m NOME NUGGET
__OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
62nd Year No. 75 NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, JUNE 26, 1961 Per Copy 15^
President Invokes |
Taft-Hartley Law
In Maritime Strike
WASHINGTON UP! — President
Kennedy today invoked the Taft
Hartley Act in an effort to halt
the strike of Maritime Unions.
In an executive order, the ;
President said the strike will, if j
permitted to continue, imperil the I
national health and safety.
At the same time, Kennedy
set up a three-member emergency
board to consider facts and cir
cumstances of the dispute between
sea-going unions and ship opera
tors.
Kennedy set a deadline of Fri
day for the board to make its re
port.
The board, under Taft-Hartley
law, will make no recommenda
tions, but will merely report on
the issues of the dispute.
Kennedy, unless the strike is
settled in the meantime, presum
ably will then seek an injunction
to halt the strike for an 80-day
cooling off period.
The first step of the injunctive
machinery is to ask for a tem
porary restraining order. Under,
the law, the federal judge who!
gets the application must grant
the temporary restraining order.
Kennedy named David L. Cole as
chairman of the emergency board.
Cole is former head of the Fed
eral Mediation and Conciliation
Service.
Other members are Samuel I.
Roseman of New York and Prof.
James J. Healv of the Harvard
Business School.
In a statement accompanying
his executive order, Kennedy said
the strike already has resulted
in serious interruptions in the
movement of food, oil and other J
commodities.
“The supply lifelines to the
State of Hawaii have been cut,” j
Kenendv said. “There have been 1
delays in the shipment of military ;
cargoes.”
Kennedy took note of the sug- i
gestion of some union leaders that j
they are willing to ease the strike
to permit the movement of mili
tary supplies and essential com
mercial cargoes.
“These suggestions appear, on
first impression, more tactical
than substantial,” Kennedy said.
“I request the Board of Inquiry
to consider these suggestions how
ever, and to include findings of
fact regarding them in the report
the board will submit to me.”
Kennedy urged that the unions
and the ship owners involved
continue their bargaining, and use
the Federal Mediation and Con
ciliation Service, as well as the
Emergency Board of Inquiry, in
an effort to settle the dispute.
The strike, now in its eleventh
day, involves virtually all Amer
ican shipping companies and
70,000 men.
BELGIAN QUEEN AILING.
NOT EXPECTING
BRUSSELS, Belgium UPt — Bel
gian hopes for the birth of a
child to King Baundouin and
Queen Fabiola this fall were dash
ed Sunday. The royal court in
a communique said the Queen was
ailing and not expecting a baby
after all.
“Contrary to what was hoped,
a happy event is not expected at
the Laeken Court in the near'
future,” the communique said. It
added that the illness was a slight
indisposition “and she will bej
completely recovered in a few ,
days.”
“Freedom Rider” Says
Brutal Treatment Was
Inflicted on Jailed Mates
NEW YORK UP> — A teen-age
“Freedom Rider,” who was im
prisoned for three weeks in Mis
sissippi, said today that “terribly
brutal treatment” was inflicted on
some anti-segregation demonstra
tors confined there.
Kenneth Shilman, 18, of Ocean
side, N. Y., one of the white youths
in the group held in the Missis
sippi State Penitentiary, said “cat
tle shockers” and “wrist-break
ers” were used on some of them. J
Shilman spoke in an interview !
here after his return from Mis- j
sissippi where he was released
Saturday.
In Jackson, Hinds County
Sheriff J. R. Gilfoy denied any
inhuman treatment and said
“were leaning over backward
in handling them.”
“We were kept in maximum
security, two-man cells in our
underwear and with the light
burning day and night,” he said.
From his cell, Shilman said he
saw two Chicago Freedom Riders,
Felix Singer and Terry Sullivan,
both whites, dragged naked along
60 yards of concrete corridor after
they refused to strip and walk to
their cells.
“Their clothes were ripped off
of them,” he said. “As they were
dragged past us, the skin was
tearing of their bodies, and the
extreme pain showed on their
faces,” he said.
Electric shockers, generally used
on livestock, had first been used
on them before they were drag
ged, he said, adding: “I saw the
burns afterward on Sullivan’s
arms and legs.”
Later, Shilman said, when the
two were taken to be finger
printed. “wrist-breakers,” clamps
with a handle for applying pres
sure to the wrists, were put on j
them.
“When they were pulled along |
the hall, Felix was yelling ‘you’re
breaking my arm,’ ” Shilman re
lated. “He fell and his head hit
the concrete floor and then he j
was dragged nude on his stomach. !
It was indescribable.”
—
10 Cuban Prisoners Await
News on Tractor Deal
KEY WEST, Fla. UP — Ten !
anti-Castro prisoners awaited de- j
velopments here today that might
bring freedom to them and 1,187
of their comrades in Cuba.
John Hook Jr., executive secre
tary of the dissolved Tractors for
Freedom Committee was expected
to return from Miami this after
noon for his third meeting with
the prisoners since their arrival
from Havana Saturday.
Hooker insisted he is not nego
tiating with the prisoners but only
serving as a contact between them
and the committee: Eleanor Roose
velt, Dr. Milton Eisenhower and
Walter Reuther.
Informed sources said, how- ]
ever, that Hooker’s continued j
contact with the prisoners indi- !
cated a new approach may be i
made to resume the stalemated
negotiations.
Negotiations for the prisoners’
release broke down Friday when
Prime Minister Castro rejected
a final offer of 500 general pur
poses tractors from the commit
tee. Castro said then he would
send 10 prisoners back to the
United States to explain his po
sition. The same prisoner group
visited Miami and Washington
last month after Castro first asked j
for 500 heavy tractors.
House Votes for
$5 Billion Increase
In Debt Limit
WASHINGTON UP — The
House voted today for a $5 bil
lion temporary increase in the
national debt limit. The legisla
tion would set the ceiling at $298
billion and make sure the Treas
ury can pay its bills next week.
For hours before the House
acted, sending the legislation to
the Senate, Republicans raked
President Kennedy’s Administra
tion with charges of reckless
spending. Some Democrats joined
in condemning big government
outlays.
The Senate is expected to act
promptly on the legislation. Un
less it approves it by Friday, the
debt limit automatically will drop
to its present level, $285 billion.
Secretary of the Treasury Doug
las Dillon has told Congress the
debt at week’s end will be about
$4 billion higher than this fig
ure, so reduction to the per
manent figure would bring on a
Treasury crisis, which Congress
will not permit to develop.
The country has been operat
ing for the past year under a
$293 billion debt limit — the per
manent figure plus an $8 billion
increment authorized for one
year only.
Egan Urges AGC
And Unions to
Got Together
JUNEAU UP* — Gov. Egan to
day urged the Associated Gen
eral Contractors and eight con
struction unions to make every
effort to come to a peaceful set- j
tlement of their contract dispute, i
Members of the ACG Saturday
started laying off members of j
four of the eight unions who had !
struck AGC jobs in Anchorage
and Ketchikan.
The four unions are the Team- ;
sters, Operating Engineers, Ce- ,
ment Finishers and Laborers.
The layoff is to be completed
by tomorrow, the AGC said, and
will cover every AGC member
job in the state.
A spokesman for the AGC said
“we are merely testing our econ
omic strength against theirs.”
If the current situation de
teriorates into a general construc
tion strike, Egan said, “it is going
to have a tremendous economic
effect on the state. It would be
disastrous for Alaska if they go
out.”
Egan said he hopes the AGC
action in laying off Teamsters,
Operating Engineers, Laborers and
Cement Finishers does not de
velop into a “power play.”
Egan said he did not believe
the Taft-Hartley Labor Law could
be brought into play because
T-H was designed to end strikes
which threaten the health and
welfare of the nation as a whole.
“I would say to both sides, ‘de
termine your course of action in
relation to the effect it will have
on the economy of the state’.
“Other than to express my
strong desire that they continue
to negotiate and continue to stay
on the job, there is nothing else
I can do,” Egan said.
The governor said he has had
no personal contact with either
the AGC or the eight unions in
volved in the dispute.
The four other Unions involved
are the Carpenters, Bricklayers,
Lathers and Ironworkers.
Fairbanks and Nenana
Threatened by Flooding
Tanana River
FAIRBANKS \JP> — Outlying
areas of Fairbanks and the village
of Nenana are being threatened
today by flood conditions on the
Tanana River.
At Nenana residents of the low
er village are being evacuated to
higher ground as rising waters
covered portions of the village.
Flood waters have reached the
edge of the Fairbanks Interna
tional Airport and the airport is
threatened with suspension of
flights if the water rises two
additional feet.
The flood conditions have been
caused by unusually heavy rains
in recent days particularly in the
Big Delta area.
Two Men Escape with
Minor Injury Riding
Down with an Avalanche
HOOD RIVER, Ore. _ — Two
men escaped with minor injuries
Sunday when they rolled 2,000
feet down the northeast slope of
Mt. Hood with an avalanche of
snow and ice.
They are Colin Chisholm, 54, of
Lake Oswego, Ore., and his son.
Douglas, 22. Chisholm was hos
pitalized here with back and rit
injuries. The son suffered cuts.
Chrishom said the accident wa;
his fault — that he had beer
trying to hurry across a sheer ic<
wall about 500 yards below th<
summit.
They had been climbing with
a group from the Mazama Club
and were descending the moun
tain. As they attempted to cross
the wall, their ice axes pulled
loose.
I Strike Negotiations
Hopelessly Deadlocked
ANCHORAGE UPl — Federal
i mediator Barney Toner said to
j day that the labor situation here
I still appears hopelessly deadlock
j ed and unless there is a break
I soon, he plans to go to southeast
ern Alaska to sit in on a pulp
workers dispute.
Toner said he met separately
with both factions in the con
struction workers contract dis
pute yesterday and again today,
but no progress was made.
CLARICE HARDY
CHOSEN QUEEN
SATURDAY NIGHT
Clarice Hardy, daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. Russ' Hardy, will reign
over all festivities as Queen of
the Midnight Sun Festival for the
next year and be an official greet
er for distinguished guests in the
community.
The choice was made Saturday
evening at the Queen Pageant
and Coronation Ball by a group
of impartial judges from a group
of five outstanding contestants.
Judges wei'c Don Hoover, Bob
Grant, and two airline steward
esses, Eleanor Johnson of Wiens,
and Irene Baehr of Alaska Air
lines.
Junior queens were Sharon and
Carla West, Mary Reader, and
Karon Haley.
Good music was provided by
“Rich” Richardson, Louis Green,
and Howard Capener on his elec
tric guitar.
The queen will officiate for the
first time on July 4 when she will
participate in the dedication cere
mony of the Alaska National
Guard AiTnory.
Governors Pledge
Strong Support to
JFK on Crisis Areas
HONOLULU UP) — Governors
of both political parties pledged
strong support today to President
Kennedy in his dealing with the
Soviets on Berlin and other crisis
areas.
But Kennedy’s domestic policies
came in for sharp criticism from
some Republicans and a Demo
crat who was one of his early
supporters for the 1960 Presi
dential nomination, Gov. John
Patterson of Alabama.
Patterson kicked up some excite
ment on the outskirts of the 53rd
annual Governors’ Conference by
blasting what he called the “child
ish” handling of the “Freedom
Riders” bus controversy by the
Presidents brother, Atty. Gen.
Robert Kennedy.
Gov. Nelson Rockefeller of New
York — who might be Kennedy’s
Republican opponent for the
Presidency in 1964 — called for
a moratorium on political criti
cism of the administration’s inter
national moves.
Rockefeller told a news con
ference Sunday that Kennedy ob
viously faces a great many prob
lems “more complex than they
looked from outside” the presi
dency. He said it was too early
to make any judgments.
“The problems are so complex,
so serious they have such an ef
fect on human dignity and liberty
around the world I feel all of us,
regardless of party, should stand
behind him to support the defense
of freedom with whatever steps
are necessary,” Rockefeller said.
Rockefeller’s attitude contrast
ed with criticisms voiced by for
mer Vice President Richard Nix
on and Sen. Barry Goldwater, a
potential bidder for the 1964
party prize.
In recent speeches Nixon has
contended that the Kennedy Ad
ministration has tended to “talk
big and act timidly.” Goldwater
has said that it will “take a lot
more doing than is being done”
to win the cold war.
Navy to Discard
Its Blimp Fleet
I WASHINGTON UP> — The Navy
! handed down today a death sen
I tence for its blimp fleet.
It announced that eight of its
10 active airships would be de
flated and placed in storage by
Nov. 30. The two others will be
kept in service until a year from
now for research and develop
ment work.
The decision was made because
of a shortage of funds and per
sonnel “combined with the in
creasing capability of helicopters
and fixed wing aircraft to per
form all necessary anti-submarine
and airborne early warning func
tions,’’ the announcement said.
TWO BARROW ESKIMOS
START WORK AS LOGGERS
KETCHIKAN UP — The first
two Eskimos to be hired under
a pilot program to establish Es
kimos as loggers in Southeast
| Alaska have started work at
Cape Pole.
The two Eskimos, both from
Barrow, are Ben Hopson and Joe
j Ericklook. They are training as
: choker-setters.
The program is being sponsored
by the State Dept, of Labor and
the Bureau of Indian Affairs, in
cooperation with the Alaska Log
gers’ Assn, and the International
Woodworkers of America.