in- which serves around 35 three and troduced a plan for spending year four-year-olds, is an independent 2016 that drops the mill rate on prop- nonprofit organization, Nome Public erty tax one notch. Schools has paid for the certified The budget has progressed to sec- teacher for the last few years. This ond reading and final passage slated year, the preschool teacher is not in for a vote at the next regular Council the NPS budget nor funded by the meeting on June 8. state. No discussion took place accord- The cost for the teacher is $80,000 ing to meeting rules on first reading to $90,000. The preschool group is during the council meeting on May asking the City of Nome and the 28, but the budget could come under NSEDC Community Fund to provide a give-and-take session at the next half the cost at $40,000, with a plan meeting. to raise the remainder by increasing Last year’s plan depended on 12 tuition and converting one of two mills. The new budget is built on 11, full-time employee positions to half- a property tax rate approved unani- time. mously by the Council. City law re- Conversation around the Council quires the mill rate to be set by the table hinted at the City picking up end of May. that tab, but Council members The general fund municipal fund showed they were reluctant to com- Photo by Diana Haecker budget stands at $11,246,667.46 as mit to funding that could be a recur- EMERGING DANCER— Raymond Ningeulook performed with the Shishmaref Eskimo Dance group introduced by the Council. rent need and pressure on the City of during evening performance at the Rec Center on Monday, June 1. The entertainment is part of the Kaw- A certified teacher position for erak Regional and Rural Providers conference. Nome Preschool remains unfunded. continued on page 5 Kawerak and Rural Providers conference underway in Nome By Diana Haecker Nome’s Elementary School on Mon- Adverse Childhood Experiences that Under the motto “Carving a Path day, June 1. made a causal connection between to Wellness”, the combined Kaw- The conference addresses topics childhood trauma and health and so- erak Regional and 32nd Rural ranging from ways to prevent alco- cial problems later in life. Traumatic Providers Conferences kicked off in hol and drug abuse, preventing and experiences as a child can develop breaking the cycle of domestic vio- into social, emotional and cognitive lence and sexual assault, healing impairment, and can lead to adopt- from trauma, to tribal court, self- ing health risk behaviors or addic- On the Web: governance, development and en- tions, disease and social problems www.nomenugget.net ergy issues. Cultural performances and even early death. with dance groups from Nome, King Apatiki said that those childhood E-mail: Island, the Nome/St. Lawrence Is- traumas stay with people for all their [email protected] land dancers and singers, Shishmaref lives on a cellular level and can even Eskimo dance group and even the affect the next generation. Tikigaq Traditional dancers from Growing up in a home with a rou- Point Hope are entertaining in the tine of alcoholism, drug abuse or evenings. child neglect, causes what Apatiki Monday’s conference began with called toxic stress. “Can you imag- Photo by Diana Haecker a keynote address presented by Lucy ine living in a chronic state of crisis CARVING A PATH TO WELLNESS— Rural providers and Kawerak Apatiki. She presented a study on regional respresentatives listened to Lucy Apatiki’s keynote address on continued on page 8 Monday, June 1. 2 THURSDAY, JUNE 04, 2015 OPINION THE NOME NUGGET Letters Dear Editor, know. There’s going to be a few feet long (the same size as a shipping yards the harbor dredge sucks out of a week or two from materials the city It has been one year since our son haters out there, and a few that will container). Before the box a house the harbor each year. already owns, plus labor which Waylon Z. Okpealuk was assaulted. be upset that I’m giving up “mining triangle shaped twenty foot long The city of Nome would have an shouldn’t be more than ten thousand Mind you, it was a premature assault. secrets.” The majority of the tax- flare would have to be installed to income besides taxes. This in turn dollars. I would be willing to donate The boy told a person, whom said payers and property holders in Nome spread out the material form the one- should lower property taxes in Nome my design time and labor for a mere you were not invited in, told her you will be the ones that will benefit. foot hose to eight feet. The width of and benefit everyone, that is that pay five percent, for life. Ok, I can be were going to go to Waylon’s house Nome needs money, yet every the top sluice box, this flare would taxes. Items needed would be a cou- talked down to three and half per- and beat him up. year they spend ten’s of thousands of also act as a slick plate allowing the ple of metal containers, metal or cent. Plus my yearly storage fees at This was over a girlfriend he had yards of gold bearing material from gold to settle to the bottom. Even at wood to build flare and sluice boxes, the Harbor. lost. He wanted her so bad. He the harbor to the ocean. only one or two pennyweight per expanded metal for riffles and min- Daniel Murphy would do anything to have her. If he Years ago this material was yard (twenty penny weight to the ers moss to catch the gold. West Beach Nome, summers; Up- couldn’t have her, nobody could. As dumped on the eastern side of the troy ounce). With the thousands of The whole thing could be built in state New York, winters it was with the premature assault East Jetty. Causing the east to west upon him. There was a premature current a few hundred yards off shore murder of our son on that fateful day to carry most of the heavies over on August 13, 2014. the west side of the western jetty. A Look at the Past My guest for justice as lead the This is where it was mined using boy to go Wales to take off some Dahlke triple drop sluice boxes. pressure. I’m pushing my guest for In more recent years the long har- justice, you can run but you can’t bor dredge hose has been dumping hide. Just waiting for you to break its material at the shoreline just east and the truth will be exposed that it of the Eastern Jetty. Some people was not suicide but murder. may have noticed wheelers and Thank you, trucks picking up loads of dirt there Allan J. and Sally Okpealuk and hauling it to wash plants at other P.O. Box 85081 locations. I wonder why? Brevig Mission, AK 99785 Signs have gone up, guards have been posted. There’s GOLD there. I Letter to the Editor, wonder why the city wouldn’t just In My Opinion install a triple drop sluice box set up This is just my opinion, which is at the end of the hose. It would only based on facts that only a few people have to be eight feet wide by twenty Letters to the editor must be signed and include an address and phone number. Thank you notes and political endorsements are considered ads. Editorial Sold Their Soul Alaska’s legislature is not as crazy as some. Hard to believe, but true. Our legislators are reluctant, but they are at least listening to folks who want to extend Medicaid. Our politicians may be deaf but at least they are not as daft as some. The Texas legislature makes us shake our heads in disbelief. De- spite the fact that their constituents want and need extended Medicaid, the politicians refuse to take up the issue.

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