One gallon of milk $22.00 in Alaska

[4 t 4]

and a dozen eggs $12.00. How can Sarah Palin even show her face. I know to fly things in is Very costly but not this costly if you do your job.This is beyond belief she is Not doing her job as a Governor she is just giving in and not finding new solutions. If she cared about people for a second...it wouldn't cost this much.

[Inkyfuzzbottom]

1. She's the

governor

[4 t 4]

17. and Not doing her job as a Governor

Hugh ?

[rainbow4321]

23. A governor who til very recently left the rural affairs adviser position empty

in her administration. Yet she made time to fill the legislature liaison job with an ex oil company worker.
So all that time rural AK was suffering with no heat/food, she didn't feel a need to put someone in the job who could act as her go-to person in this crisis?
Guess she was too busy planning to attend the Alfalfa Dinner and meeting with McLame and chimp's campaign fundraiser in DC.

She waited til Feb 4th to put someone in the job:

http://www.adn.com/news/government/story/679562.html

[davidinalameda]

2. link?

:shrug:

[Blue_In_AK]

16. I've got one for you.

This was reported at The Mudflats by Ann Strongheart from Nunam Iqua in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta http://www.themudflats.net/2009/01/25/shopping-day-in-nunam-iqua-alaska/

[snappyturtle]

31. What in the world do these people do for a living? nt

[Blue_In_AK]

32. Small-scale commercial fishing and subsistence,

as well as local service jobs. The fishing has suffered over the past few years because the factory pollack trawlers are taking a huge amount of salmon bycatch.

[snappyturtle]

34. Thank you! Now I have another question. What do these remote fisherman do

when they age and can't make the grocery trip or (second question!) can't make enough to support the exorbitant prices of their needs?

[Blue_In_AK]

37. The Native villagers are very good at taking care of the elders.

In their culture, they are revered as the keepers of the old ways, and the able-bodied younger men take care of their needs. They may live in the same households, which is why in some of these reports they'll speak of a household of 10 or more -- that includes maybe three generations.

Up on the north slope in Barrow and the other whaling villages, when they take a bowhead it's a village-wide celebration with a huge feast in which all of the whaling crews and their families partake, not just the crew that actually got the whale, and then the meat and muktuk is distributed to everyone. Nothing at all goes to waste. The stripped carcass is put back in the ocean to feed the ecosystem.

My observation has been that for the most part Alaska's Native people are unselfish and generous. In this current crisis, other villages that are in almost as dire straits as Emmonak and Kotlik have shared whatever they have, which makes the governor's inaction all the more inexplicable.

On the subject of Alaska's native culture, state Senator Fred Dyson (with whom I NEVER agree) has written a great opinion piece in this morning's paper -- I guess even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

http://www.adn.com/opinion/compass/story/691657.html "Alaska Natives Thrived Before the Coming of the White Man."

Homo sapiens have lived and prospered in Alaska for at least 10,000 years. Very resourceful people had advanced cultures and economies here when Europeans were huddling in caves drawing on the walls with burnt sticks.

It is easy for those of us from non-indigenous stock to assume that humans accomplished nothing of significance here before 1747. Most of our attitude is benign ignorance mixed with some cultural hubris. My purpose is to dispel some of the ignorance and engender more respect as we go forward.

Houses: Alaska's Arctic Native people evolved semi subterranean houses thousands of years before the hippies made earth houses popular in the 1960s. These houses had insulation several feet thick with "arctic entries" to keep out the wind and the vapor barrier on the inside. (Modern house designers did not figure this stuff out until the last 50 years.)

The homes of Alaska's northern people could be heated with a seal oil lamp. An elder and friend from Barrow told me, "Before the white man came, we lived underground and buried our dead above ground. Now we do it backwards and we haven't been warm since."

They figured out how to quickly construct movable dwellings when they went to fish camp or needed to follow the changing game migration patterns. In timber country, they learned how to split tree trunks into planks and build post and beam structures of great utility and beauty that shed the rain and leaked not.


<snip - much more>

[snappyturtle]

42. Thanks again Blue_In_AK!!! The indigenous people are remarkable

in so many ways....the article offered great insight! Thanks again for taking the time to answer my questions!

[remoulade]

3. She should give out free milk and eggs on Main street.

Good idea.

[geckosfeet]

6. Who said anything about free milk and eggs?

Oh wait - you did!

Enjoy your spin around the block hotdog.

[remoulade]

10. I was just trying to be helpful. Sorry you don't approve of my suggestion.

:hi:

[SpiralHawk]

12. "You are unwelcome in the Republicon Homelander party." - xVP Dick 'Five Military Deferments' Cheney

"You show too much freaking kozervative kompassion."

- Rush 'Draft-dodging Drug-abusing' Limbaugh (R - propagandist)

[BrklynLiberal]

4. Almost as expensive as Japan...

[miyazaki]

36. ha, what bs n/t

[Still Sensible]

5. Is this everywhere in the state or just certain remote parts? n/t

[MADem]

15. Remote parts.

From the link I provided elsewhere:

The community is always gathering food, Beans said.

"All summer long we are putting away fish for the winter, by fall working on moose, then setting nets under the ice for winter time. But now, this food which used to supplement groceries, is all that people have since they can't afford to buy food at these prices."

So residents have been forced to rely more on these subsistence methods.

Beans said her brother walks three miles in -20 degree weather to check on nets under the ice for fish. The fish is a staple they need to keep themselves fed.

"The life out here has always been hard, it's just that its a lot harder now," she said.

Emmonak resident Nicholas Tucker wondered if others were feeling the impact, so he broadcast an inquiry via VHF radio, one of the common ways to communicate in the village.

Tucker said many of them sobbed as they radioed him back.

"His family has been out of food for quite some time now," Tucker wrote about one resident in a letter sent to legislators and the media. "Their 1-year-old child is out of milk, can't get it and he has no idea when he will be able to get the next can."

"There are days without food in his house," Tucker wrote.

A single father with five children choked back tears as he told Tucker of his struggle to help his kids.

"Right now, we can't eat during the day, only at supper time," Tucker wrote of the man. "If there had been no school lunch our kids would be starving."



Prices are high in the cities (even expensive places like DC and NORVA seem cheap compared to Anchorage) but the emergency here is in the western villages in remote Alaska.

There is a concerted effort to provide aid to them happening. It's just slow in getting there: http://www.fortmilltimes.com/124/story/458519.html

"When people tell me their young ones are having no milk or a man is forgoing his meal so his wife and children can eat; when people are telling me they are eating fish and moose meat for breakfast, lunch and dinner or going a few days without food; when people are hungry, it's severe. It's a crisis," Tucker said.

That prompted Tucker to write an e-mail detailing the village's woes and asking for help in the form of food donations and cash, and he sent it to everyone he could think of.

Those efforts are starting to pay off.

About 20,000 pounds of food has been delivered so far to Emmonak, a village of about 850 people 500 miles west of Anchorage. And villages in similar straits are starting to receive assistance as well, said Cindy Beans with the Emmonak Tribal Council.

"And they are calling to say, 'Thank you Emmonak,' for being on the front page for the rest of rural Alaska," Beans said. "It's embarrassing for people to ask for help."

Help has arrived in various forms from individuals, businesses and faith-based groups around the state and beyond.

Rep. Jay Ramras, R-Fairbanks, and Sen. Donny Olson, D-Nome, recently visited the village of Kotlik to see how people are faring.

........

[katmondoo]

7. Just came from Publix in Florida

Milk below $3.00 Down from $3.69

[Hello_Kitty]

8. I bought a gallon at Safeway last week, on sale for $1.57.

Limit 2 per customer.

[WilliamPitt]

9. Where, in the mines?

Is there a link for this report?

[MADem]

11. It's part of why people HUNT in that state--you gotta eat.

You need a link to your story. Here's one that discusses the problem: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/05/rural.alaska.villages/

To get to the nearest store, Ann Strongheart and her husband, who live in Nunam Iqua, Alaska, take an hour-and-15-minute snowmobile ride to Emmonak, Alaska. Their town does not have a store of its own.

Normally, they would each ride a snowmobile, in case one broke down. But now, they can't afford to waste the fuel, so they just take one and hope for the best.

At the store, the Stronghearts buy groceries and supplies for the family for the week, which cost more than $400. They buy only as much as their snowmobile can carry.

In many stores, two pounds of cheese costs between $15 and $18, milk costs $10 a gallon, a five-pound bag of apples costs $15, and a dozen eggs costs $22 -- more than double the price in the area just two years ago.

Many area residents don't even bother with fruits and vegetables which can be damaged by freezing on the trip home.

[4 t 4]

13. Here's your link

sorry got the Eggs and Milk confused the Eggs cost $22.00 sorry same thing to me eggs, Milk same difference!!



Wow this is huge! We have been pushing this story as hard as we can hoping that a national media outlet would pick it up and now it has!

Most of the credit has to go to Dennis Zaki who bravely flew out to the village of Emmonak, having no idea what awaited him, earned the trust of the villagers, filmed their story, became violently sick after drinking tap water before boarding a plane back to Anchorage, and has been tirelessly shopping his footage around until CNN offered to buy it. Now that my friends is selfless dedication to a cause!

And of course we must give a shout out to the many bloggers who pushed this story as well. Mudflats, Progressive Alaska, Diva's Blue Oasis, Alaska Real, Alaska News, and of course this site did a lot of the early heavy lifting to get this story out.

But none of it could have happened without the generous donations from visitors to this blog and others who contributed their hard earned money to help ease the suffering of the people of the Yukon Delta and helped to send Dennis out there to bring back this footage.

You can be proud.



Here's the story: "In rural Alaska villages, families struggle to survive" http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/09/rural.alaska.villages/...




By Mallory Simon
CNN

(CNN) -- Thousands of villagers in rural Alaska are struggling to survive, forced to choose between keeping their families warm and keeping their stomachs full, residents say.

Villagers in Emmonak, Alaska, travel to the store and to hunt by snowmobile now that the river has frozen over.

Harvested nuts and berries, small game animals, and dried fish are the only things keeping some from starving.

To get to the nearest store, Ann Strongheart and her husband, who live in Nunam Iqua, Alaska, take an hour-and-15-minute snowmobile ride to Emmonak, Alaska. Their town does not have a store of its own.

Normally, they would each ride a snowmobile, in case one broke down. But now, they can't afford to waste the fuel, so they just take one and hope for the best.

At the store, the Stronghearts buy groceries and supplies for the family for the week, which cost more than $400. They buy only as much as their snowmobile can carry.

In many stores, 2 pounds of cheese costs between $15 and $18, milk costs $10 a gallon, a 5-pound bag of apples costs $15, and a dozen eggs costs $22 -- more than double the price in the area just two years ago.

<snip> ... more

[RoyGBiv]

14. Was about to post this ...

Not sure where the OP gets the $22 figure unless there was confusion between the price of milk and eggs, but anyway ...

This is nothing all that new. There was a picture that went somewhat viral toward the end of last year about the price of milk in Barrow, which, IIRC, was around $10/gal.

Apparently some severe transportation problems led to this.

[MADem]

18. No, the river froze early. It cut off the source of supply sooner than usual.

Made it impossible for people to "stock up" to see themselves through the rough weather.

See the CNN story, as well as the one from the Fort Mill Times.

They're gettting the help they need now, these villages. It can't be good to be eating nothing but fish and moose every doggone day, though--not the best diet for growing children.

[Blue_In_AK]

21. Actually, the Native people are pretty well adapted to eating

their subsistence food. I watched a show on National Geographic, I think, last week about the whalehunters in Barrow, and they made a point of saying that when the people live on the whale, fish and other Native foods, they stay very healthy, but they're more likely to get sick eating our modern diet.

People adapt to the diets that their environment provides. These people have lived on this food for thousands of years, but unfortunately with the influx of our culture and our commercial fisheries, etc., they've been forced to change their ways. An excellent analysis is here: http://progressivealaska.blogspot.com/2009/02/post-super-bowl-perspective-on-yukon.html

[Blue_In_AK]

19. Alaskans and people from around the world have rallied

to help the people out in Western Alaska. Here's a nice piece from yesterday's Anchorage Daily News. http://www.adn.com/rural/story/690057.html

Still nothing from Sarah, though, except her usual "blizzard of words."

[ColbertWatcher]

20. This is disgraceful. n/t

[oldtime dfl_er]

22. Don't they have chickens in Alaska?

City girl here.

[MissB]

27. Oh yes

But there is a huge difference between the city of Anchorage and a town at the end of the Aleutian islands.

The Matsnuska Valley (sp?) has dairies so milk is probably reasonable (it was running five bucks a gallon last time I lived there).

I worked for Safeway up in Anchorage once upon a time- folks from the bush would load up 4 to 6 carts of groceries, which would last months. It is a different life.

A friend that grew up in a fishing town- Dutch Harbor- still drinks evaporated milk- it is what he grew up with and cannot deal with fresh milk. Fresh milk was too costly up there for his family even 20 years ago.

I am a bit surprised at the struggles tho - palin was dumping more money than usual (aside from the permanent fund money) this year. I think my brother said he got upwards of $12k, part if which was perm fund money and part was extra fuel cost money.

[Blue_In_AK]

30. It would have been far better had she focused that energy rebate money

on the areas in rural Alaska that needed it instead of giving it out to everyone in the state who was eligible for a permanent fund dividend. People tried to tell her that at the time, but she was too focused on doing what was politically popular -- I mean, after all, who's going to turn down a one-time gift of $1200?

I personally would have happily not taken it -- the extra $2400 over and above our very large dividend last year is wreaking havoc with my taxes.

Ironically, there are rumors now that there may not be a dividend at all this year because of the market crash. Foresight was definitely lacking. That's only going to exacerbate the problems out in the rural areas next winter.

[rainbow4321]

24. Here is a letter from an area resident about their problems

http://www.thebristolbaytimes.com/news/story/4512
-------------------

And here is Palin dodging the press' question "what are YOU doing on a PERSONAL level to help the people in that area"

http://www.themudflats.net/2009/02/12/sarah-palins-personal-efforts-on-behalf-of-rural-alaska/

Q - “What have you done on a personal level, NOT a governmental level to help people in the Lower Yukon…”

I would like to know the answer to this. Politically we hear all kinds of reasons that things can’t be done. But each of us has the ability to direct personal efforts at whatever matters to us. What does the governor have to say to this question?

“We have certainly sent the message to those in Emmonak and those that are hurting that I will do everything I can personally and in my position as governor to help, including offering to travel to those specific villages.”

The governor WILL do everything she can, personally? We might ask “What, exactly, is she waiting for?” The letter from Emmonak resident Nicholas Tucker which put a glaring spotlight on this situation, appeared in the Bristol Bay Times on January 12. One month ago today. And by answering the above question in the future tense, the governor states loud and clear that she HAS done NOTHING.

[Delphinus]

26. And how is her

traveling there going to help?

[Blue_In_AK]

28. I watched that interview.

I think after she said "...to those specific villages," she kind of shrugged her shoulders, and said rather dismissively "...if that would help." She obviously doesn't make the connect that she's the governor, and just her showing up out there and acting like she cared would help on an emotional level, at least.

From her point of view, being a conservative Republican, she's probably happy that private citizens have taken this what would seem to be a state responsibility off her hands -- we can't have too much of that "big government" stuff going on, after all.

There need to be some real long-term solutions applied to these problems. For instance, the town of Emmonak wanted to build a tank farm so that they could store more fuel out there and not have to be so reliant on barge shipments in bad weather, but that plan isn't getting much government attention. Changes need to be made to the way the fisheries are handled to guarantee that the residents of that part of Alaska get their fair share of salmon before the big trawlers (vacuum cleaners of the sea) take their pollack with the salmon bycatch. Alternative energy sources, of course, would be very helpful -- some villages now have wind farms that are really reducing the need for carbon-based energy.

Sarah just doesn't have the heart for this stuff at this point -- she's too focused on her own ambitions.

[BlooInBloo]

25. Is that the *average* price? Max price? Link?

[rainbow4321]

29. Check out the interviews of families in the area...they're having to pick between food and heat

http://www.thebristolbaytimes.com/news/story/4512

Just a few examples from the link:

E. & A. U.: Elders, ages 68 and 65, family of eight and helping daughter in another house with food; gets no food stamps and both have no work. They have to buy heating fuel and gasoline for snowmachine over food.

A. & L. M.. Middle aged couple, family of eight. Family is buying heating fuel over food all this winter. They have no choice. Wife has a part time job. Husband’s health, including a bad back, is preventing work – had lost his last job due to health.

C. & J. A.: Middle aged couple, family of 5. Needs heating fuel and had his unemployment benefits denied. No more energy assistance. Having to buy heating fuel over food and sacrificing payments of electric and city water sewer to get food.

T. U., boyfriend and children: Having hard time getting food and pampers and is on-call work. Getting food from elderly parents. Buying heating fuel over food. No food once in a while and having to cook whatever is on hand like rice. Sometimes, having to cook only moose for a whole week because there is nothing else to eat. There are days when there is nothing for breakfast and lunch and have to eat only one dinner meal a day.

[BlooInBloo]

33. That's completely shitty, of course, but it doesn't answer my question.

[Ann_Strongheart]

35. GREETINGS FROM NUNAM IQUA, AK

Good Morning Everyone,

I found your messages and thought I'd drop by. By the way, I am Ann Strongheart, of Nunam Iqua. Yes, the Ann Strongheart from the CNN story. Thought I'd clear up a couple things and give y'all some information on how to help.

First off, eggs aren't $12 a dozen, nor are they $22 a dozen, Mallory Simon, CNN goofed that one it's $22 for FIVE dozen. Milk well, we don't get fresh milk here. I just bought dry milk for my daughter and paid $24 for a 4 lb box that makes 24 quarts. If you would like to see more about what shopping here is like please visit...

http://anonymousbloggers.wordpress.com/shoppin-day-in-nunam-iquq/

Additionally, if any of y'all would like to help please visit: http://anonymousbloggers.wordpress.com/how-to-help/

Please feel free to browse anonymousbloggers there are other stories such as life without running water and my personal story about my CHOICE to live in bush AK.

If you have any questions or want additional information please feel free to contact me at [e-mail]

Quyana Cakneq for helping spread the news!!!

Ann Strongheart

Nunam Iqua Food Drive
c/o Ann Strongheart
P.O. Box 7
Nunam Iqua, AK 99666
[e-mail]

[Blue_In_AK]

38. Ann! It's great to see you here to clarify some of these errors.

I loved your reports posted at The Mudflats, and I've shared them here. Welcome to DU!

Linda in Anchorage :)

Oh, and if I've misstated anything here, please correct me. I don't have the personal knowledge of having lived in the Bush myself, only what I've learned from my friends who have, so I won't be offended at all if you tell me I'm full of it.

[keep_it_real]

39. What is this guy going to be doing for $89,000 a year

Moller will make $89,000 a year as Palin's principal liaison to rural communities and chief adviser on issues affecting rural Alaska.

http://www.adn.com/news/government/story/679562.html

This sounds like one of the most bs jobs if there ever was one.

[alarimer]

40. It's probably cheaper to own the whole cow.

Do they not have any dairies in Alaska? (I have no idea, since I have never been there and really have no desire to go, what with being allergic to cold and all).

Well I see that it is really the more remote areas, so I guess it is a question of transportation. (And I was joking about the cows- they would probably not survive in these places). Maybe yak milk instead.

[sniffa]

41. Soviet Russia must be contagious

Do they have to wait in long lines for a roll of toilet paper too?

[GoCubsGo]

43. I saw an article this morning that they are slaughtering dairy cows...

...because there is supposedly a glut of milk. I don't remember where, but I will post the link if I can find the article again. One would think this would drive down the price of milk, fresh AND powdered, even for the people who live in the most remote parts of the country. Apparently not.

[Dukkha]

44. sounds like they really need a community organizer up there

you know, someone who will take on actual responsibilities and get shit done!

[HereSince1628]

45. She was in a scandel for trying to keep a state subsidized dairy

going when it was unprofitable.

I suspect on this issue she is in a lose-lose situation.