2S NOME NUGGET
_ __OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS _
VOL. LXIII No. 9 NOME, ALASKA MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 1961 Per Copy 15<
The Gavel Bangs and the Second
State Legislature Gets Underway
JUNEAU UP) — Rep. Warren
Taylor (D-Fairbanks) was elected
Speaker of the State House of
Representatives as the 1961 Leg
islature opened today and Sen.
Frank Peratrovich ©-Klawock)
was named President of the Sen
ate.
Controlling Democrats used
their 22-18 margin in the Lower
Chamber to approve Taylor, a
veteran central district legislator,
for his third term as Speaker of
the House.
In so doing, they beat back the
Republican’s nominee for the
post, Rep. Alfred E. Widmark
(R-Klawock), President of the
Alaska Native Brotherhood.
Following party lines, the vote
was 21 for Taylor; 16 for Wid
mark, with one absent and two
not voting.
Taylor took over the gavel from
temporary Speaker, Rep. Robert
R. Blodgett (D-Teller), within an
hour after the first session of the
Second State Legislature was
called to order by Secretary of
State Hugh J. Wade.
Taylor, an attorney, has served
eight terms in territorial and
state legislatures. He has been
Speaker of the House twice, ma
jority Floor Leader twice, and
has served as Chairman of the
Judiciary Committee in six ses
sions.
Plea for Unity
In a^ brief address to the House,
Taylor issued a plea for unity
and called upon lawmakers to
“‘remember now that you are all
Alaskans”.
In an early test of strength,
Republicans were beaten back in
an attempt to call a House recess
until 4 p. m. for a caucus. The
motion, presented by Minority
Floor Leader Rep. Bruce Kendall
(R-Anchorage) failed 22-17, with
one absent.
Peratrovich was nominated by
Sen. R. J. McNealy ©-Fairbanks).
Sen. John B. Coghill (R-Nenana)
nominated Sen. Elton E. Engstrom
<R-Juneau) as the GOP choice.
Peratrovich, who served as
President of the Senate in the
1949 special session and as Vice
President of Alaska’s Constitu
tional Convention, won by a 12-7
count, on a straight party vote
with Sen. Eben Hopson ©-Bar
row) absent.
Rep. Pete Deveau (D-Kodiak)
was named Majority Leader in the
House. The Republicans selected
Rep. Bruce Kendall (R-Anchor
age) as their floor leader.
Coghill was named Minority
Leader in the Senate. The Demo
crats delayed selection of their
floor leader in the Upper Cham
ber until Hopson is present.
The 1961 Legislative Session
got under way at 10:11 a. m.
when Secretary of State Hugh J.
Wade rapped for order in the
House of Representatives.
Wade immediately started in
swearing in members of the Lower
Chamber, by major senatorial dis
. tricrt.
First came the nine members
of the House from Southeast Alas
ka. Then came, in order, the 16
Representatives from Southcentral
Alaska, the ten from Central
Alaska and the five from North
west Alaska.
Among the latter five was
Father Segundo Llorente of Ala
kanuk, representing the 24th
House District. He became the
first Jesuit Missionary in the his
tory of the United States to be
V
elected to a State Legislature.
The gavel Wade used in bring
ing the House to order was a
piece of history itself. It was (first
used in Seattle in 1909 by I. R.
Nadeau of Seattle in opening the
Alaska, Yukon, Pacific Exposi
tion.
Wade presided over the House
until a temporary speaker was
named and then moved over to
the Senate to repeat the swering
in procedure in the Upper Cham
ber.
Rep. Robert R. Blodgett (D
Teller) was elected Speaker pro
tern of the House.
Wade called the Senate to order
at 10:25 a. m. and administered
the oath of office to eleven mem
bers who were elected Nov. 8
and one who was apointed to fill
a vacancy.
In the first group were A1
Owen (D-Uganik Bay) Lester Bron
son (D-Nome), John B. Coghill
(R-Nenana), Elton E. Engstrom
(R-Juneau), Paul Grieman Sr
(R-Faiibanks), Brad Phillips (R
Anchorage), James Nolan (D
Wrangell), W. O. Smith (D-Ket
chikan), Vance Phillips <R-An
chorage), Howard Pollock (R-An
chorage) and R. J. McNearly (D
Fairbanks).
Sen. Eben Hopson, re-elected
last Nov. 8, had not arrived for
the opening of the Legislature.
He took part in the inaugural
parade for President Kennedy in
Washington, D. C. last Friday.
The Senate also confirmed the
nomination of Pearse Walsh of
Nome as the replacement for Sen.
William E. Beltz, who died last
fall. Walsh will serve Beltz’s un
expired term, ending January,
1963. Pearse took the oath of of
fice after his confirmation.
The House and the Senate, both
recessed shortly before noon un
til 3 p.m. after Peratrovich and
Taylor had named the Commit
tee on Committees for the two
Chambers.
Named to the House group were
Reps. Frank Cashel (D-Sitka),
Frank Chapados (D-Fairbanks),
John S. Hellenthal (D-Anehor
age) and Blodgett.
The Senate group consists of
Sens. B. J. Logan (D-Cordova),
John iMcNees (D-Nome) and Mc
Nealy.
Father Llorente is First
Catholic Priest to Hold a
Seat in the Legislature
JUNEAU (J> — Father Segundo
Llorente, a Jesuit Missionary in
Western Alaska for 25 years, to
day became the first of 'his order
ever to become an elected mem
ber of a State Legislature in the
history of the United States.
The Spanish-born Father Llo
rente became a freshman mem
ber of the Alaska House of Rep
resentatives when he was admin
istered the oath of office by Sec
retary of State Hugh J. Wade.
The 54-year-old priest from
Alakanuk, on the Yukon River
delta, was elected to the Lower
Gham'ber of the Alaska Legisla
ture by writein vote.
Father Llorente was born in
Leon, Spain and came to the
United States as a Jesuit student
in 1934, he was ordained into
the priesthood at St. Mary’s Semi
nary, St. Mary, Kan.
A year later, he came to Alaska
as a missionary and has served at
Bethel, Akalurak, Kwiguk, Shel
dons Point, and Alakanuk.
Seven Die as
Fire Breaks Out
On the Saratoga
ATHENS, Greece W — A fire
at sea aboard the U. S. Aircraft
Carrier Saratoga today claimed
the livps of four officers and three
enlisted men.
One person was seriously in
jured and 22 were under treat
ment for minor burns and smoke
inhalation.
The fire occurred in the engine
room area shortly after midnight
while the Saratoga was on patrol
with the U. S. 6th Fleet in the
Eastern Mediterranean, the Navy
said. '
Vice Adm. George Anderson,
6th Fleet Commander, had order
ed a court of inquiry.
Second Fixe
It was the second fire aboard
a Forrestal class carrier in just
over a month; the other one being
aboard the Constellation, under
construction at Brooklyn Navy
Yard. The fire Dec. 19 cost 50
lives.
A Navy spokesman at Naples
attributed the Saratoga fire to a
broken oil pipeline and said the
flames were brought under con
trol after a two-hour fight.
The Saratoga, which will be 4
years old in April, normally car
ries about 3.800 officers and men.
She is one the Navy’s Forrestal
class, the world’s largest aircraft
carriers.
The vessel is 1,046 feet long
with an angled flight deck and a
width of 252 feet. With a full
load, she weighs 76,000 tons. The
Saratoga was launched Oct. 8,
1955, and completed April 14,
1956. The cost is listed by Jane’s
fighting ships, authoritative Naval
reference work, as $182 million.
Thousands Pay Final
Tribute to Thomas Dooley
ST. LOUIS UFi — Thousands
paid tribute to Dr. Thomas A.
Dooley today at last rites for the
famed medical missionary.
The 34-year-old physician, who
died of cancer last Wednesday,
was cited at funeral services in
high-domed St. Louis Cathedral
for his “utter and complete self
lessness.”
Bishop Leo C. Byrne offered a
solemn pontificial mass for the
St. Louis-born doctor who brought
medicine and love to the jungles
of Laos.
The Rev. George Gottwald,
pastor of the church, delivered
the sermon at the lVfc-hour serv
ice. He said Dr. Dooley easily
could have had a comfortable
life, but chose instead to devote
his career to ministering to the
sick in far off places.
Six students from the St. Louis
University Medical School served
as pallbearers. They included three
from Asia.
DR. ROLAND LOMBARD
TAKES TOP HONORS IN
LAURENT IAN DOG DERBY
STE. AGATHE, Jue. (JFi — Dog
sled racers from the United
States took the first three places
yesterday in the Laurentian Win
ter Carnival Dog Derby.
Dr. Roland Lombard of Au
burndale, Mass., won the two
lap 40-mile event with a time of
two hours, 37 minutes and 23
seconds.
Right behind was Keith Brier
of Lakeport, N. H. with 2:42:05,
and Paul Jordan of Laconia,
N. H., with 2:15:15.
They had finished in the same
order in the first lap Saturday.
Arctic Cold Snap Grips
The East and Midwest
By The Associated Press
A stubborn midwinter cold
snap retained an Arctic grip on
much of the East and Midwest to
day after a weekend of record
cold that pushed far into the deep
South.
The below zero frigid spell
spread over an area from the
Eastern Dakotas to New England
and the Middle Atlantic States,
with New York, Pennsylvania,
Maryland, New Jersey and Con
necticut bearing much of the
brunt of the deep freeze.
70 Deaths
At least 70 deaths were at
tributed to the cold and last
week’s snow storms and blizzards.
Fatalities were blamed on ex
posure, snow shoveling exertion,
fires and traffic accidents on icy
roads.
An unofficial reading of 38 de
grees below stung Lake Owassa
in the rural area of Northwestern
New Jersey, while Saranac Lake,
N. Y. registered a minus 31.
In contrast to the East’s frigid
readings, Anchorage, Alaska re
ported a rather comfortable 32,
while Juneau had 18 and Fair
banks 17. The mercury zoomed
to 73 at Salinas, Calif. Sunday.
Poughkeepsie, N. Y., rose from
-23 to -15 today and Albany from
-16 to -12.
Kennedy Will Personally
Deliver State of Union
Message Before Congress
WASHINGTON UP) — President
Kennedy will personally deliver
a State of the Union Message be
fore a joint session of Congress
next week.
Announcing this today, the
White House said a specific date
probably wil be picked when
iKennedy holds his first post-in
augural meeting tomorrow with
Democratic Congressional leaders.
Pierre Salinger, Kennedy’s press
secretary responding to other
questions, said he thinks the mes
age will not set forth any specific
legislative proposals. These, as
well as budget matters, probably
will be handled in separate
special messages a bit later, the
press secretary said.
ALIENS REMINDED TO
REPORT THEIR ADDRESS
BEFORE THE END OF MONTH
Aliens in Alaska were remind
ed today by B. R. Oates District
Director, Immigration and Natu
ralization Service that they have
only until the end of this month
to report their address to the
government.
Aliens may go to the nearest
Post Office or to the Immigration
Service Office to file the required
reports. Failure to comply with
this federal regulation carries
penalties which include a fine
and deportation.
BOROUGH GOVERNMENT
HEARING SCHEDULED FOR
SATURDAY, JANUARY 28
The Local Boundary Commis
sion will hold a hearing on bor
ough government to obtain a broad
sampling of public opinion on
possible alternatives for borough
government, and especially those
contained in the Preliminary Re
port on Borough Government is
sued jointly by the Alaska Leg
islative Council and the Local
Affairs Agency.
Hearing will be 1:30 p. m. Sat
urday Jan. 28, Court Room, Fed
eral Bldg.
JFK’s Top Aides
Review National
Security Program
WASHINGTON <JP> — President
Kennedy and his new Administra
tion’s top defense officials today
started a far-reaching review of
the National Security Program.
Seeking a safeguard peace with
the Communist bloc, Kennedy be
gan talks with key aides at mid
morning and arranged to resume
the discussions after a recess for
lunch.
Sitting in with the President at
the conference in the Cabinet
Room at the White House were
Secretary of State Rusk and Sec
retary of Defense Robert Mc
Namara.
Also on hand were: McGeorge
Bundy, Kennedy’s personal aide on
national security matters; Under
Secretary of State-to-be Chester
Bowles; and Paul Nitze, Assis
tant Secretary of State in charge
of international affairs.
State Department Press Officer
Lincoln White told newsmen that
“in general terms” it means a
de-emphasis on the idea of try
ing to cure international ills by
rushing into meetings of heads
of state.
Soviet Premier Khrushchev has
been a strong advocate of Summit
Conferences.
Also present was Gen. Lyman
Lemnitzer, Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff.
The double conference — the
only announced business on his
agenda today — demonstrated the
priority Kennedy attaches to
seeking an easing of East-West
tension while beefing up the na
tion’s defenses.
Grim Reminder
A grim reminder of troubles
ahead reportedly came in a secret
message from Ambassador Lle
wellyn Thompson who met Sat
urday in Moscow with Premier
Khrushchev.
Thompson’s cable was under
stood to report that Khrushchev
— while talking hopefully of an
agreement with the Kennedy Ad
ministration — in private had
adopted the same tough, unyield
ing position on issues that wreck
ed previous Western hopes.
Khrushchev served up the same
old hash to Kennedy that he had
placed before former President
Eisenhower without success, said
diplomatic officials.
Kennedy moving about in the
unpredictable fashion that has be
come almost routine since inaug
uration, popped into the press
room for a surprise visit.
He was accompanied by his
wife, Jacqueline, looking like a
fashionable teen-ager as she
strolled through the White House
lobby, wearing beige riding pants
and a three-quarters length sports
coat.
White House guards, who never
had seen anything like it during
the Eisenhower Administration,
stared goggle-eyed.
Kennedy also announced
through his press secretary that
he will allow live television
coverage of all his news confer
ences. All three major TV net
works plan coverage of his first
Presidential meeting with news
men 3 p. m. PST Wednesday.
SEAMEN PAY FINES
LONDON — Seven British
seamen have been fined for leav
ing their ship without permission
at Brisbane, Australia, last year.
The name of the ship: Loyalty.