zs NOME NUGGET
_ •OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LXill No. 31 NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 1960 Per Copy 15<
Eisenhower Calls j
For Additional j
Mail Rate Boosts
WASHINGTON, UP)— President
Eisenhower today sent an urgent
special message to Congress call
ing for an increase in first-class
mail rates to 5 cents an ounce as
part of a 500 million dollar postal
rate boost.
Air mail rates would rise from
7 to 8 cents an ounce and post
cards from 3 to 4 cents under
legislation to be submitted soon
by Postmaster General Summer
field.
Second class mail, mostly news
papers and magazines, would take
a 40 per cent boost in rates, and
rates on third class mail, mostly
advertising matter and small
packages, would go up an average
of 25 per cent.
The (President said it is imper
ative that Congress act to put the
Post Office on a self-supporting
basis, by wiping out deficits
which he said “have increased
astronomically” since World
War II.
The postal rate increase has
, been counted into Eisenhower’s
budget request for the fiscal
year 1961, starting next July 1,
and failure of Congress to act
would reduce the budget’s esti
mated $4,200,000,000 surplus.
Congressional sources have in
dicated however, that the legisla
tion has little chance of enact
ment in this election year. First
class rates rose from 3 cents an
ounce to 4 cents last year.
Blind Phone Operator
Sticks To Her Swtichboard
During Fire at Blind Home
PHILADELPHIA, (if) — Blind,
17-year-old Theresa Hayes was
anxious that her parents know
she did not fail in the perform
ance of her duty.
That’s why the slim blonde
stayed at her Braille-equipped
switchboard, risking her life to
help save 32 students at the Over
brook School for the Blind when
a fire swept the main building.
“I thought it was my duty to
stay at the switchboard to bring
as much help as I could reach to
help the nurses rescue the chil
dren,” she said as she shrugged
off acclaim as a heroine.
All of the students were led to
safety but one fireman was killed
fighting the blaze and six were
, injured.
“I smelled the smoke,” ex
plained Theresa, ‘‘but it didn’t
bother me. I thought it was my
duty to stay at the switchboard.
The principal of the school said
the fire started in the third-floor
bedroom of one of the employes
who had been smoking.
Nenana Tripod Is Up!
NENANA — A permit has been
granted from the Department of
Revenue today, allaying all doubts
on the status of the Nenana Ice
Classic, say Nenana classic offi
cials in a telegram to The Nugget.
The message continues:
National and international in
terest has been centered on the
great guessing game, with letters
arriving from the lower 49 states
and various foreign countries. The
tripod is up and two local teams,
eager Wilma Sonnyboy and Judy
Myers, have painted it in red and
black stripes. The girls got paint
on the pole too.
Permits Granted To
Nenana Ice Classic and
Fairbanks Winter Carnival
JUNEAU, — State Revenue
Commissioner Peter Gatz issued
temporary permits yesterday to
the Fairbanks Winter Carnival
Inc., to conduct lotteries and raf
fles and sponsor dog musher con
tests.
Gatz approved the applications
in a telegram sent to Lane Boyer,
Fairbanks, president of the Car
nival. The $3 fees for each of the
two events were paid by Rep.
Robert Giersdorf of Fairbanks.
Giersdorf said estimated reve
nues from the activities at the
Carnival, which opened Monday
and continues through next Sun
day, come to about $25,000. This
will cover about $7,000 for dog
mushers and $7,000 for ticket
holders, Giersdorf said. He said
the rest would go to cover ex
penses, a reserve fund and money
to be used toward a new civic
center building at Fairbanks.
The first permit under the
sanctioned gambling law went
r Wednesday to the Nenana Ice
Classic.
The House Finance Committee
has before it a $41,000 appropria
tion for administration of the law.
’Frisco Mayor
Plugs For Trade
With Vladivostok
COPENHAGEN, UP — Mayor
George Christopher of San Fran
cisco says Nikita Khrushchev is
“a fine gentleman, very aggres
sive and very frank, and we al
ways know where he stands.”
‘‘He is not the usual run of poli
ticians we know,’” Christopher
told newsmen here yesterday on
his arrival after a two-week visit
to the Soviet Union. The mayor,
who had entertained Khrushchev
during his American tour, had an
eight-hour reunion with the So
viet Premier in the Kremlin Tues
day.
Christopher said that during
their lengthy discussion he and
Khrushchev had a friendly argu
ment about “free enterprise ver
sus Communism.”
“Of course I could not convince
him that capitalism is superior.”
the Republican mayor said. “But
you can’t blame him for believing
what he believes in.’
In an interview with the Mos
cow newspaper Soviet Russia,
Christopher was quoted today as
saying that he was impressed
most of all by Soviet hospitality.
While emphasizing he was not
an official representative of the
U.S. government, the mayor said
he would like to suggest that “a
hospitality race would be better
than an arms race.”
The mayor was quoted as say
ing that representatives of San
Francisco had “time and again
approached the State Department”
on the question of expanding
trade with Vladivostok but that
“the question is still awaiting its
solution.”
The newspaper’s report, distri
buted by Tass, said the mayor
stressed that in principle, “he was
for expansion of trade, specific
ally between San Francisco and
Vladivostok.”
Vladivostok is the Soviet Un
ion’s chief Pacific port.
WEATHER FORECAST
Continued fair with northerly
winds 15-25 mph. Lowest temp,
expected tonight 5, high tomor
row 20.
U.S. Discoverer V
Goes Into Orbit
Around the Sun
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., M—
The broadest study ever under
taken in deep space got success
fully under way with the launch
ing of a beachbal-sized package
of instruments into orbit around
the sun. It’s assignment is to re
port back to America on condi
tions between the paths of the
Earth and Venus.
The 90-pound, 26-inch payload
was hoisted from this missile test
center by a towering three-stage
Thor-Able rocket at 8 a.m.
Three hours later in Washing
ton scientists of the National
Aeronautics and Space Adminis
tration announced the 165,000
pound thrust had given it speed
enough to escape the earth’s gra
vitational pull and that it had
gone into an orbit that will take
it 74,700,000 miles from the sun
in its nearest approach. Planning
■had been aimed at an approach
within 67 million miles.
The probe, named Pioneer V, is
intended to radio back data on
such phenomena as radiation,
magnetism and micrometeorites,
from distances up to 50 million
miles and — scientists hope — for
decades.
The information on conditions
is needed for the day when man
may fly to the far reaches. The
communication test is a check on
whether earth can keep in touch
with such a man or with the un
manned satellite that will blaze
the trail.
NASA officials said just after
11 a.m. that the payload had been
freed from the rocket at a velocity
of 24,869 miles an hour. That was
575 miles an hour above the speed
required to put the space flier in
orbit around the sun, and within
150 miles of the planned velocity.
The scientists said the Pioneer
V would take 311 days to make
a complete circle around the sun.
That means the probe is in a
slightly broader orbit than had
been planned. The original plan
envisioned an orbit requiring 295
days.
Couple May Keep Their
Four-Year-Old Genius
Girl Foster Child
TRENTON, N.J., UP) — Mr. and
Mrs. Richard Combs' fight to keep
their gifted 4-year-old foster child
will be reviewed by the Stale
Board of Child Welfare next
Thursday.
F. Morse Archer, board presi
dent, said he has been asked to
reconsider the decision to shift
Alice Marie's temporary home to
a permanent one with more em
phasis on books and less on tele
vision.
Edwin Hann Jr., acting director
of the Stale Child Welfare Bu
reau. said a final decision pro
bably would await the outcome of
court action launched by the
Combs couple.
But he told newsmen that in
view of the two-year lapse be
tween the transfer decision and
the current furor, the couple's
chance to keep Alice permanently
might be looked into again.
No Questions Asked
JERSEY CITY, N.J., UPI — The
Jersey City Board of Education
has received $200 in the mail from
an unknown donor who wrote one
word, “Restitution.”
The board was puzzled but ac
cepted the money with thanks.
ATOMIC ENERGY
COMMITTEE COMING
HERE TOMORROW
Representatives of the U. S.
Atomic Energy Commission, who
are visiting this area, will arrive
here tomorrow morning.
A meeting has been set up for
9:30 a.m., at the Seaview Room of
the North Star, for members of
the Board of Directors of the
Chamber of Commerce and all
other interested parties in con
nection with Project Chariot,
which is the proposal to simul
taneously detonate several nu
clear explosives in an experimen
tal excavation project near Cape
Thompson.
Members of the group arriving
here include Russell Ball, assist
ant manager of technical opera
tions; R. L. Southwick, assistant
to the manager, from the San
Francisco Office, and Charles
Weaver, Safety co-ordinator for
the project manager.
Directly after the meeting, they
leave for Shishmaref and will
go from there to Deering.
Air Force Brass Taking
Personal Hand in Manuals
WASHINGTON, WT—The man
ual-harrassed Air Force got high
marks today from one investiga
tor for frankness, but another
said he doesn’t see much prospect
for basic improvement.
A House Armed Services sub
committee yesterday closed the
first phase of its inquiry into the
manuals which have recurrently
plunged the service into hot
water.
The first item up was the man
ual which implied Communist in
filtration of the National Council
of Churches and named individ
ual Protestant clergymen as hav
ing been identified with Com
munist-tinged causes.
Secretary of the Air Force Dud
ley Sharp and Gen. Thomas D.
White, chief of staff, both said
they were taking a hand person
ally to prevent recurrences. White
said supervision of the manual
producing process was “patently
inadequate.” Sharp called it “in
excusable.” Both said the Air
Force has put in new, tight pro
cedures. Sharp said he’d read ev
ery word of the promised revised
manual himself.
Sharp said the Air Force would
n’t stop warning its people against
possibilities of Communist infil
tration—but wouldn’t likely name
names.
Subcommittee chairman Melvin
Price (D-Ill) remarked, “You’ve
got to give them credit for a
frank and honest admission that
they goofed.” He said the sub
committee will reserve judgment
on Air Force plans for improve
ment and meantime go on to
study other manuals.
$26,000 Suit Filed Against
6-Year-Old Auto Driver
TRENTON, N.J., Iff)—A suit for
$26,000 damages has been filed
against a 6-year-old driver as the
result of an auto accident two
years ago.
The youngster, Nicholas Ami
cucci of Westfield, is accused of
driving his mother’s auto into
another car after the keys were
left in the ignition at a service
station. Nicholas was 4 at the
time.
The suit, filed Wednesday, also
names as defendants the boy’s
mother, Maria Amicucci, and the
service station.
Senate Kills Plan
To Create Whittier
Port Authority
JUNEAU, bP)—The Alaska Sen
ate killed yesterday two measures
to set up state authorities to man
age development projects.
A late afternoon 11-8 rollcall
indefinitely postponed a bill to
create a Port of Whittier Author
ity to manage the big Army base
if it is turned over to the state.
Earlier, on a 10-9 vote, the Sen
ate defeated a bill to establish an
omnibus public work authority.
The sponsor of the Port of Whit
tier bill, Sen. Irene Ryan of An
chorage, made the motion to stop
action on it in order to bring it
to debate. She strongly urged the
Senate to keep the bill alive.
Mrs. Ryan said the Prince Wil
liam Sound port was a facility the
state could “use in many ways to
promote industrial development
. . . without damaging the com
mercial ports at Anchorage, Sew
ard and Valdez.” Among the ways
she said, would be handling coal
shipments to Japan.
In any event, said Mrs. Ryan,
it would be better for the state to
manage the port than to allow it
to pass into private hands. The
latter condition, she said, might
lead to a competitive situation
which would hamper existing fa
cilities in gulf cities.
Others argued the port would
be a financial burden to the state.
Sen. Irwin Metcalf of Seward said
it might have cost 65 million dol
lars to build but that didn’t mean
it was worth that much.
Said Sen. B. J. Logan of Cor
dova: “If the state took over the
port it would keep it broke shov
eling snow.” Logan called Whit
tier the most expensive port in
Alaska.
Sen. Thomas Stewart of Ju
neau called the bill premature.
He said its provisions “can scarce
ly be used before the meeting
of the next session” of the legis
lature. In the meantime, he pro
posed a resolution directing the
governor to study whether and
how the port might be used by
the state.
AERIAL COLLISION SAVES
SWEDISH PARACHUTIST
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, UP) —
An aerial collision with a fellow
parachutist saved the life of a
Swedish soldier whose parachute
failed to open.
The two parachutists were in a
group making a training jump
from a plane as 3,000 persons
watched.
The crowd gasped in horror as
Cpl. Rolf Johansson, 20, fell un
checked from about 1,200 feet.
Around and below him other
members of the group were float
ing toward the earth, their chutes
open.
About 500 feet from the ground,
Johansson hit the parachute of
one of his comrades. His own
parachute was ripped open by the
imact. A few second later, both
jumpers landed safely.
Nome Airport Please Note
PITTSBURGH, UP) — Allegheny
County Airport officials have a
new way of clearing snow off
runways.
Airport manager Martin Griffin
said yesterday the breeze from
the whirling blades of a helicop
ter blew about an inch of snow
off the airport’s mile-long run
way in about 15 minutes. The
twin-blade Army helicopter flew
up and down about two feet off
the runway.