Reply #16: Many welcome free fuel

[Judi Lynn]

Many welcome free fuel
HEAT: Most villages who were offered the gift don't want to play politics with Venezuela.

By JEANNETTE J. LEE
The Associated Press

Published: October 9, 2006
Last Modified: October 9, 2006 at 01:47 AM



Photo by JAMES MASON / The Associated Press

In the Arctic village of Ambler, residents are paying $7.25 a gallon for home heating oil as the days darken and the chill of winter seeps into the dozens of homes, most poorly insulated, along the Kobuk River.
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The donation has refocused attention on the rampant and long-standing problems in the oil-rich state's Native villages, where poverty, fuel prices, unemployment and unchecked crime far surpass national averages.

For years, Alaska Natives have reproached the state and federal governments for sending too little money to their tiny, far-flung communities. Many lie at least 100 miles off the state's skeletal road system in climates where winter temperatures routinely plummet far below zero. Fuel and grocery prices are bloated by the high costs of long-distance shipping by small plane and barge.

"It's pretty clear that the people need help and they're not going to get it here," said Steve Sumida, deputy director for the Alaska Inter-Tribal Council in Anchorage. "Who else is providing the assistance?"
(snip/...)

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/8285364p-8181865c.html