Rankin Inlet (Aug 02/06) - Wind and dry weather in Rankin Inlet are combining to kick up more dust than an enraged baseball manager arguing with an umpire.

"It's been a problem for a few years actually," said resident Mora Kablalik, who adds a steady procession of big trucks to the town's gravel pit only makes the problem worse.

"I'm a person who likes to walk and sometimes it's not worth it."

Mayor Lorne Kusugak said the health risks posed by the dust, especially for asthmatic kids and elders, are his biggest concern. He has no shortage of constituents phoning and visiting his office to say the same thing. "There's been calls and calls and calls," he said. "It's the single biggest issue in Rankin Inlet by far."

Town workers are applying calcium chloride, a salty substance widely used to control dust, to Rankin's main roads in an effort to combat the problem, but Kusugak said without a compactor to pack the road surface down, the calcium chloride doesn't do much.

That compactor is expected to arrive on the first sealift barge tomorrow.

Meanwhile four-wheelers and speeding traffic continue to tear up the roads and kick up dust.

Town works superintendent Arnie Brown said the calcium chloride does a great job stopping dust and, properly compacted, can last two to three years.

"The dust problem will be light years better than it is," he said.

But with only one grader and water truck-both required to apply the calcium chloride-Brown said his department will only be able to do so much this summer. He's hopeful crews will be able to treat Rankin's main drags and a few side streets by the fall.