Click the link at the bottom of this article or on their Advertisement on the front page to reach ABLE Judaica’s website.

There is a new book store in the town of Nenana, by the name of ABLE Judaica. Hoping to reach all who has a love for God, ABLE Judaica carries both Jewish and Christian Resources, and many items that carry inspirational thoughts attributed to God and His word. The store has opened its doors in October of 2012.

Though small in size it carries quite a bit of Items, from, Bibles and books to inspirational gift items such as cups, purses, wallets children toys, school supplies, and etc.; all carrying an encouraging message, or scripture from Gods word. It is run by Steven and Franceilia McDonald and this is their testimony. Steven and Franceilia are both ordained Messianic Jewish ministers who have a love for people and most importantly the word of God.

Steven and Franceilia both served as missionaries in Italy while running a small Judeo/Christian Book store in a town known as Vittorio Veneto, Italy. They desire to reach many who may be suppressed, depressed or are in just plain need of encouragement. They are doing this by providing resources that encourages the hearts; and establishes peace for the souls.

“We originally desired to open up in the month of August 2012, however we had some major setbacks due to an un-fixable situation concerning our property”, they explain.  “We were blessed to find a new location, with a landlord who has been gracious enough to allow for this book store to open up on his property. We realize that we may not get as much business as a Barns and Nobles book store for our market is strictly religious books and novelties, but we do desire to be a resource of hope for all those who love the Lord Yeshua (Jesus) and desire to learn more from His word.”

They carry everything from religious items for Jewish Feast days– Torah books, menorahs, candles, Items from Israel, to Christian items like Bibles, faith based novelties, and clothing. They have also extended their hours to 10am-7pm Monday-Friday, for those who may get off at normal working hours. They are still closed on the weekends to honor God’s Shabbat, from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown.

They want to welcome all to come out to browse or just simply sit and sip on a free cup of coffee, tea, or even hot chocolate. We hope that this store will serve as a rich blessing to the Nenana community and whosoever makes their way out to visit the store, and be a part of its humble beginnings, they say.

ABLE Judaica is located just south of Nenana at Mile 302.1 Parks Highway, and you can call them at eight three two 1006, or toll free at 877 Nine Nine Five-3472.

Artwork by ABLE Judaica. Click here for their website link

Meet the Author: Diane Jensen

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Residents in the above mentioned region report receiving automated voice mails on their cell phones, informing them their debit cards have been “locked” and will no longer work UNLESS information is provided. The unknown automated caller asks the customer to “press 1” to unlock their debit card after providing their card number.

Alaska’s Better Business Bureau (BBB) also has some reminders this holiday season. Better Business Bureau serving Alaska, Oregon and Western Washington is reminding potential travelers to watch out for common scams:

•ATM Skimming: When paying at the pump for gasoline, keep an eye out for unusual-looking card readers, false keypads and suspicious cameras.

•Email Chain Letters: Inboxes are flooded with free or cheap offers for 5-star accommodations, airline tickets or cruise passes, but clicking links may install malware or viruses. Avoid unsolicited too-good-to-be-true offers.

•Front Desk Calls: Hotel guests receive calls from “the front desk” asking them to verify payment information, but the callers are actually scammers.

•Sketchy Cab Drivers: Be wary if drivers claim that certain hotels or motels are closed and “suggest” other locations; there may be incentives for drivers to create business for less-than-ethical companies. Check bbb.org to find reliable taxi services.

•Social Engineering: Swindlers use social media to obtain personal information about travel plans. Avoid posting specifics that entice thieves to loot temporarily vacant homes. Also, be wary of sudden calls or emails regarding flights or vacation packages; never provide personal information or credit card numbers to unsolicited inquirers.

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Meet the Author: Diane Jensen

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Teresa Mayrand and Marilyn Duggar, running for school board, Jason Mayrand, Incumbent Mayor, and Carolyn Gongaware and Willie Lord, candidates for mayor, and Darrol Wilcox and Art Thompson, running for Nenana Assembly, sit in from of a crowd of about fifty members of the Nenana area public at the candidate forum that took place the Friday evening before the election. Photo by Diane Neill Jensen

election judge Karen Harvey, and there are approximately five absentee ballots and one other absentee ballots unreturned as of October second, says Nenana City Clerk Sharon Ridlington.  Barring unforseen impediments, the not counted ballots do not add up to any change in the unofficial results.

“The city has come a long way in the past ten years and there’s yet a lot to get done,” said Mayor Mayrand at the candidate forum held on Friday evening, September 28, 2012.

Nenana Student Living Center debt, Nenana borough formation, the new bridge over the Nenana River at Nenana, the disintigrating water plant and students getting left behind were topics touched upon by candidates at the recent candidates forum in Nenana, Alaska. Nine candidates including three mayoral, three assembly, and three for school board were in attendance. One Mayoral candidate was particularly mindful of the historical situation the city and village of Nenana are in.

“Right now is a historical period for Nenana, with a lot of things going on…I’d like to be a part of this,” said Willie Lord, who held Seat C on the Nenana Assembly, and was also previously former Chief of Nenana Native Council.  Lord ran as a Mayoral Candidate instead of filing for Seat C on the Assembly, and will not be returning to that seat. Several Seat C write-in candidates were on the ballots that voters filled out on Tuesday. Kat McElroy led the write-ins with 35 votes, and Sam Verhagen came in second as a write in candidate with 17 votes. One hundred sixty-seven of the 355 Nenana registered voters voted on Tuesday.

Carolyn Gongaware, second runner-up for Mayor had commented at the forum that the citizens are not fully informed of financial situations due to inexperience or “whatever”, like citizens not going to meetings (of the assembly).

Both Nenana Assembly and school board seats had candidates running un-opposed. Eighteen voters voted on the School Board North Advisory position filled by Chuck Hugny. Darrol Wilcox, Art Thompson, and Jeff Coghill return to their Assembly seats. Marilyn Duggar and Teresa Mayrand return to their Nenana School Board Seats.

Meet the Author: Diane Jensen

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Purchasing insurance is not always a cheap affair. Online auto insurance quotes provide a good starting point for Alaska residents to look for affordable auto insurance but the state itself sets very high limits for bodily injury and property damage. This has created a controversy which has made the headlines within the insurance community of Alaska.

The National Economic Council (NEC) recently published a report which clearly showed that policy holders in Alaska are among one of the states witnessing the biggest gap between premium rate increase and wage hikes. Auto insurance quotes and paychecks have started showing a heavy difference. Independent auto insurance analysts have also stated that the rising cost of insurance is also in turn deterring potential policy holders from buying insurance coverage and existing policy holders refuse to renew their policy. The analysts attribute this problem solely to the difference between premium amount and the paycheck.

A statistical research conducted by NEC to find out the root of the problem came up with some interesting and frightening facts. Alaska witnessed the average premium rate go up by 145% in the last 10 years while wages went up by 35% within the same period. Florida also faces the same problem but at a milder degree. Insurance rates in Florida went up by 121% although the average paycheck value has gone up by 43%. Michigan is also suffering from the same problem.

Government regulators are proposing that a drastic review and change should be implemented as soon as possible to tackle the problem. Major changes and policy reforms need to be introduced so that insurance buyers are better equipped to negotiate successfully with insurance carriers. The reform plan would help reconcile auto insurance quotes and rates resulting in lower premiums so that coverage becomes more affordable.

Insurance as a product is subject to continuous change and revision. This is mainly because the factors which dictate its nature, like laws and risk statistics, keep changing continuously. The number of vehicles registered in Alaska stand at 932,441 according to the research and statistics department of the Alaska DMV.

Compare the figures to the motor vehicle crash report and you will clearly see how necessary insurance is. More than 33% of vehicles are uninsured in Alaska. Roughly 20% of all auto accidents and fatalities are caused by uninsured drivers. The statistics pushed the state government into introducing very stringent auto insurance laws. Alaska state authorities require drivers to carry a copy of their policy or insurance ID card in their car at all times. Alaska also sets very high limits for personal and property coverage.

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Toghotthele is interested in furthering several projects for Nenana, according to WIN, and Sackett concurs. He explained that there is a very precisely defined process to get grant funds to help build a bio-mass system, which begins with a pre-feasibility study, says WIN attendee Kat McElroy who provides the meeting minutes. Hacket says that Brian Hirsch and the Alaska Energy Authority (AEA) have been working with them on this, and the initial analysis suggests that they go with a bio-mass wood chip system.

Sacket says that a bio-mass plant for heat to Nenana City Public School is being looked into, McElroy says. This method of alternative energy generation could come in the form of a second bio-mass generator for the Nenana Student Living Center (NSLC), located several blocks away in Nenana. NSLC is close, but not close enough to make sharing the school generator an option, Sacket says.

“We have two technical experts arriving from National Renewable Energy Laboratories (NREL), Golden, Colorado today,” said Hacket on Monday, April 9, 2012. “We also have two arriving from Alaska Energy Authority (AEA) to help us with planning. Then in three weeks we’ll be conducting our pre-feasability study.  With those two pieces of the puzzle complete we’ll be able to apply to AEA for design & construction funding in August.  If we are selected we can begin building in 2013,” he concluded.

This would be similar to what was done down in Tok, says McElroy. Chris Gaul of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory will be involved in analyzing the study data. Any red flags along the way, of course, could slow the project down.

There would be several immediate benefits of such a project for our community, say minutes.  The first would be the positive impact it would have on the estimated $100k currently budgeted annually to heat our school, a cost that can only climb as the price for petroleum rises. Hence, this would be a huge step in decreasing our dependency on petroleum. Secondly, it would create several fulltime permanent jobs, in the logging arena as well as plant management. Such employment would require a strong work ethic but on-job training could be provided.

If all goes well, a Combined Heat and Power project could be worked on. The idea of having greenhouse to grow food locally was reacted to with vigorous discussion. It is understood that other natural resource development is in the works. Jim pointed out that due to the regulatory process, if natural gas is found out on the basin, the very soonest it could be brought in online would be 2022.

Photo Credit: Toghetthele Corporation’s Jim Sacket

Meet the Author: Diane Jensen

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Apply for PFD and donate to charity

Donating to charity is something to consider, and easily done on your Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend (pfd) Application. That deadline is looming closer by the second, and as of the morning of March 26, two-hundred twenty thousand, seven-hundred and eighty-six Alaskans have not applied yet. In order to get your pfd application completed, the sooner the better, as the closer to the deadline, the more the chance of the online system being too busy to take your application.

“The online application will shut down promptly at midnight on March 31. You must have completed the online application and received a confirmation number for an online application to be considered timely. Paper applications postmarked or hand delivered to PFD after March 31 will be denied as late applications,” says the pfd website.

Many Alaskans are giving to charity, says the blog for the ‘Pick. Click. Give’ pfd site. You should be able to find one of your favorite charities on the list on the pfd website. Alaskans have already surpassed 2011 donation figures, says the blog.

As of March 14, 2012, “19,621 Alaskans have made 31,532 pledges through Pick. Click. Give. for a total of $1,809,850. That compares to a total of $1,301,225 on March 14 last year — and surpasses the $1,570,900 total raised in all of 2011,” says the blog for the ‘Pick. Click. Give’ pfd site.

Before you apply for a pfd, make sure you meet the qualifications. For 2012 applications due Saturday, you must have been a resident during all of 2011, and intend to remain in Alaska indefinitely, says the website, and have not claimed residency elsewhere since the last day of 2010. Felons need not apply, and even some misdemeanor instances, check the site for the stipulations.

Some absences are allowed. You must have been physically in the state for at least 72 consecutive hours during 2010/2011, say the pfd stipulations. To check to see if you qualify, go to the website http://www.pfd.state.ak.us/ or call one of the agencies three offices in Juneau (907) 465-2326, Fairbanks (907) 451-2820, or Anchorage  (907) 269-0370.

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In the late 1970′s, the means of providing rural Alaskan communities with needed public safety services at the local level started with the Village Public Safety Officer Program. The program, designed to train and employ those in the villages as first responders to emergencies like, fires, emergency medical assistance, and law enforcement  has been improving the quality of life in the villages, according to officials for the training program.

In alphabetical order, the successful graduates of the VPSO program in 2012 are: Deborah Apatiki – Kawerak, Inc. – Gambell; Cecelia Atchak – Association of Village Council Presidents – Chevak; Marcus Barr – Kawerak, Inc. – Brevig Mission; Peter Berlin Jr. – Association of Village Council Presidents – Nunapitchuk; William Candy Fire – Saint Paul Tribal Enforcement (Village Police Officer); Timothy Carter – Association of Village Council Presidents – Bethel; Alex Chaney – Association of Village Council Presidents – Napaskiak; William Dushkin – Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association – Atka; Eddie Fenn – Association of Village Council Presidents – Chefornak; Michael Gagliano – Northwest Arctic Borough – Kotzebue; Shawn Gutleben – Association of Village Council Presidents – Akiachak;  and John Henry Jr. – Kawerak, Inc. – St. Michael.

The list also includes Justin Hooper – Association of Village Council Presidents – Napakiak; Carl Inakak – Association of Village Council Presidents – Chefornak; Daniel Joekay – Association of Village Council Presidents – Bethel; Damian Joseph – Association of Village Council Presidents – Alakanuk; Sandra Lamont – Association of Village Council Presidents – Alakanuk; Thomas Madole – Bristol Bay Native Association – Manokotak; Lawrence Martin – Association of Village Council Presidents – Akiachak; Nicholas Miller – Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association – Akutan; William Oyaluk – Bristol Bay Native Association – New Stuyahok; Timothy Pehle – Kawerak, Inc. – Nome; Dale Plate – Bristol Bay Native Association – Togiak; Joy Reyneke – Bristol Bay Native Association – Kokhanok; Steven Rugg – Northwest Arctic Borough – Kiana; James Sartelle – Association of Village Council Presidents – Chevak; Daniel Smith – Association of Village Council Presidents – Quinhagak; James Smith – Central Council for Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska – Thorne Bay; Donald Stafford – Bristol Bay Native Association – Levelock; and Phillip Zavadil – Saint Paul Tribal Enforcement (Village Police Officer).

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DUI will get you burned, tempting a deal with criminal justice.

More and more Alaskans are adding up to the Alaska State Troopers’ list of drivers driving under influence of alcohol and other substances. Despite the alarming news of growing DUI cases and the AST’s constant precautions, a lot of drivers traveling within the Alaskan roads don’t seem to grasp the real danger of driving while intoxicated.

Alaska State Troopers will conduct enforcement efforts this weekend to ensure the safety of Alaskan motorists, they say. Local law enforcement agencies will also participate in the enhanced enforcement this March. The ramped up enforcement will mostly be focused on DUI enforcement for both alcohol and drugs.

Regardless of what your plans are, Troopers say always practice safe driving behaviors on the roads while traveling to and from your destination. If you consume drugs or alcohol, plan to either stay the night or to have a sober driver take you home. Always have a plan to get home safely.

Funding for the focused enforcement is coordinated through the Alaska Office of Highway Safety.

On Feb. 25, 21 y/o Jesse Lee James Barr (arrested in Fairbanks), Tony Len Houser age 55 and Brian A. Marple, age 22 (both arrested in Wasilla) were contacted due to REDDI reports sent to the AST. Barr was remanded to FCC while Houser and Marple were sent to Mat-Su Pretrial with bails over their heads.

Similarly on Feb. 26, the AST arrested 3 drunk drivers in Wasilla for DUI and other reported complaints. The offenders were soon identified as Allen W. Walker, 51; Jeffery S. Bennett, age 29; and Steve M. Burrow, age 34. All of them were transported to Mat-Su Pretrial Facility and were reported to be on bail of at least $500.

Troopers also encourage everyone to Report Every Dangerous Driver Immediately by calling 9-1-1.

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Representatives from the Alaskan airline companies and businesses related to the state’s aviation system and services will be present to accept applications from prospective employees. Companies will include  the Alaska Aviation Careers and Job Fair include Alaska Airlines, PenAir, the Federal Aviation Administration, Alaska National Guard, Anchorage Airport Police & Fire, Northern Air Cargo, Pegasus, Lynden Air Cargo, HMS Host, Signature Flight Support, Transportation Security Administration, and Enterprise Car Rental.

This event is free for both participating companies and applicants. Parking in the North Terminal Lot will be validated at the Fair.

Students under middle and high school are encouraged to attend the event. Aviation officers will be present to give them a firsthand witness of how basic things work in our aviation system, a good opportunity for them to plan an exciting career in this field should they like what they’d see.

About the AIAS

Guided by their mail mission “To Keep Alaska Flying and Thriving”, the Alaska International Airport System (AIAS) has been dedicatedly servicing people from all nations with world-class customer service and top of the edge aviation facilities. In addition, AIAS is home to over 30 international and domestic airlines providing passenger and cargo service throughout Alaska, the United States, Europe, and Asia. AIAS is an extraordinary economic engine; serving nearly 6 million passengers per year and accounting for 1 in 10 jobs in Anchorage and 1 in 20 jobs in Fairbanks.

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Smoke from burning debris from hazard fuel reduction treatment (fire protection) around structures, brushing along the park road, and maintenance projects in the park may be seen up through May 2012. Photo by D Jensen

Hazard fuel reduction treatment (fire protection) around structures, brushing along the park road, and maintenance projects in the park are being burned and smoke may be visible from the George Parks Highway area near Denali National Park in Alaska from now through May, the Park Service reports.  Since February 18, the Fire Management staff at Denali National Park and Preserve has been burning piles of tree and brush debris at locations near the Denali Park Road and in the backcountry. This routine will last till May 31, 2012 and is mainly done to get rid of the debris from hazard fuel reduction treatment (fire protection) around structures, brushing along the park road, and maintenance projects in the park.

The department has provided the specifics of the chosen burning sites – Admin Road, Toklat Road Camp, Parker Cabin, and Lower Windy Creek Patrol Cabin. Admin Road is located ¼ mile east of the McKinley Park landing strip (Mile 1 on the park road),approximately ½ mile northwest of the park road entrance while the Toklat Road Camp is at Mile 53 on the park road, on the Toklat River approximately ½ mile north of the road.  The Lower Windy Creek Patrol Cabin is approximately 2.5 miles north of the Cantwell Airport, west of the Jack River and the Denali Park boundary. Parker Cabin, on Moose Creek, is approximately 7.5 miles east of Kantishna and 5 miles north of the park road.

Though smoke may be visible near the areas of debris piles, the Fire Management staff assures Alaskans that the areas are well-monitored and safety measures are constantly exercised. Each pile being burned usually lasts 3-4 days. For more information, NPS Fire Management hotline is open from 9AM to 4PM everyday and you can call them at (907) 683-9532. Visit their official site at www.nps.gov/dena.

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