Wellness Minutes for 4/11/06Taken by Miles Martin Present : Bud Krause, Paul, Miles, Tim Horn, Bonnie and Blaine Reed, Norma Time 12:45 Place Nenana Fire HallA prayer and Pledge started the meeting Paul briefly gave an update on the Sports Association snow machine racing with a successful ‘Junkyard Challenge’ where the school kids had worked months fixing up Junker snow machines and finally had a chance to get them out to run and race! There was a good turn out and much enthusiasm. The machines broke down and most of the time was spent trying to figure out why – but this is what it is all about. Paul had to leave at 1:00 The subject of a place for us to meet weekly came up. Tim will talk to Rob to confirm what we understood to be an invitation to meet at the Student Living Center. Tim will ask about the summer when kids are gone and if this would effect our ability to hold meetings. The last meeting at TCCC was discussed. Last week we broke our routine and all met at the TCCC building out by the airport. The reason and agenda seemed unclear but all agreed some good things came of that experience. Any time groups in our community can learn about each other good comes of it. We did not go over a lot of details. Norma spent time updating us on the Culture Center. We had not heard much in a while so it was good to review this. Nenana history was discussed and Native Land claims and the need to do something culture related as we all agreed Nenana is rich in history that needs to be preserved and displayed. The physical building itself was discussed. Miles was on the Historical Society board that ran the Cultural Center from the beginning and said there had always been issues about the building itself. From the beginning the building was unsafe and no one was taking responsibility. At least one wall leans in by over a foot. It had been hard to seal up and river slit and rain blew in through the cracks that eventually got dealt with but occupied time and money when the focus could have gone toward the culture. We all agreed we want to see culture preserved so want to be kept updated on who is taking it over and what will be going on and maybe see how we might get involved. This topic occupied a lot of our time. The meeting was a bit loose and was a table discussion with all of us exchanging ideas back and forth. Nenana needs a program for drug problems. This had been on the agenda tentatively for the previous meeting at TCCC where the idea was to discuss how we can all work together to resolve a growing concern. There had been a drinking incident among a few of the TCC kids. The subject had not been brought up at the previous meeting and in general there was a concern the whole community needs to admit we have drug and drinking issues to deal with so how do we do that? We all agreed more public meetings would help. Perhaps an actual program for drug problems. Or maybe get an existing program going better. We discussed what some other communities are doing, but nothing really stood out to record. The neighborhood watch concept that Rita keeps bringing up was discussed. The neighborhood watch topic lead to the loose dog issue that comes up off and on – which is another topic for the neighborhood watch besides just ‘drugs’ Some of us exchanged loose dog stories – simply supporting there is a problem that needs addressing that is now not addressed. Once again ‘on whose dime?’ Yet we agreed bringing issues up reminds us of our concerns and an opportunity may arise to get some of these topics off the back burner. We have after all accomplished some positive things we can point to. Meeting ended at 2:00 pm Tentatively agreeing next meeting will be at the Student Living Center.