OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LX I No. 152 NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1959Per Copy—15f
Herter Replies to
Egan Query on
Bering Strait Dam
WASHINGTON, MV—'The State
Department is preparing a letter
to the Governor of Alaska con
cerning a Russian proposal to
warm the northern seas by build
ing a dam across the Bering
Straits.
A spokesman said the letter, in
reply to an inquiry last month by
Governor Egan, would be sent
soon, possibly before Monday.
The letter is based on some
suggestions from other govern
ment agencies to the State De
partment. The spokesman said it
would be up to Egan whether con
tents of the letter were made
public.
Egan’s inquiry was prpmpted
by a report by the Soviet news
agency Tass on a proposal by a
Moscow engineer named Pyotry
Borisov.
Borisov said it might be pos
sible to build a floating dam across
the 46-mile strait between Alaska
and Russia, thus changing the
climate of the Arctic and opening
frozen tundra to development by
affecting the flow of warm and
cold water in the Arctic seas.
Egan asked Secretary of State
Herter for a study of the project,
giving “consideration to exploring
the international benefits to accrue
from a joint study of the feasi
bility and merit” of such a dam.
Herter replied an “immediate
thorough study” of the project
would be made. Herter said the
project “not only has a number
of points of great interest to us,
but also would involve many
complex problems which I would
like td have time to study rather
carefully.”
Senator Gruening said recently
“This country cannot afford to
overlook the alluring potentials of
a greatly increased habitability
and availability of the vast Arctic
areas in a world so rapidly be
coming overpopulated.”
Gruening added that if no steps
are taken by the United States by
January for a scientific appraisal
of the proposal, he plans to look
into the possibility of getting
Congress to authorize an investi
gation.
Needed A Light?
SAN FEANCISCO, UP> — “The
Line Point Lighthouse has just
been held up sir,” Coast Guards
man Dick Breckel reported to San
Francisco headquarters Monday
Breckel, 19, and his fellow
lighthouse keeper across the Gol
den Gate Bridge in Marin County,
said an apparently drunken man
lurched in, waving a gun. For
emphasis he shot the neck off a
catsup bottle and drilled another
bullet into a wall telephone.
Breckel said the man then or
dered him to hand over a .45
cali6er automatic in a desk
drawer — and fled.
San Francisco police arrested a
suspect they identified as Wil
lard Salberg. They said he fired
a shot with a .45-caliber auto
matic to emphasize an argument
in a San Francisco bar.
Coast Guard Abandons
Hope After False Lead
In Search for Amphibian
KETCHIKAN, UP) — A surface
search for an amphibian plane
missing with three Californians
was suspended today after the
Coast Guard reported a possible
clue to their fate had proved
valueless.
Aerial search was to continue as
weather permits but heavy snow
fall hampered the hunt.
The twin-engine PBY has been
missing since its pilot radioed last
Thursday that one of the engines
had quit on a flight from Juneau.
Aboard were pilot Philip Gray
of Sausalito, Calif., Burrass Smith
of Corte Madera, and Carl Scott
of San Francisco.
A cap found in a log raft
north of here carried an inscrip
tion including the word “Made
Ion,” the name of Gray’s wife. But
the Coast Guard at Juneau re
ported Mrs. Gray knew nothing
of such a cap. It was first reported
Scott’s wife was named Madelon,
but the Coast Guard said that was
incorrect.
Too Much Television Can
Bring Pain In The Neck
LONDON, — A British med
ical magazine warned today that
too much television can give you
anything from a pain in the neck
to a heart attack.
The periodical, “The Lancet,”
emphasized that the incidence of
what it dubbed “Television col
lapse” is small. It asserted, how
ever, that prolonged peering may
bring on the following ailments:
1. TV Neck. Watching from a
chair which is too low or too high
may cause pain and stiffness
among the upper vertebrae.
2. TV Thrombosis. Sitting im
mobile in awkward position may
lead to blood clots in the veins.
3. TV Fits. Flickering of the
screen may touch off convulsions
in borderline epileptics.
4. TV Arteries. Slouching in an
easy chair may push the heart
forward in the chest, producing
degeneration of main blood ves
sels.
5. TV Gas Pains. Viewers have
been known to faint from pain
beneath the breastbone caused by
eating a heavy meal and then
lolling in a cramped posture.
6. TV Heart Attack. Programs
which cause emotional stress may
bring on angina pectoris, a pain
in the chest accompanied by op
pression of the heart.
Brigitte Bardot Will
Have Baby at Home
PARIS, — Brigitte Bardot
expects her baby next week, the
Paris newspaper France-Soir said
today, quoting her physician.
In the past few days, an entire
nursery as well as hospital equip
ment needed for a delivery has
been installed in the film star’s
Paris apartment, indicating she
will have the baby at home.
Brigitte’s husband, Jacques
Charrier, is still recuperating
from a nervous breakdown which
led to a provisional discharge from
the army.
Seattle C. of C. Is Satisfied
With Freight Rate Hike
SEATTLE, U& — Seattle’s
Chamber of Commerce decided
Monday to take no action in the
controversy over a proposed 10
per cent increase in water freight
rates to and from Alaska. '
The chamber’s Alaska division
considered the question and an
nounced it had found no basis for
opposing the requested increase.
Alaska Governor Egan, who is
opposing the increase, had asked
the Seattle group to give “early
consideration to effects” of the
proposed boost.
Martin O’Rourke, manager of
the Seattle chamber’s Alaska di
vision, said a letter giving the
chamber’s position would be sent
to Egan yesterday.
He said a special committee,
representing the chamber’s Alas
ka and maritime divisions and the
Seattle Traffic Association, would
be set up to keep abreast of the
situation.
At Monday’s meeting R. C.
Rose, traffic manager for Alaska
Steamship Co., said that in
creased costs necessitated an in
crease. Coastwise Line joined
Alaka Steam in the increase
request.
Pope John Calls
For New Look at
Value of Man
By FRANK BRUTTO
VATICAN CITY, — Pope
John XXIII declared in a Christ
mas message to the world today
that “things and institutions —
the state — are primarily for
man; not man for them.”
The Communist way of life was
an obvious target of the 78-year
old Roman Catholic Pontiff, though
he did not mention Communism
by name, in a speech devoted to
peace and the obstacles in its path.
Broadcasting a new call for
world leaders to fashion a true
peace, he said society is solidly
based on the mutual and recipro
cal respect for the dignity of
man.”
“The disturbances which un
settled the internal peace of na
tions trace their origins chiefly
to this source, that man has been
treated almost exclusively as a
machine, a mere productive unit,”
he said.
Obviously referred to President
Eisenhower’s 11-nation peace tour
and other recent international de
velopments, he said “The most re
cent events have caused an atmos
phere of so-called disengagement
which has caused hopes to blos
som anew in many minds. . . .”
He described the international
basis of peace as “Above all,
! truth.”
The Pope spoke in Italian in
response to Christmas greetings
from the College of Cardinals.
His message was broadcast by the
Vatican Radio and various Euro
pean networks. The Mutual
Broadcasting System planned to
carry an English-language trans
lation in the United States later
in the day.
U. S. Capitol Welcomes President
Home, Waving Torches, Caroling
WASHINGTON, UP) — President
Eisenhower today makes> a brief
report to the nation on his historic
peace mission that carried him
halfway around the world.
As he returned home last night,
the President relayed a message
of Christmas goodwill from major
areas of the free world. He’ll make
his 15-minute report when he
lights the national Christmas tree
late this afternoon.
A shivering but enthusiastic
crowd shouted greetings as the
President drove into the White
House grounds shortly after mid
night. Thus ended a 22,000-mile
trip, mostly by jet plane, that
started December 3 and took Eis
enhower to 11 nations on three
continents—the longest ever made
by an American President in
office.
The welcoming delegation, esti
mated by police at close to 4,000,
was far short of the millions that
greeted the President on his 19
day tour of personal diplomacy,
but they waited in windy, 20
degree weather to cheer Eisen
hower on his return.
They waved giant sparklers that
brilliantly lighted Pennsylvania
Avenue as Eisenhower nodded his
appreciation. Then, after the
Chief Executive had entered the
Whitee House, they burst into • a
serenade of Christmas carols.
Half an hour earlier, a smaller
official delegation met the Presi
dent at Andrews Air Force Base 15
miles away in nearby Maryland.
At Andrews, the President
spoke briefly, saying that every
where he went he was given a
message of Merry Christmas to
convey to the people of the
United States.
Fuller Report Tonight
He promised a fuller, though
still brief, report on his travels,
when he formally lights the na
tional Christmas tree late today.
The President appeared to have
withstood the rigors of his pilgrim
age better than many of those
who accompanied him.
After Christmas at the White
House with Mrs. Eisenhower, he
probably will leave this weekend
for his Augusta, Ga., vacation cot
tage, to remain almost until time
for the session of Congress start
ing January 6.
Between now and then, and for
months afterwards, diplomats and
politicians will speculate on the
effects of the President’s talks
with leaders of Italy, Turkey,
Pakistan, Afghanistan, India,
Greece, Iran, Tunisia, France,
Spain and Morocco.
There seemed no disagreement
that the President had boosted his
own stock as a world leader and
enhanced his nation’s prestige as
the champion of freedom.
First concrete results of the
Presidential peace mission may
flow from the East-West summit
meeting, tentatively scheduled in
Paris next April, and from his
later face-to-face sessions with
Soviet Premier Khrushchev in
(Moscow.
i Prohibition-Era Shimmy
Queen Dies in Calif.
HOLLYWOOD, WV-Gilda Gray,
the shimmy dancer of the 1920s
who gave America more shakes
than bootleg whikky, is dead.
She died of an apparent heart
attack Tuesday while visiting a
friend. The petite blonde had been
coy about her age. Estimates
ranged from 59 to 68.
Her death closed another chap
ter of the dizzy decade which ac
claimed F. Scott Fitzgerald, jazz,
near beer and racoon coats. She
was a top star in the golden era
of vaudeville which produced A1
Jolson, Will Rogers, Gallagher and
Sheen, and Sophie Tucker.
Years later she said of her fab
ulous heyday: “They might roar
more today, honey, but we had
more fun.”
The girl with the wiggly hips,
who thrilled tired businessmen
with a wicked Charleston atop
a speakeasy table, faded into ob
scurity with the depression. She
reputedly made millions but was
living in a furnished room at the
end.
WEATHER FORECAST
Mostly cloudy with occasional
snow. Cloudy and colder tonight.
Northerly winds 10-20 mph. Low
temperature expected tonight -20,
the high tomorrow -15.
In the past 24 hours: highest
temp. 6, lowest J8. Max. wind 38
mph from the north..
Miami Herald Reporter
Tried, Convicted,
Deported5 from Cuba
HAVANA, tM — American
newsman James Buchanan today
was under orders to get out of
Cuba after being convicted of
helping an American escape from
a Castro prison.
A five-man military court in
Pinar Del Rio convicted the 43
year-old correspondent for the
Miami Herald Tuesday night,
gave him a suspended sentence of
14 years and ordered him deported
within 24 hours.
“That’s good,” said Buchanan,
and left Pinar Del Rio for Havana
to catch a plane for Miami.
Buchanan was charged with
concealing facts about the escape
earlier this month of Frank Austin
Young of Miami, who broke out
of prison after being sentenced to
three years for leading an armed
anti-Castro band.
Buchanan was arrested as he
approached Young’s hotel room
hideout with bandages for the
fugitive’s injured leg.
In Miami, Lee Hills, executive
editor of The Herald, said his
organization is “absolutely con
vinced” that Buchanan “was
guilty of nothing except covering
a legitimate news story in Cuba.”
The trial lasted only a few
hours.
The prosecution asked for a 20
year sentence.
SALE ALL DAY THURSDAY AT
NOME HARDWARE STORE