Daily Sitka Sentinel from Sitka, Alaska • Page 9

Iditarod Race Leaders Making Good Times Daily Sitka Sentinel, Sitka, Alaska, Wednesday, March 8,1989, 9 Candidate Bradley Issues POW Story MCGRATH, Alaska (AP) Thrce- time Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race champion Susan Butcher of Manley was pressing for the lead today as a mob of rdsted mushers sprinted for this Kuskokwim River community. Butcher pulled into McGrath, 407 miles into the race, at 8:17 this morning. She was followed out of Nikolai by Martin Buser of Big Lake, whose lead dog had died of an internal hemorrhage at Rainey Pass. Joe Ruriyan of Nenana set a blistering race to be the first musher to reach McGrath with a tenuous lead Tuesday afternoon. He declared he would take his mandatory 24-hour in the village To complete the requirement, he could not leave until after 4:43 p.m today Butcher took her 24-hour layover iri Rohn and could leave Runyan behind The next 18 mushers behind Butcher also have completed their layover Butcher said she believed the frantic pace Runyan set had sapped his dogs "It took him 15 hours to cross the Continued from Page 1 anybody there." Robinson said that in the many years since, she and her relatives have from time to time pored through telephone books of California her first husband's Home state trying to find his name, but never did.

She spent hours trying to think off names of relatives he may have mentioned and who might be able to give her information. But she never came up with any names. Recently, Robinson took a vacation trip to Atlanta, to visit one of her second four daughters, Cherie Lee White. Cherie had asked her mother the names of the missing children and where they were born. She obtained copies of their birth certificates, and presented them to her mother during the Georgia visit.

"It got me to thinking again there's got to be a way to find those children," said Robinson. Arid suddenly, the name of one of her.ex-riusband cousins came to her, along with the area of California in which'he lived. have no idea how I remembered, butlsuredid." Robinson has a brother, Gary Johnson, who also lives in California. She called him and gave him the name of the cousin. Her brother checked the phone book and found a listing with 1 that name; I Johnsoni dialed the telephone nurh- ber, arid sure enough, it was the cousin of the ex-husband.

The cousin provi- ded a telephone number of the missing husband. Johnson then placed a call to that number. It was 5:45 a.m. Tuesday when Johnson called his sister in Sitka to tell her he had talked to her first husband. Robinson in turn placed a call to She said he tried to be cooperative, but that he did not have current telephone numbers for the three children.

"He said no one has kept in touch with each other for about two years," related Robinson. He did say that one of the boys lived in the Seattle area. When she got off the phone, Robinson called one of her other four daughters who happens to Continued from Page 1 school figures for the last two graduating classes show about 12.7 of Sitka students left high school before graduation and did not further their education. T- Board members watched a video outlining Gov. Cowper's plan calling for, a portion of the earnings of the Permanent Fund be used to start an educational endowment to pay for Alaska 1 Schools.

The endowment would wprk much the same as the dividetid program, with only the interest on the fund balance distributed to districts: Cowper said that within two decades the fund could pay all the operating costs of Alaska's schools. (Farewell) Burn," she said. "It took me only 10." Butcher blitzed into Nikolai, 359 miles into the race, just before midnight Tuesday. Buser, four-time Idita- rod champion Rick Swenson of Two Rivers, DeeDee Jonrow of Willow, Joe Redington of Knik and Joe Garnie of Teller pulled in behind her within minutes. From McGrath, 761 miles remain in the Anchorage-to-Nome race.

Most of the 46 mushers remaining in the race were into or beyond Rohn. Forty-nine mushers started the race Saturday in Anchorage. They are vying for a $250,000 purse, with $50,000 going to the winner. Runyan said the stretch of the Idita- rod Trail just beyond Rohn is one of his favorites. In Rohn, he said, there are "all these screaming dogs, a bunch of uncontrollable you get out there and run along the Kuk- skokwim River talk about beautiful." live in Marysville, to enlist her help.

Robinson said that daughter was able to team that there was an unlisted number in the name of the missing brother, and though she was not able to obtain the number, the operator agreed to call it and relay a message. At around 4:30 Tuesday afternoon, Charlotte Robinson's phone rang, and she was talking to a son she had not seen or heard from for 31 years. "It's the first time I had talked to any of them," she said. The son gave her the phone number of Charlene, who is now living in Colorado. After that, things began to happen quickly for Charlotte Robinson.

Her ex-husband called soon afterward to provide the number of the other missing son. At around 7 p.m. she dialed that number and again was speaking to a child from whom she had been separated for three decades. number the first son had given for Charlene turned out to be the workplace of Charlene's husband a son-in-law whom Robinson has never met or even known about. It was not until early this morning that she was able to make contact with him and introduce herself over the phone.

After their first greeting, he told Charlotte that he and his wife had been trying for years to locate Charlene's mother, but didn't know where to r-." It Was only a 'short while later'this morning that Charlene herself was on the phone to her mother. Robinson said that when she travels to Seattle, she hopes to take daughter Peggy and her two small children. Money is a problem, but she said she hopes for some type of community support. Her telephone number is 7478669. Having talked to all three, Charlotte Robinson said she found that every one of them had believed their mother was still alive.

One said he even figured she was in Alaska, "and he always wanted io come back, but he could never afford it," she said. Her long search at an end, Charlotte Robinson is looking forward to a long- delayed reunion. ANCHORAGE AP) Legislative candidate Brad Bradley unveiled Tuesday the latest version of his claim to have been a prisoner of war in Vietnam, but an Anchorage newspaper reported it contained significant differences from his earlier accounts. Sitting beneath a huge painting of Abraham Lincoln and flanked by a wall fujl of his military medals at the Republican Party's headquarters in Spenard, Bradley read a six-page statement and answered questions. Bradley also handed out copies of affidavits from two men he served with at the time, radioman Roy Manion, and Thuc Tan Truong, who commanded the South Vietnamese unit that Bradley advised.

The Anchorage Daily News reported Wednesday their affidavits contain no independent evidence on the incident, appearing to reflect only what Bradley told them. The newspaper also said Tuesday's version of the capture story is at least the fourth account Bradley has given of the incident, and that it differs significantly from the other accounts. Bradley said Tuesday that he was captured in October 1968. One of his campaign brochures last fall said he was captured during the Tel offensive. That was in January and February of 1968.

During a break in an Anchorage Assembly meeting several months ago, then-Assemblyman Bradley told a reporter that he had been captured during the Tet offensive. Bradley said Tuesday that when he was captured he was alone in a jeep traveling from the village of Bo Miing, where he was senior adviser to a South Vietnamese infantry regiment, to Da Nang to meet with his superiors. Manion, now schools superintendent in Hurley, said Bradley told them upon his return that he had been captured on the streets of Da Nang, either entering or leaving an eating place. Bob Bowen, commander of the Alaska chapter of the American Ex- Prisoners of War, said Bradley told the POW group he was captured with a sergeant. Bradley said Tuesday that he was captured by the Viet Cong.

During the assembly meeting interview, Bradley said his captors were members of the North Vietnamese regular army. Bradley said Tuesday he was held captive for about five days "and gave the following account of his escape: On about the fifth day of his captivity, the Viet Cong camp came under artillery fire that wounded and probably killed three of the guerrillas. After the shelling, the guerrillas decided to move put and began to untie him, Bradley said. Then another bombardment began and the guerrillas were distracted by the confusion, noise and dust, allowing Bradley to finish untying his ropes and escape. Bowen said Bradley told his group a different story about his escape.

"He said he twisted around so that his bonds faced the mortar fire and the splinters of mortar fire cut the Bowen said. "That kind of wild story, I don't know who he could tell it to that would believe it." Bradley was unable to explain Tuesday how an officer of his rank -lieutenant colonel could disappear for several days on his way to meet with his superiors in Da Nang without a search or producing a paper trail that could be used to document his claims. But he suggested it was because there so many lieutenant colonels around, they didn't count for much. "Lieutenant colonel wasn't such a high rank," Bradley said. "They were almost a dime a dozen." Manion had a different explanation for the lack of concern about Bradley's absence.

Manion said that when Bradley didn't return as expected, the major who was in charge in Bradley's absence assured him there was no problem. "He said, 'Well, the colonel's taking a few more Manion recalled. nothing to worry Aside'from the affidavits, Bradley has been unable since first challenged last November to produce any documentation to support his POW claim. Bowen said the lack of paperwork is suspicious. "If he's missing seven days, believe me, people will know and they will be out looking for him," Bowen said.

"Believe me, he will leave a paper trail wide enough for you to drive a jeep down." Bowen's organization expelled Bradley in 1987 when he couldn't prove his claims. An Army spokesman also had trou- ble believing Bradley could vanish for days without anybody noticing. "I would have to look at his record to be able to verify his claim," said Ll Col. James Cole, head of POW; affairs for the Army. "But I would'say his disappearing for five days and nobody bothering to report it is not Bradley's newest version of the POW story comes four weeks before his runoff elecion with Democrat David Finkelstein for an East Anchorage House seat.

The general election race between the two was so close that the slate Supreme Court ordered which will be held April Bradley and Republican Party Chairman Crawford, who also was at the press conference, charged that the controversy over Bradley's military record was stirred up by Finkelstein with help from the Daily television station KIMO. Finkelstein repeatedly has denied involvementin the matter. Sen. Adams Says Oilman Declined to Debate on ELF JUNEAU (AP) Sen. Al Adams says George N.

Nelson, president of BP Exploration (Alaska) has declined an invitation to debate Adams on proposed revision of the state's oil severance tax. Adams and Nelson are scheduled to testify before a Senate committee next week in Juneau on Adams' bill to revise the Economic Limit Factor, or ELF, a tax break intended to encourage continued production of aging oil fields, Adams' bill, like a similar bill in the House, would prohibit oil companies from applying the ELF to the Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk fields, the largest in the United States. The change wbuld generate hundreds millions of dollars for the stale. "Nelson knows he can't win on'the facts," Adams said in a news release. "That's why he won't debate.

He and his big-oil buddies know their ordy hope of keeping their big tax loophole is big money advertising, PR, and political contributions." BP Exploration officials said in.a news release Wednesday that Nelson declined the invitation to debate because he already had agreed to testify before the Senate Oil and Gas Committee. State Hires Welfare Official Seattle Fishing Group Seeks More of Bering Sea Catch Such a plan would insulate districts from the shock of rising and falling budgets based on oil prices, and allow administrators to confidently predict the amount of money they would receive each year. Turning to the current funding situation, Beckford said the district will be $250,000 short of the amount needed to fund programs at existing levels next year because of the loss of onetime funding sources, even if the legislature funds the foundation program at last year's level. A committee composed of parents, teachers, students, and administrators is presently surveying the budget and outlining possible cutbacks, he, said. Ban Sought on Import of Live Salmon, Trout to B.C.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia Scientists tracking a fish virus hat may be spreading through the.US. Pacific Northwest have called for an immediate ban on imports of live salmon or trout to British Columbia. A similar ban should be imposed on lie movement of captive fish from ihywhere iri the southern portion of he province, say researchers who fear he virus, recently discovered in Wash- state, may reach Canada. Evelyn, of the Department of Fisheries research lab at the Pacific Biological Station, said the measures should be imposed until scientists have letermined the extent of the threat posed by viral hemorrhagic septicc- Trie virus was found in echo salmon returning to a US. hatchery at Neah Bay and in chinook at a hatchery on Orcas Island, in the San Juans.

said the government should jegiri a testing program on the British Columbia coast to survey thousands of salmon and trout now held in hatcheries or fish farm pens. "We are proposing an eight-month program that is pretty intensive, surveying enormous numbers of fish It could well be into the thousands," Evelyn said. He said the study is warranted because the virus could cause untold damage to wild stocks of steelhead, rainbow, cutthroat and brown trout, and to Atlantic salmon in fish farms. Don Peterson, superintendent of hatcheries for the British Columbia Environment Ministry, said his department plans to examine all steelhead brood stock in the province. "It has the potential to be devastating," Peterson said of the virus.

The British Columbia Salmon Farmers Association has called on the government to step up its testing program for the in south coast river systems. The virus does not pose a health' hazard to humans. ANCHORAGE (AP) A Sealtie- based fishermen's group is seeking an increase of more than 30 percent in the harvest quota for Bering Sea bottom- fish. A lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court alleges the Commerce Department's quota of 2 million metric tons is not supported by scientific evidence.

The suil claims the quota will cost the U.S. fishing industry $125 million in lost revenue. The Midwater Trawlers Cooperative, representing says-the quota -imposes-an; ranted and capricious constraint" in violation of the 1976 Fishery Conservation and Management Act. The trawlers want the court to issue an injunction that would increase the quota by at least 700,000 tons. "There's quite a bit of fish that, according to available without any adverse impacts to the biological conditions of those stocks," said Steve Hughes, a technical adviser to the trawlers' group.

But Henry Mitchell, a member of the North Pacific Fishery Management ANS Officers To Meet Friday Alaska Native Sisterhood officers will meet 2 p.m. Friday at Salvation Army Hall. For more information call Margaret Gross-Hope at 747-3305. Visitors Bureau Board Meets Sitka Convention and Visitors Bureau board of directors will meet 7:30 a.m. Thursday at Westmark Shee-Ati- ka.

Emblem Club To Meet Thursday Members of Sitka Emblem Club 142 will meet 7 p.m. Thursday at the Elks I lodge. The evening's agenda will in- 1 elude awards night, secret sister reve- I lation and gift exchange. All members are encouraged to attend for election of officers. Scottish Rite Lodge Meets Members of Sitka Scottish Rite Lodge of Perfection will meet 7:30 p.m.

Thursday at the Masonic Temple. Little Registration Open All boys and girls ages 7 to 18 by August 1, 1989, interested in playing Little League baseball this summer should sign up 11 a.m. Saturday in room 115 of Blatchley Middle School. No other registration date will be offered. Membership fees are $20 per player, $35 for two players of the same family and $45 for three players or more of the same family.

Parents must register each player and provide a certified copy of a birth certificate. For mow information call Sue Kinnear at 747-3032. Council, said there are many unknowns about the Bering ecosystem. He said any major increase in the harvest might jeopardize the resource. He accused the trawlers of filing a frivolous lawsuit.

Many members of the trawlers' group have worked with foreign ships in joint ventures in past years. In an effort to Americanize the industry, the Commerce Department refused to grant any allocations to foreign boats this season, JUNEAU (AP) The state has hired a welfare-reform coordinator to plan major changes in public welfare programs mandated by a new federal law. Gretchen Mannix of Juneau will begin her new job March 16. She was appointed to the post by Myra Munson, commissioner of the Department of Health and Social Services. Mannix will leave her job with the governor's Office of Management and Budget to coordinate welfare reform for the estimated 30,000 people served by Alaska's public assistance programs.

She served as vice president of the Community Enterprise Development Corp. in Anchorage until 1986, and also has worked for the Alaska Native Foundation and Tlingit and Haida Central Council. The federal Family Support Act.pf 1988 mandates a major overhaul of the nation's welfare system, with emphasis on increasing employment and'job for welfare clients, Munson said. "These national reforms require changes in the way in which manages public assistance prqgramsy' she said. "Mannix's job will be to coordinate plans for bringing; these new ideas into Alaska's welfare system." Mannix will earn $52,548 a year at her new job.

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