2£ NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
62nd Year No. 61 NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 1961 Per Copy 151
Wade Turns Down
Open Gambling
Initiative Petition
JUNEAU OP — Secretary of
State Hugh Wade today turned
down an application for an ini
tiative petition calling for a vote
next year on whether Alaska
should have wide-open gambling.
Acting on the advice of Atty.
Gen. Ralph Moody, Wade said
the application was not in proper
form in that the statute it pro
posed did not contain an enact
ing clause.
The State Election Code speci
fies that a law proposed by ini
tiative must contain the clause:
“Be it enacted by the People of
the State Alaska. . . .”
The application for an initiative
petition was filed with Wade on
May 18 by an Anchorage organ
ization calling itself “The Alaska
Citizens Economic Study Group.”
In denying the application for
the initiative petition, Wade
quoted Moody’s office as saying:
“. . . We recommend that the
Secretary of State notify the Ini
tiative Committee that certifica
tion has been denied for failure
to follow the form for initiative
required by law in that the pro
posed bill contains no enacting
clause.
“The law requiring that the
Secretary of State deny certifica
tion in such cases is for the pro
tection of the public including
those who are sponsoring the ini
tiative petition and does not imply
any endorsement or disapproval
of the merits of the proposal.
“If the Secretary allowed certi
fication when the form of the
application was improper, the
sponsors would be put to great
trouble for nothing because the
law enacted by the initiative
would be a nullity.”
Moody, in an opinion written
by Asst. Ally. Gen. John Have
lock, also said the initiative appli
cation was in improper form in
yet another respect.
The law clearly states, the
opinion said, that the sponsors of
an initiative petition application
must include a statement that the
proposed bill was attached to the
application when it was signed.
“The application contains no
statement that the application was
signed with the proposed bill at
tached,” the Attorney General’s
office said.
Atty. Gen. Kennedy Calls
For a Cooling-Off Period
In Segregation Riots
WASHINGTON UP) — Atty. Gen.
Robert F. Kennedy today called
lor a cooling-off period in the
“Freedom Rider” demonstrations
in the South.
In a statement, which called at
tention to precarious circum
stances under .which “Freedom
Riders” were being escorted to
day through Alabama and Mis
sippi areas, Kennedy said:
“A cooling-off period is needed.
It would be wise for those travel
ing through these two states to
delay their trips until the present
state of confusion and danger has
passed and an atmosphere of rea
son and normalcy has been re
stored.”
The statement followed an an
nouncement by sponsors of the
“Freedom Riders” that additional
groups of this type will now start
moving almost daily through the
southern area.
Navy Jet Fighter Planes j
Set Coast-to-Coast Record
NEW YORK (A*) — Three Navy j
jet fighter planes blasted through j
the skies of America today to I
set an unofficial new coast-to
coast record. The fastest of the.
three made it in 2 hours and 47
minutes.
The two other craft were timed
as 2 hours and 57 minutes, and
3 hours and 3 minutes.
Sonic booms from the planes
as they^approached Floyd Bennett
Field in Brooklyn touched off ex
plosion reports and caused resi
dents to start phoning police.
The transcontinental marks
were set by FRH-1 Phantoms,
among five taking part in the
20th renewal of the Bendix
Trophy races.
The previous mark of 3 hours,
7 minutes and 44 seconds was set
in 1957 by an Air Force Voodoo
over the same course — Ontario,
Calif., to Floyd Bennett Field.
The distance is 2,445.9 miles.
The crew members of the fast
est plane were Lt. Richard F.
Gordon of Seattle, Wash., the
pilot, and Lt. Bobbie R. Young
of Modesto, Calif., radio-intercept
officer.
Planes taking part in the race
were refueled at three points
across the country from tanker
aircraft.
18 Servicemen Die
In C-124 Crash
McCHORD AIR FORCE BASE,
Wash. UP) — A big military trans
port returning servicemen from
maneuvers met disaster five miles
from takeoff today in a flaming
pileup that killed 18 men and
left four injured critically.
The C-124 Globemaster fell in
a wooded area minutes after it
lifted from a McChord runway
in predawn darkness, headed for
Ft. Sill, Okla., with 15 Army men
and its Air Force crew of seven.
Five men got out somehow
from the shattered, burning plane
and were rushed to Madigan Gen
eral Hospital at nearby Ft. Lewis.
One died a few hours later.
Three Army men and one Air
Force crewman remained at Mad
igan in critical condition.
Nearly everything burned. Even
metal melted. Hours after the
crash the wreckage still smoulder
ed.
The C-124 was returning men
who had participated in recent
Army-Air Force maneuvers, call
ed Lava Plains, at Yakima, Wash.,
150 miles east of McChord.
In addition to the 22 service
me aboard, the Globemaster car
ried a 16,230-pound truck, a 5,120
pound tractor trailer, a jeep and a
light trailer. It was not a heavy
load for the C-124, which can
carry up to 200 men.
While rescuers were searching
the burning wreckage, other
Globemasters continued to take
off from McChord on similar mis
sions. They roared over the crash
scene at 500 feet.
PEARS FOR DESSERT . . .
SEATTLE UP) — “Had pears for
dessert.”
That wistful statement ended
the daily report received from a
tugboat enroute to Alaska. The
rest of the message read:
“Uneventful day. Good weather.
Cook had three apple pies on rail
cooling. Seagull scored direct hit
on one, stood in the second and
ate the third. Cook was mad at
seagull. Had pears for dessert.”
President Asks
Public Contribute
To Cuban “Deal”
WASHINGTON UP — President
Kennedy today asked public con
tributions to the tractors-for
prisoners exchange with Fidel
Castro, and disclosed he helped
the Private Citizens Committee
which is raising funds for the
deal.
But in a statement Kennedy
disassociated the U. S. govern
ment as such from the plan to
swap 500 heavy-duty tractors for
the liberation of 1,200 men cap
tured in the ill-fated invasion of
Cuba last month by anti-Castro
exiles.
The Citizens Committee is head
ed jointly by Mrs. Eleanor Roose
velt, Walter Reuther, president of
the United Auto Workers, and Dr.
Milton Eisenhower, president of
Johns Hopkins University.
Mrs. Roosevelt and Reuther are
both Democrats, Eisenhower is a
Republican.
In his statement, Kennedy said:
“The United States government
has not been and cannot be a
party to these negotiations. But
when private citizens seek to help
prevent sufferinng in other lands
through voluntary contributions—
which is a great American tra
dition — this government should
not interfere with their humani
tarian efforts.”
Kennedy said that while the
government is “putting forward
neither obstacles nor assistance
to this wholly private effort, I
hope that all citizens will contri
bute what they can.”
“If they are our brothers in a
totalitarian prison, every Ameri
can would want to help,” he said.
“I happen to feel deeply that all
who fight for freedom — parti
cularly in our hemisphere — are
our brothers.”
Dr. Eisenhower
Surprised at Criticism
Of Tractor-Prisoner Swap
BALTIMORE UP — Dr. Milton
Eisenhower says he is “saddened
and surprised” at criticism of the
tractor-prisoner swap with Fidel
Castro being negotiated by a
group of American citizens.
Eisenhower, brother of former
President Dwight Eisenhower and
president of John Hopkins Uni
versity, is co-chairman of a drive
to raise $15 million for tractors.
“By whatever name you call
it,” he said yesterday, “the cen
tral problem is 1,214 decent
people. I don’t see how Americans
can refuse a call for help.”
Government Starts Anti
Trust Investigation
Of A T & T Co.
WASHINGTON UPI — The gov
ernment has started an anti-trust
investigation of the American
Telephone and Telegraph Co.
Lee Loevinger, Assistant Attor
ney General in charge of the Jus
tice Department’s anti-trust divi
sion, said that as a result of “a
number of complaints concern
ing activities” of AT&T, the divi
sion is investigating various as
pects of the telephone industry.
Stock in AT&T dropped more
than $3 a share in early trading
today on the New York Stock Ex
change.
Loevinger disclosed the investi
gation in a letter to E. L. Hage
man, president of the Western
Union division of the Commer
cial Telegraphers Union.
JFK Will Not Meet
South Korean Leader
Chang at This Time
SEOUL UP — The leader ofj
South Korea’s successful military
revolt, Lt. Gen. Chang Do.-Young,
announced today he plans to leave
for the United States soon to sell
his regime to President Kennedy
and the American people.
The U. S. Embassy, which had
opposed the coup last week, said
no invitation had been issued to
Chang but it was taking the mat
ter up with the State Department.
Initial reaction in Washington
was cool.
Chang who is head of the ruling
military council, premier, de
fense minister and army chief of
staff, said “reliable informants
have told me President Kennedy
wants to see and talk with me
personally.”
The 38-year-old general said he
would “see support for our ef
forts to achieve the revolution
ary tasks and thus promote fur
thering of close ties between the
two countries.”
The junta has said the aim of
its revolution is to weed out Com
munist infiltrators from North
Korea, end official corruption
! and rejuvenate the economy.
Chang’s iron-fisted regime step
ped up its crackdown against
what it called social evils and
subversion.
A military court sentenced 45
young people to jail terms rang
ing from three months to a year
for dancing at an unlicensed hall
in violation of martial law regu
lations.
WASHINGTON Ufi — The State
Department said today that a
meeting between President Ken
nedy and Lt. Gen. Chang Do
Young of South Korea is “not
practical or feasible at this time.”
State Department Press Officer
Lincoln White said Kennedy has
a very crowded schedule. He said
he assumes this obstacle to a
meeting with the President had
been explained to Chang by Mar
shall Green, ranking U. S. diplo
mat at Seoul.
The statement by White, in
response to a question, was ob
viously polite rejection — per
haps somewhat blunter than usual
in diplomatic practice — to
Chang’s bid to come here.
School Board Fills
Guidance Counselor
Post at High School
Conrad Potter, Superintendent
of the Nome Schools, announced
this morning that the newly cre
ated position of Guidance Coun
selor for the Junior and Senior
High School has been filled with
the appointment last night by the
School Board of Leigh V. Bras
saw of Brown City, Mich.
Brassaw holds a Bachelor of
Sicence degree from Michigan
State University with a major in
math. He has attended Purdue
University with scholarships from
the National Science Foundation.
In 1959 he received a Master
of Science degree from Michigan
State in Guidance and Adminis
tration.
He has held teaching and guid
ance positions in several cities
in Michigan and for the last two
years has been a high school prin
cipal in Brown City, Mich.
Mr. Brassaw is married and has
five children.
In making this announcement
Potter noted that only one va
cancy now exists on the 1961-62
staff and that he expects to have
it filled by the end of the month.
Citv Council Sets
Clean-Up Week
June 1 to 15
Clean-Up Week has been set
by the Nome City Council for
June 1 to June 15 during which
time the residents are requested
to gather all undesirable refuse
into containers which can be
handled by one man and placed
in a convenient place near the
street for pick-up.
The resignation of Herb Jenks
as jail superintendent was ac
cepted by the Council as of May
23 and John Walters was ap
pointed acting supervisor in his
place.
The Council has recommended
that for future elections the city
be divided into two election pre
cincts, with Steadman Ave. as
the dividing line.
Action was taken to get Mer
rill Chitty, the only certified as
sessor in the state, to come to
Nome and re-evaluate the com
munity.
It is planned that a fire and
electrical inspection be started
in the very near future to find
hazards and report them to the
owners of the property.
John McNees called the atten
tion to the condition of the city
dump and suggested that burning
the area would probably be the
only way to clean it up and also
I recommended that the garbage
trucks be covered.
Mayor Roscoe Wilke will head
the Fourth of July activities
I which will be announced soon.
A discussion was held concern
j ing the application for depressed
I area funds and the matter was
to be turned over to the Plan
i ning Commission.
Attempted Sabotage of
Icebreaker Northwind
Causes Minor Damage
SEATTLE UP — An apparent
attempt to sabotage the Coast
Guard Icebreaker Northwind
caused minor damage to her two
main engines here yesterday.
The 13th Coast Guard District
Headquarters said pieces of copper
and steel tubing were found on
brushes and commutators of both
engines as the icebreaker was
starting to get under way for a
harbor cruise.
A group from the Seattle Fed
eral Businessmen’s Assn, was
being entertained aboard the
Northwind when the discovery
was made.
The Coast Guard officially list
ed it as “suspected intentional
damage” and ordered an imme
diate investigation. Alertness of
the engineroom crew was credited
with preventing the engines from
being wrecked.
The Northwind is scheduled to
leave June 12 for five-month
patrol in the Bering Sea.
Court Accepts Goldfine's Guilty
Plea for Income Tax Evasion
BOSTON UP — The U. S. Dis
trict Court yesterday found Ber
nard Goldfine mentally compe
tent and formally accepted guilty
pleas to income tax invasion
against the 70-year-old industrial
ist.
The pleas had been condition
ally accepted May 15 pending a
finding that Goldfine was mental
ly competent.
Goldfine had pleaded guilty to
all counts in two indictments
charging he evaded nearly $800,
000 in personal and corporate in
come taxes.