The state has sent fact-finding delegations to the hardest-hit rural areas. Bill McAllister, spokesman for Gov. Sarah Palin, said officials were in the process of finding aid programs already in place that could be extended immediately to help afflicted families.
The governor shepherded rural fuel subsidies and a $1,200-per-person fuel rebate through the Legislature last summer in anticipation of the high prices, and now is looking to see what more can be done, McAllister said.
But doing much more can be politically difficult in a state where urban residents often resent the substantial subsidies that keep rural Alaska afloat.
Stories about Emmonak prompted a number of angry comments to the Anchorage Daily News, some noting that rural families often collect tens of thousands of dollars from the state's annual oil dividends and from annual tribal corporation payouts, and asking why city dwellers should subsidize them even more.
"Folks who live in the bush do so because of a personal choice. Some just have the concept now that they need not save and conserve because the government will pay their way," one letter said. "When you are not able to live there for whatever reason, then move."
At the moment, villagers in Tuluksak say their greatest hope is that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will come through again on his pledge to deliver free fuel to Native Americans -- a promise that could mean 100 gallons for many families.
"What most people do not realize is that what our country as a whole has been seeing for the past year or so is nothing compared to the economic conditions that have been prevailing in many of our Native communities for over 100 years," Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on Jan. 15.
"It is truly tragic," she said, "that Alaska Native villages must depend on Venezuela for their safety net."
There is talk of distributing state-funded fuel vouchers to ease the crisis until spring. But Tuluksak residents say no one is expecting much from Juneau.
"Two governors ago, we were promised no more honey buckets in the villages. And yet you see we still have the honey buckets," said Gregory, referring to the portable toilets that are a pungent feature everywhere in Tuluksak except the school.
"Sarah Palin got us the fuel rebate, but she never promised anything," Samson said. "Which I guess is to her credit."
Wassilie was making her way to the village post office the other day -- her slight, shuffling figure smothered in a dark parka, moving like a blackbird on the snow.
Asked why she had waited so long to seek help, she shrugged, and smiled, and blinked, and didn't answer at all.
Tucker says he's seen the same thing all over. Shame. Pride. Silence.
"You would think a Yupik village like this would be aware of its neighbors' needs, but we weren't, because people were so shy and quiet," he said. "They were suffering alone. Like one of them said during our testimonials with the state officials, 'I thought I was the only one.' "
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kim.murphy@latimes.com
