FREE icepeople The world's northernmost alternative newspaper Bearly aware: Polar bear destroys two Vol. 6, Issue 37 October 7, 2014 www.icepeople.net tents at poorly chosen campsite; group also had trouble with weapon A hot Page 3 “ G-spot To believe that the governor can rescue people out, regardless of circumstances, is wrong. There is no guarantee for that. Sparks fly as work starts on new - Per Andreassen, police lieutenant geodetic observatory offering Svalbard governor's office Ny-Ålesund precise climate data By MARK SABBATINI ” Editor For those aspiring to build one of the BJØRN-OWE HOLMBERG / VEIDEKKE ARCTIC world's most advanced observatories, it helps to Geese grub: Record Jan Tore Sanner, center right, Norway's minister of Local Government and Regional Development, have experience with Legos. flock a threat to tundra Construction of a new geodetic earth ob- watches a worker weld the framework of Ny-Ålesund's new geodetic earth observatory during a Page 3 ceremony laying the foundation stone of the facility Saturday. The center is scheduled to open in 2018. See GEODETIC, page 4 Liquid assets Annual charity events raising record sums for water projects despite struggles to find a leader HORATIO CHAPPLE By MARK SABBATINI Editor Seemingly everybody wants to give mon- ey. The hard part is finding somebody willing MARK SABBATINI / ICEPEOPLE to take it. Amber Maya, 6, shows a stuffed horse to Mikaela Olsen during a flea market Saturday at The See AUCTION , page 4 University Centre in Svalbard to raise money as part of the annual NRK charity telethon. Inside Scapegoat? Scoundrel? Hero! Robert Hermansen gets loving A new local record for hangovers? homecoming as he touts book Page 2 calling him a victim in scandal Weather forecast Page 3 By MARK SABBATINI Events calendar Editor A crook who spent 15 months prison for a Page 4 corruption scandal that cost his company dear- Aggressive bear alarms Pyramiden ly? Or a hero cast out as a scapegoat by the MARK SABBATINI / ICEPEOPLE Page 4 company, which thrived when he was there Otto Ulsleth and Elin Olsrud interview Robert See SCAPEGOAT, page 3 Hermansen, center, Thursday at Kulturhuset. BREAKING: New government's '15 budget means cutbacks for Svalbard. See p. 3 Page 2 October 7, 2014 Who's to blame and how When you reach 104, look as good you will not to express your wrath Editor Mark Sabbatini Principal of principles Kristan Hutchison Psychiatrist Irene Gallion Accomplice Jeff Newsom Mailing address Icepeople Vei 210 -2- 13 Longyearbyen, Svalbard 9170 Norway ADOLF MIETHE Telephone One of the first color photographs of Svalbard, taken by German astronomer and photographer Adolf Norway: +47 41 51 46 38 Miethe during his voyage to the archipelago in 1910-11, is part of a collection commemorating the U.S. +1 (970) 673-4472 100-year anniversary of a total solar eclipse in Norway in 1914. Miethe, who co-invented the first practical camera flash and was among those contributing to the development of color photography, E-mail traveled to Svalbard as part of an expedition to determine the possibility of reaching the North Pole in [email protected] an airship. He returned to Norway with 13 tons of equipment to photograph the eclipse. A slideshow Web site of his photos from Svalbard is available at tinyurl.com/ocm2nv8. www.icepeople.net Icepeople is published weekly (or thereabouts) Icesheet on Tuesdays (or thereabouts), with printed copies available free on a limited basis in Random bits of the week's weirdness: Longyearbyen. Additional printed copies are Even if they can't read a calendar when available locally and by mail upon request. they're dead sober, a hearty toast is merited to Charges are on an "at cost" basis. the organizers and more than 1,000 atten- dees who drank a record amount of beer Copyright stuff during the annual three-day Oktoberfest at the Radisson during the last week of Septem- Briefly Original contents of this publication can be ber. Those packing into the Tent of Intoxication reproduced for non-commercial purposes free in the parking lot for the seventh-annual bash of charge if Icepeople is credited as the downed 2,250 liters of 131 types of beer from Cruising: Getting out of source. The original writers, photographers around the world. Stein-Ove Johannessen, food and other contributors retain their rights to all and drinks manager at Spitsbergen Travel, told SPITSBERGEN TRAVEL danger, but into 'death?' published works. The Local Paper of Rehab there were fewer To see boob, buy a beer. Of course, you'll Another cruise season is about to embark than 50 types of beers at the inaugural festival have to wait until next year since locals think full speed ahead in Svalbard, but the smiles of Mainland town claims to be top Corrections policy in 2008, but as the crowd has grown – to the Oktoberfest is supposed to be in September – those greeting passengers aren't being shared point where the hotel is sold out – so has the and that's before they start drinking. by a lot of industry executives these days. per-person telethon giver, a title selection. But next year there may be only one When we screw up you'll know about it – on Visit Svalbard to get tourists into stores (made They took a blow last month when Britain held by Longyearbyen for years brew that matters, as the long-awaited Svalbard the front page. One of the big complaints all the more obvious by the fact locals aren't el- issued a warning telling travelers cruising here Bryggeri is finally expected to be operating af- about newspapers is they tend to bury igible), participants storm the halls of 15 loca- is too dangerous. That warning may be re- ter more than four years of lurching through a corrections and clarifications deep inside tions around Longyearbyen, writing the codes fog of red tape and recipes … Meanwhile, any where few people who read the original article from at least 10 of them into an official mini- lingering visitors, who surely ought to be over see them. If we need to fix something, an alert logbook. Showing a completed form to the their hangovers by now, can work those beer box on the front page will state what story is in folks at the tourist desk at Svalbard Museum bellies off by going on a conquest to capture error and where the full correction is printed. reaps the spoils of a Game of Svalbard head- the throne in the inaugural Game of Sval- neck and a code allowing entry into an online RANDALL MUNROE / XKCD.COM bard competition. Basically a gimmick by drawing for a two-night trip here worth 15,000 Longyearbyen song or 97 hours? S Submitting material kroner. All the usual details are available at svalbard.me … In case you missed seeing it Letters, columns, photos and other material buried in this week's charity auction story, a are welcome, but we can't offer pay for rousing sendoff is merited for the now out- published items since nobody here is getting of-business Barents Fashion, which donated paid at the moment. Submissions in electronic all of its remaining spiffy clothes to the an- form (text, Word documents, JPEGs, etc.) are nual flea market at UNIS, which almost cer- greenland mining highly preferred, although typing and/or tainly played a big role in its record sales. But scanning of items will be considered on a per- the "cloud containing a silver lining" may case basis. We reserve the right to edit actually be the sign of an approaching submissions for length, clarity, accuracy, libel VISIT SVALBARD storm, as we're hearing whispers the new own- and other reasons, but we will also make No chance HBO files a lawsuit, right? Still, in er of Lompensenteret is making a change in the every reasonable effort to contact the author a duel between a big-city corporate lawyer and rent structure that could significantly hike what about any changes prior to publication. a burly guide with a rifle, we like our chances. tenants pay, if they can afford to remain there. October 7, 2014 Page 3 HEADLINES STOLEN FROM SVALBARDPOSTEN VERDENS NORDLIGSTE AVIS Svalbard sees cuts, but no big hardships, in '15 budget The first budget crafted by Norway's Con- servative-led government is proposing an allo- cation of 417.8 million kroner for Svalbard in 2015, 37.5 million less than this year. The cur- rent budget, however, includes funding for a new helicopter and service vessel for The Gov- ernor of Svalbard, plus extra funding for up- grades to Longyearbyen's power plant. The 2015 budget includes about 142 million kroner for the Longyearbyen Community Council, which requested 214 million, including 13.3 MARK SABBATINI / ICEPEOPLE million that will cover about two-thirds of the Robert Hermansen, at right in foreground, and author Otto Ulsleth sign copies of a new biography of cost of additional power plant upgrades. While Hermansen following a discussion Saturday at Kulturhuset. More than 100 copies were sold. the city must cover the remainder, Mayor Christin Kristoffersen said it does not appear a rate hike will be necessary. Similarly, while of- Hermansen gets a hero's welcome ficials are generally expressing satisfaction SCAPEGOAT, from page 1 about four million kroner in bribes and was re- with the proposed budget, two key items are and is struggling mightily now? leased in March of 2013. being denied funds. One is a new station in Ny- Among Longyearbyen residents who Hermansen's portrayal as a victim may not Ålesund for Japanese researchers, which offi- showed up Thursday at Kulturhuset to hear be entirely accurate, but he's also not the lone cials overseeing the international settlement say Robert Hermansen talk about his new book, villain, said Birger Amundsen, a longtime jour- is urgently needed to replace the aging barracks the verdict was practically unanimous – and nalist who was the editor of Svalbardposten now being used.