ALASKA NATIVES COMMISSION
JOINT FEDERAL-STATE COMMISSION
ON
POLICIES AND PROGRAMS AFFECTING
ALASKA NATIVES
4000 Old Seward Highway, Suite 100
Anchorage,
Alaska 99503
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Witness List | PDF
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(On the record at 8: 40 a.m.)
THE REPORTER: On record.
FATHER ELLIOTT: It is now 8:40, March the 3rd, for the hearing at Dillingham. Our first speaker is Pete Abraham. And, Pete, if you would tell us where you're from, for the record.
TESTIMONY OF PETE M. ABRAHAM
For the record, I'm from Togiak; which is about 60 air miles west out of here. And the population over there is about six -- 765. I came to Togiak about 30 years ago, and the population was about 230. And between -- in 30 years' time, it folded about three times.
And at the time, the alcohol wasn't the problem in Togiak at all. There was only maybe possible couple of people that used to bring in alcohol and everybody used to know it. During me time the people increased over there and western world was more introduced to us, it was fast coming.
Well, before I say this over here, actually, I'm from up north, which is called Nelson Island. And where I come from is a barren country, and we were isolated for a long time. And I moved to Bethel to work over there, that's where I met my wife-to-be and went -- came to Togiak for two weeks' visit, and I haven't I've been over there ever since.
As I was saying, we have a serious problem in Alaska, especially in rural areas, small villages. A serious problem is alcohol and drugs that's being brought in by people that use it and sells it.
We have -- some years ago, Togiak itself voted itself dry. But that didn't solve the problem. The alcohol is still corning in as it was doing before. And we have VPSO's, Village Police Safety Officers, but they didn't -- they don't have no power to enforce or search.
I'd like to have our senators, our law makers, to make a policy to give our VPSO'.s power to search all the incoming people, not necessarily all incoming people. Because in rural areas, they know who and they know each other. And they know who brings alcohol and drugs. But their hands are tied.
If the law makers make this possible, the rural areas will be safer and better to live in. You and I know the alcohol and drug abuse has destroyed lots of families, young people, killing, drowning, anything that's got to do with death. Right now, the rate in Alaska is -- 95 percent of it is by alcohol and drugs.
Not only that, right now, the bootleggers and drug dealers are protected by their friends. We know and they know, but we cannot touch them, because they are being protected by law. But if that law is reversed, that our VPSO's are given authority to search, we'd have -- maybe we'd have less problem.
We have in Alaska possibly, and even in Dillingham, what -- I'll make this easier to understand to the locals -- a dryout, where the people can dry out, even in Bethel. I know for sure, there are several from Togiak sent to Bethel to dry out. But that don't solve the problem. But if we slow down the source, that might slow it down a little.
I know we're fighting a losing battle, but at least we can try, slow it down. If the -- and if the people work together with local government, I think it'll work.
Now, because of a couple people over here that don't understand English, I'm going to translate this into my language. (Speaking Yupik.)
Go back to this testimony I got over here. We vote dry, we have VPSO's. But it's like having a kayak and no water, without no paddle. A kayak in the water with a man in it, without no paddle cannot do anything. It's just like having that.
This is the end of my testimony on alcohol and drug abuse.
FATHER ELLIOTT: Pete, could I ask you a question on that? In addition to the suffering which alcohol and drugs have brought to your village, I'm sure it's had a influence or an impact on the economy of your people. How much do you estimate they spend for a bottle of alcohol or for drugs? What would be a cost of a bottle? Because it takes away from what they could spend on food and clothing and....
MR. ABRAHAM: I know for a fact in Togiak, when a person brings in a pint of grain alcohol, they will sell it for $80, which is the cost of the person's, to come from Togiak, Dillingham, that's round trip fare. And some I know, some I hear, they go as high as hundred dollars for a pint. And for marijuana, I heard they sell it for ten to twenty dollars for a cigarette, or how do you -- weed, mm-hm (affirmative).
FATHER ELLIOTT: Thank you.
MR. ABRAHAM: Mm-hm (affirmative). Now, the other testimony I got is the education. Some -- like I said, I was -- I came from isolated area, which is Nelson Island. The education came to us very late. And when it came, we were surprised. We were astonished. We didn't know. But I was very fortunate, the Catholic priest had taught me little by little how to speak. But believe it or not, I learned Latin first, before I even learned English. That -- because in a Catholic, in the olden days, that's how you used to pray, in Latin. So I learned Latin first.
But as I was going -- when I was 18 years old, they told me I was too old to go to school, which shocked me, because I want -- this is when I was getting interested in school. So I asked the teachers, what can I do to do -- learn more. Well, they suggested a few little things and they suggest -- one of them is join the Army, which I did. It was overnight for me, it was culture shock. From dog teams to seal -- from seal oil lamps, dog teams, kayaks, to traffic jams, escalators, I mean, everything. I fought it. I fought it when I got there.
But as I sat down there and think about it, but I cannot fight what I'm fighting right there; I have to blend in and join it, which I did. My favorite area was a library like this here, because I was curious about these books here, what their content was. I learned a lot from the books. But found out, for instance, I can read about the airplane, how to fly. But if I don't do it physically, I cannot do nothing.
Right now in our schools, in many areas, in many rural areas, our children go to school and graduate from high school, and nothing. We continue to support them in our homes. They know all about the airplanes, they know all about outboard motors, they know all about cooking. But if they don't do it physically, there's no value of what they learned.
That's why -- well, actually, when I came back from the Army, I still searched, wanted to learn more. Somebody suggested that I could go see Bureau of Indian Affairs for training. Fortunately, they had a job on training course on construction area, which I took. So the Bureau of Indian Affairs took me all over Alaska on construction-related jobs. It was called job on training course, with pay.
Right now, I'm a professional carpenter because of that training. But not only that, in the rural areas, I can do plumbing, I can do electrical work, I can do just about anything that's got to do with construction-related areas. Not only that, do site mechanics, everything.
That's why I'm asking right now, if the Legislature can put out a job on training course on various companies, not only like the airlines, the hotels, construction areas, machinery; those job on training courses, for instance, like, a younger man can get into a hotel and be a cook's helper, professional cook's helper. After four months, that young man can actually walk out of that hotel and get a job somewhere as a professional cook. Or any area, construction jobs. The guy can go in there and work. This -- I'm talking about -- this can be a program under the state program education. That's what I'm getting at.
Because a lot of rural areas, there's a lot of young people, a lot of people able and wanting, but they cannot find it, they cannot -- I'm -- right now in Togiak, we have 765 people. Only seven percent of the people over there has jobs, permanent jobs. Rest of it, it's a fishing and -- fishing village. The only income over there they have is the fishing.
Again, I'm going to translate what I was saying in Eskimo. (Speaking Yupik.)
Thank you, that's all I have.
MR. IRWIN: Thank you.
FATHER ELLIOTT: Thank you.
MR. IRWIN: I have -- you -- when you were
talking about the possibility of the government allowing the
VPSO’s to have search powers and being able to look for drugs
and alcohol that are being imported in; we've heard that previously
and we've also heard the comment that some people don't think
that that could be real effective either, because a lot of
times, especially in the real smaller communities, everybody
knows each other so well and are so interrelated that perhaps
it'd be very difficult for the VPSO to do that type of thing,
even if they had the power to do that. Do you see that as being
an additional problem if that power was given to VPSO's?
MR. ABRAHAM: If the VPSO's is --
THE REPORTER: Excuse me. Off record.
(Off the record - tape changed - Tape 8)
THE REPORTER: On record.
MR. ABRAHAM: If the VPSO's are dedicated to the job, he won't take sides whether It's his brother, whether it's his father-in-law, whether it's his girlfriend. He'd go out and search it, because, you know, he's dedicated to the job. But --
MR. IRWIN: It'd seem like he'd also have to have support of the community to do that too.
MR. ABRAHAM: That's -- yeah. Definitely a hundred percent. Right now in Togiak, the people are supporting our VPSO's hundred percent. But like I said, their hands are tied. They want to do it, but they cannot. And you cannot put undercover people over there, because everybody knows everybody.
MR. IRWIN: Mm-hm (affirmative). And I had just one more comment, if I could, Father Elliott, on the training. I guess I would just encourage you guys to perhaps work with the Bristol Bay Native Association to get more information about that Job Corps training center that's going to be being opened in Palmer. And I believe they're going to have training for up to 250 young people available full-time. It's a federal Job Corps training center that's being built in Alaska.
And I'm sure that they're going to be getting word out to the rural areas, but I think it -- you know, you guys should make an extra effort to find out more about that and how you can get your young men and women into that training center whenever it opens. I think it's supposed to open next year or in '95. And it'll be an ongoing program that'll offer all kinds of different vocational programs for the people from -- a lot of them will hopefully come from rural Alaska.
MR. ABRAHAM: Is there somewhere I could get an address of that?
MR. IRWIN: That's what I say, probably BBNA would have more information on it, I bet you, if you asked them, got a hold of their education and training. Because I can't remember which department in state government is handling the state's side of it. I don't remember if it's Department of Labor or which department.
MR. ABRAHAM: I can -- I'll find it.
MR. IRWIN: But it's a pretty big thing. Those Job Corps centers are -- they're scattered throughout the United States, and it's real competitive to get one of them in Alaska. It's real lucky to be getting one, I think.
FATHER ELLIOTT: Pete, we've heard in some our hearings that there's been a desire, in spite of the Molly Hootch decision, for the children of villages to go to Mt. Edgecumbe to go to school, because it was a safe introduction into a different culture. Have you any thoughts on that?
MR. ABRAHAM: We have very few students going to Mt. Edgecumbe right now. We have few people over there right now.
FATHER ELLIOTT: Mm-hm (affirmative). Do you have a high school in Togiak?
MR. ABRAHAM: We have a high school in Togiak and an ongoing part-time college program over there too.
FATHER ELLIOTT: Ongoing college program?
MR. ABRAHAM: Mm-hm (affmative).
FATHER ELLIOTT: What does that consist of, do you know?
MR. ABRAHAM: That, I don't really know. Although I -- I'm one of the local school boards. I've been on it for 16, 17 years on it. And I push the education real hard.
FATHER ELLIOTT: Mm-hm (affirmative).
MR. ABRAHAM: Because I didn't have the opportunity.
FATHER ELLIOTT: Mm-hm (affirmative).
MR. ABRAHAM: But now, our young ones have the opportunity. But they don't grasp it.
FATHER ELLIOTT: Mm-hm (affirmative). Well, thank you very much for your testimony.
MR. ABRAHAM: Thank you.
MR. IRWIN: You're going to stay there, aren't you, to help Mr. Pauk?
MR. ABRAHAM: Mm-hm (affirmative).
MR. IRWIN: Okay.
FATHER ELLIOTT: Off record, Pete, where were you stationed in the Army?
MR. ABRAHAM: Fort Ord.
FATHER ELLIOTT: California?
MR. ABRAHAM: California, mm-hm (affirmative).
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