GLORIOUS GRAND CENTRAL— Fall colors grace Grand Central Valley with a rainbow adding to the magic of a beautiful fall morning. Photo by Nikolai Ivanoff C VOLUME CXV NO. 37 September 17, 2015 Hammond in as city clerk; police chief contract extended By Sandra L. Medearis turned in by Wolverine Supply of jobs over $40,000 going out to com- turn around and collect the funds, is Turned out that a 5 percent ad- The Nome Common Council Wasilla. petitive bid. that legal?” Councilman Louis vantage for a local bidder had to be stepped onto the slippery slope of The Council should set aside “You accept the best bid, not the Green Sr. piped up, pointing out stated in the call for bids, the law conflict of interest on Monday Wolverine’s bid and give the approx- lowest,” Andersen said. Pomeranz’ conflict of interest. said. evening, teetered and retreated. Then imately $50,000 job to Pomeranz for The best bid is a subjective issue, “We authorize public funds and It had not been stated. they whacked a plan to upgrade City local hire, Councilman Stan Ander- Councilman Matt Culley responded. then turn around and …” Culley questioned whether the Hall’s public service counter area. sen told the panel. Andersen chaired How do you determine that? he City of Nome has a procurement money for the renovation was in- When a bid award for the work the meeting as presiding council asked. policy containing language giving a cluded in the FY 16 spending plan. came up for Council approval, $200 member in the absence of Mayor “I said he [Pomeranz] was,” An- local bidder a 5 percent edge. He hadn’t seen it while combing the separated Councilman Randy Denise Michels. dersen responded. He would feel better if the Council budgets, he said. Pomeranz’ bid from the lowest bid, The procurement law requires “If you legislate funds and then tabled the bid approval and brought During the same recess, Council- the question back after checking the men Andersen and Brown, with help language of the procurement law, from Finance Director Julie Liew, Councilman Tom Sparks said. looked at a copy of this year’s “I’m not ready to vote until I get budget and found that indeed, the clarification on the procurement pol- money for the job had not been bud- icy,” Councilman Jerald Brown said. geted. The Council recessed while “We’re going to kill it,” Andersen newly-hired City Manager Tom Moran rounded up a copy of the law. continued on page 4 USDA awards grants to improve water systems By Maisie Thomas Alaska Villages Grant Program in In response to a recommendation 1994. The purpose of the program is from the Alaska Native Tribal Health to provide assistance for construc- Consortium, the United States De- tion of and improvements in drink- partment of Agriculture will revise ing and wastewater systems in rural the definitions for eligibility of the villages. Rural Alaska Villages Grant Pro- According to Rural Alaska Vil- gram. lage Grant Program Manager Tasha On September 2, the USDA an- Deardorff, several studies link a lack nounced that it would provide $17 of proper waste management, such million for 33 new projects that will as the use of honey buckets, to ill- improve or create water systems in ness. “We are just trying to create a rural Alaska. healthier environment for rural As the program’s guidelines were Alaska,” Deardorff said. originally written, the water systems According to the requirements put have to be in extreme disrepair in into place in 1994, villages must order to get funding. But, according have a great need, which often came to a White House press release, vil- in the form of either environmental Photo by Keith Conger lages will no longer need to “wait or health problems, for the infra- KINGIKMIUT DANCE FESTIVAL— King Islander Drummers and Dancers performed a bench dance until disaster strikes to improve crit- structure or they are not eligible for during the 16th Kingikmiut Dance Festival. See story and photos starting page 7. ical water infrastructure.” a grant. The U.S. Environmental Protec- tion Agency created the Rural continued on page 5 In wake of presidential visit, new Arctic initiatives emerge By Diana Haecker ers, the Bering Strait region fared unprecedented focus on the Arctic, Before meeting with foreign min- well as Kawerak Inc. President and and demanded the Native Alaskan isters who had traveled to Anchor- CEO Melanie Bahnke and Shaktoo- inclusion in decisions affecting Arc- age to discuss climate change lik’s Eugene Asicksik were at the tic and Alaskan residents. resilience in the Arctic during the table with the president, Secretary of She also said they need to gradu- GLACIER conference, President the Interior Sally Jewell, U.S. Sena- ate from consultation to collabora- Barack Obama met with Alaska Na- tor Lisa Murkowski, Alaska Gover- tion, a message the president tive leaders and Alaskan officials nor Bill Walker and Lt. Governor acknowledged and heard clearly. first. Byron Mallott, among others. Other invitees at the roundtable In a one-hour long roundtable Melanie Bahnke began the one- used their time to highlight the re- with carefully chosen Alaskan lead- hour dialog with the urgent plea to liance on subsistence practices and include Native Alaskans in the deci- subsistence resources and their im- sion-making when it comes to policy portance on economic and cultural On the Web: made concerning Alaskans and the survival, the need to streamline the Arctic. She said that Bering Strait process for green energy projects; for www.nomenugget.net communities are at ground zero of better state and federal coordination E-mail: climate change and by virtue of hav- in response to disasters; for land trust [email protected] ing been here for a long time, Native issues; the cost of energy and the communities have been the first en- concern for climate refugees. vironmentalists, resource managers Senator Lisa Murkowski reiter- and participants in arctic commerce. ated the message for involvement Despite this long history, she said, and clarified that Alaskans are not a Alaska Natives have been relegated people who demand “do it for us.” In Photo by Diana Haecker to sit in the “back of the bus” when it response, the president said that he NEW INITIATIVES— President Barack Obama points to a display at comes to decision-making. the Shoreline Avenue in Kotzebue, on Sept. 2. The president lauded the She thanked the president for his continued on page 5 project as an improvement towards community resilience. 2 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015 OPINION THE NOME NUGGET Alaska ranks second in rate of women murdered by men Alaska ranked second in the na- Rand. “Yet in the face of these alarm- male victims were shot and killed The study calculates the rate of dition, the study urges the U.S. Con- tion in the rate of women murdered ing statistics, more needs to be done with a gun. Of the homicides com- women murdered by men by divid- gress to adopt stronger legislation to by men, with a rate of 2.29 per at the federal and state levels to pro- mitted with guns, 69 percent were ing the total number of females mur- protect victims of domestic violence, 100,000, according to the new Vio- tect women from abuse and prevent killed with handguns. dered by males in single such as: the “Protecting Domestic lence Policy Center (VPC) study future tragedies.” The overwhelming majority of victim/single offender incidents by Violence and Stalking Victims Act of When Men murder Women: An “When men murder women, the these homicides were not related to the total female population and mul- 2015” introduced by Sen. Amy Analysis of 2013 Homicide Data.” most common weapon used is a any other felony crime, such as rape tiplying the result by 100,000. This Klobuchar (D-MN); the “Lori Jack- This is the third year in a row that gun,” says Julia Wyman, executive or robbery. Nationwide, for homi- is the standard and accepted method son Domestic Violence Survivor Pro- Alaska has ranked in the top five director of States United to Prevent cides in which the circumstances of comparing fatal levels of gun vio- tection Act” introduced by Sen. states for women murdered by men. Gun Violence. “Closing gaps in state could be identified, 85 percent of the lence. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT); and, The annual report was released in and federal gun laws will save homicides were not related to the The study urges state legislators to the “Zero Tolerance for Domestic advance of Domestic Violence women’s lives.” commission of another felony. Most adopt laws that enhance enforcement Abusers Act” introduced by Reps. Awareness Month in October. This Nationwide, 1,615 females were often, females were killed by males of federal legislation and ensure that Debbie Dingell (D-MI) and Robert year’s study applies to 2013, the murdered by males in single vic- in the course of an argument between guns are surrendered by or removed Dold (R-IL). most recent year for which data is tim/single offender incidents in 2013, the victim and the offender. from the presence of abusers. In ad- available. at a rate of 1.09 per 100,000. The study covers homicides in- For homicides in which the victim volving one female murder victim to offender relationship could be and one male offender, and uses data identified, 94 percent of female vic- A Look at the Past from the Federal Bureau of Investi- tims nationwide were murdered by a gation’s Supplementary Homicide male they knew.