m NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LVI NO. 66 NOME,"ALASKA, FRIDAY, JUNE 4, 1954 Per Copy—15^
Aeronautics Board
Slates Completion
Of 2nd Div. Fields
Herman Porter, new head of
the Territorial Department of
Aviation, accompanied by How
ard Peck and Bill Munz, new
Second Division representative on
the Aeronautical Board, returned
from a survey of fields and air
strips in this area.
Porter reports that a survey
was made of the strip to be built
at Wales and that they looked
over the location for the one at
Selawik.
The work on these fields is to
be put out on bid in the near
future, he stated, after they are
discussed for approval at the
July meeting of the Alagka Aero
nautical and Communications
Commission meeting.
A crew is scheduled to leave for
Gambell about June 20, headed
by Harvey Turner, where the
DC-3 field will be completed on
arrival of the balance of the steel
matting scheduled to arrive there
about the first of July. The field
should be completed by Sept. 1.
Other activity in airfield work
includes the completion of the
DC-3 field at Lost River by the
ARC; grading of Atlas and Dahl
Creek strips, and minor mainten
ance at Elim and Koyuk.
Herman Porter, who replaced
Tony Sehwamm as head of the
department recently, is a gradu
ate of the University of Alaska
and he has been with the depart
ment for the past four years. He
leaves today for Bethel and
Hooper Bay.
Heintzleman Plugs For
Health Improvements
KODIAK, UPi — Gov. Heintzle
man says there is urgent need of
public health improvement in
Alaska.
Stressing the point in an ad
dress here Wednesday night, the
governor said tuberculosis is 10
times more prevalent in the ter
ritory than in the States.
He skid “earnest efforts” have
been made to remedy the situa
tion, and added money recently
has been appropriated to put
back into' service “health boats”
that once visited coastal towns.
Discussing statehood, in his first
visit to Kodiak, Heintzleman said
the proposal to leave “unpopu
lated fringes” out of the proposed
state still would leave 85 per
cent of the Alaskan population
intact.
STONE WALL VS. TRUCKS
CHIPPENHAM, England, If) —
Bert Lewis, 66, starts rebuilding
his garden wall today — for the
20th time.
For 40 years he has lived at
the foot of a hill.
Yesterday a truck came down
the hill and plunged through the
wall—just as 19 other trucks and
cars have done before.
Constitutional
Convention May
Delay Statehood
J
WASHINGTON, UP) — Delegate
Bartlett said today a proposal for
a constitutional convention and
referendum on statehood in Alas
ka would bring statehood no
earlier and might even delay it.
The suggestion was made yes
terday by Chairman Miller (R
Neb) of the House Interior Com
mittee and Territorial Sen. Paul
Robinson of Anchorage.
Bartlett agreed that a conven
tion should be called to draft an
Alaskan constitution “at the ear
liest' possible moment” whether
or not Congress approved state
hood at this session.
But, he declared the “present
statehood bill doesn’t have to be
held up for that purpose.”
Referring to Miller’s statement
that “it is apparent the military
will continue to oppose giving up
control over certain areas” of Al
aska, Bartlett said he still had had
no word from the Department of
Defense that it is insisting upon
partitioning of Alaska for mili
tary reasons as Miller suggested.
“On the contrary, every advice
I have received is to the con
trary,” he said.
During a recent visit of a pro
statehood Alaska delegation, Bart
lett recalled “no less an authority
than Undersecretary of Interior
Tudor with Gov. Heintzleman
present said he didn’t know what
considerations prompted the par
tition plan. The delegation was
not enlightened by Gov. Heintzle
man who proposed it.”
The Delegate said that while
Alaskans now oppose the proposal
to give statehood only to the pop
ulated areas of the territory, “if
there are good reasons for such a
plan, all Alaskans will consider
them carefully—but we haven’t
gotten them yet.”
Eisenhower’s Housing
Program Ready For
Senate-House Conferences
WASHINGTON, UPl — President
Eisenhower’s housing program,
fresh from overwhelming victory
in the Senate, was ready today
for a Senate-House conference in
which public housing was the
chief point of dispute.
The Senators late yesterday
shouted approval of the overall
housing legislation providing lib
eralized government-insured cred
it for home buyers, a stepped-up
slum clearance program and new
safeguards aimed at preventing
any future abuses of government
aided housing.
By a 66-16 count—the only ro'll
call vote on the complex measure
—they also endorsed Eisenhower’s
controversial request for author
ity to build 35,000 new public
housing units a year over the next
four years.
Nomites Enjoy
Free Ride on
Pan Am DC-6B
The first official DC-6B flight
by Pan American World Airways
direct to Nome from Seattle ar
rived here this afternoon at about
2:30.
A courtesy flight was ar
ranged by agent Jim Walsh so
that Nomeites may see the ad
vantages of flying in the pressur
ized ship.
Among those on the flight this
afternoon were: Mr. and Mrs.
Angell, Mayor Steve Andersen, A1
Branson, Bill Barber, Margaret
Heller, Major Swisher, Major
Morgan, Mr. and Mrs. Boyer, Mr.
and Mrs. Boyd Harwood, Helen
Russell, May Bale, Paul Mande
ville, Grant Jackson, Geo. Go
shaw, Richard Benson, Clinton
Gray, Mr. and Mrs. Carl Glavino
vich, Clyde Kammerer, Norman
Asbridge, Fred Cavota, Rose Sil
verman, Robert Lewis, Alex Mc
Innes, Grant Nelson, Les Bronson;
Judge and Mrs. Walter Hodge,
Nels Swanberg Sr., Nels Swan
berg Jr., Angelo Buffas, Bob Can
non, Mr. and Mrs. Ben Young,
Howard Green, Ellen Mulvihill,
Virginia Brown, H. Cherry, Rita
Harper, Bai*bara Martin, Betty
Doyle, Carrie McLain, A. Polet,
Omie McCarthy, Ben Mozee, L.
Williams, R. Baldwin;
Ann Jenks, John White, Mrs.
Godsbe, Mrs. Straub, John Cooley,
Helen Fagerstrom, L. Dunbar, Joe
Firenzi, Mr. and Mrs. J. von der
Heydt, Albin Poison, Charles D.
Jones, Elizabeth Edward, Mrs.
Jack Reed, and John Aleobena.
John White, well known to
Nomeites since Pan American has
been serving Nome, will make the
flight, and Ralph Savory, senior
pilot, also well known to flying
Nome will be pilot for the occa
sion.
Departing for Seattle today are:
Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Nerland,
Shirley Haley, Paul Want, Alice
Slanders, Larry Galvin and fam
ily, Dorothy Russell, Mary Ander
sen and daughter, and a U.S. Mar
shall’s party, R. Kaufman, John
White, R. Simpson and Leroy
Hartje.
Arriving today were: Lillian
Angerman, L. Verando, Geo. Hel
lerich, LeRoy Hartje, Glenn Car
rington, Chris Roust, Mrs. G.
Jackson and child, Mr. and Mrs.
Harry Gabrielson, Paul Rasmus,
Mrs. Christie Waldheim, Ellen
Waldheim, also Messrs. Charles,
Sharp, Colmen, Bailey, Fager
strom, Fink, Garner, and Cody.
DIAMOND WORTH $280,000
JOHANNESBURG, South Af
rica, UP) — The mine which pro
duced the famous Cullinan dia
mond, largest ever found, has
come up with a blue-white stone
weighing 426V£ carats.
Trade sources said the new find
was of “good quality” and esti
mated its value Friday as 100,000
pounds ($280,000).
Court Says General Property Tax
Was Valid 1949-52; Territory to
Collect $1,000,000 in Back Taxes
—-;-1
Vietminh Score
Bloody Victories
In Red River Delta
HANOI, Indochina, CS") — Com
munist-led Vietminh rebels scored
two1 bloody successes in the Hanoi
delta Thursday. One posed a new
threat to the vital French life
line between Haiphong and Hanoi.
The other turned a Roman Cath
olic seminary into a battleground
where hundreds died in hand-to
hand combat.
Wave after wave of Vietminh
troops crushed the stubborn de
fense of the 60 Vietnamese man
ning the garrison at Cho Moi, 24
miles southeast of Hanoi and only
9 miles south of the Haiphong
Hanoi road.
Seventy-five miles southeast of
Hanoi, 3,000 Vietminh smashed
their way through the village of |
Ouanphunvha against 1,000 Viet
namese and a handful of volun
teer Catholic militiamen who
made a seven-hour stand in the
seminary.
It was “truly a battle between
the Communists and Catholics—
a religious war,” a French Army
spokesman said.
These two fights were the bit
terest battles and the greatest
successes by the Vietminh in the
actual delta area in recent months.
BIG CHEESES TO ALASKA
SEATTLE, UP)—A couple of big
wheels boarded ship in Seattle
for Alaska yesterday . . . but they
were only cheeses.
Two 1-ton wheels of American
cheddar cheese, reputedly the big
gest such shipment ever to go
north, were hoisted aboard the
S.S. Denali.
According to the cheese’s man
ufacturer, Kraft Foods Co., each
wheel required 22,000 pounds of
milk from 1,144 cows grazing on
7,928 acres of 88 farms.
Semi-Public Debate Slated
Tuesday On Deadlocked
Indochina Peace Proposals
GENEVA, UP) — The Indochina
peace conference made another
effort today to break its dead
lock on the issue of how a pro
posed Indochina cease-fire should
be supervised.
The nine - party parley went
into its 16th secret session, the
last one planned before a long
week-end recess, to be followed
by a semi - public debate next
Tuesday.
High-level military representa
tives of the two Indochina com
mands also met in secret this af
ternoon on the problem of defin
ing assembly zones for the re
grouping of the rival armies after
the cease-fire.
> JTJNEAU—The Territory of Al
aska will “file some lawsuits” to
collect approximately $1,000,000
in property taxes owed for years
from 1949 through 1952 under the
general property tax whose valid
ity was upheld last week by the
Circuit Court of Appeals in San
Francisco, Atty. Gen. J. Gerald
Williams said here.
The tax, though the act impos
ing it was repealed by the 1953
legislature, was in full force and
effect for four years, Williams
said. Many taxpayers ignored it,
possibly on the same grounds of
supposed invalidity which caused
Luther C. Hess of Fairbanks and
the Alaska Juneau Gold Mining
Co. to challenge it in the courts.
Now that the circuit court has
upheld a district court decision
by Judge George W. Folta declar
ing the general property tax act
valid and legal, the territory will
go after taxpayers who refused or
failed to pay the 10-mill levy it
imposed for each of the four years
it was in effect, the attorney gen
eral said.
Not just the tax itself, but inter
est and penalties imposed by law
for late payment, will be collected.
The practical effect of the gen
eral property tax act as it was
passed by the 1949 legislature was
to impose the territorial 10-mill
levy only on property lying out
side of cities or other taxing enti
ties such as school districts or
public utility districts.
About $500,000 in property taxes
was paid to the territory from
1949 through 1952, much of it
under protest. Williams estimated
that $1,000,000 more which is ow
ing was not paid. He said he is
going after it vigorously.
Last week Tax Commissioner
Karl Dewey said he would await
instructions from the attorney
general before proceeding to col
lect the delinquent property tax.
The general property tax was
one of three parts of a territorial
tax program advocated for many
years by former Gov. Ernest
Gruening. The other components
of this so-called “basic tax pro
gram” were the territorial income
tax and the business license tax.
The property tax was the only one
of the three to be repealed by the
Republican-controlled 1953 legis
lature, the vote being exactly
along party lines in the House,
though some Democrats voted for
repeal in the Senate and some
Republicans against.
TOKYO, iff)—Five crew mem
bers of a Japanese freighter
which passed within 1,200 miles
of the U.S. hydrogen bomb tests
in the Pacific were reported suf
fering from radiation sickness to
day.
YOUTH FOR CHRIST
special MUSIC SATURDAY, 8:00 P.M. at the METHODIST CHURCH rev. h. bruhn, speaker