is NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LXII No. 22 NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1960 Per Copy 15tf
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Castro Repeats
Charge U.S. Planes
Bomb Cuban Soil
HAVANA, IjW — Prime Minister
Fidel Castro reiterated last night
that Florida - based planes are
bombing Cuban soil. He demand
ed that the United States halt any
such bombings. He reported two
Americans had been killed Thurs
day' in an air attack on a Cuban
sugar mill.
The bearded prime minister
told a nationwide television audi
ence the chief cause of strained
American-Cuban relations is the
"war” being conducted by raid
ing planes from the United States.
Speaking with unusual calm, he
said documents taken from the
wreckage proved the plane which
tried to bomb the Espana sugar
mill, 100 miles east of Havana,
came from Florida.
"The United States authorities
have asked us for proof,” he de
clared. “We have the proof here.
Now it’s up to them to act.”
He said the documents included
a U.S. passport that identified the
pilot as Robert Ellis Frost.
Cuban officials identified the
other flier as Robert Kelly and
said he was a member of the U.S.
Civil Air Patrol.
In Miami, Robert Frost of Port
land, Ore., was reported overdue
on a ‘presumably local flight” in
a light plane bearing the same
registry number as the one which
crashed in Cuba.
CAP headquarters in Houston,
Tex., said its records listed two
Robert Kellys as members, but
the familes of both men said they
were in the United States and
were not connected in any way
with the Cuban incident.
Castro said an investigation in
dicated the premature explosion
of a fragmentation bomb intended
for the mill blew up the plane.
He said eyewitnesses reported the
plane was diving on the mill when
it blew apart, sending one of the
fliers hurtling through the roof
of a nearby house and shattering
the body of the other beyond re
cognition.
Castro also said that some 30
raids this year had resulted in
the loss of about 225,000 tons of
sugar cane.
Hodge Will Hold
Court in Juneau
JUNEAU, Ml—Judge Walter H.
Hodge, 63-year-old Republican
confirmed yesterday to the new
U.S. District Court bench in Al
aska, will conduct his first judi
cial activities in his new role at
Juneau.
The former Nome jurist said
headquarters of the new court
1 temporarily will be located at
Juneau, while he works on a
backlog of federal cases pending
in the Southeastern District.
Thereafter, the headquarters of
his new life-time federal court
will be located at Anchorage.
Hodge, who resigned from the
State Supreme Court effective on
the date of the proclamation
creating the new court, named J.
M. Kroninger, his former clerk at
Nome, as U.S. District Clerk.
The proclamation is expected
to be issued by President Eisen
hower Saturday or Tuesday. Mr.
Kroninger will be in charge of the
court staff at Anchorage, which
* includes members of the present
j|. Third Division court.
Egan Asks For
Permanent State
Planning Office
JUNEAU, IJT—The creation of a
Division of State Planning within
the Office of the Governor, to
carry out on a continuing basis
the work of the present Planning
Commission, was asked of the
Legislature yesterday by Gover
nor Egan.
The 1959 Legislatue set up the
current State Planning Commis
sion, with the single purpose of
reporting on the state’s capital
improvement needs to the current
legislative session.
The new bill, introduced in the
Senate at the request of Egan,
would make the arrangement per
manent. The proposed legislation
calls for employment of a Plan
ning Director and the creation of
a five-member Planning Commis
sion, with the members serving
overlapping five-year terms.
The proosed Planning Commis
sion would prepare an annual
capital improvement program and
a long-range capital planning sur
vey, based on the need for public
works and the state’s ability to
pay for them.
Bartlett Will Ask For
Additional Hearings On
Arctic Wildlife Refuge
WASHINGTON, IJV-Sen. E. L.
Bartlett said today he will re
quest the Senate Commerce Com
mittee to hold additional hearings
on legislation to create an Arctic
wildlife range.
Bartlett said he decided this
after conferring yesterday with
Secretary of the Interior Fred A.
Seaton.
Bartlett said Seaton expressed
himself as favoring the nine-mil
lion-acre range bill as passed this
week by the House. Some Alas
kans want the size cut in half.
“Personally,” said Bartlett, “I
haven’t made up my mind defin
itely on the issue. I want further
consideration of the proposal by
the Senate Commerce Committee.”
Bartlett said he and Seaton also
discussed a proposal to pipe nat
ural gas from newly discovered
fields in the Arctic to Fairbanks.
GOP Chairman Charges
Democrats Gave Alaska
No Effective Leadership
ANCHORAGE, UP) — Robert
Groseclose, Republican state
chairman, predicted here yester
day the GOP has a good chance
of gaining control in the Alaska
House of Representatives in this
fall’s election.
He also took a verbal swipe at
the Democratic - controlled state
government, calling it “an inef
fective legislature” and asserting
the state lacks overall leadership.
Speaking of the Republican re
surgence he expects, Groseclose
said, “I think we can gain control
of the House and pick up strength
in the Senate. We should make
our biggest gains in the South
eastern and Central districts.”
“People are more politically
conscious now than they were in
1958,” he added. “And this is also
a presidential election year. Both
of these factors should create an
increased vote.”
He blamed the Democrats for
“giving us no direction to go.
They spend their time raising
salaries and spending money ra
ther than trying to lead the
state,” he said.
Groseclose said the Republicans
will have strong candidates to |
run for congressional posts
against Sen. E.L. Bartlett and Rep.
Ralph Rivers.
Groseclose is in Anchorage to
attend the South Central Repub
lican District meeting.
Gov. Signs Two Bills Repealing
Sections of the Alaska Code
JUNEAU, UP)—Gov. Egan signed
two bills yesterday which repeal
outmoded sections of the Alaska
statutes.
The first of the new laws re
peals the so-called uniform ten
ure of office act for state officals,
passed early in the 1959 session
and later superceded by terms of
the State Reorganization Act.
The second repeals a series of
provisions in the Alaska Code,
dating back to the Organic Act,
relating to the executive branch
of government. The old laws were
applicable, to a territorial gover
nor, but play no part in the chief
executive’s duties under state
hood.
CARYL CHESSMAN GRANTED 8TH REPRIEVE
10 HOURS BEFORE HE WAS SCHEDULED TO DIE
SAN FRANCISCO, UP) — Caryl
Chessman, condemned to death 12
years ago as a perverted sex kid
naper, won his eighth reprieve
from the San Quentin gas cham
ber early today after an appeal
from the U. S. Department of
State.
Gov. Edmund Brown, acting
against all odds and in the face
of a California Supreme Court re
commendation opposing clemen
cy, ordered a 60-day stay less
than 10 hours before Chessman
was scheduled to die.
The governor said he ordered
the stay because of a State De
partment telegram warning that
execution of Chessman might lead
to hostile demonstrations in Uru
guay and Brazil against President
Eisenhower during the President’s
forthcoming visit to South Am
erica.
The governor, an avowed foe of
capital punishment, also said he
would make a special call to the
state legislature, which recon
venes Feb. 29, to consider aboli
tion of the death penalty.
“If the people, acting through
their elected representatives, de
termine that the present law
should be continued in effect,
Caryl Chessman will be executed
under the law,” Brown said.
Chessman, the most notorious
American prisoner of modern
times,-has excited worldwide at
tention by his long struggle to
escape death through legal tech
nicalities.
With little knowledge of the
basic evidence, hundreds of thou
sands of persons in scores of
countries have demonstrated and
petitioned that Chessman be
spared.
Ironically, the State Depart
ment telegram which saved him
was almost lost in the thousands
of telegrams pouring into the gov
ernor’s office, urging clemency.
Cecil Poole, the governor’s sec
retary, happened to open it, and
the stay was ordered shortly after
midnight.
Chessman, scheduled to enter
the gas chamber at 10 a.m., was
whisked out of the ‘‘waiting
room” cell next to the green
painted gas chamber and re
turned to the death row cell
which has been his home since
July 3, 1948.
Legislature Asked to Appeal to Federal
Agencies to Speed Consideration Of
Construction on Nome-Fairbanks Road
JUNEAU, OP)—The State Legis
lature was asked today to make
another appeal to federal agencies
to speed consideration of the pro
posed highway linking Nome and
Fairbanks.
Sen. Lester Bronson introduced
a resolution asking federal agen
cies to get moving “with all de
liberate speed” on the 500-mile
route known as Highway 97.
“The extension of the Fair
banks - Nome Highway would
benefit both the nation and the
state by making possible the ec
onomic development of the oil and
tin deposits in the Kateel and
Lost River areas and other known
mineral resources of the region,”
Bronson’s resolution said.
The new petition came in the
wake of other moves by the
Northwestern District lawmakers
in efforts to obtain a firm con
struction schedule for the road
link.
One of the chief obstacles to
inclusion of the Nome-Fairbanks
Highway in the construction pro
gram is the lack of certification
of it as part of the Federal Aid
System in Alaska.
The State has asked the Fed
eral Bureau of Public Roads to
include the 130-mile Nome-Hay
cock section as part of the system,
for federal aid matching purposes.
Gov. Egan has told the North
western legislators and Chambers
of Commerce that the Nome-Hay
cock section will be placed Under
contract this year if federal ap
proval is obtained.
Meanwhile Sen. John McNees
is assembling various sets of fig
ures in support of arguments the
cross-state road link is needed.
Data includes a 20-year popu
lation forecast for the area which
would be served by the highway,
estimated traffic on the road
when it would be completed, and
traffic projections as far ahead as
1980.
2nd Son Born to
Queen Elizabeth
By HAL COOPER
LONDON, UP)—Queen Elizabeth
II gave birth to a boy—her sec
ond son—today.
Both the Queen and the infant
prince were doing well.
Bells rang out the joyful news
across a nation which had waited
tensely through the 33-year-old
Queen’s long and somewhat anx
ious confinement.
The birth came more than 30
hours after she had called in her
doctors.
A carnival air swept through
London. Crowds began to swarm
to the palace in increasing num
bers.
The child’s weight was not an
nounced immediately.
-His name will be secret until
the christening, perhaps months
from now. A likely choice is
James.
The -baby, first born to a reign
ing British monarch in 103 years,
takes second place in the line of
succession to throne — after his
11-year-old brother, Prince Char
les, and ahead of his 9-year-old
sister, Princess Anne.
Inside the palace, Prince Phil
ip, joined the baby’s staff. in
drinking a champagne toast to his
new child.
The last queen to have a baby
while actually head of the mon
archy was Queen Victoria. Her
youngest child, Princess Beatrice,
was born in 1857.
There were indications that
Elizabeth II had undergone a
somewhat difficult labor.
Robbing the Dead
MANILA, (iP) — Scrap metal
scavengers have stolen some 1,500
cast iron crosses from graves at
the military cemetery at Clark
Air Force Base, north of Manila,
base officials reported today. The
cemetery contains the graves of
7,000 Americans and Filipinos,
many of whom died in WWII.
2-DAY HOLIDAY FOR STORES
Grocery and meal stores and
other businesses have announced
that they will be closed on Mon
day. Feb. 22. Washington's Birth
day, a legal holiday. The Post Of
fice and other Federal and State
offices will observe the holiday.
NOME SCHOOL WILL
TAKE PART IN STATE
SPELLING CONTEST
Conrad Potter, superintendent
of the Nome School, announced
this morning that the school will
participate in the Spelling Bee
Contest for the first time.
Students from the 6th, 7th and
8th grades are eligible and there
will be a series of spelldowns in
the classrooms preceding a public
spelldown to choose the winner
who will go to Anchorage for the
state finals.
The winner of the state finals
will go “outside” to compete in
the interstate contest.
The local school will pay part
of the expenses of the local win
ner and his mother or companion.
The school is looking for a co
sponsor, either an organization or
a business house to assist with
the plane fare to Anchorage.
About $200 will be needed. Any
organization or other sponsor may
contact Mr. Potter.
The state contest will be held
in Anchorage in April. Mr. Pot
ter’s school produced a winner
last year who went to the finals
outside and came home with
many interesting prizes.
A former Nome girl, Rosemary
Barber, was one of the semi-final
ists in Anchorage.
NEW BILL PROVIDES
LOCALLY INITIATED
BOUNDARY CHANGES
JUNEAU, UPl — Boundary
changes could be initiated locally
under a bill introduced in the Al
aska House yesterday. The mea
sure provides for elections on
proposed changes. If a change
were approved by election, the
State Local Boundary Commis
sion would be required to recom
mend it to the Legislature.
The Commission would still be
able to make recommendations on
its own initiative, as under pre
sent law. All reconimendations
would take effect in 45 days un
less approved by the Legislature,
as at present.
The bill would set up eight bor
oughs to manage intermediate
functions of government between
those of the State and cities. The
boroughs would have the same
boundaries as the eight existing
independent sclmol districts.