ALASKA NATIVES COMMISSION
JOINT FEDERAL-STATE COMMISSION
ON
POLICIES AND PROGRAMS AFFECTING
ALASKA NATIVES
4000 Old Seward Highway, Suite 100
Anchorage,
Alaska 99503
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Witness List | Exhibit
List
| PDF Version
ALASKA NATIVES COMMISSION
HEARING
Nome, ALASKA
SEPTEMBER 21, 1992
Nancy Mendenhall
(On record at 9:23 a.m.)
COMMISSIONER TOWARAK:
It's 9:23. We're at Nome for the Alaska Natives Commission hearing,
I'd like to welcome everyone here.
In way of introductions, first is the Commissioner members.
My name is Sam Towarak. I'm from Unalakleet. I serve on the
Commission. And Father Norman Elliott in here from Anchorage,
retired or. . .
COMMISSIONER ELLIOTT: Retired.
COMMISSIONER TOWARAK:
Retired Episcopalian - priest. And in the back is Michael Irwin.
He's our Executive Director and
will be
assisting us today. And handling the recording will be Janice
Welch from Kron & Associates. Thank you, Janice, for coming
here.
REPORTER: You're welcome.
COMMISSIONER TOWARAK:
The co-chairs, Mary Jane Fate and Perry Eaton, couldn't be
here. Normally, one or both of them are
here. Mary Jane is -- just got done handling a crisis in
Fairbanks,
where they lost power and electricity to their home, and
she's taking care of some elderly people, and she couldn't leave
them without being there, so sh -- and Perry also was scheduled
to
be here; but, as you know, Alaska Commercial Company has
been
sold, and he's right in the middle of that and working on
trying to get those details closed out, too. And so between the
two
Commission members and myself, we -- I mean, and Mr. Irwin,
we'll be taking testimony today and be forwarding it to
the other Commission
members, as well as staff.
The testimony we hear today gets
distributed to all the Commission members, as well as anyone
that wants to listen to the testimony
in Anchorage. We've already had hearings in Fairbanks and
hearings in Bethel. We have others scheduled, one of them
in Southeast
here shortly. Because of the time span of the na -- Commission,
we don't have -- we are not planning on attending too many
of the sites for hearings. We have a total of about ten?
Ten hearings
scheduled in the state, one of which will be at the AFN
Convention in October.
This is the regional hearing for the Bering
Straits area. We'd like to welcome you. First, to testify I
guess I'll
-- the
format for testifying would be to give your name, affiliation,
and an
address.
REPORTER: Oh, I don't really need an address.
COMMISSIONER TOWARAK: Okay.
REPORTER: But if you could spell your name,
--
COMMISSIONER TOWARAK: Okay.
REPORTER: -- that would
be real helpful for the transcriber.
COMMISSIONER TOWARAK:
Okay.
REPORTER: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER TOWARAK: Okay.
Name and affiliation will do, and then we'll go ahead. The
first to testify
is Ms. Nancy Mendenhall.
Nancy?
(TESTIMONY OF NANCY MENDENHALL ATTACHED
AS EXHIBIT #1)
COMMISSIONER TOWARAK:
Thank you, Nancy, and I want to say right now that the
Commission --
at the
Commission level,
federal
involvement is a must; and we agree
with you. What we've
been trying to
do is figure out ways in which we can
meld in with the federal moneys; and
we've already
had
talks
with the
BIA director.
I know you didn't mention any scholarships;
you mentioned financial resources,
but that's
another
area.
The concept of a 13th grade,
where if the child -- or the student is competent
enough
to attend
a college,
we'd pay
for that-year
in college; and I think that's something
that is a good
start for providing incentives for
students
to excel in high school.
Regional
centers, which may be the community college can be at that
level, where we
would provide for
common services
that
are
needed: psychological counseling
or career counseling guidance.
Those types
of things
are needed to
be rethought at that
level. Thank you, Nancy. That --
MS. MENDENHALL: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER TOWARAK:
-- the testimony from post-secondary is few and
far between, and
we appreciate your
time.
Oh, excuse me, Nancy,
could we get a copy?
REPORTER: We have a copy.
COMMISSIONER TOWARAK:
Oh, we do. Okay, thank you. If
you'd -- if
you have
written testimony,
we'd
appreciate leaving
it with
Janice. Thank you, Nancy,
for doing that.
This document was ocr scanned. We have made every
attempt to keep the online document the same as the original,
including the recorder's original misspellings or typos.
