Rural Alaska blog: The Village : Live at AFN: Saturday

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Kyle Hopkins

I was born in Sitka, have lived in Kake, Skagway and Fairbanks and joined the ADN in 2005 after writing for the Anchorage Press and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. I started blogging for the paper in 2006 with The Trail, our blog about the governor's race. Then came the Alaska Politics blog. Now I'm covering government and rural affairs and live in Anchorage with my wife, Rebecca. (Update: Our daughter Alice was born May 31. Thanks everyone for the suggestions.) E-mail me at khopkins@adn.com and find me on Twitter at twitter.com/ADNVillage.

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Rural blog: The Village

Live at AFN: Saturday

Posted by thevillage

Posted: October 24, 2009 - 9:28 am

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2:20 p.m. Begich announced the White House has signed off on the selection of Joel Neimeyer as the new head of the Denali Commission.

Neimeyer -- who now splits his time between working for the Rasmuson Foundation and Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium -- will be the first Alaska Native to hold that post, Begich said.

(He doesn't formally get the job until he's appointed by the Secretary of Commerce.)

Neimeyer replaces George Cannelos.

Neimeyer

1:45 p.m. Lost toddler reunited with mama. Sen. Mark Begich about to speak. Donut for lunch.

11:58 a.m. As the board considers resolutions this morning, one of the hottest appeared to be a proposal to restructure & reorganize AFN itself.

What would it do?

For one thing, groups like regional health organizations or the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope -- which represents regional tribal councils -- would get a vote at the convention. That's according to Tara Sweeney, ASRC vice president for external affairs.

The proposal was amended to say the changes should be in place by 2011, she said.

Some tension today, as the vote for this resolution came just after a five-minute break. At least one speaker said her region didn't have a chance to weigh in.

KNBA is all over this, on their Twitter feed: twitter.com/KNBA

10:53 a.m. Five-minute recess. Bathroom gridlock.

10:10 a.m. "Did you see the lady on the cell phone?" Doll-maker Ursula Paniyak asked a woman who stopped by her booth this morning. "(She's) going, 'I'm done picking berries. You need to come pick me up.'" Paniyak's mother her taught her how to make the dolls. Now her daughter and granddaughter create them too. The cell phone doll was a hit yesterday, when it was given to Sen. Lisa Murkowski on the convention floor. The phone is made from a swatch of reindeer hide. The face ffrom seal skin, Paniyak said.

...

"The cell phone people came from ACS, or GCI, and bought two," Paniyak said.

9:29 a.m. Just heard the words "Aleut Viagra."

9:21 a.m. On the (mostly) empty chairs at the convention this morning: A resolution calling for the Fish & Wildlife service to drop charges against the Marshall fisherman who was ticketed for illegal subsistence fishing this summer ...

I didn't see this proposal among the stack of resolutions AFN delegates will vote on later this morning. It's proposed by the Association of Village Council Presidents.

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