It has not been a quiet week in Lake Wobegone.
Native Alaskans are being forced to move from villages to the cities, the troopergate suit heads to court, and Bill Allen took the stand today in the Ted Stevens trial.
Alaska's news has become our news. And none if it seems too good for Governor Palin.
The Anchorage Daily News online edition (http://www.adn.com/) reported the above stories on its front stage. In a story entitled "Bush costs prompt exodus to cities", the paper notes that Native Alaskans have been forced by costs to move to the cities. An excerpt:
"With growing evidence of an Alaska Native exodus from villages to the city, Mayor Mark Begich and Schools Superintendent Carol Comeau sent a letter to Gov. Sarah Palin on Monday asking her to organize an emergency task force to find ways to stem the migration.
Anchorage and the state "cannot stand by and tolerate the deterioration of rural Alaska," the letter said.
The main evidence of the migration is enrollment in Anchorage schools, which have seen more than 400 new Native students since school started, said Doreen Brown, Indian Education supervisor for the district. It wasn't clear how many of those came directly from rural Alaska, but schools in communities across Western Alaska report losing pupils, Comeau said.
The $1,200 energy bonus that came with Permanent Fund checks this year was supposed to ease energy costs for rural residents, but many used the money to move to urban areas where food and fuel are cheaper, Comeau said. The district added 18 teachers, most of them at elementary schools, to accommodate increased enrollment, she said.
Palin was at Sen. John McCain's Arizona ranch Monday preparing for the vice-presidential candidates' debate, according to spokesman Bill McAllister. Her office had no immediate response to the Begich-Comeau letter, he said in an e-mail to reporters..."
The letter to Governor Palin is linked in the article, and here:
http://media.adn.com/...
As reflected in this letter, citizens of Alaska may not be thriving as well as Governor Palin seems to indicate. And that $1200 wasn't the help that she seems to indicate: An excerpt from the letter written by Mayor Begich and Superintendent Comeau:
"Dear Governor Palin:
We write to express our deep concern over what appears to be an unfortunate realignment underway in our state where challenging conditions in many rural communities are forcing a migration to urban cities. A prosperous, culturally diverse Alaska depends on both flourishing villages and thriving cities, so we cannot stand by and tolerate the deterioration of rural Alaska.
As you know, Alaska’s rural communities are facing school closings, record high energy prices,lack of economic opportunities and public health and safety concerns, which are resulting in an unprecedented out-migration to urban centers. We urge your administration to form an emergency task force with local, state and federal officials to take immediate steps to stem this trend taking place in our state. We would like to participate on this task force.
Certainly, the recent distribution of Resource Rebate and Permanent Fund Dividends checks may help in the short term. But we fear we are seeing only the first wave of families leaving rural Alaska because they cannot cover the record energy and food costs they face this winter. In Anchorage, further evidence of this trend is an unexpected increase in the number of students in our schools, where we anticipate a continuing increase over the next two months due to the energy crisis in rural Alaska. KTUU television reported on its September 15 newscast that enrollment in the Bristol Bay School District has been dropping by about 20 percent and has reached a 20-year low this year of just 140 students. Nome has lost 60 students and many of the Prince William Sound communities are also impacted.
The high cost of energy is a key factor in forcing families to leave rural Alaska. According to a report issued by the University of Alaska’s Institute for Social and Economic Research this spring, rural communities pay about 40 percent of their annual income on home energy use, compared to just 4 percent in Anchorage. The report also points to many other factors that need to be addressed, including public safety and job opportunities. Today, fuel oil prices in some remote villages have reached $11 a gallon, forcing some families to pay more than $2,000 a
month to heat their homes. High fuel prices also make travel to subsistence hunting and fishing grounds prohibitive while also raising commercial food prices."
What else is going on in Alaska today?
The Troopergate suit goes to court (but not the proceeding you think - this is the effort to freeze the investigation by Palin's cronies:
http://www.adn.com/...
Linked documents:
http://community.adn.com/...
And an article about Ted Stevens' trial, featuring Bill Allen's testimony:
http://www.adn.com/...
Of course, Palin received several donations from Veco executives as well. (In fact, I diaried a few in the past.)
Is it possible that everything Palin and her cronies touch turns to ... not good stuff? If so, that might explain the implosion of McCain's campaign.