— NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LVII No. 147NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1955 Per Copy—154
Delegates Prepare For Sessions That
Will Set Alaska’s State Constitution
By FLORENCE DOUTHIT
FAIRBANKS, (£> — The dele
gates to Alaska’s Constitutional
Convention are a varied lot.
They are familiar now with
their history-making assignments
and definite personalities are
coming to the fore.
Take Yule Kiicher, a farmer
from Homer who would rather
split theories than logs and who
thinks the city slickers at the con
vention need some spurring. He’s
the only delegate who has drawn
two of his own amendments. Kii
cher wears a wool shirt, weather
beaten canvas parka and yellow
rain hat to the proceedings.
Undisputed queen mother of the
convention is Juneau’s Mildred
Hermann, lawyer, former teacher
and a stickier on precise and pro
per wording. She has been a mem
ber of the Alaska Statehood Com
mittee since its inception in 1949.
She’s a big woman, a fact she
jokes about often. In a low, firm
voice, she often urges her fellow
delegates to hurry with ground
work and move more quickly to
decisions. Of the “be prepared”
school, Mrs. Hermann reserved
her room at the Nordale Hotel in
Fairbanks before she knew she
had won the Constitutional Con
vention race.
The three “wise men” of the
convention are Fairbanks’ E. B.
Collins, Nome’s Mike Walsh and
(Continued on Page Two)
Snow Falls On Georgia
For First Time In Decades
SYLVANIA, Ga., UFi — A light
snow fell today and older resi
dents said it was the first in more
than two decades.
The snowfall began shortly
after 8 a.m. The ground was not
completely covered an hour later.
The snowfall was continuing
without any sign of letting up.
School children in lower grades
were given an early recess to
play in the snow which drifted
deep in some places.
After about an hour, the snow
turned to rain and the snow that
didn’t melt as it fell washed away.
By midday there was little or
none in evidence on the ground.
B.C. Tug Completes
$300,000 Tow Job Of
Disabled Greek Freighter
VANCOUVER, B. C., Ufi — A
modem sea saga came to an end
yesterday when an 8,200-ton
Greek freighter was lifted out of
the water in a north Vancouver
drydock.
The captain and 18-man crew
of the diesel tug Sudbury watch
ed happily and a little proudly as
their charge for the last 31 days
was nudged into the drydock by
harbor tugs.
Happier than the Sudbury crew
were the 33 men aboard the
freighter Makedonia. Their ship
drifted helplessly for 12 days in
stormy North Pacific waters be
fore the Sudbury rendezvoused
with it below the Aleutian Is
lands.
Salvage of the $1,000,000
freighter, completed after the
ships were pounded by nine
crashing storms, will net the tow
ing company about $300,000.
»
C.C. Recommends
Eliminate Counties
In Future State
FAIRBANKS, UPl — The Alaska
Constitutional Convention’s com
mittee on local government Sat
urday recommended dividing the
future state into cities and rural
municipalities, eliminating coun
ties.
The committee, headed by John
Rosswog of Cordova, agreed with
I two Fairbanks city officials —
! Mayor Douglas Preston and City
; Manager Matt Slinkard—that the
basic county system of the states
j should not be applied to Alaska.
The committee’s plan would
call for two basic categories of
local government, cities and rural
municipalities.
The latter would contain three
classes — areas with authority to
adopt home rule charter; under
developed or completely unor-1
ganized units, such as villages on
the Arctic slope, and regions not
falling into either of the two
classes.
Victor Rivers, Anchorage dele
gate, said the committee’s goal
was to “find a system of local j
government to meet the needs of
every section of“ Alaska, whether
urban or otherwise.”
I --
Barrow Flier Says
Arctic Is Booming
SEATTLE, (£)—An Alaska flier
says Eskimos working on the Dis
tant Early Warning radar line
this past summer never had it so
good, with wages of $3.32 an hour,
straight time.
He also says the Arctic coast
line was so marked up with snow
weasel vehicle tracks that natives
would give directions, as to how
to reach different outposts, by
telling travellers to follow cer
tain tracks, like road directions
in the states.
Abe Koonz, 28, a resident of
Fairbanks and Anchorage the past
14 years, came to Seattle recently
with Robert J. Fischer, 24, an
other pilot, to study instrument
training at Boeing Field.
They had been flying mostly
single engine land planes, with
Koonz based at Barter Island and
Fischer at Barrow this past sum
mer. Fischer is now visiting rela
tives at Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
Koonz said that pilots were
doing all right, too. Flying DC3’s
brings $2,000 a month base pay
for 100 hours of flyng and chief
bush pilots get about $1,000 a
month, he added.
The two were on the Arctic
coast when an ocean fleet un
loaded DEW line construction
materials last summer. There’s a
real “boom” on in the Arctic,
Koonz said.
LYTTELTON, New Zealand, (A
—The Glacier, the U.S. Navy’s
newest icebreaker, left New Zea
land Saturday for Antarctica. It
is the van ship in Rear Adm.
Richard E. Byrd’s latest explora
tion expedition to the bottom of
the world.
Conservationist
Denounces Mining!
In Game Refuges
WASHINGTON, dP) — Ernest
Swift, director of. the National
Wildlife Federation, Saturday de
nounced a recent proclamation by
Secretary of the Interior McKay
establishing rules for oil leasing
and exploration on the national
wildlife refuges.
Swift, named to the federation
post last September after serving
as an assistant director of the
U.S. Wildlife Service, said in a
statement that “this is the near
est thing to an outright give
away yet perpetrated on the
wildlife refuge system.”
Swift noted there are about 260
different areas in 45 states and
the territories, totaling approxi
mately 18 million acres.
“They are the meager fruits of
victory of a long series of bitter
battles by rhe conservationists,”
Swift said.
He then said the new policy
signed by McKay on Dec. 2 pro
vides special safeguards for the
new refuges which may be desig
nated as unique natural areas or
as chiefy valuable for the pro
tection of nearly extinct species
of wildlife.
i “Beyond certain special excep
| tions that are open to interpreta
tion, Swift said, “the McKay rul
t ing appears to open up the refuges
to oil and gas exploration and
drilling . . .
“The MoKay policy would ren
der the Fish and Wildlife Service
virtually powerless to resist the
constant pressures for mineral
development, even on those lands
in which the service has complete
control of mineral rights.”
Swift said he understood oil
lease applications already are
! being submitted to the Fish and
Wildlife Service and that ‘ some
have been approved under the
Dec. 2 directive.
“That,” said Swift “is quick
work. It looks as if the skids were
oiled for the wildlife refuges even
before McKay signed the procla
mation.”
Hollywood to Get
Her Face Lifted
HOLLYWOOD, Lfl—Hollywood
has decided on a nine million dol
lar face lifting.
The movie capital plans colored
sidewalks on Hollywood Boule
vard from Gower to La Brea Av
enues, and on Vine Street from
Sunset Boulevard to Yucca Street.
There will be bronze plaques of
movie stars in the concrete
squares, searchlights atop every
street light and colored search
lights at intersections.
“We mean to make Hollywood
the brightest place in the world,”
says Lome B. Pratt, executive sec
retary of the Hollywood Chamber
of Commerce.
The bill for the transformation
will be paid by the business estab
lishments on the streets affected,
provided the Los Angeles city
council approves assessments un
der a 44-year-old law.
Strollers will be able to walk
over the imprint of Bing Crosby’s
face and Jimmy Durante’s hat.
Spa cep in the sidewalk will be re
served for movie stars of the fu
ture.
Wealthy Louisianan Advocates
‘Direct and Dramatic’ Approach
To Statehood For The Territory
-<
Commerce Secty.
Accused Of Trying
To Take Over CAA
WASHINGTON, WL-Sen. Mon
roney < D-Okla> today accused
Secretary of Commerce Weeks of
reaching for “czar - like powers”
over civil aviation and announ
ced the Senate Commerce Com
mittee will investigate the situ
ation next month.
One thing the committee in
tends to find out, Monroney said,
is why Frederick B. Lee was re
placed as head of the Civil Aero
nautics Administration.
Lee resigned from his $15,000
a-year job Saturday. The swear
ing in of Charles J. Lowen Jr.,
now deputy CAA administrator,
aS his successor was set for today.
Monroney said a board inquiry
will be aimed at Commerce De
partment aviation policies under
Weeks and Lewis S. Rothschild,
his undersecretary.
“In the President’s illness,
Weeks and Rothschild are trying
to assume czar - like powers to
control civil aviation,” Monroney
declared. “Lee was fired because
he didn’t knuckle under and let
the Commerce Department dictate
to him what should be done about
civil aviation.
“This is all part of a pattern
which included the blocking of
the reappointment of Josh Lee as
a member of the Civil Aeronau
tics Board. Ross Rizey, chairman
of the board, soon to be appointed
a federal judge and Weeks will
have another position to fill in
his grab for control over avia
tion.”
Monroney said Weeks and
Rothschild ’’created” a job as dep
uty to Lee for Lowen. He pre
dicted strong opposition to Low
en’s confirmation as CAA admin
istrator when the appointment
comes before the Senate.
Coach Cherberg Upheld
After Hassle With
U of W Gridders
SEATTLE, UP—The University
of Washington’s gridiron griddle
was cooling off Monday, with
Coach John Cherberg still the
chief chef.
Cherberg survived Saturday’s
board of regents meeting with
the recommendation he be in
vited to coach the Huskies for
another year.
The regents held against any
censure of the 30 or so football
players who had protested Cher
berg’s coaching tactics to provoke
a two-week post-season furore
that still has vocal partisans on
both sides.
Both Cherberg and some of the
dissident gridders have vowed to
forget it and look forward to
future plans. -
Cherberg was upheld in a re
port by UW Vice President H. P.
Everest in firing Jim Sutherland,
erstwhile backfield coach. The
Everest report disclosed that
Sutherland and Cherberg had
been at loggerheads since last
spring.
> By FRANK W. VAILLE
WASHINGTON, UP) — A New
Orleans appliance wholesaler who
is a strong advocate of statehood
jfor Alaska moved into the nation's
capital today to sound out senti
ment for a new approach to the
long-time fight.
He is George ,H. Lehleitner—an
advocate of the “direct and dra
matic” to offset repeated failures
in the past.
The wealthy Louisianan would
have Alaska go ahead and elect
its two senators and a representa
tive and send them to Congress to
knock on the door and demand
admission of the northern terri
tory as a state.
Delegate Bartlett, who will meet
with the southerner during his
stay, said Lehleitner plans to con
fer here and in New York wife
various members of Congress as
well as newspapers publishers
and others to seek support for his
proposal.
Four other territories have
gained statehood in the manner
proposed by the Louisianan, Bart
lett said. They are Tennessee, Mi
chigan, Oregon and California.
Lehleitner advanced his plan
while in Alaska this summer and
received considerable support. It
also drew backing from Sen.
Knowland of California when the
Senate Republican leader was in
the territory to speak to the Con
stitutional Convention which now
is drafting a constitution for the
proposed state.
Maj. Gen. Merrill, Leader
Of ‘Merrill’s Marauders’
Of World War II, Dies
VERNANDINA BEACH, Fla., UR
—Maj. Gen. Frank D. Merrill, 53,
New Hampshire Public Works
and Highways Commissioner since
1949 and famed World War II
jungle fighter, died last night of
a heart attack.
Merrill, leader of “Merrill’s
Marauders” who plagued the
Japanese behind the lines in the
Pacific fighting, was stricken at
motel here, about 30 miles north
east of Jacksonville.
Merrill, accompanied by State
Highway Engineer Richard Bur
nell and their wives, was return
ing to New Hampshire from a
meeting of the American Assn, of
State Highway Officials in New
Orleans, where he had been elect
ed president of the organization.
Three and Half Billion Cut
In Income Taxes Predicted
ATLANTA, US)—Sen. George of
Georgia predicts a $3,500,000,000
income tax cut for 1956 but says
that’s as much as the federal bud
get can take now.
He added that the cut will come
after June 30, the end of the
federal fiscal year.
George in an interview with the
Atlanta Journal also predicted the
tax cut will be made where it
will do the most good for lower
and middle income groups. He
said it will be accomplished by
adjusting personal exemptions
from $600 to $700.
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