HAPPY NEW YEAR— Firework displays rang in the New Year, battling the fog that settled over the coast on the night of Dec. 31, 2014. Photo by Peggy Fagerstrom C VOLUME CXV NO. 1 January 8, 2015 White Mountain woman murdered on New Year’s Day By Diana Haecker According to court documents, Lincoln and their young child, they Lincoln around the neck for several cleaned Lincoln’s body and put On Saturday, Jan. 3, 2015 Gilbert Olanna strangled Lincoln in her res- got into an argument. minutes until she went limp.” clothing on her. He said he deleted J. Olanna, Jr. of White Mountain was idence in White Mountain. “In course of this, Olanna ex- Around 9:30 a.m. Olanna went to photos and videos of her from his charged with murder in the first de- Court papers say that Olanna plained, his arm slipped below Lin- a neighbor to summon a health aide. cell phone. When troopers con- gree for the alleged killing of his spent the early morning hours of Jan- coln’s chin and around her neck,” the The health aide responded and found fronted him with evidence that Lin- girlfriend Esther Lincoln, 40, in the uary 1 out drinking. When he re- court document reads. Lincoln dead on a mattress. coln showed signs of head injuries, morning of January 1. turned to the home he shared with “Olanna stated that he had held The health aide noticed bruising on Lincoln’s neck. continued on page 4 Olanna told troopers that he had House fire in Koyuk claims life of elder By Diana Haecker the report on Sunday, Dec. 28 at 2 An 82-year-old woman died in a p.m. house fire in Koyuk on December According to a relative, Adams’ 28, 2014. great-grandson stated that he saw According to Alaska State Troop- that the ceiling was red. The child ers, the body of Ethel Adams was then ran out of his bedroom and told found inside the house after fire his great-grandmother. Apparently fighters extinguished the flames. she went back to her bedroom to get Two other people were in the her parkie but could not make it out house at the time the fire erupted. of the house. According to a trooper report, Ethel Firefighters found Ethel Adams’ Adams’ grandson Dale Adams, 42, body near the arctic entryway. sustained injuries but managed to es- The child ran out of the house on cape the burning house. He was Second Avenue and Willow Street medivaced to Anchorage’s Alaska and went to the neighbors, who Native Medical Center for treatment alerted the town of the fire via VHF of smoke inhalation and first and radio. Within minutes, fire fighters second degree burns. were on scene to respond and put the Koyuk VPO and Fire Chief Josh flames out within 30 minutes, said Dewey told the Nome Nugget that VPO Dewey. the fire started around 12:45 p.m. Koyuk does not have a fire truck, most likely because of a kerosene but uses fire hoses and fire extin- heater that caught on fire. guishers to battle fires. Although Dewey was not in The house is a total loss. Koyuk at the time of the incident, he The state deputy marshal investi- gathered from reports that Dale gates the fire. According to Assistant Adams tried to take the burning hot State Fire Marshal Lloyd Nakano, kerosene heater outside, but oil the investigation is still ongoing. spilled out of the appliance and set Ethel Adams’ remains were sent Photo by Keith Conger the house on fire. to the State Medical Examiner. SETTING UP FOR THE TREY - Nome-Beltz senior forward Klay Baker (33) stands beyond the three- In the process, Dale Adams sus- As of press time on Monday, the point arc ready to receive a pass from sophomore forward Mikey Scott at the Men's Alumni Basketball tained burn injuries. body was not yet returned to Koyuk. Tournament on Saturday night in the Nome-Beltz gym. Scott is covered by Cass Matheis, class of 2013. Alaska State Troopers received Adam Martinson, class of 1997, was one of the game's referees. See story on page 8. continued on page 4 Nome’s pet owners struggle as Nome looses veterinarian By Diana Haecker Dr. Leedy said it was a hard decision roam loose. Wolf suspects the dogs miles away. the pet program at Everts, said peo- After 37 years of serving Nome’s to make, but quoted health and per- that were sent out for broken bones What once used to be a short trip ple need to call them for a quote dogs, cats, birds and other assorted sonal reasons to shut down his prac- were loose and got hit by cars. to Dr. Leedy’s office on Lomen Av- number, which is the same number pets, Dr. Derrick Leedy has retired tice for good. Sandra Rowe, owner of the Nome enue now involves a major logistic for flying to and from Anchorage. and officially closed the Nome Vet- This leaves Nome and the re- Animal House, a boarding, grooming undertaking. However, in the event of a me- erinary Hospital on Dec. 21, 2014. gional communities in the Norton and pet supply store said people are First, people need to find a vet in chanical delay of the plane or week- Sound and Bering Strait area without calling her seeking answers to their Anchorage. end travel, pet owners need to make any veterinarian care and there is no pet’s medical problems or how to ob- Several Nome organizations send arrangements with other airlines, end in sight to the situation. tain vaccinations and health certifi- pet owners to Southside Animal Hos- which don’t offer pet emergency care On the Web: President of the Nome animal cates for travel purposes. pital or Dimond Animal Hospital, specials. www.nomenugget.net welfare organization PAWS (People “I can help people with logistics which is open 24/7. Once the pet arrives in Anchor- for Animal Welfare & Safety) Susan of sending their pet down to Anchor- Once those arrangements are age, an expediter needs to be hired to E-mail: Wolf said that her organization is re- age, but I can’t give medical advice,” made, the trip planning starts. pick up the animal and transport it [email protected] ceiving calls from people who don’t said Rowe. Even veterinarians in An- Everts Air Cargo offers an Animal from the Anchorage airport to the know what to do in pet emergencies. chorage or the Mat-Su valley are re- Care program, flying pets in need of veterinarian. Pet Express owner Ed Just in the last few weeks, two dogs luctant to dare long-distance medical attention from regional hubs Hoffman said he has not yet seen an with suspected broken legs have diagnoses and most certainly don’t including Nome to Anchorage for a increase of Nome pets come through, been sent to Anchorage for medical prescribe medications to animals not $50 roundtrip fee. but he’s been made aware of the care, prompting Wolf to remind peo- seen. This leaves as an only option to Everts offers weekday services to Nome situation and is expecting a ple to keep their dogs tied up and out transport the pet patient to a doctor and from Nome, of course weather higher pet travel volume from Nome. of harm’s way instead of letting them to the road system, more than 500 air pending. Jill Bingman, in charge of continued on page 4 2 THURSDAY, JANUARY 08, 2015OPINION THE NOME NUGGET Letters Dear Nancy, down, should have been as he said. Sound Off My 6-year-old son, while play- No way, no how, even his theory we ing with snowballs and his brother won’t accept. By Rep. Les Gara of increasing success and jobs. That’s something many, amid the distant clatter of a Nome C’mon even Robin Williams sui- Alaskans are caring and generous. We should agree but not enough youth achieve. fireworks show, succinctly summa- cide theory? No, he was sick, was- we can’t avoid our responsibility to improve life for the Fixing things is better than blaming people. Alaska’s rized my sentiments regarding this n’t he? Not our son, young, strong more than 2,300 foster youth for whom the state is the leaves front line social workers with caseloads that are New Year’s event when he stopped and healthy as can be and ready to legal guardian, even in tight budgetary times. We be- often double the national standard, or worse. It’s too and commented: “Daddy, can we take on responsibilities as a man come the legal guardian once the state removes a child easy to blame staff for doing a stressful job with not do something more funner?” would do. We asked again, talk to from their home. We should treat foster youth as we’d enough support. New social workers have such high And don’t blame it on the fog. this ex-boy friend and those close to want our own children treated. caseloads they typically leave OCS within two years or Ray Droby him. We know he couldn’t do it We can’t just perform the first step, and remove them less. Nome, AK himself, too, he had help. It was from a broken family. Once we separate a child from Add that to the reality that nearly twice as many pre-meditated murder, not suicide. their parents we should do all that’s feasible so foster Alaska youth suffer abuse and neglect than youth na- Dear Editor, For some reason they don’t want youth have real opportunity in life, a caring home, help tionwide, and you start seeing why social workers need In reading Ms.