m NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LIX No. 75 NOME, ALASKA. MONDAY, JUNE 24, 1957 Per Copy—150
B.C. Crash Fatal to 14 Persons
Caused hy Ground Personnel Error
PORT HARDY, B.C., (^—Four
teen of 18 persons aboard a Pa
cific Western Airlines plane died
in a crash here yesterday after
noon as the pilot tried to return
for an emergency landing after
his takeoff.
A preliminary report from the
•airline today indicated the disas
ter apparently was caused by the
leaving of a ground control block
on the tail assembly.
The plane had taken off on a
regular 190-mile flight to Vancou
ver from this northern tip of
Vancouver Island.
A witness living near the field
said the plane was attempting to
return for a landing when sud
denly it plunged nose down onto
the runway.
“A terrible fire followed,” said
Mrs. R. Lennox. “It’s a wonder
anyone got out alive.”
The airline statement said: “It
appears from early reports that
the cause of the accident was fail
ure of some personnel to remove
one of the ground control blocks
which are always placed on the
tail assembly.”
Among those killed, were Capt.
Gerald W. Allen, 37, the pilot,
and Laurie Roland, 23, the co
pilot, both of Vancouver. Roland
was the former Canadian junior
open golf champion and three
time winner of the British Colum
bia junior title.
One woman, Mrs. J. Carver, of
Port Alice, B.C., was among the
dead. Two RCAF technicians were
killed. The 11 other passengers
killed were woods workers re
turning from a camp on Vancou
ver Island.
The stewardess and three pas
sengers escaped thru the rear
emergency door.
Bids for Nome ACS
Center Reviewed
ANCHORAGE — For construc
tion of three Alaska Communica
' tion System Centers—at Nome,
| Bethel and Kotzebue—the U.S.
; Army Engineer District, Alaska,
' has awarded a contract for Kotze
j bue and has bids for the two oth
: er sites under review.
On the station at Nome, Sched
ule A bids were: $193,430 from
i American Service Co.; 214,632
from B-E-C-K Constructors, Se
! attle; $230,675 from Inlet Con
struction Co., Anchorage.
The government's estimate was
$153,694 lor the Nome project.
Other bidders were Chris Berg
j and Pacific Construction.
| Watchmaker's Vacation
; Ends With Solo Crossing
Of Pacific Ocean
SAN FRANCISCO, OP)—Another
vacation is over for Peter Gluck
mann, the San Francisco watch
maker who spends his spare time
flying solo over oceans.
This time it was the Pacific.
Gluckmann, who twice crossed
the Atlantic in light planes, land
ed from Hawaii yesterday. He did
it in a single-engine Beechcraft.
He made the return flight in 19
hours and 10 minutes, slowed by
unexpectedly strong headwinds
and a thunderstorm.
ARAB INFILTRATOR KILLED
BY ISRAELI PATROL
JERUSALEM, OP)—An Arab in
filtrator was killed yesterday in a
Negev Desert clash between an
Israel army patrol and infiltrators.
Supreme Court Upholds Federal Law
Banning Obscene Literature in Mail
WASHINGTON, H"*—The Su
preme Court today upheld the
federal obscenity statute, which
bars the mailing of indecent liter
ature
Justices Brennan delivered the
6-3 decision for himself. Chief
Justice Warren, and Frankfurter,
Burton, Clark and Whittaker.
Justices Black, Douglas and
Harlan dissented.
The Law was attacked by Sam
uel Roth, New York publisher,
who was convicted of sending ob
scene literature thru the mails
and got five years’ imprisonment
and $5,000 fine.
Roth contended the statute vio
lates constitutional guarantees in
cluding those of freedom of
speech and press.
But Brennan, for the majority,
wrote:
“We hold that obscenity is not
within the area of constitutional
ly protected speech or press.”
The statute involved in the Roth
case makes unlawful the mailing
of “every obscene, lewd,' lascivi
ous or filthy book, pamphlet, pic
ture, paper, letter, writing, print
or other publication of an inde- j
cent character.”
Roth’s conviction, in U.S. Dis
trict Court in New York, was won
on four counts growing out of
mailed circulars advertising pub
lications called Photo and Body,
Good Times, and American Aph
rodite No. 13.
Brennan said ideas other than
obscenity “having even the slight
est redeeming social importance
—unorthdoox ideas, controversial
ideas, even ideas hateful to the
prevailing climate of opinion—
have the frffi protection” of the
First Amendment,, ‘^unless ex
cludable because they encroach
upon the limited area of more im
portant interests.”
Douglas, dissenting for himself
end Black, said the court’s deci
sion makes the legality of a pub
lication turn “on the purity of
thought which a book or tract in
stills in the minds of the reader.”
Douglas said the test Of obsce
nity the court “endorses today
gives the censor free range over a
vast domain.”
Pilot Reported
Killed In Cragji
Of Wein Plane
A report was received yester
day that a Wien Norseman plane
crashed after leaving Selawik
and that the pilot, Ed Badten,
was killed. The plane was carry
ing three passengers at the time
but it is not known here how
badly they were injured, accord
ing to Dick Miller of the Wien
office. Two of them were re
ported taken to Fairbanks and
one to Anchorage.
Cause of the crash has not yet
been determined according to
Miller.
Speed Boat Race
To Be Held On
Fourth of July
The City Council 4th of July
Committee met other interested
persons Friday evening to organ
ize the program for Independence
Day.
Councilmeti Pete Reader and
Wilbur Arnold head the commit
tee which also includes, Joe
Amarok for native sports; Bob
Emmons for the American Le
gion; Sgt. Granfield for the Na
tional Guard; Phillip Lancaster
for the Civil Air Patrol; and Russ
Hermann who will act as master
of ceremonies at the patriotic ex
ercises of the program.
The committee announced to
day that two new events have
been provided: an outboard speed
boat race and a skeet shoot.
Two classes of speed boats will
participate in the races, small
boats powered with less than 20
horsepower motors and those
with over 20 h.p. motors.
A time and a place for regis
tration will be announced later
for those who intend to enter the
races.
A full day of events is being
scheduled and in order to get
everyone “into the act” the chil
dren’s races wlil start at 9 a.m.
It is also understood that an
air show will be provided some
time during the day with jets
putting on the show.
Air Force Band
Coming for the 4tli
Nome will have a band for the
the Fourth of July, according to
advices received by Mayor Stef
fen Andersen from Col. Lewis
Stocking of Ladd Field.
The 774th Air Force Band is
scheduled to arrive the morning
of July 4th and remain for the
day.
Speaker for the day is Governor
Mike Stepovich, who will make
his first official visit at that time.
The program committee has
stated they will have the com
plete program for events soon.
Draft Call for 11,000
WASHINGTON, (tfi—'The Army
issued a draft call for 11,000 men
in August. This is 2,000 lower
than the previously announced
quotas for the fourth month be
ginning in April.
U.S. Atomic Scientists Can Make
H-Bomb 95 Percent Free of Fallout
WASHINGTON (Jfi—Atomic sci
entists today told President Eisen
hower this country now can pro
duce a hydrogen bomb approxi
mately 95 percent free of radio
active fallout.
Three University of California
physicists, visiting the President
with Chairman Lewis L. Strauss
of the Atomic Energy Commission
(AEC), reported the progress on
producing a “clean” H-bomb.
Strauss told reported strides
have been made since June 5,
when Eisenhower reported that
fallout had been reduced by nine
tenths from that of earliest H
bombs.
By the time he made that state
ment, we had gone about half the
way to ten-tenths,” Strauss said.
The three scientists—all obvi
ously pleased—stood with Strauss
as he spoke. They were Dr. Ern
est O. Lawrence, Dr. Mark M.
Mills, and Dr. Edward Teller, all
of the University of California
radiation laboratory.
Strauss cut off a question to
Kotzebue Holds
Beluga Derby
This Summer
Kotzebue is holding a fishing
derby this summer but theirs is
entirely different than any other
derby in Alaska. It is a beluga
whale derby and will be judged
for the biggest, measuring from
nose to tail. The derby will last
all summer, as long as there are
belugas in the vicinity, stated
Frank Whaley, who is now the
inter-line and tour manager for
Wien Alaska Airlines.
Whaley plans to make frequent
visits to Nome and other parts
of the territory where tours are
being made, to help work out the
problems involving the handling
of Alaska visitors.
Dr. Teller—whether a morator
ium on nuclear weapons testing
would hamper progress toward
producing weapons which would
not harm civilian populations '
thru fallout. The question should
not be answered, the AEC chair
man said, because it might hinder
disarmament negotiations now in
progress.
Britain fired May 31 an H-bomb
which was reported to have pro
duced only a slight direct radio
active fallout. Informants indi
cated to reporters with the British
testing force in the Central Pacific
that this bomb would be virtually
“clean” as a battle weapon if ex
ploded as much as two miles high.
One of the arguments that has
been made for a halt to weapons
testing is that accumulated fallout
—radioactive dust and particles
drifting over the world—might
rise to the point where it was
causing bone cancer and effecting
genetic changes.
Some experts contend there are
dangers from the radioactivity al
ready released. But the three sci
entists accompanying Strauss to
the White House were emphatic
in stating that all the H-bomb
tests to date have produced harm
less and “negligable” quantities
of radioactivity.
Attempt to Imitate
Stunt Man’s Dive Proves
Fatal to Man, 50
HALSTEAD, England, UP)—Al
bert Heys watched contemptuous
ly yesterday as a stunt man made
three 60-foot dives into a tiny
tank of water at the annual vil
lage fair.
“It’s simple; I could do it my
self,” Heys told bystanders.
A few minutes later the 50
year-old factory worker whipped
off his coat, scaled a ladder to the
diving platform, jumped off, hit
the side of the tank and wasj
killed.
Nuclear Device Set Off in Daylight
Is Strongest of U.S. Summer Series
ATOMIC TEST SITE, Nev„ Up :
—Scientists today fired a test
weapon so bright it was blinding
in daylight and so strong that it
wrenched doors from their hinges
14 miles away.
The device, most powerful of
the summer test series and the
first to be touched off in daylight,
was suspended 700 feet above the
desert floor from a big plastic
balloon.
It was the 50th detonation in
Nevada since the United States
began experimenting here.
A reporter who watched the
6:30 a.m. blast from Angel’s peak,
40 miles away, said: “The initial
flash was very bright, even when
viewed thru high density goggles.
The fireball seemed to be like a
double one. The cloud ascended
very rapidly. It seemed like it hit
40,000 feet in no time. Then there
was a cloud layer that hung over
Frenchman Flat like a long smear
or blanket all over the area after
the shot.”
In Las Vegas, about 75 miles
away, one observer said the atom
ic cloud had a “double mushroom
effect.” The AEC described this as
follows: “A heavy pillar of dust
was lifted, composed of talcum
powder-like dust from the surface
of Frenchman Flat Dry Lake. It
formed a mushroom shaped cloud
atop the stem, creating the unusu
al effect of a mushroom stem and
cloud with a second separated
cloud lifting above them.”
The exact size of the blast was
not disclosed. The AEC had said
it would be above 20 kilotons, or
more powerful than the bombs
dropped on Hiroshima and Naga
saki.
Only light fallouts were ex
pected at Highway 93, 50 to 60
miles from the test area.
/