Photo by Tyler Rhodes ALMOST THERE—Iditarod 2009 runner-up Sebastian Schnuelle makes his way March 17 along the wind-swept trail leading to Safety, the race’s final checkpoint before Nome. C VOLUME CVIII NO. 12 MARCH 26, 2009 Photos by Tyler Rhodes UP THE CHUTE, INTO HISTORY (above)—Fairbanks musher Lance Mackey drives his team up the finish chute on Nome’s Front Street as he wins the 37th Iditarod last Wednesday shortly before noon. VICTORY (right)—Standing next to race marshall Mark Nordman, Mackey raises his fist in triumph after being named the 2009 Iditarod champion March 18. Wind, grit and a 3-peat Weather, an emerging dynasty and a changing of the guard mark 2009 Iditarod By Tyler Rhodes storm. Shaktoolik itself bustled as Nome’s Burled Arch, Mackey rode into Mackey’s finish time attested to the Although she was days off the even more mushers and teams holed the Iditarod history books as one of a tough trail conditions this year. In re- trail, the red patches left by the wind up there last Monday and Tuesday. select few to win the race three consec- cent races, fans have been able to ex- and cold were still visible Sunday on IditarodIditarod Not all teams, however, would be utive times. Only Montana musher pect to see a champion cross under the Nome musher Melissa Owens’ still- held at bay by the gusts. Doug Swingley and Alaska legend Burled Arch either Tuesday evening rosy cheeks. For one of those mushers, the Susan Butcher have done the same. or in the wee hours of Wednesday A combination of windburn and swirling clouds of snow caused by Despite not having anyone on his morning. Finish-line watchers had to frostbite, those patches helped tell the ground-storms may as well been heels essentially for the second half wait until 11:38 a.m. Wednesday to the tale that dominated the second 2009 smoke coming off his runners. of the race and pulling into Nome see their winner. From the roar of the half of the 2009 running of the Idi- 2009 Mushing as if the wind were at his with 15 energetic dogs, Mackey said crowd as Mackey stepped off his sled, tarod Trail Sled Dog Race. back the entire time, Lance Mackey fighting the wind this year was no it appeared no one minded the delay. It was a story of skin-freezing, sped into Nome last Wednesday just breeze. “There was nothing easy Mackey described the run across trail-erasing, dog-stopping winds and teams in their tracks, forcing them to before noon with a nearly eight-hour about this. It probably was, in fact, it Norton Bay from Shaktoolik to Koyuk the mushers who battled it nearly the turn back for cover. A shelter cabin cushion over his nearest competitor. was by far the hardest of the three he made early last Monday morning length of the second half of the race. outside of Shaktoolik filled to capac- Raising both fists to the sky as he [wins],” he said at the finishers’ ban- The relentless gale stopped several ity while three teams waited out the drove his team up the chute leading to quet held Sunday in Nome. continued on page 8 Only time will tell What Utility adjustment should keep electric clocks true By Sandra L. Medearis “That excuse, we hope, will go Cold cars, unplowed roads, alarms onto the scrap heap with ‘the dog ate a run! not going off, and other personal my homework,’” Handeland said. emergencies need to shoulder respon- Personnel have been working on Nanook boys grab sibility again for persons failing to get generator control systems to get the to work on time, according to Nome’s AC power cycles to consistently runner-up honors utility manager, John Handeland. match the frequency electric clocks On St. Paddy’s day, Handeland let need to mark time correctly. Slower at state tourney folks know the utility was getting to- cycles have caused electronic clocks gether last week with reps from the to lag, accumulating minutes off the Nanook Mason Evans drives past makers of the new power generators mark after some number of days. The Hutchison’s Shawn Erhart dur- to kick the props out of using slow target has been to get generator con- ing the class 3A championship clocks as an excuse. Nome’s electric trols to allow power plant operators, game of the Alaska state basket- clocks have been sluggish since the i.e., humans, to adjust power fre- ball championships in Anchorage installation of the giant 5.2 MW Photo by Jason Evans March 21. For more, see page 12. Finnish light plants. continued on page 4 Visit the Nugget on line at www.nomenugget.net e-mail [email protected] 2 THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2009 OPINION THE NOME NUGGET Letters Foster’s Report Dear Editor pare so that they could travel in the and sub-standard quality of life. Regardless of your view on unions, morning at first daylight (8 a.m.). I This inequality imposed an artifi- we can agree that individual em- was informed by the union shop cial economy on those who were the ployees should have the right to de- steward with the installer team that most productive. This is what Mid-Session Newsletter termine whether to unionize, without “they did not do ‘bush’ jobs on regu- unionism means to me. Now, this coercion, by a private ballot. Con- lar time.” Productive work was al- move to deny workers the right to a By Rep. Richard Foster gress has introduced the Employee ways done on overtime in the bush. secret ballot on whether or not to Hello, we are now a little over halfway through the first session of the 26th Free Choice Act (EFCA), but don’t In the end, the RCA administrator “unionize” a workplace is the next Alaska State Legislature. The new House organization, which includes most let the name fool you: this act strips for the area and I installed most of step toward a two-tier system. The of the rural Democrats, has been working very well. Their presence has the right of an employee to cast a pri- the phones (19 of 21 in villages) be- bill would open the door helped immensely in my efforts to make the rural perspective heard within the vate vote. cause we could work during regular to union “enforcers” to look over the majority caucus. Thus far, the major issues ahead of us are: the operating When telephone communication hours in daylight. shoulder of voting workers and in- budget, the capital budget, various pieces of legislation, and the governor’s was first introduced to rural Alaska Over the years, I have thought a timidate them if they didn’t vote the priorities. by RCA, I was a pilot under contract great deal about this, especially “right” way. This move would fur- The operating budget has passed the House. It has been a difficult year for to fly a team of union installers to when I lived and raised my family in ther institutionalize the inequities we budgeting, as our main source of revenue, oil, has been at a very low price per villages to install the gray box tele- what were basically tar paper and endure in rural Alaska. Don’t let this barrel. Even with the drastically reduced revenue forecasts, total spending phones in a community facility in plywood shacks while I worked non- happen! Let’s tell our Senators these approved by the House for the FY10 operating budget was $11,079,600 above each village. Every morning (in No- union occupations such as commer- concerns with EFCA. the FY09 adjusted base. This is still very early in the process. The Senate fi- vember and December) the installer cial fishing and flying mail routes as Ward Sattler nance subcommittees still need to take up the budget and pass out their rec- crew would meet in the RCA work a pilot. The good modern housing Stony River, AK ommendations to the full Senate Finance Committee, which will draft a shop and prepare for the travel to the was for the most part built comprehensive budget and take up proposed amendments. From there the village to install a phone. By the end at union wages (overtime cost) and budget will go to the Senate floor. Once the Senate has agreed on a version of the regular work day, they would was eventually occupied by multi-in- Dear Editor continued on page 16 be ready to travel but the remaining come union people, many of whom Twenty years ago this spring the daylight by then would not allow were transient double dippers. By Exxon Valdez strayed from her travel to the village. After a week of and large, most rural people worked course and ran hard aground in The Corner Office this, I asked why they couldn’t pre- and produced at sub-standard wages Prince William Sound. Oil company promises about clean-up capabilities By Jason Evans were nothing more than empty Gov. Sarah Palin is refusing to accept 31 percent of the federal economic Letters to the editor must be signed and words. Neither the Sound nor the stimulus money that is rightfully allocated to Alaska and its residents. victims have yet been made whole, include an address and phone number. despite Exxon’s oft-repeated claims. Most people I talk with are angry with our Governor and want to see this Thank yous and political endorsements It was the largest environmental money moving into our state.