[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 4295-4296]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       CONGRATULATING JOHN BAKER

  Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, I have a short statement recognizing 
the phenomenal historical win of the Iditarod race. John Baker is an 
Inupiaq Alaska Native and is the first Alaskan Native to win the 
Iditarod in 35 years, and it has been around for 39 years. He made it 
to Nome on the thousand mile-plus Iditarod Trail in record time: 8 
days, 19 hours, 46 minutes, and 39 seconds on the trail, which is the 
fastest time in the Iditarod history. We are exceptionally proud of 
John Baker.
  I had an opportunity to be with John Baker and his phenomenal dog 
team as they were preparing to leave from Anchorage 2 weeks ago, and 
John said, ``It's my time, Lisa.'' He has been in the top 10 for 11 
tries now, and we are exceptionally proud of him, but not only proud of 
John Baker and his approach to the care of his dogs and his team, but 
we are proud of the canine athletes. He has a couple lead dogs, Velvet 
and Snicker, that are pretty incredible.
  Mr. REID. If my friend will yield, I got a call from one of the 
secretaries, so why don't you give your statement.
  Ms. MURKOWSKI. I thank the leader. I will share it with you, and I 
appreciate the indulgence.
  Again, I speak on behalf of not only John Baker as a great athlete 
but his canine athletes. When the mushers leave out of the start in 
Willow, they leave with about 16 dogs on the team. These are remarkable 
animals that love nothing more than to be on the trail and to be 
mushing. His team demonstrated a resolve and a commitment and a 
dedication to not only their musher, Mr. Baker, but to what the whole 
sport of dog mushing is all about. For those who follow the Iditarod 
Trail, you know this is not for the weak. This is over exceptionally 
rugged terrain, oftentimes in exceptionally rugged circumstances where 
you have Arctic winds howling down off the coast, blizzards that 
provide for whiteouts, going down passes that cause encounters that 
flip you over and break sleds and break bones. It is not for the timid.
  But Alaska brings out some exceptional individuals. There were 62 
teams that mushed from Willow to Nome this year. They are still out 
there on the trail as we speak. We wish those who are still coming in 
well along the way. We had some accidents, but there is never an 
Iditarod when we do not seem to have Mother Nature intervening in one 
way or another. The good news for us is that those who have had a 
happenstance, whether it was a broken collarbone or a happenstance with 
a knife, those men are doing fine and the dogs, again, are coming in 
and doing fine.
  Again, Madam President, I am thrilled to congratulate Alaskan dog 
musher John Baker and his exceptional team of dogs, who carried him 
across the Iditarod finish line for a first place finish in Nome, AK, 
at 9:46 a.m. Tuesday morning. The Iditarod is not for the faint of 
heart--the trail is made up of some of the harshest terrain in North 
America spanning over 1,000 miles of rugged mountains, frozen tundra, 
and dense forests. Baker and his team made history yesterday beating 
every Iditarod record after racing eight days, 19 hours, 46 minutes, 
and 39 seconds on the trail--the fastest time in Iditarod 39-year 
history by 3 hours.
  John Baker is a hometown hero in Kotzebue, a small northwest Alaskan 
community that rests roughly 33 miles north of the Arctic Circle on the 
Chukchi Sea. Yup'ik drumbeats and seal calls welcomed John, an Inupiaq 
Alaska Native and the first Alaska Native Iditarod champion in 35 
years, as he and his team raced into Nome yesterday.
  The Iditarod is the world's longest dog sled race. It requires 
mushers to have tenacity and a sort of fearless courage, but even those 
qualities will not make a winning team. Extraordinary leadership is 
just as essential of the lead dogs who must guide their team through 
the toughest of conditions for days on end. Together, man and dog are 
pitted against nature and the raw elements of the Last Frontier. John 
Baker's team of canines is truly the cream of the crop.
  I have had the pleasure of meeting his lead dogs Snicker and Velvet. 
Together, Snicker and Velvet guided the Baker team across frozen lakes 
and tundra, through freezing temperatures, winds, and snow. Although 
yesterday was the first time Snicker and Velvet have been draped in 
flowers and adoration at the finish line in Nome--this is not their 
first run at the Iditarod. Baker has run the Iditarod 15 times before 
and amazingly garnered 11 top 10 Iditarod finishes. This was their 
year--and Alaskans are celebrating with them across the State. John and 
his team have trained for this, they have fought for this, and they 
have made history.
  I am proud to congratulate the Baker team on this extraordinary 
victory and I send my best wishes to John and his family today as they 
celebrate this well-deserved victory in Alaska's great race.
  Mr. REID. Will my friend yield for a question?
  Ms. MURKOWSKI. Yes.
  Mr. REID. They had a great piece on public radio before the race 
started--it was very good--as to why the race takes place. I want to 
find out if what I understood from that radio piece is valid.
  Wherever the race winds up, there was a place badly in need of some 
kind of serum because there was an illness there, diphtheria. I do not 
really remember. They had no way of getting the medicine there. Some 
person decided what they could not do with machines they could do with 
dogs. They took the medicine and saved all these lives. Is that valid?
  Ms. MURKOWSKI. The majority leader watched that report well--
  Mr. REID. I listened to it. It was on the radio.
  Ms. MURKOWSKI. The Senator listened to it well. He heard it right. It 
was an outbreak of diphtheria in Nome. There was no way to get the 
diphtheria serum to the residents of Nome. It was a true and honest 
scare in the middle of the winter. The concern was that if they were to 
take it through a regular route during the winter months, it would not 
get there in time to save the residents of Nome.
  The airfields were not sufficient. They could not travel by air 
because we did not have the airfields back in the twenties. It was a 
team of dogs that did a relay across the State. They delivered the 
serum in time and saved the town.
  This race has been resurrected, if you will, to commemorate the Great 
Serum Race to Nome, as it is called, to commemorate the delivery of the 
serum, an act that would save that community. It is quite a remarkable 
story in our State's history.
  Mr. REID. Madam President, I hesitate saying this because I will 
probably get in trouble, but this is a good reason why the House vote 
was bad today to disband public radio.
  It was such a wonderful piece. I did not know that.
  Ms. MURKOWSKI. I, too, will take an opportunity to plug public radio 
because the majority leader heard the piece on NPR, but in my home 
State and in many of the villages we are talking about where these 
teams will go through on their way to Nome, it truly is the public 
broadcast system that is their means of communication.
  Mr. REID. I heard Ted Stevens talk about this in the past.
  Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mukluk Telegraph is what he would call it. It was a 
way to convey birthday greetings to people in the next village. It was 
a way to say: I made it back from hunting camp safely. It is a way of 
communication. People do not often recognize that in many parts of our 
State, and certainly along parts of where these teams are traveling 
right now, we do not have a level of communication that we see in 
Washington, DC, or in most parts of the country.
  That is our plug for public radio. I appreciate that bit.
  Mr. REID. The only radio station I can get in the daytime in 
Searchlight is public radio.

[[Page 4296]]


  Ms. MURKOWSKI. There you have it.
  Madam President, I appreciate the indulgence of the majority leader. 
Again I send my warmest well wishes to John Baker and his team. I will 
be greeting the mushers in Nome on Sunday at the mushers banquet, and I 
can't wait.
  I thank you for the time you have given me. I yield the floor.

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