High gas prices taking a toll in Indian Country

Monday, August 4, 2008
Filed Under: National

With gas prices breaking the $4 barrier, people on the powwow circuit are feeling the pinch.

Adele Stabler, 51, is used to crossing the country to attend powwows. But this year she's had to borrow money to fill her tank and cancel trips altogether.

"They’re affecting everybody," Stabler told The Lincoln Journal Star of high prices.

Seavert Sheridan, 16, and his family aren't making long trips either. He was staying a bit closer to home at the Lincoln Indian Club powwow in Lincoln, Nebraska, over the weekend.

"The high gas prices have crunched a lot of folks," club spokesperson Mark Awakuni-Swetland told the paper.

Gas prices in Alaska are always higher than those in the lower 48 but the $7.76 a gallon cost is taking its toll. Combined with low salmon runs, residents of Native villages in interior Alaska are concerned about making it through the rapidly-approaching winter.

http://www.indianz.com/News/2008/010149.asp