It has begun!! Not another fire, not bingo...SCHOOL! Once again, on August 18 at 8:50 Monday morning, school started. Every student from age 5 to 18 was out of bed, wide awake and ready to learn.

Before school could begin, though, some school projects had to be done. They were completed during the 2 1\2 month summer vacation. Our new maintenance man, Nick Duny, and his two helpers, custodians Paul Boots and Katemal Shorty, and a couple of SYETP workers "straightened-up" the school over that short period of time.

Some of the things that were done were: painting the hallway and the classrooms, making an arctic entry in the northwest side of the school building, shampooing and repairing the carpets in the classrooms and switching the lockers so that the high school and elementary students will have an easier time getting to their lockers then to their classes.

Some of our little playground "buildings" and "bus" were also painted. Traci Fitka, SYETP coordinator, had two of her workers, Walter Tikiun and Lois Moore, painted the two "buildings" light blue and the "bus" an almost bright yellow.

Some of the projects that still need to be done are: fixing up the teachers workroom, fixing up the basketball court outside, and installing heaters in the gym. Some of these projects will be done this year and some next summer. The school will also be receiving a new bike rack so, if kids come to school with their bikes, they won't be scattered all over the school property.

Max Lunt, the principal, thinks that the students of Marshall School will do well in their classes and that we will have a good year. In the 1995-96 school year, the students ranked 7th in the District in attendance. Last year we ranked 4th. Max hopes that this year we will lead the district. So, Marshall students, let's try not to let him down. Let's take care of our school and try to be here every weekday.

Rose Lynn Fitka

"It's the beginning of the end for my college years and my student career in the field of Secondary Education. By this, I mean, I have completed all my course requirements with the exception of Student Teaching. My Bachelors degree is concentrated on Language Arts.

I attended Sheldon Jackson College in Sitka for four years. For my final semester, I am student teaching at the Marshall School. To broaden my range and variety of teaching methods, I am working with Richard Olsen and Frank Keim, my host teachers. I am working with Richard Olsen's ninth and tenth grade English class where we started the year with a novel. I am also working with his Junior High English class in which we are working on reading and writing. Frank Keim's Journalism and Russian classes are the other classes which I am working in.

My requirements during student teaching are to construct lesson plans and present them to the students. My host teachers also have to complete a Teaching Skills Analysis Form (TSAF) while I am doing my lesson. The TSAF is used for feedback on how I presented the lesson and my strengths and weaknesses.

The semester started off well, and I thank Richard Olsen, Frank Keim, and the Marshall School for allowing me to student teach in Marshall."

Pilots will soon have a new airport to land on.The people of Marshall had complaints about the old airport being in a place with bad crosswinds. So they votedon a new site for the airport. There were four different sites where the airport could be located. The choices were on top of the hill to the northeast or across from Wilson Creek. Since people chose the one across from Wilson, the engineers from the Department of Transportation took test samples of the soil from there. If the tests are good, then the new airport will be made there.

The new airport will be approximately 4400 ft. long, and the layout will be according to the prevailing winds. Some people asked why it would

not be closer to the present airport or why the one we have now couldn't be extended. The answer was that the land wasn't available because it was privately owned.

With the airport being 4400 ft. long, it will probably take two years to be built and ready for use. The airport will also be big enough for large cargo planes to land on and bring heavy equipment in for the people in our community. Jets won't be able to land here, though. Sometimes in other villages the airport is open to the community only at certain hours of the day, but there will be no such restrictions to the new airport here. It will be open all hours of the day and night.

Tassie Fitka

Jason Isaac, New V.P.O.

Jason Isaac Is our new Village Police Officer (V.P.O.). Four months ago, Jason finally realized his dream when he was hired by the City of Marshall as our V.P.O. Jason's salary is paid by the city through the three year $150,000.00 Federal Cops Grant which also pays our other V.P.O. Walter Pitka.

Jason wanted to become a V.P.O. for some of the same reasons that little kids want to become troopers, fire fighters, or V.P.O.'s. In elementary school he watched these people and thought they looked cool. He admired them and wanted to be just like them.

The responsibilities of a V.P.O. may be hard or easy, according to V.P.O. Isaac. For him, though, being a V.P.O. is not too hard. He has to enforce all of Marshall's ordinances and the Alaska State laws. He makes sure everyone is home at their curfew time, and he makes arrests when it is necessary.

V.P.O.'s generally receive training but Jason says he hasn't gotten any training yet. He and other V.P.O.'s will be going to St. Mary's, though, for their annual training in October. As a V.P.O. Jason has to know a little first aid and about gun safety which he will learn then.

Maurice Turet

Guy and Barb Sandlin are new teachers here are Marshall School. They were last teaching down at Alakanuk School. Guy is teaching 7th, 8th, and H.S. grades, and Barb is teaching 1st and 2nd grades. Both Guy and Barb responded that Alakanuk was a good school, but a lot bigger than Marshall. They both have been teaching for 30 years. The places they taught were Arizona, Hawaii, Montana, and here in the L.Y.S.D.

Guy went to several Colleges. He got his teaching degree at Arizona College. His majors are Math and Genetics. Barb also went to Arizona College and her major is Elementary Education. Both of them stayed in school for 4 1/2 to 5 years. Guy always wanted to be a teacher. He thinks being a teacher is a rewarding and fun way of helping students. Barb wanted to be a teacher because when she was young she had a horrible teacher, and she felt she could be a good teacher. Guy's favorite subject is math, and Barb's favorite subject is reading.

Both of them think that Marshall High School is just right and a wonderful place to be. They are planning on teaching for another 4-5 years. "I'll teach as long as I love it," says Barb.

Fishing The Yukon

Fishing in Bristol Bay and on the Kuskokwim River was a bust, but some Lower Yukon fishermen told a different story. Many Lower Yukon commercial fishermen said this has been a good season for Kings.

One of the fishermen who had a profitable season is Garrett (Loots) Evan. He has had a very pleasing fishing season. At only 19, Loots is one of the youngest permit holders on the Yukon. He has been fishing as a helper since he was ten years old. Loots just got his permit last year and he is already a good fisherman.

Most fishermen didn't have the luck that Garrett had. One fisherman says that he had a devastating season. It just goes to show you that fishing on the Yukon differs from spot to spot.

Joe Fitka

Marshall Gets New Clinic Addition

The Marshall Health Clinic has a new addition. It is named after one of the past health aides, Theresa Elia.

The clinic was moved from its old location in 1985 taking the trained health aides with it. It was moved from beside the old Catholic Church to its present location beside the school building. The City of Marshall decided to build a new clinic because the old one was a very small building.

Carpenters recently built an addition to the present clinic so more patients can be seen if the other rooms are filled. The two exam rooms they had were not enough. There are many other new rooms that were added to the clinic. There is enough room now to make a kitchen and a storage room, and it even has space for any big emergency that may occur. There are also bedrooms for the doctors and nurses who come to Marshall to check patients.

In plain words, the health aides here in Marshall say it takes dedication and devotion to be a health aide. To become a health aide you have to take a lot of training in many different areas. There are certain steps you have to follow and four sessions that are required. During classes instructors teach you about human anatomy, different diseases and how to treat them, pregnancy and child birth, and how to deal with death and dying. You have to know what to order, such as prescription drugs and supplies you need. A health aide works six hours a day and thirty hours a week.

The Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation (YKHC) is the parent organization of the clinic. That is where all the records of past medical histories are kept. YKHC is where Oxie, Liz, and Augusta report the patients they have seen. Whenever the clinic is short of supplies like medication they get it from the YKHC. Doctors, nurses, and dentists visit the village once a year to make sure everything is okay.

The health aides like the jobs they have. Although they have to learn lots of different things and know how to handle the large amount of responsibility, they say it gives them a lot of self-satisfaction.

A New Land Fill for Marshall

Hey, all you Marshall dumpers! There's going to be a new landfill on the tundra. The people chose the new dump site to be built out there on the tundra. The new dump is built 300 ft. x 300 ft. and is designed to last for about 14.6 years. If the paper trash is burned it should last even longer. They built it this way to conform with rules and regulations made in Juneau and Washington, D.C.!

They started construction in August, 1995, and they plan to finish the dump by September, 1997. It is now actually pretty much finished. They just need to install a fence and put down a lining so it won't leak. When it is all filled up with trash they will cover it up with gravel. They are going to buy a garbage truck so they can start a garbage pickup service. They are also going to build an incinerator so they can burn the paper trash. They will recycle some materials like batteries, pop cans, etc, and they will have a salvage yard where people can get old parts from three wheelers, four wheelers, snow machines, etc.

For the city to pay for all this there will be an extra charge on everybody's water bills or they could pay for it with a city sales tax. When people come from other places for races, 4th of July or other big events they would help pay for the costs of water and sewer service and garbage collection through a sales tax.

Six or seven years ago the Parish Council of Marshall, Agnes Owletuck, Alvin Owletuck Sr., Lorraine Fitka, Angeline Coffee, and a couple of others decided to build a new Catholic Church. They had problems deciding on the location of the new church because of land claims. But finally last year they got the materials for the new church.

Paul Perreault, an architept, drew the design for the church. It has two bathrooms, a bedroom, storage room, and two kitchens. The upstairs is the living quarters for the priest.

Last year when they first started construction they had five volunteer workers: Paul Coffee, Andy Boots, Shawn Thompson, Fred Fitka and Alvin Owletuck Sr. Shawn was the supervisor who helped work on the building with the four other men. Alvin, Fred, Paul and Andy worked on and off for three months. It took all five of them three months to put the building up.

The total amount of cash that was put into the church was $40,000.00. A rich old lady from the Lower 48 donated the money to the Marshall Catholic Church. The Catholic Extension Society used the money to get the materials needed to build the church.

This year a few volunteers worked on it too. It's almost done but still needs some work done on the inside. The people working on the church need to wait for some papers so they can finish their work.

The new church is a lot better than the old church because it is bigger and has more room inside. After the workers are done building the new church they are going to knock down the old church and use the materials for other projects.

Fires raged near Russian Mission this summer. According to Tom Soolook, these fires were located ten miles northeast of Russian Mission. Altogether ten crews from Alaska fought fires which burned 3,300 acres just outside of Russian Mission.

The first week the firefighters had to walk toward the fires, but they had one problem. Most of the crew members were getting blisters on their feet. Then the next week they were transported by a helicopter to the fire. They used pulaskies, shovels, chainsaws and water to burn out the fires. The hotshot crews, also called "The North Stars," mopped up the fires after the other crews left.

While fire fighting two people got injured. One man from Stebbins got stung on his lips twice by bumble bees. Another person cut his leg with a pulaski.

Tom Soolook has been fighting fires ever since 1988. This year he fought fires for 18 days, from July 19 to August 5. This was the longest time he ever spent fighting fires.