Newsletter - June, page 06

A parliamentarian's biggest challenge may be finding ways to encourage participants at official gatherings to deal with issues and not personalities.

John Hope of Juneau is proud to accept. Hope has worn many hats during his long career, including serving 17 years on the Sealaska Corporation Board of Directors. Among his proudest achievements, however, has been his work as parliamentarian for many years for the Alaska Federation of Natives and the leadership positions he has held within the Alaska Native Brotherhood of Southeast Alaska.

Although Hope was sidelined from school in the fourth grade by his battle with tuberculosis, he has never let his lack of formal education keep him from accomplishments. He was born August 26, 1923, in Sitka, Alaska. After fighting TB on and off for several years, he was hospitalized in Tacoma, Wash., from 1938 to 1945, remaining virtually bedridden during most of the time. After his release from the hospital in July 1945, he returned home to Alaska. He joined the ANB that same year and quickly made up for lost time. He had missed interacting with people and found himself fascinated by how organizations operate.

"This will be my 54th year," he said. "I'm not just a member. I'm an active member. And I enjoy that. I don't always prevail in my position, but that's a plus. I learn a little bit every time I'm on the other end of an issue. I learned to listen a lot."

Hope feels that Robert's Rules of order and parliamentery procedure and other rules of meeting procedure are a natural for the Tlingits, Haidas and Tsimsians of Southeast Alaska because the parliamentary procedure is akin to the clan and caste system of Southeast Indians. Although the caste system is no longer practiced, the clan system remains in place and the concepts of obeying rules and speaking only when protocol permits dovetail

with the Native culture, he said.

Hope was Grand President of the ANB in 1963 and 1964, and his leadership position in Southeast led to his eventual position as parliamentarian when AFN was first started in the mid-1960s. From early on, he decided he would take a different tact with the position than is standard among parliamentarians.

"For every decision, I would give the rationale. And that's not what parliamentarians do," he said. But Hope said the decision was helpful, especially in AFN's early years. "It served two purposes. It got the people a little more trusting of the ruling, and it got them a little more educated as to why the rulings were the way they were. It's always mysterious when somebody makes a ruling and you don't know why. So I thought we all benefited if I explained why the ruling."

When Hope serves as parliamentarian at CIRI meetings, he brings a lifetime of experience with him to the post, and he's "passed" many major tests with flying colors. In a recent interview he recalled a major test in the early 1960s in Sitka at an ANB meeting when William Paul, the strong-willed Tlingit who was Alaska's first Native attorney, was urging action on an issue on the floor.

"An issue came up, and I wasn't the parliamentarian, but I knew the rule. And I got up and I said they couldn't do that. William Paul jumps up immediately and says, 'I will not accept that. I want chapter and verse on that ruling.'

"Just by luck, I opened my Robert's Rules, and there it was," Hope said. "My reputation was enhanced no end."

Over the more than 30 years since, Hope has focused his attention on his reputation as a knowledgeable and even more importantly- as a fair parliamentarian.

of McKinley in 1910;

Ray Genet, the first person to successfully climb McKinley in winter and often referred to as the man who pioneered guiding on McKinley;

Walter Harper, the first Alaska Native to successfully summit McKinley while working as an attendant and interpreter for Hudson Stuck's 1913 expedition team;

Dave Johnston, part of the first successful winter ascent team, along with Ray Genet and Art Davidson in 1967;

Harry Karstens, a member of Hudson Stuck's successful 1913 expedition of the South Peak, and having had the reputation of being an expert wilderness explorer;

The Sourdoughs, a group, made up of Charles McGonagall, Peter Andersen, William Taylor and Thomas Lloyd, that pioneered the ascent of McKinley's 19,470-foot North Peak in 1910. The Sourdough Expedition is known as one of the most courageous, phenomenal and noteworthy expeditions of its time;

Hudson Stuck, an Episcopal Missionary and resident of Fairbanks, Stuck led the first successful ascent of McKinley's South Peak in 1913;

Mugs (Terrance) Stump, considered an extraordinary alpinist who boldly climbed the Cassin Ridge in a record 15 hours in 1991. He died in 1992, while descending McKinley;

Bradford Washburn; a noted scientist, cartographer and explorer, who led an eight-member party to establish a new route to the summit of McKinley's South Peak, via the West Buttress, in 1951.

Barbara Washburn, the first woman to climb McKinley and a member of her husband Bradford's filming and scientific expedition in 1947. The party of seven summited the south peak via Muldrow and Harper Glacier.

A permanent exhibit with photos and
information about each Hall of Fame member is located in the Lodge's Base Camp Lounge. Each year, additional climbers will be voted into the Hall of Fame by a select panel of judges.

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