NATION IN BRIEF : ALASKA : Native Groups Start Sobriety Movement

Eskimos, Indians and Aleuts declared war against a disease ravaging their people: alcoholism. A blue ribbon commission of native leaders stood before the 1,000 delegates to the Alaska Federation of Natives convention and before many more watching on statewide television in some 200 villages and begged Alaska’s aboriginal people to give up liquor. Alcohol is linked to nearly all violence, injuries and suicides involving Alaska natives, who make up 15% of the state’s population. “You are a strong people,” Gov. Steve Cowper told the delegates. “ . . . I urge you to use that strength here again.”