A cold April put the finishing touches on a long winter in Western Alaska, but spring has finally started as this is written in early May. Some of the staff bailed out for some relief, Dolly and her husband David in Hawaii, and Sue and Myron in New York City. Dolly’s trip meant an extended period of grandkid time for Sue and Myron.
Airfare to NYC was courtesy of the Kuskokwim 300 and Alaska Airlines, as a result of Myron’s winning the Best in the West award during this year’s race. With such a title in hand, one would surely expect special recognition in the city, but somehow that was overlooked. The only recognition came as a result of Cathy Baldwin, who called and arranged a free bottle of wine at a restaurant where her daughter Katie and boyfriend Paul Basile were meeting the Angstmans for dinner. The wine steward delivered the bottle, and made small talk about the Best in the West award and dog mushing at Cathy’s suggestion. Anything for a tip.
On a side trip by train to Connecticut, former Bethelite and nephew Keith Holton gave a tour of the Canterbury boarding school where he is admissions director. The school’s most famous drop out was Paris Hilton. She played hockey there a few years back. That must be compared with Sarah’s high school in Minnesota, Shattuck St. Mary’s where the most famous drop out was Marlon Brando. Not many knew that Brando’s son Christian once lived in Bethel and roomed with Richard Trotto. Both of them worked at Kemp-Paulucci fisheries.
As for the big city, what a place! For a rural person, its hard not to look up at the skyscrapers when walking in New York City. The average distance walked each day was about 5 miles. While there, an attempt was made to add culture to a basic country hick. The result: no apparent change despite visits to several museums, a Broadway performance, and several nice restaurants. One thing is clear after a week in New York. They have Alaska outnumbered. The people of rural Alaska could fit in a block or two of New York City. Its scary to think that a city as large as New York isn’t even among the top ten largest cities in the world anymore.
Of course, legal work has to continue so that the credit card bills from New York can be paid when they come in. Only one civil case settled, an employment case from Dillingham, for an undisclosed amount. Matt obtained a dismissal of a DUI case on the eve of trial in Bethel. One new case came in worth noting. Iditarod and Kuskowkim 300 champion Jeff King employed ALO to defend a moose hunting case which was in the news state wide. King was charged in Fairbanks federal court with taking a moose within the boundary of Denali Park and Preserve last fall. The case presents many interesting issues, including the fact that the boundaries are very lightly marked in most areas.
ALO learned that staff member George is a professional artist. He promises to have an example of his work hanging in the office before long. Andy finished off the dog race season in early April with a win in the Larry Chase race in Bethel. The 45 mile race was sponsored by the Bethel Sprint Club. Later in the month, 19 dogs from Old Friendly Dog Farm were shipped to Skagway to be tourist dogs for the summer. The dog yard hasn’t been this quiet in 30 years.
The Kuskokwim 300 continues to emerge from its financial crisis of the past winter. A new fund raising effort was announced in April, which has already produced good results. Visit the K300 webpage. If you want a mile, drop us an email. One brief piece of legal advice last week resulted in no fee charged, but instead the purchase of one mile.
Finally, several people correctly identified the people in last month’s old time Bethel photo. Those pictured were John McDonald and Bev Hoffman with little Colin, and Thom and Torie Foote, the newlyweds. None of the lucky winners wanted their half price divorce just yet. There are several more photos from the wedding here. World famous National Public Radio news anchor Corey Flintoff performed the ceremony, which raises the legal question of whether Thom and Torie are actually married. Identify the people in the pictures and those names will be posted next month.
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