Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor,

I’m writing in response to part of Dan Holmes’ recent letter to the editor (published 8/05/21). In the section where Mr. Holmes wrote about the Permanent Fund Dividend, he wrote: “The war torn argument frequently heard AGAINST full Dividend payments is often ‘Have you seen how people of the Village spend their dividend?’ Which is a somewhat valid point. However, the remedy for abuse is readily available. Simply utilize the ubiquitous Debit Card for distribution of the Fund, as is done with SNAP and other restricted programs. By placing certain spending off limits, such as alcohol and marijuana, the temptation to abuse the Spirit of the Fund will be greatly reduced. Furthermore, I submit that all PFD Debit Card purchases shall ALL be made solely within the State of Alaska thereby boosting sales tax revenue for all of Alaska.”

While I have resided in Nome for the past 26 years, I am a proud village girl, raised in Savoonga. I was eight years old when the first PFD was issued in 1982, and I still recall our family’s boost in income that year. My parents were able to pay the light bill, purchase things such as heating oil, some modest furniture, school clothes for us kids, and put some food on the table. Other families purchased subsistence gear, such as nets, boats, motors, ATVs, snowmachines, etc. These are just some examples of how most of us put our PFDs to good use.

Frequently, urban Alaskans make blanket statements about rural Alaskans (including about Nomeites) based on their observations of a few people. Mr. Holmes is doing the same, basically asserting that the majority of people in the villages are spending their PFDs on alcohol and marijuana. Based on my 39 years of experience and observations of the PFD coming into our region, this is not the case in the villages, nor is it the case in Nome. Just ask the managers of Hansons or AC how much in grocery sales they make to the villagers during PFD time, or the local snowmachine /ATV businesses how many rigs they ship out to the villages. PFDs provide a positive boost to Nome’s economy, much of that coming from people from the villages. Yes, we do have to few, both in Nome, and the villages, who don’t make the best use of their PFDs. However, Mr. Holmes’ implication that the majority of us are using the money for marijuana and alcohol, to the point where the government should impose restrictions, is disparaging, uninformed and incorrect.

On a personal note, Mr. Holmes, neither of your suggestions regarding the PFD would work for my family. This fall I will have two children in college here in Alaska, and a third one who I hope will also attend college or pursue vocational training once she graduates, perhaps even out of state. We participate in the Alaska 529 plan, investing our children’s PFDs in a college savings account. Therefore, a debit card that is limited to purchases made solely within the state of Alaska, does not work for this villager. I won’t tell you what to do with your PFD, and I would appreciate it if you stop trying to tell the government to dictate what the rest of us Alaskans do with ours. More importantly, I hope you rethink your disparaging opinions about people from the villages. Much of Nome’s economy relies on villagers, and you are clearly not in touch with how the majority of us put our PFDs to use.

Signed as a Proud Villager Who Has Made Nome Her Home, Melanie Bahnke

PO Box 1792

Nome, AK 99762

August 4, 2021

I am responding to the article in The Nome Nugget which depicts me as a liar and that I crashed my bike and was embarrassed so I made up a story about a bear. J am not a liar and I did not make up this story. I will correct the several lies purported by an anonymous source.

I stayed in my own cabin after the bear encounter. I wasn’t in a neighbor’s cabin. I put the SOS on the neighbor’s cabin because I wasn’t able to climb up the ladder to get to my roof. I was on my own. I wrote this down on the back of an oatmeal box during the many days of encounter:

Came to Claim looking for a good crossing. Out of nowhere comes big bear. It hit the bike and me and I went into river with her trying to get me. Got out and shot once. I was pinned up under bike against the bank; trailer only protection; had to stay in water long long time. I think she left. I was in bad shape. Left shoulder, left ribs, real real sore. I could not comprehend. Cloudy pain. Went to bike trailer tipped over. Box smashed. Spray bug dope on bike.

Bear again charges me. One shot think I hit her in the head. Saw fur fly. She bolted away. 2 cubs ?? Finding the cabin open all food water generator gone got bags out. Head hurts. Went to sleep. Got up around noon. She hit the cabin 3 times last night. Tried to get in front door. Fired a round through the bottom of the door. Weak. Can hardly breathe. Hit the cabin 2 times. Last night jumped on the deck only a few shells left 23. Air Horn works Thank God. Wednesday. Bear walking around trail. 2 cubs for sure? Big blond and red in color. Mean. Wednesday night bear is here all night. Air Horn all night. Hope the guys don’t run into this Bitch. Maybe she is hunting me, scat everywhere. I need help to get of here. Writing this to keep head straight. No sense of time. Scary Bear. Place has been locked down tight for protection. Gun Air born always. Bear hit comer of cabin again and again. This is a nightmare and is ongoing.

The anonymous source who told you this […] story […] badmouthed me for years. Personality conflict started years ago […]. Even though we went together to the back country this time, he was to meet me on Thursday. I didn’t show and he goes to Nome and then reports me missing. He should have checked on me. He didn’t. If anyone is embarrassed it would be him for leaving someone out in the back country and not checking to make sure they were okay. He said there was no scat or hair anywhere. You would have to be totally blind to not have seen the scat from the claim markers all the way up to the cabin. All along the trail. But then, he never went up the trail to the cabins. There is hair on the side of the cabin. Chew marks, claw marks and lots of mud on the comers of the cabin where she rubbed. Every corner has been chewed on.

Who in their right mind would make a story up like this. I am 74 years old with all the bruises from the doctor’s term “trample.” Never once did I say the bear hit me. It was always the bike, ice chest and trailer that tipped me over in the deep water and the bear trying to drown me. l tried to keep the bike running and get to my weapon. I shot top of head maybe right ear. I got air horn and I got my bike out. I don’t remember. I believe I was in shock at that point. From the very very beginning no bear bites, just jumping on the bike crushing my legs and knees in deep water for awhile. I left all smelly food in chest because I didn’t want to cook anything because of the smell. Bacon, ham, hot dogs, butter, all smelly food. The bear continued to hit the cabin during the night every night.

Why would I leave $10,000 worth of gear out on the tundra. It seems odd to me that the guy that I go out into the back country with reports me missing and then shows up at your office after he returned my trailer to tell you a […] story. The very last words and only words he said to me three weeks ago, were “don’t worry, we’ll get your bike.”

Check with people. Ask about me.[…] This is a true story. Not made up. I would tell anyone thinking about going out alone into the back country to “Don’t do it and make sure you have an air horn!” Richard Jessee

P.O. Box 278

Waldport, OR 97394