Railbelt Mental Health & Addictions

Nenana Wellness Coalition

Minutes

September 21, 2004

 

 

Meeting officiated by Paul Verhagen

 

Prayer was led by Kat McElroy

 

Pledge of Allegiance recited

 

No modifications to the agenda

 

Last weeks minutes were approved

 

Updates/Announcements

 

Alaska Court System - Paul Verhagen talked about a tentative agreement by Native Council to provide transportation to and from Fairbanks on a weekly basis for those who are required to attend Alternatives to Violence counseling. This is an effort to prevent those who are court-ordered to attend from being remanded to custody due to failure to comply with the judgment.

 

Chamber of Commerce - Miles Martin reminded us of the upcoming Welcome to Nenana Dinner that is sponsored by the Chamber. The tentative date is

 

Churches - Bonnie Reed of the local Bahai church told us about Prayers for Peace to be held tonight at 7:00 PM at Virginia Young’s home. Paul Verhagen - of the local LDS church told of the receipt of his daughter Kristi and his son Sam’s mission calls to serve as missionaries in Brazil Rio De Janeiero North Mission and the Brazil Sao Paulo North missions respectively. They report to a missionary training center in Brazil on December 29^th where they will be taught to speak Portuguese and will serve for 18 months and 2 years respectively.

 

City - Endil Moore reported that Mayor Mayrand is back and is in the middle of an audit. He also told us about the fencing project that will enclose the rest of the dock and reported that front street will be re-surfaced from the end of the new pavement to the clinic.

 

Nenana School - Superintendent Eggleston announced his retirement in June. He also reported on the progress of the sweat lodge (which is nearing completion), and told us about the development of a new soccer field at the corner of FAA Way and the Parks Highway - a welcome addition to our community.

 

Ice Classic - Endil Moore updated us on the reconstruction of the Ice-Classic tower. The old concrete pad has been replaced with a more modern concrete pad including wire mesh and rebar. The uprights are being built of steel in an effort to make them last longer. Terry Forness should be thanked for overseeing the project and seeing it through. Endil also told us about the planned restoration of the old Ice-Classic building that was recently moved onto the lot next door to the Civic Center.

 

Library - Miles Martin told us that the library board is reviewing the library’s by-laws. At present the Library is not a non-profit organization but they are considering changing that.

 

Native Council - No one was at our meeting as an official representative of Native Council but Bear informed us of some wellness related things that are happening at Native Council. There are three homes for elders in the community that are under construction and a fourth that is almost completed. There is also a housing survey that is currently being conducted around town and it would be particularly helpful for those who fill it out to be as complete as possible as it will help further improve housing in Nenana. The Alaska Railroad will be holding a public meeting regarding the environmental impact of planned construction in Nenana on October 13^th at 5:00 PM and again at 7:00 PM. There will be a meeting regarding the new teen center on October 6^th from 9:00 AM - 11:30 AM at the Student Living Center. Dan Brockhorse is scheduled to speak to us about Boroughs at our October 5^th meeting. Gary Edwin is currently attending environmental training and reports that it is excellent training, and the people from Yukon Telephone are in town today, and for the next few days, installing more wireless internet systems for those who are interested.

 

SPEAKERS

 

          Gayle Ramey - Gayle shared with us an article taken from the ACLU website about Civilian Review Boards. She reminded us that she and some others felt that there was police abuse in the past and informed us that she is working to develop a local Civilian Review Board to evaluate reports of abuse by police. The article stated that no single remedy is going to resolve the problem of police abuse and that any efforts must be ongoing. It went on to say that in order for any such efforts to be successful the review board must have the confidence of the public and must reflect community diversity. Paul Verhagen agreed that in order for it to have public confidence it would need to include people from both sides of the issue and in-between because there are many who do not believe that there was police abuse going on and others who just don’t know and people from all sides should be equally involved in any review if the results of the reviews are to have credibility with the whole community and help to bring the community together. People are entitled to their opinions and all opinions should be considered before decisions are made. Gayle expressed concerns about people fabricating information, participating in character assassination and gossiping. Miles Martin said that these are the areas where the Crucial Conversations training we recently had can, and already has helped our community to better deal with such problems. Gayle informed us that TCCC’s induction of new workers begins on October 6^th and that there is a chance that some of the groups will go to Florida to help with disaster relief but at least one crew will remain here and will soon be available for work. They are looking for donations of air miles for those who might be able to help out in Florida and asked us to pass on this information.

 

Ralph - The Nenana Student Living Center has been fully funded for this year and is operating at full capacity. Several people have told him that they think this year’s group of kids is the best we’ve had. He mentioned a problem that occurred last week when a 16 year old NSLC student was assaulted by a 20 year old local resident. The incident was reported to the troopers but there was no follow-through by them. The student’s mother is an outspoken person who could hurt our boarding school’s reputation if something isn’t done to ensure that similar problems not occur in the future. At first she pulled her son out of the program. Fortunately, she has since agreed to put her child back in the program upon assurances from the program that the matter will not just be ignored. Ralph asked for suggestions of what we might do as a community. He also reported that another student returned “high” to the living center and explained that his options of what to do with this student under the current policies and procedures are quite limited. He asked for suggestions of what might be done with this situation as well. It was discussed that a group of concerned community members met the last time there were problems and the policies did not leave enough flexibility to appropriately deal with them and it was suggested that a group of concerned community members meet again. Because of concerns with time issues it was agreed that a good cross-section of community representatives should meet tomorrow at noon to further discuss the matter. People from the following groups volunteered to attend the meeting - Nita from Native Council, Rick from the School, Rose from Railbelt Mental Health and Addictions, Endil from the City, Virginia from a local church, and 2 student representatives from the student living center.

 

Ken - The school was approached by Andre Latrel (sp?) about meeting with the school and/or the community to talk about further implementation of the Assets program in our community. We have talked about ideas of who to have speak to us at our upcoming annual community dinner and it was suggested that we invite Andre to speak to the community then. There have been other recommendations but the feeling seems to be that we should limit it this year to just one speaker for perhaps 20 - 40 minutes. Ken said that if we get him a date he will check with Andre and see if he is available then and if that amount of time will work.

          We also reviewed the other suggestions which are that Kat puts on the Medicine wheel training which fits in very well with our mission of improving wellness in Nenana, and Wanda Haken suggestion that we bring someone in to speak to us about the nation-wide Parents as Teachers program which also fits in very nicely with our mission. It was agreed that we should work to have all three presentations made available and we will wait to hear from Ken about Andre.

 

Bear - Since the closure of our police department there have been several reports of kids out of control. Several people have told me that friends have called complaining about kids drinking and making a lot of noise late at night, people driving crazy as seen by the donut circles on the road at the entrance to town, curfew violations, and physical assaults. Even prior to the closure of the department, when it was known that the department was going to be closed, things like the above, and much more serious, began to occur including two reported rapes.

It has been stated publicly that since the closure of the police department we have had very few problems but that is not true. There just isn’t anyone collecting the information.

Endil Moore stated that calling 911 is not enough. Recently someone called 911 and reported being choked. They were told to call the troopers. Without a police department it has to be that way because our EMS people can’t respond to an assault incident without police having secured the scene - but having to listen to someone call 911 and having to tell them to call the troopers when we know they are likely to be at least an hour away is not a good thing. We need some kind of a reporting mechanism so that we can compile the information about what is happening. Collecting the information alone could help curb some of what is going on. When people can commit offenses without worrying about being prosecuted or even exposed they become bold and the problem only gets worse.

Ken Eggleston said that it is clear from reports from the kids at the school and the student living center that “anything” in the way of drugs is available in town and that there have been incidents of people driving up to kids on the street right here in town offering to sell them drugs. This is NOT a minor problem. The problem with drugs and alcohol is literally killing of our young people. At least two of the kids from other villages who formerly attended our boarding school are no longer alive because of these problems including one who died of asphyxiation after becoming highly intoxicated and one who died in a 4-wheeler accident that was alcohol related - and those are just the deaths - let alone the other serious problems they are dealing with because of alcohol and drug abuse.

Ralph indicated that due to certain grants being no longer available the school has lost $60,000 that was earmarked for helping with alcohol problems. That means that there will be fewer of the activities that the school had planned to help keep kids involved in things that would help keep them away from drugs and alcohol. Combining that with the lack of a local police force means that problems are only likely to get worse rather than better if we don’t do something to make up for these two serious losses to our community.

Bear said that he has talked to Diane at the Nenana Messenger and that she has agreed to print something like a police blotter if we can get the information to her. She suggested that we come up with a name for it. One suggestion was Local Incident Report.

Bear mentioned that the Corner Bar is having an auction on Thursday night.

He also reported that the new women’s Oxford house in Fairbanks will be closing.

Dan Brockhorse will be here on October 5^th to talk to us about boroughs.

Bear passed out flyers announcing this event to be put up around town.

 

Paul

 

Floyd - Passed out some handouts, including some newspaper clippings dated Sunday November 10, 2002 and March 28, 1996. The 1996 clipping is a letter to the editor from Floyd asking people for their thoughts about things for kids to do or places for them to go. It was apparently meant to stimulate conversation on the subject. The 2002 clipping talks about native corporations investing in real-estate in the lower 48 states. Floyd suggested that if native corporations are considering investing outside their local area that perhaps they should consider building a roller skating rink in Fairbanks. He believes that It would give kids something to do and make money for whoever built it. He suggests that Nenana’s native corporation consider the idea.

He also suggested that Nenana work to do what Norman Vaughn tried to do - establish a yearly dog sled race from Nenana to Nome and proposed that we prepare a plaque commemorating Norman’s efforts and try to do it while Norman (who is in his mid-nineties) is still alive so he can be honored with it.

Other suggestions had to do with ways we could better familiarize the public with Nenana such as entering a Tripod float in the Golden Days parade in Fairbanks during the summer and including an ice carving of a tripod in the ice carving festival.

 

Meeting Adjourned at 2:10 PM.

 

Volunteers: Bud volunteered to drive for any event for which we need drivers.

 

There were 15 people in attendance: Blaine Reed, Bonnie Reed, Bud Krause, Paul Verhagen, Floyd Terry, Ken Eggleston, Ralph Lindquist, Nita Marks, Virginia Young, Miles Martin, Endil Moore, Kat McElroy, Rosemary Allen, Alfred “Bear” Ketzler, Gayle Ramey.

 

Nenana Wellness Coalition

Minutes

September 14, 2004

 

Modified [As to comment by Ricky Martin regarding State Trooper activity in our area.]

 

Our meeting was officiated by Bud Krause

 

Prayer was led by Diane Carson

 

We all recited the Pledge of Allegiance and there were 20 people in attendance

 

There was a modification to the agenda. Kristi Verhagen, Floyd Terry, and Nita Marks to be added to the agenda.

 

Pia sent a letter from the Student Living Center with an invitation to help plan the activities for the student living center for this year.There is a public meeting tonight Tuesday, September 14, 2004 @ 7:30pm

 

Bear Ketzler:

          Bear just returned from a wedding in Canada and shared with us a small brochure about the town of Smithers in BC Canada.  This small town reminded him of Nenana because of its similarities.  A river runs near as does the railroad.  They are also located on the highway like Nenana.  They have two older Pullman Railroad cars near a Cultural Center just like Nenana (the Lions Club takes care of them). It is mainly a logging and agricultural community.  It has about 5,000 residents.  He noted that it is a very self-sustaining community.  They are beginning to have problems with drugs (crystal-meth labs) lately that they are trying to deal with. In spite of those problems that are common to many communities now the community is a very pleasant community and one that we might want to consider patterning ourselves after. They have developed a very nice tourist area, the town is clean and attractive and a good size for being self-sustaining.

 

Miles Martin:

          Miles remembered that years ago, when Bear was on a committee in Nenana, this committee was interested in patterning ourselves after Dawson - another town that sounds similar to Smithers.

 

Bear Ketzler:

          With Bear’s aunt and uncle living in this community and all the similarities between the two towns he thought it would be a neat idea to become “sister cities”.

This town may be a little out of the way but could be a great stop for Alaskans driving outside through BC.

 

Paul Verhagen:

          Paul wondered if anyone has looked into the idea of a sister city and what it means to be a sister city. Perhaps someone would be willing to some research on this and then get back to us on it.

 

Kristi Verhagen:

 

     Paul introduced his daughter Kristi to our group. We have talked in the past about celebrating people’s successes by sharing them with our group when we hear about them. Kristi has just had a success that he wanted to share with us. Kristi is in her third year at college in Elementary Ed with a focus on Special Ed and is currently working at the school. He told us that a few years ago she complained that there are too few Christmas songs and he commented that someone had to have written them and urged her to write one. As a result she came up with a tune, after which she and her sister Sherin came up with the words for a new Christmas song that they called “Once in Bethlehem There Was A Baby”. After sharing it with a family friend who publishes music her friend offered to arrange it for a choir. She then submitted it for publication and today it came back in the mail as not only accepted for publication but actually published and in the process of being sent to choirs around the country as a new Christmas song to add to their Christmas song repertoire. The sheet music was passed around for all to see after which Kristi did a wonderful job of singing it a cappella for us. She received a nice round of applause from the group and we look forward to hearing it more as the season approaches. 

 

Miles Martin:

          Miles noted that the names of the various groups who participate in our meetings have been removed from the agenda and suggested that we add the names back onto the agenda and that we rotate through the names each week so that the bottom name moves to the top each week. He proposed that the particular group who’s name is on the top that week be given 15 minutes to talk - if they want it. He suggested that by doing this a person would not have to be assertive in order to be heard and they would not feel like they have to ‘butt in’ in order to be heard. Nor would they feel the need to hurry up since they have 15 minutes allocated to them. There was good discussion about the proposal and it was agreed to put the names back on the agenda, perhaps as a side-bar, and to rotate through them but not to associate a time frame with the first name on the list.

 

Floyd

          Floyd was not sure what the purpose of the Nenana Wellness Coalition was when he first came to a meeting and agrees that clarification will help.

 

Virginia Young:

          Virginia would like a list of all the speakers that have attended our meetings. Paul mentioned that he and Miles just discussed that yesterday and that Miles has already compiled a guest speaker list of those who have spoken over the last four months and will continue to work on it until we can post it on the website and then ask for corrections in case we have missed any.

 

Gayle Ramey:

          Gayle thinks it is a good idea to have the names of the groups who attend on the agenda each week so they can be called on but doesn’t think we need to put any hard rules on it.  If someone wants to be on the agenda they can let Paul know ahead of time or if time allows they can be added to the agenda when the meeting begins.

 

Paul agreed with Miles that it would be good to have our mission statement near the top of the agenda along with some brief guidelines for visitors so that they know what is an acceptable way to discuss controversial issues in our meetings. He reminded us that we are still in the developmental stage of how to do things but since we have already agreed on many things that it would be good to write them up and post them on the website as our traditions and that it would be good to continue experimenting. It was agreed to try some of the proposed changes and then visit the issue again in the future after we have had a chance to see how things are working. Miles would like more feedback from those who are interested.

 

Traci Wiggins:

          Individual Actions vs. Group Actions

                   When Traci called a public meeting about the Police Department in Nenana, this was her acting on her own and was in no way connected with the Wellness Coalition.  She just wanted to let it be known that it was not part of this organization and that it is important for people to recognize the distinction between individuals who attend the wellness meetings acting on their own and the wellness coalition taking a position as an entity.

 

Nita Marks:

          There will be a Spaghetti feed and potluck on Thursday at 6pm at the George Hall.  Everyone is invited to come and is to inform the community about some issues facing Nenana.  Some of these concern the safety of the children in the area of the school and we may need to put up some signs on the streets reminding people that there are children playing in the area - especially around the park and playground areas. 

 

Paul Verhagen:

          Paul is concerned about the public safety of Nenana.  Public policing is an option but it only works if people are largely willing to control themselves from within. He cited a study where the average tenure of a chief of police in a small town across America is three years.  Larger cities sometimes change chiefs as often as 6 in ten years. He thinks a private police force may be something for Nenana to look into and provided a brief outline of how such a system might work.  Kern County in Washington is doing something similar to what he suggested. He’ll share more with us on this idea in the future.

 

Ricky Marten:

          Ricky is wondering about the role of the troopers in our area.  He sees them driving around town harassing people at night which may not be when or where we need them.

 

Diane Carson mentioned that we already talked about contracting for police at prior assembly meetings.

 

Gayle noted the city already has an add in the paper for police replacement.

 

Kake has a total volunteer police department and there was only one person on this dept. that could really do anything.  The rest were only allowed to be support personnel.

 

Floyd

Floyd has been trying to promote a roller rink but realizes it is not appropriate for Nenana.  His other idea consisted of a bowling alley.  He thought that an oval track in Nenana may have competition with the other tracks near Fairbanks.  He thought dog sled tours would be a good idea for someone to start in Nenana or possibly trips to Minto or Tanana by boat.  Make a promotional video of Nenana that could be sold for profit. 

 

Bear Ketzler:

          The tribe is getting ready for the bingo to start up.  They will let everyone know which nights this will be held on.

          There is a Winery being started in Alaska and is being seen as the next new business. They are paying up to $10 or $12 per pound for berries.

          Bear knows who has 55 gallon steel drums for sale at $15.00 each if you are interested.

 

Roy Smart:

          Roy’s grant will be over soon with the Student Living Center but previously he had ordered some material for the community that was geared to wellness and he brought some of this material with him today.  There are books and flyers to be passed out.  There are CD ROM’s to go with some of these and there are games as well that he has distributed at the school.  There are also Posters and coloring books.

 

Chamber welcome dinner will be October 23 at the Civic Center

 

Nenana’s sponsored miles along the highway have been declared as the cleanest.

 

Update on Marge Riley Retirement:

          It will be a potluck at the Civic Center Sunday Sept 26, @ 3pm. 

         

Annual community wellness meeting:

          Nothing decided since last Thursdays meeting.

 

Medicine Wheel Training:

          Kat will be glad to talk to anyone at anytime about this concept but it will take about two hours.

 

Wellness Meeting Tuesday Oct. 5:

 There will be a guest speaker this day from the State of Alaska Planning Commission to talk to us about the idea of Nenana becoming a borough.    

 

The senior bus will be going to Denali Park on Tuesday Sept. 21 so the RBMH girls will be making soup to serve for lunch.

 

Sat. Sept. 18^th  at 9 AM the boys from the base will be at the Senior Center to help do odd jobs for the seniors around the community.

 

Meeting Adjourned at 2:00 PM.

 

There were 20 people in attendance: Diane Carson, Margaret Sanders, Bud Krause, Blaine Reed, Bonnie Reed, Shelly Reed, Miles Martin, Paul Verhagen, Kat McElroy, Traci Wiggins, Nita Marks, Bear Ketzler, Floyd Terry, Roy Smart, Ricky Martin, Gayle Ramey, Kristi Verhagen, Elder Rowe, Elder Snedegar, Virginia Young.

Nenana Wellness Coalition

Minutes

September 9, 2004

 

 

The meeting was officiated by Endil Moore

 

Prayer was offered by Bonnie Reed

 

We recited the Pledge of Allegiance

 

There were no modifications to the agenda

 

Bonnie Reed asked that last weeks minutes be corrected to reflect that the security measure that requires name tags at the school pertains not only to the student living center but also to the school and applies to all students and school related employees

 

Kat McElroy - Nenana Wellness Coalition’s Accomplishments To-Date

          Before Kat began her presentation she reminded us that this week has been dedicated to increasing the awareness of people to the problem of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Traci Wiggins passed out pens for all of us with a logo on it to remind us of the problem.  Kat gave us a handout on FAS entitled, “Thankfully there are people who will help her.  Are you one of them?” This is a pamphlet about women who are pregnant that may need information about drinking during pregnancy. Today also just happens to be the ninth day of the ninth month, which is set-aside for FAS Day. 

          Kat began her presentation by giving us a four page handout on some of the accomplishments of the Nenana Wellness Coalition or W.I.N. group, (Wellness in Nenana).  This paper describes the reason for this organization and some of the subjects we have discussed over the past year including a short paragraph on some of these subjects.  This is a great overview of the organization and if you would like a copy of your own to look at, please stop at the Senior Center and pick one up.  If you would like to receive one via e-mail please send your mailing address or e-mail address to Paul Verhagen or Traci Wiggins. 

          It was suggested that we add a section to this document that indicates our involvement with and support for Gary Edwin and his efforts as the Environmental Technician for Native Council.

Miles suggested that we add more information regarding the numbers of guest speakers we have had attend our meetings. He pointed out that we have had a lot of people from in-state and out-of-state attend our meetings as guest speakers. He specifically mentioned the visit from Judge Wanamaker of the Anchorage DUI Therapeutic Court, along with Janet McCabe and Kevin Warring from Partners for Progress, and Ted Dodge and Kevin Miller who introduced us to the Crucial Conversations Mastery Course offered by Vital Smarts. Many others have visited and spoken with us as well. This has given our small community the privilege of hearing the advice of experts without having to go to Fairbanks or Anchorage to do so. Very few small communities have this opportunity. Miles suggests that we work to increase the number of guest speakers we hear from. These outside speakers have never been paid for their attendance at our meetings. They have all been volunteers giving their time because they believe in what our coalition is doing.

          Miles considers our group to be a clearinghouse for knowledge.  As knowledge is shared at these meetings we each take this knowledge to other meetings or organizations that we belong to and share it even further.

          Paul suggested that we add a link to our website that connects to the KUAC presentation about our wellness group.

 

Paul Verhagen - A Community Intervention Program for Minor-Consuming and Other Issues

          The court system is considering the creation of more therapeutic courts.  Judge Funk from Fairbanks is aware of our effort to improve wellness in Nenana and in an effort to assist us he sent Larry Cagnina to Nenana to see what help they might provide.  One of the issues we face is the illegal consumption of alcohol by minors. During the process of considering how best to deal with the issue it was agreed that the consumption of alcohol by minors is merely a manifestation of other problems and that focusing efforts on minor consuming would be treating the symptom rather than treating the disease. It was further agreed that the way to deal with the problem is not to focus as much on punishment, or even to focus on rehabilitation - because at the ages we are dealing with (ages 11-21) the problem is not so much one of rehabilitation as it is habilitation. In most instances young people in that age group have not yet been taught the things that will help them to make wise decisions regarding avoidance of alcohol or why it is important to obey the law without someone forcing compliance. For these and other reasons it was decided that the development of a therapeutic court in Nenana should focus on involving youthful offenders in programs that help habilitate young people and that the program should focus on just minor consuming as the door into the program but rather ANY offense that brings a young person before the court should be considered as a door into the program. It was also decided that although people tend to become set in their ways the older they get many people have not ‘finished’ the habilitative process until they are in their mid-twenties so although these young people are past the age of committing the offense of minor consuming they should still be considered as candidates for the program.

In determining what habilitative skill training should be included in the program we considered what we have learned from the Oxford House program and the Alcoholics Anonymous program. The preliminary determination was that whatever program we develop it should: 1.) Give Structure, 2.) Foster Parental Involvement, 3.) Facilitate Community Support, 4.) Provide Training, 5.) Encourage Spirituality, and 6.) Require Accountability (from both the offender and the family).

In order for such a program to work it will require a joint effort between the community, the school, the families and the court system.

The involvement of the school, the community and families would be more preventative in nature whereas the involvement of the courts would be more corrective but the two should be seamless. In other words whichever way a person enters into the program there should be no difference inside the program. However, there would be mandatory compliance with certain requirements from those who enter the program through the court system.

Further discussion resulted in the suggestion that the program begin at birth by utilizing the nationwide program called Parents as Teachers which helps young mothers learn to habilitate their children from birth through kindergarten. Other programs that might become part of the program are the alcohol education classes taught by Railbelt Mental Health and Addictions, The S.I.D.N.E. project, the D.A.R.E. program, the Junkyard Challenge program, the Strengthening the Families program, the Natural Helpers program, and a Youth Court program.

 

Paul is looking for input on this issue, so if you have any questions or comments on this please contact him. He will also be going around visiting with the various groups and organizations to get suggestions and input. If you are aware of other programs that might fit nicely into this please let us know. Also, if you would like to volunteer for any aspect of it, whether you are 18 or 81 we are always in need of people to help.

 

Old Business:

 

Marge Riley’s Retirement

 

          Miles wanted to tell us about Marge Riley’s retirement.  The Civic Center will be the venue for this event but the date is still up in the air. Both the 19^th and 26^th have been proposed and it looks like it will probably be the 26^th. He should have the date by the next meeting.  He will be making a poster for anyone to sign.

 

Annual Community Wellness Meeting:

 

          Traci, Miles and Virginia are working on a date for this.  At this point it is still not certain when - maybe November. They would also like to find a guest speaker for this meeting.  Kat is willing to present her Medicine Wheel training which would introduce the whole community to it rather than just our wellness coalition and would allow for interaction between the speaker and the audience rather than just listening to someone talk. 

 

New Business

 

Borough Issue

 

          Paul stated that Bear has spoken to Dan Brockhorse, the executive director of the boundary commission, and Dan has been invited to attend our meeting on October 5^th to discuss the issues the pertain to boroughs and to answer whatever questions people may have.

 

Public Comment

 

Gayle Ramey stated that in her opinion the W.I.N. group is too political in the way they go about things and that is why she, and others who think like her, have not attended our meetings recently.  She felt that the W.I.N. group was supportive of the police department and there should have been more opposing discussion during the W.I.N. meetings on this issue so people could have been better informed of what she and others felt was really going on. Discussion ensued regarding public safety issues, WIN’s role as a community entity, ways we might better respond to community concerns and the need to create a safe environment for discourse if we are to have a meaningful exchange of ideas.

 

Announcements:

 

·       There will be a ‘Celebration of Life’ for Mike Koons, who recently passed away. It will be held at his home on Sept. 11^th at 2:00.

·       There is a Community Potluck at the Tribal Hall on Sept. 16^th @ 6:30 pm.

·       The seniors will be having a trip into Denali Park on Tuesday Sept. 21^st we will be leaving Nenana @ 7AM.  The cost is $10.00 and a sack lunch will be provided but you will have to bring your own drinks and blanket.

·       There will be a community pig roast at the Civic Center on Sept. 24.

^·         There will be an Alaska Mental Health board meeting in Fairbanks on Sept. 23 & 24.  For more information on this event please contact Traci Wiggins at RBMH.  832-5557.

·       There will be a ‘55 alive’ driving course given on Sunday Sept. 26^th from 9am until 5:30pm. The cost will be $10.00. You can sign up at the senior center.

 

The next meeting will be on Tuesday September 14^th at noon at the Senior Center.

 

There were 16 people in attendance: Diane Carson, Paul Verhagen, Endil Moore, Bonnie Reed, Blaine Reed, Miles Martin, Gayle Ramey, Traci Wiggins, Kat McElroy, Virginia Young, Shelly Reed, Tim Horn, Jack Coghill, Margaret Sanders, John Kemper, Roger Knutsen