Two events to check out this weekend:

In Bethel, the Cama-i Dance Festival just started tonight, and you can watch it live by Webcast.

Arts writer Mike Dunham writes: This is one of the most amazing arts and culture events anywhere in America -- all the more so since it's entirely home-grown, without big outside sponsorship.
In addition to traditional Yup'ik style local groups, the festival will also include Sudanese dancers, break dancing, clogging and a new group of young tap dancers, the Napaskiak Tappers.

Jimmy Walker, a member of the Yup'ik rap group Blood Family, performed at Bethel High School during the Cama-i dance festival in 2005.
Bob Hallinen/Anchorage Daily News

And in Juneau, the Golden Medal Tournament – a regional basketball battle that takes over Southeast every year – is coming to a close. The Juneau Empire has a special section on their Web site to follow the games.

This week's eruptions played havoc with air travel in and out of Anchorage, which always causes problems for the Bush.

Let me know if the volcano has made traveling tough or kept you stuck in one of the rural hubs. (Post a comment here, or just e-mail me at khopkins@adn.com)

UPDATE: “At this time, we’re waiting for at least 20,000 pounds of bypass,” said Jane Cofsky, station manager for Yute Air in Bethel.

That’s bypass mail of course – which includes groceries like meat and produce that Yute delivers to villages across the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.

“It would have arrived had it not been for the volcano,” she said.

As we talked, Cofsky heard a Lynden Air Cargo flight arriving. It was the first arrival of the day, she said.

The airport delays have slowed deliveries, but goods are still trickling in.

“It’s not much different than having bad weather, which we had several weeks ago,” said Carol Joaquin, officer manager for the Swanson’s department store in Bethel. “We didn’t have planes for two days. So we are kind of used to it.”

In this post: The criticism of Gov. Sarah Palin that came up while I was reporting on Citgo's free heating fuel program for rural Alaska, followed by Palin's response.

I’ll start with excerpts from an e-mail exchange I had with Myron Naneng, the president of the Association of Village Council Presidents. Naneng is criticizing Palin’s handling of the food & fuel crisis in rural Alaska:

"Just waiting to hear from CITGO and AITC," Naneng wrote when I asked about the free fuel. "This is will be welcomed at anytime for our village members, even if it is from an 'Axis of Evil' as Governor Palin and the powers that be are not even trying to take a forceful action to prevent the disaster from occuring again, nor do they care about the plight of our people with inaction thus far."

Ron Hunnicutt of Crowley Marine Service, right, fills David Sheidt's 55-gallon drum with heating oil at Crowleys terminal in Kotzebue in 2006. (AP Photo/James Mason)

If you’ve been wondering when Citgo will start giving out free heating fuel oil in Alaska this year, the Venezuela-owned oil company has an answer:

“All required paperwork for Alaska is being completed right now, and beneficiaries in that state should start receiving their assistance in early April,” writes Citgo spokesman Fernando Garay.

I asked Garay in an e-mail whether rural households will each get 100 gallons of free fuel, same as last year.

“Heating oil prices in Alaska differ very widely from heating oil prices in other parts of the country,” he replied. “We are making calculations in order to provide the greatest help possible to each recipient while keeping the program running under the new economic conditions.”

I don’t want to make any assumptions -- especially considering the on-again-off-again nature of the program this year -- but it’s important to look at the numbers.

This year, Citgo plans to spend more than $8 million on free fuel for roughly 15,500 Alaska families, the company says.

That’s about the same dollar amount it spent last year, when fuel prices were lower and roughly the same number of families participated according to Alaska Inter-Tribal Council numbers. Would Citgo’s $8 million go as far at Alaska fuel pumps as it did last year?

Ian Erlich is president of Maniilaq Association, which handles the program in the Kotzebue region.

“They told us it would likely be sometime in March,” Erlich said. “But it would probably be a limited program. … It wouldn’t be the full 100 gallons. I haven’t gotten any recent updates in terms of when it’s going to start or how much would be available for each household.”

In Yukon-Kuskokwim villages, where fuel prices have been frozen at top dollar all winter, the Association of Village Council Presidents oversees the program.

The aid would “be welcomed at any time for our village members,” wrote AVCP President Myron Naneng.

“Even if it is from an ‘Axis of Evil,’ as Gov. Palin and the powers that be are not even trying to take a forceful action to prevent the disaster from occurring again, nor do they care about the plight of our people with inaction thus far," Naneng wrote.

The "Axis of Evil" reference is a nod to the past controversy over Citgo gifts. Socialist Venezuela President Hugo Chavez is an outspoken critic of the United States. (He called President Obama an “ignoramus” this week for saying Chavez exported terrorism in Latin America, according to Reuters.)

I’ve got a request in to Palin’s office for a response to Naneng’s comments, and to criticism of her recent trip to Western Alaska with Rev. Franklin Graham, which the new AITC director described as condescending and a temporary solution to a longterm problem.

Troopers arrested a 16-year-old Sterling boy this week, saying he hotwired a snowmachine in Sterling then tried to sell it back to the original owner for $100. (That according to today’s trooper logs.)

The snowmachine: A 2003 Polaris Pro-X 700

The charges: Second-degree vehicle theft & second-degree theft.

The kid: taken to the Kenai Peninsula Youth Facility

Evan R. Steinhauser/Anchorage Daily News
The Wrist Carry event in the 2007 Native Youth Olympics tournament hosted by The Alaska Job Corps Center in Palmer.

The NYO returns to Palmer this weekend at the the Alaska Job Corps Center.

The athletes come from Anchorage, Chickaloon, Houston, Kenai, Palmer, Seward, Wasilla and Yakutat, according to Job Corps, which is hosting its 6th annual tournament. Things get started at 8:30 a.m. Saturday.

Stephen Nowers / Anchorage Daily News
Samuel Peter with the Salamatof Tribal Council NYO team checks the height of the seal skin target during the two-foot high kick event at a native youth olympics event at the Alaska Job Corps Center in Palmer on March

Photo courtesy of Mary Ann Sam / ADN reader submission

Mary Ann Sam, of Huslia, writes:

Sarah, Corrie, & Tia were taking turns riding behind the sled. Just when we got back from a short ride, Buddy decided to go on strike. ;o) He's my son, Eddie's, 8-year-old St. Bernard. Great dog and a very loyal pet. Although not quite cut out for mushing. Here he is taking his 24-hour layover.

(Note: I don’t want to turn The Village into a second dog blog, but I couldn’t resist.)

From the weekend Alaska State Trooper logs:

Location: Gambell
Type: Alcohol Importation
Text: On 3/17/09 Nome AST received an anonymous tip that Casey Iyakitan, age 26, of Gambell, AK was on Frontier Alaska flying home to Gambell with alcohol. VPO Apatiki and VPO Oozevasuk contacted Iyakitan and removed 4-750ml bottles of alcohol from his luggage. Charges will be referred to OSPA.

…

Location: Nome
Type: Alcohol Importation
Text: On 3/21/09 Nome ABADE contacted Serena Toolie, age 21, of Savoonga, AK, at a local air carrier in Nome, AK. Incident to contact, 1-750ml bottle of alcohol was removed from her luggage. Charges will be forwarded to OSPA.

…

Location: Nome
Type: Probation Violation
Text: On 3-22-09 at 1151 hours, the Alaska State Troopers received a report of alcohol importation at a Nome airline terminal. Subsequent investigation led to the arrest of Kellen Katcheak, 25 of Stebbins, for Probation Violation. Katcheak was remanded to the Anvil Mountain Correctional Center.

This clip comes from Jim Barthelman's blog out of Quinhagak, a village of about 640 less than a mile from the Bering Sea coast.

Be sure to check out the post on his frost-bitten caribou hunt:

First of all it was cold. I know I say that a lot and I probably sound like a little girl by now, but it was frost bite cold. Just ask my fingers. I know I say that a lot too, but just ask the skin that peeled off my fingers.

As a single provider for my family here in Kotzebue, I was always energy efficient from the very beginning. lights on only when needed. I just recently turned over to fluorescent light bulbs. I look for sales from our local stores such as two for the price of one, or half off. Most everything I have in my house are from yard or house sales. The bottom line is trying to get the best bargain because of the high price of oil and gas. I and my children have gotten used to living in a cool house as opposed to a very warm house just so that our stove oil can stretch longer. Times are now very tough and I have applied for relief work besides my full time job just so that I can take care of my bills, food, etc…. I feel very blessed when I have some caribou meat and fish in my freezer so that supplements our food. Our young people need to get prepared for tough times and that’s what I have been telling my son.

-- Wynona Wilson
Kotzebue, Ak

Norman Eck, superintendent of the Northwest Arctic Borough School District, sent us this e-mail today in response to Gov. Palin saying she'll reject $171.5 million in stimulus money for schools ...

(Scroll down for Palin's budget chief's take on the decision.)

I am stunned that governor Palin turned down receiving the education stimulus money. For us in Northwest Arctic, we are ever concerned with improving academic achievement and in providing to students well-rounded educational experiences. As a district under intervention by the Department of Education the money is even more important. We plan to purchase educational materials to enhance the English language and math skills of students that we otherwise cannot afford.

Margaret Schaeffer sends these photos from the Kobuk River village, 60 miles outside of Kotzebue:

Spring time in Kiana, taken by Midge Schaeffer

Preparing to pick, by Leo Schaeffer

Side window view, Margaret and Leo Schaeffer residence.

CIRI is holding a candidates forum tomorrow in Anchorage, and is looking for your advice. What should they ask about rural or Alaska Native issues?

For example: Do the candidates see evidence of more people moving from struggling Bush communities to Anchorage? If so, how should the city prepare for that new population?

CIRI's also looking for questions that haven't already been asked to death in previous debates.

Says Alvin Ashby, administrator for the Native Village of Noatak.

By the way, I'm looking to make a list of rural blogs. If you have one, or there's one you like, please e-mail me at khopkins@adn.com.

Born in Bethel and raised between Mountain Village and Anchorage, Trina Landlord moved to New York at the beginning of the year.

New job. New city. And she's been blogging about it ever since.

Her site is called "Eskimo to the World," and it describes a caffeinated, sometimes lonely introduction to the city of millions.

We talked briefly on the phone this afternoon. Click below to listen to a few excerpts from the conversation:

Trina Landlord in Times Square. "I may be the only eskimo that anybody will ever meet, so I've got to represent not only Alaska well, but my family and myself," she says.

Landlord is 31 years old, lives in Chinatown and works for Alaska House.

One of my favorite posts from her blog:

My Eyebrows Shout Sentences
One time I got annoyed with A.M. because instead of replying “Yes” to my questions she would raise her eyebrows. A total village mechanism indicating agreement or like nodding yes but with your eyebrows.
It wasn’t until I started noticing I talk with my hands and eyebrows that I realized, yes, I talk with my eyebrows. Isn’t it true that the things that annoy you in others are the very things that you see in yourself?
Here in New York my eyebrows probably shout sentences into the air and nobody hears me.

Kalskag defeated Newhalen 71 to 57 in the boys 1A championship game of the Alaska state basketball championships on Wednesday at Sullivan Arena. Daily News/Bob Hallinen photo

Kalskag just won the state 1A boys' basketball championships here in Anchorage.

As Daily News reporter Doyle Woody writes in his game story, it's been a tough winter for these students:

Since the school burned down in the Western Alaska village on the Kuskokwim River while the Grizzlies were on a road trip in Kenai, they practiced in a makeshift cafeteria/gym at Kalskag’s elementary school. Gardner figures the “gym’’ measures 30 feet by 40 feet. Last week, between the regional tournament and state, the Grizzlies practiced for four days in Aniak.

Check out this performance from the state basketball tournaments in Anchorage this week:

Daily News photographer Bill Roth shot the video. Arts writer Mike Dunham explains:

The Yup'ik dance group Kalluut performs a "Purification Song" by Brentina Chanar of Toksook Bay (1916-92) during the state basketball tournament at the Sulllivan Arena in Anchorage on Sunday. Student dancers from East High School performed as drummer and singer David Chanar Sr. sang in Yup'ik, "Let me purify you (with smoke) before you go hunting. Let me purify you before you go berry-picking."
The smoke of Labrador tea was traditionally wafted over weapons, clothes and hunters as a blessing prior to a hunt and as a way to cloak the scent of humans as they approached their game.

A recent report on Alaska heating fuel and gasoline prices shows what many villagers already know: That as oil prices dropped this winter, the costs in many rural communities remained high.

Of the 100 communities that the state Division of Community and Regional Affairs surveyed this February, here are the 10 with the highest gasoline prices and heating fuel prices:

Top heating fuel costs as of Feb. 2009:
1. Arctic Village (Interior) -- $9.50 per gallon.
2. Point Baker (Southeast) -- $8.80 per gallon.
3. Emmonak (Western) -- $8.71 per gallon.
4. Hughes (Interior) -- $8.55 per gallon.
5. Kokhanok (South Coastal) -- $8.11 per gallon.
6. Koyuk (Western) -- $8.06 per gallon
7. Saint Michael (Western) -- $8.06
8. Atka (South Coastal) -- $7.99
9. Stebbins (Western) -- $7.99
10. Gambell (Wesern). -- $7.88

...

Top gasoline costs as of Feb. 2009
1. Arctic Village (Interior) -- $9 per gallon
2. Point Baker (Southeast) -- $8.80 per gallon
3. Hughes (Interior) -- $8.50 per gallon
4. Kokhanok (South Coastal) -- $8.40 per gallon
5. Deering (Western) -- $7.82 per gallon
6. Saint Michael (Western) -- $7.80 per gallon
7. Toksook Bay (Western) -- $7.74 per gallon
8. Wales (Western) -- $7.73 per gallon
9. Stebbins (Western) -- $7.71 per gallon
10. Koyuk (Western) -- $7.71 per gallon

(Remember, these numbers only represent the villages that the state surveyed.)

The Tanana school district is $200,000 in the hole and needs an injection of cash or faces a tough choice: Stop paying the bills, or stop paying teachers.

That’s the message this week from Tanana City School District Superintendent John Bania. Click here to read his description of the problem.

Gov. Sarah Palin’s rural adviser, John Moller, plans to visit the village on Friday, according to the letter.

Bania hopes Moller will then plead the school’s case to the Legislature.

To save money, the school has cut employees' hours – sometimes by half – and canceled some athletic travel such as basketball trips, Bania said.

UPDATE: Real quick -- I wanted to post a little more about how Tanana is shrinking. The school enrollment is down from 104 in 1998 to 39 students this year, according to the state Department of Education.

Meantime the town's population has gone from 308 in 2000 to 252 last year, based on Department of Labor numbers.

I asked Charlie Wright, the local water plant operator what's going on.

“It’s shrinking because of a lack of jobs and a lack of housing. And the cost of living, the cost of fuel is chasing people away. It’s outrageous," he said.

Young people are leaving the village. “As they get old enough, there aint nothing here for them. They either got to leave for school or work.”

From the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: Tanana Chiefs Conference convention stresses partnerships and culture

The paper reports:
This year’s TCC convention theme, “In Partnerships — Strengthening Our Culture and Traditions and Building our Future,” kicked off at a welcome reception in the early evening hosted by the Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce at the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center.
Chamber members turned out to greet several hundred TCC conventioneers with an exchange of short greetings and food in the building designed and built for partnerships between the urban and rural communities.