Photo by Nadja Cavin THE GREAT BATHTUB RACE —The 34th annual bathtub race rides the wave down Front Street on Labor Day in Nome. See story inside. C VOLUME CXI NO. 36 SEPTEMBER 8, 2011 Dreams come true: Wien Building is coming down By Sandra L. Medearis tending the meeting with Bill All the buildings on the proposed Boucher, one of three owners of the abatement list remained on the fix- Front Street anchor monstrosity, the up-or demolish list after Nome Com- Wien Building across from City mon Council’s formal abatement Hall, Pat Hahn pleased the ears of hearing Aug. 31 except one. Owners many when he said the Wien Build- of 10 or so buildings deemed to post ing was coming down. He and own- public nuisance issues, health or ers had gone through the building safety risks appeared at the meeting and determined it to be in worse in person or by letter and gave vari- shape than they thought, with a rot- ous explanations of remedies in ten foundation and not likely to sur- process. Vandals had afflicted some vive a move to another address, of the buildings, they said, and they Hahn said. would clean them up again. One small building on West D The next step, according to the Street dropped from the list after Jay City’s ordinance will be to declare Wieler explained that the structure the properties targeted for abatement across the street from his house was at the next regular Council meeting used for cold storage, was secured Sept. 12, from which time owners from trespass and had new siding on will have 30 days to fix or tear down the north side. That improvement ap- Photo by Sandra L. Medearis the shacks; otherwise the City will peared to be worth $1,000, accord- GOLD GONE—A floating gold dredge belonging to “Miner Mike” Benchoff and associates went bottom demolish the buildings and bill the ing to his tax statement, Wieler said. up the evening of Aug. 31 a few yards from the Subway restaurant. Ambulance and firefighter units waited owners for the work. City Manager Josie Bahnke re- at the small boat harbor for rescuers to deliver the two diving employees who arrived wet, cold, but un- The Council directed the owners marked that owners might have al- scathed, needing no further assistance, according to ambulance crew. Benchoff said Sunday he thought that to nail up windows and doors against ready had enough forbearance from a wave washed over the dredge while the crew had the hatch off and were pumping out one cell, causing marauders and mischief-bent chil- the City’s ordinance; some buildings the rig to capsize. The accident lined up spectators with binoculars and cameras looking seaward at every dren, pick up trash, and square away had been slated for abatement two or parking lot on Front Street as Shawn Pomrenke aboard his dredge attempted to salvage Benchoff’s dredge. properties by meeting with the City’s three times previously. Councilman “Maybe he found too much heavy gold,” Sidewalk Supt. Joe Kunnuk said. Indeed, Benchoff said the in- building inspector, Allen Maxwell, if Stan Andersen asked for that infor- cident dumped about 30 oz. of gold into the water and that the rescue process rendered the dredge useless they want to keep the eyesores stand- mation to be added to the list for the for this season. ing for eventual restoration. No problem, Pat Hahn said. At- continued on page 4 Road to Nome along Yukon River finds favor By Sandra L. Medearis Dept. of Transportation and Public Facilities straints and terrain. system near Council. More people want a way to drive between published a study evaluating corridor options The favored route, dubbed the Yukon River After meeting with 31 agencies and commu- points from Fairbanks to Nome than not, and connecting Fairbanks area to Nome. The report Corridor, would start near Manley Hot Springs nity groups in Western Alaska, tacking up the they want to follow the Yukon River a good presented four route alternatives and selected and run 500 miles westward through tundra, maps on walls and unfurling them on tables part of the way. one over the others, based on economic bene- mountains and forests along the north side of along with slide presentations and question and Just after the first of last year, the Alaska fits, costs, land management, environmental re- the Yukon River to join the isolated Nome road continued on page 5 Second dog dies in musk ox attack By Diana Haecker barking at them and then suddenly A German Shepard dog named one huge bull charged toward the Dozer was the second dog this sum- dog,” she said. When she heard the mer that died after being gored by a commotion she came out of the musk ox. The four-year old dog was house and saw the musk ox charging tied up outside the trailer home of the chained up dog. his owner Jennifer Russell at the Her three little children saw the State Trailers, uphill from the Postal attack as well. “He flung my dog Annex west of Port Road. into the air and finally backed away Russell reported that a herd of 13 when we threw big rocks at him and musk oxen had been hanging out yelled at him,” Russell said. The around there for weeks. “They’ve musk oxen finally wandered off and been in our backyard, the dog was Russell took the dog to veterinarian Dr. Derrick Leedy. The dog lived through an operation but then died of On the Web: his injuries the next morning. Russell notified the State wildlife www.nomenugget.net trooper and the Alaska Department E-mail: of Fish and Game. She reports that they managed to drive the herd away [email protected] from the State trailers for now. In response to the increasing inci- dents of musk oxen attacking dogs and getting alarmingly close to human dwellings, the City Council Photo by Diana Haecker has set up a work session with LITTLE ARTISTS— On the first day of Kawerak’s Headstart program in Nome, Kristina Kunnuk , left, and ADF&G biologist Tony Gorn on Katie Koutchak showed their creative side on the painting easle in Kim Erickson’s 4-and 5-year olds class. Tuesday, September 6. Classes began Aug. 31. 2 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2011 OPINION THE NOME NUGGET Letters August cooler and wetter than Dear Nancy and Nome residents, Somebody stole their outboard We are all very lucky because we motor and took from an elderly cou- normal live in a place where there is very lit- ple part of their lifestyle— fishing tle serious crime. Most Nome resi- and hunting. By Diana Haecker of precipitation in any given month since September dents never lock their door or cars. Nome is a small town and I hope As the leaves turn colors and fall is in the air, the chap- 2005. The most memorable rainfall came down on Au- I am sure there are not many sooner or later Nome Police/State ter of summer in this year’s weather narrative is closing gust 11 with a torrential 1.21 inches of water falling out places left, even in Alaska, where Troopers will find who did this. with the observation that it was cold and wet. The Na- of the sky in just one day. With that, August 11 became people have the same lifestyle and Meantime, I hope somebody from tional Weather Service in Nome confirmed that last the wettest day in Nome since August 12, 2004. opportunity to live in a safe place. Nome or local dealers give the Noy- month was the coolest August in nine years and saw a The National Weather Service says that this summer Of course, if something unusual akuk couple a chance to temporarily mean temperature of 48°F, which is 2.1°F colder than is the wettest summer in 13 years with a total of 9.49 happens in our community, we all use an extra/spare outboard motor to normal. inches of rain and tied for the 14th wettest summer on The highest temperature reached 70°F, breaking the record. The Climate Prediction Center sees a normal Sep- unite like one family and try to help continue fishing and hunting this 70s barrier for the first time since May, and the lowest tember in terms of precipitation in Nome’s future but also each another. season. temperature was 30°F. predicts colder than normal temperatures for the rest of This is great and hopefully we will I feel sorry about what happened It was not only cooler but also wetter than usual. Au- the month. continue to unite in bad or good time to Mrs. and Mr. Noyakuk and will gust saw 4.36 inches of rain, which is the greatest amount for our community. support them in some way, if needed. This is just an emotional, philo- Nikolai A. Ivanoff sophical comment, but now I want to Nome, Alaska bring attention to the letter from Mrs and Mr. Noyakuk that was recently A Look at the Past published in The Nome Nugget. Letters to the editor must be signed and include an address and phone number. Thank yous and political endorsements are considered ads. Editorial Enough Since May we have had to put up with the petty micromanagement of the Nome School Board in regard to the position of athletic direc- tor. Here it is September and we have no AD.