m NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA —MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LIX No. 101 NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 1957Per Copy—15^
Mrs. Stefansson,
Arctic Author, in
Nome First Time
Evelyn Stefansson, wife of the
well-known arctic explorer Vilh
jalmur Stefansscn and co-author
of the book “Here Is Alaska,”
visited Nome for the first time
yesterday.
Mrs. Stefansson is now librar
ian for the Stefansscn collection
of Alaskan and other arctic liter
ature acquired by Dartmouth
College, where the retired explor
er is arctic consultant for the
college.
Mrs. Stefansson, at the request
of her publishers, is going to do
a modern version of “Here Is
Alaska,” bringing it up to date
with new pictures and material.
Fred Machatanz will again work
with her on the book.
Mrs. Stefansson lectured at the
University of Alaska this summer.
She is the author of two other
books, “Within the Arctic Circle”
and “Here Is the Far North.”
Russia Resumes
A-Tests With
‘Substantial’ Shot
WASHINGTON, .W*—Russia has
resumed atomic tests with a blast
of “substantial” power yesterday,
the Atomic Energy Commission
announced today.
A brief announcement from
AEC Chairmen Lewis I. Strauss
said:
“The Soviet Union has resumed
testing of nuclear weapons at its
Siberian proving grounds. A det
onation of substantial size took
place on Aug. 22.”
The development comes in the
midst of Soviet maneuvers in the
London disarmament conference
with the ostensible aim of cutting
off all nuclear tests.
i The United States, while offer
ing to call off tests for two years,
is insisting on safeguards which
the Russians reject. %
The last previous AEC an
nouncement of a Soviet nuclear
weapon test came April 18.
That blast was described as
“one of the largest thus far in the
current Soviet series.” Strauss
said it was the fifth in a series
which began April 13. It was the
11th reported by the AEC since
last August.
APW Officials To
Discuss Transfer
Of New School
Scheduled to arrive next Wed
nesday are Thomas Mooney, di
rector of Alaska Public Works;
Eben Lewis, field solicitor for the
A.P.W., and Mr. Boberg, super
vising contracting engineer.
These officials together with
Linn Forrest, architect from Ju
neau who designed the Nome
School ,will meet here with the
! Nome City Council and the Nome
I School Board to discuss the trans
i fer of the new school addition to
j the city.
I Karl Nestvold Awarded
I Plaque as Best AFBS
Announcer in Alaska
Karl Nestvold, popular an
nouncer of the AFRS station here,
is the proud owner of a beautiful
plaque presented to him by Major
George Grow, Alaskan head of
Armed Forces Radio stations, giv
ing him the distinction of being
named the top announcer in the
territory.
The contest among about 20
AFRS announcers was held by
remote control with the contes
tants sending in tapes with a spe
cial recording showing their ver
satility and achievements in this
field.
Nestvold has been with the
local station for the past two
years.
PATTERSON
KEEPS TITLE
IN SIX ROUNDS
SEATTLE UP>—Heavyweight
champion Floyd Patterson was
knocked down for only the second
time in his pro career before
stopping amateur king Pete Rad
emacher last night. He gave his
foe full credit.
“I don’t remember going down,
so obviously it was a knockdown,”
the 22-year-old Floyd said in his
hot, crowded dressing room at
Sick’s Stadium.
The general opinion had been
that Rademacher, 28, would be
fortunate to last two rounds
against the poised pro. Instead he
knocked him down for an official
count of four in the second and
wasn’t stopped until the sixth.
“He’s fresh from winning the
Olympic heavyweight title and
eager,” Floyd declared. “He has
the qualifcations of a future great
fighter but he lacks experience.”
Patterson said he was surprised
by the knockdown but didn’t feel
he was in any trouble.
Cus D’Amato, Patterson’s man
ager, appeared almost as happy
over the fact that Rademacher
fought back as he was about his
Tiger’s knockout victory.
He remained non-committal on
future plans for the champion.
“I can’t say at this time,” was
his only comment. Earlier he stat
ed he has a pair of $250,000 of
fers already.
Halverson Theory Indicates Possible
Occurrence of Earthquakes August 25
George Schwamm First
To Announce Candidacy
For 1958 Alaska Elections
FAIRBANKS UP)—The first can
didate to announce for qjay Alas
ka office in 1958 is George (Tony)
Schwamm, former director of avi
ation, who said here yesterday he
will run for the Territorial Sen
ate in the Third Aivision.
Schwamm lives at Anchorage.
The incumbent senators are J.
Earl Cooper and A1 Owen. All
three are Democrats.
3> Olaf Halverson, teacher at the
Nome School, says conditions will
be favorable for earthquakes in
a few days, centering around the
25th of August.
Mr. Halverson has been doing
research on an original earth
quake theory for some 15 years.
His theory originated in Kodiak,
where numerous earth tremors
occur. His charting of the planets
led him to associate earthquakes
with gravitational attraction of
celestial bodies, including the sun,
moon, and planets.
Certain positions of the planets,
he noted, bring about favorable
conditions for earthquakes, and if
there is any weakness in the
earth’s crust at the time, an earth
quake may occur.
His theory has won consider
able attention with West Coast
scientists.
He observed the presence of
conditions at Kodiak before the
Scotch Cape disaster and tidal
wave. Also, he announced to sev
eral of his students that condi
tions were favorable before the
Seattle earthquake. '
Several planets have currently
grouped themselves in close prox
imity, Mr. Halverson says, and
their combined gravitational at
traction, augmenting that of the
sun and moon, may cause an
earthquake soon, providing the
earth’s crust at any given point
is weak.
The planets involved this time
are Jupiter, Mars and Venus, Mr.
Halverson stated.
MORE PUPILS THIS YEAR
FAIRBANKS, UP*—A total of
2,805 grade school pupils have
registered here. When school let
out last fall there were 2,700 in
attendance.
Valdez’ Bid for Mental Patients Wins
Support of 3 Prominent Alaskans
FAIRBANKS, (#1—Strong sup
port for a proposal by the Valdez
Town Council that Alaska mental
patients be hospitalized there was
voiced by two territorial senators
and a member of the Alaska
Board of Health yesterday.
Sens. John Butrovich and Dr.
Paul B. Haggland said they favor
moving at least part of the terri
tory’s mentally ill from Morning
side Sanitarium at Portland, Ore.,
to unused but nearly new hospital
and housing facilities at Valdez.
Dr. Arthur J. Shaible, member
of the Territorial Board of Health,
said “the plan should definitely
be studied. It may be that Valdez
is not the place to care for out
and-out psychotics, but for senile
dementia cases it could be ideal.”
Mayor William Pettit of Valdez
said here Monday the facilities
there could take care of 160 pa
i tients until permanent mental in
| stitutions are built in Alaska.
Sen. Butrovich cited a memor
! ial of the Territorial Legislature
| from as early as 1915, urging the
Momingside contract be revoked.
Dr. Shaible said the Portland
institution now contains, among
other inmates, some 80 “old-tim
ers who are a little odd.” He said
“they’ve given up on them and
some have been there for 30
years.”
The possibility of taking care
of such patients at Valdez, with
only a general practitioner in
charge, should be studied, the
health board member said.
He added that a gradual trans
fer of mental patients, which such
a plan would make possible,
might have advantages over try
ing to assume the whole burden
j at once.
Harlow Curtice of G.M. and
, Walter Reuther of U. A. W.
Spar on Inflation Remedies
-i
Eisenhower Signs
Gov’t Reactor
Construction Bill
WASHINGTON, UP)—President
Eisenhower has signed an atomic
energy construction bill authoriz
ing preliminary studies on nu
clear power reactors to be built
by the government.
Senate Democrats had proposed
a reactor construction program
over Administration protests. And
when authorization legislation fi
nally was passed Tuesday, it con
tained no provision for actual
construction of the disputed re
actors, but only planning author
ity.
In a statement issued yesterday
when he signed the bill, Eisen
hower said the measure “is a
great improvement indeed over
bills introduced early in the ses
sion ... to build and operate a
number of full scale power react
ors at a cost for construction
alone of $400 million.
About the time that statement
was issued, the House passed and
sent to the Senate an appropria
tions bill which would provide
the actual funds for projects con
tained in the authorization bill
signed by the President.
Passed by voic& vote in the
House, the money bill allots $2,
299.718.500 to the Atomic Energy
Commission, a reduction of $185,
906.500 from Eisenhower’s bid.
Red Fireball
Bursts in Desert
In 13th U.S. A-Test
ATOMIC TEST SITE, Nev., iff
—A blood-red fireball burst over
the Nevada desert today as the
United States touched off the 13th
atomic explosion of the 1957 test
series.
The flash of the blast at 5:30
a.m. (PDT) was visible over a
large area of the west.
Downtown buildings in Los An
geles were bathed in a flashbulb
bright glow. The flash was visible
in San Francisco in spite of a
heavy fog.
Newsmen, barred from the test
site, witnessed the explosion from
Angel’s Peak, 45 miles from
Ground Zero.
The device was exploded from
a captive balloon 1,500 feet above
the Yucca Flat testing' grounds.
The dark red fireball flared
briefly, then faded. A mushroom
cloud quickly rose from it. The
cloud raced high into the sky, the
rays of the rising sun turning it
a snowy white.
Then, as the top of the mush
room detached from the writhing
stem, the brightening sun turned
the cloud to pink.
It paused half a minute, a giant
powdferpuff cloud poised. 36,000
feet above the Ground Zero. Then
it began to drift slowly to the
north-northwest.
Today’s test was roughly half
of nominal in power. A nominal
bomb is equal to 20,000 tons of
TNT (trinitrotoluene).
► DETROIT, \B>—President Har
low Curtice of General Motors
and the Auto Workers’ Walter
Reuther were squared off in ver
bal battle today on inflation rem
edies.
GM, replying to the union’s
proposal for an average $100 cut
on 1958 car models, has counter
proposed a two-year extension of
its union contract that expires
next spring.
Reuther, commenting on the
'counter-move, accused General
Motors of “shocking disregard”
of public welfare. He also charged,
the company with intending to
“go on short-changing American
consumers thru higher prices.”
The Curtice-Reuther exchange
came yesterday. First, Curtice
made his proposal in a letter to
Reuther describing it as a “con
structive” step against inflation.
The United Auto Workers presi
dent followed up in a public
statement.
In the statement Reuther inter
preted Curtice’s letter as an “ar
bitrary rejection” of the union’s
price cut proposal. He then de
nounced GM, declaring the com
pany “evades basic issues.”
Last week Reuther proposed to
the auto industry’s 'big three of
GM, Chrysler and Ford that they
cut 1958 car prices by an average
of $100 a car. In return he said
the union would be willing to
adjust next year’s contract de
mands.
Reuther has not indicated what
concessions the union might offer.
The UAW has said it will seek
higher wages and a shorter work
week next year.
Present three-year contract in
the auto industry expire next
spring. The auto union has said
it will seek a substantial wage
increase in new contracts.
Cardinal’s Death Leaves
12 Vacancies in College
VATICAN CITY, (*—Giovanni
Cardinfal Mercati died of a heart
attack last night at the age of 90.
He had been in failing health
for many weeks.
Cardinal Mercati was librarian
of the Roman Catholic Church.
His death increased to 12 the
number of vacancies in the Col
lege of Cardinals.
Sgt. York, 69, Fagged
At Honoring Ceremonies
JAMESTOWN, Term., —Sgt
Alvin C. York rested at his moun
tain home yesterday after ex
haustion forced his departure
from “Sergeant York Day” cere
monies here Wednesday.
The 69-year-old hero of World
War I was presented a new, black
automobile by the 82nd Airborne
Division Assn, after words of
praise from dignitaries including.
Gov. Frank- Clement. York is the
82nd’s only living Medal of Honor
winner of the 1917-18 era.
It was the first time the famous
sharp-shooting ' squirrel hunter
had, left' his Wolf River home
near here since a stroke paralyzed
him almost three years ago. The
new car is equipped to carry his
wheelchair.
He is the most talked about hero
of the time after singlehandedly
killing 25 Germans and capturing
130 in the Battle of the Argonne.