m NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LX No. 37 NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 1958_Per Copy—15#
Delegate Bartlett Makes Unreserved
Recommendation of Walter Hodge
For Second District Court Judgeship
WASHINGTON, UD —Delegate
Bartlett Tuesday recommended
“without any reservations what
soever” the confirmation of Wal
ter H. Hodge for a second four
year term as U.S. District Court
judge for Alaska’s Second Divi
sion.
“In all my experience, there
has never been a situation where
a man without previous judicial
experience so promptly and ef
fectively rose to the duties of the
high office to which he was en
trusted as was the case in refer
ence to Walter H. Hodge,” he
wrote Sen. Eastland (D-Miss>,
chairman of the Senate Judiciary
Committee.
Hodge’s nomination by Presi
dent Eisenhower for reappoint
ment to the court position now is
pending before Eastland’s com
mittee.
Although Hodge is headquar
tered at Nome, Bartlett said he
has traveled widely throughout
Alaska to aid other judges whose
calendars were more crowded
than his.
A poll by the Board of Gover
nors of the Alaska Bar Assn.,
among attorneys in all four judi
cial divisions of the territory,
Bartlett said, “discloses a support
for Judge Hodge to a simply
amazing extent and degree.”
Service by Hodge, a Republi
can, “has been a credit to the
administration and, more appro
priately put, to the nation he
serves,” tho Delegate declared.
Army Launches
Explorer II
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., UP>—
The Army launched another Ex
plorer satellite today and 12 min
utes later the new baby moon
apparently was in successful
orbit.
The new moon was a 31-pound
twin to the Army’s Explorer I
satellite.
It was the third Jupiter-C
launching in less than two
months.
Tweets To Move Old
BOQ From Here To
Teller By “Cat” Train
The Tweets of Teller are pre
paring to move the old BOQ from
Nome Field to Teller where it
is reported it will be used to pro
vide more floor space for the
North Star Trading Co.
A couple of trips have already
been made with loads of lumber
from the building and the trail is
ready, using the beachline route
for the trip.
Several large “cats” will be |
used to haul the building and if
the weather holds out the proj- j
ect will be completed this sea- j
son. If the tra.l does not hold, the ]
hauling will be suspended until {
the snow flies next fall.
On a recent trip over the route 1
the Tweet boys spotted a large
seal which they killed. They re
ported it weighed over 2 0 0
pounds.
It’s Oscar Night
In Hollywood
HOLLYWOOD, W —- It’s Oscar
night in Hollywood tonight and
the movie capital will roll out
its glamor for the award-confer
ring occasion.
But the somber note of tragedy
— death of producer Mike Todd
in an airplane crash Saturday—
hangs over the festivities.
Todd’s widow, Elizabeth Tay
lor, is one of the major contend
ers for the best actress award.
“I don’t care if I win or not,”
she said last night while flying
home from her husband’s funeral
in Chicago. “I only care what
Mike would have thought if I had
won.”
Seventy of Hollywood’s biggest
names will appear on the NBC
telecast of the award proceedings
staged by the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences.
The winners have been selected
through mail balloting by mem
bers of the Academy. The results
were in before Todd’s death and
sympathy of her colleagues for
his widow could have no effect
on the voting.
Miss Taylor has long been a
top favorite in the actress divi
sion because of her performance
in “Raintree County.” Her strong
est competition will come from
Deborah Kerr (Heaven Knows,
Mr. Allison) and Joanne Wood
ward (Three Faces of Eve).
In the best actor division, the
race is strictly between Alec
Guinness (Bridge of the River
Kwai) and Marlon Brando (Say
onara).
VAST DISTANCES OF ALASKA
JOINED TODAY BY AIR FORCE
ACCEPTANCE OF WHITE ALICE
ANCHORAGE, UP — America’s
140-million dollar answer to Al
aska’s vast distances, electronic
barriers and defense needs began
pulsing over a 3,000 - mile com
munications network today.
As soon as the great radio relay
web was energized at ceremopies
at Elmendorf Air Force Base this
morning the radar warning out
posts of the Alaskan Air Com
mand and the Alaskan segment
of the Distant Early Warning line
was linked together. Great gaping
holes in this defense line was
thereby closed.
Closer Telephone Communication
It also provided closer tele
phonic communications for the
civilian residents of this vast re
gion, hitherto limited in many
cases to the uncertain “bush
radio,” which often had long per
iods of enforced inactivity be
cause of atmospheric disturb
ances.
Now, a resident of Lisbourne,
an Arctic Ocean town a thousand
miles from the North Pole, can
pick up his phone and talk to
residents of Middleton Island off
the Southeastern Alaska coast in
the Pacific Ocean.
And, Wales, only 50 miles from
the coast of Russia, is in direct
touch with the Alaskan Defense
Command headquarters at An
chorage. Trappers, far inland at
Ft. Yukon, can get quick quota
tions on furs at Fairbanks, Seattle
or St. Louis.
The network was turned over
to the Air Force by the Western
Electric Co., whose technicians
have been directing the building
of the project, known as White
Alice, since 1955.
Beyond-Horizon Radio Relay
The system uses a beyond-the
horizon method of radio relay |
employing huge antennas resem
bling outdoor movie screens. Sig
nals are sent from station to sta
tion, as far as 170 miles apart.
The powerful signal shoots out
ward from the atmosphere to
strike the next* receiving screen.
Only one 10-trillionth of the or
iginal signal is picked up at the
next station, amplified and re
layed to other points.
A number of telephone conver
sations and telegraph messages
can be scrambled together and
combined into a single radio sig
nal to be sprayed into the atmo
sphere. The messages are auto
matically unscrambled when they
reach their destination.
The network is manned by civ
ilian employes Of the Federal El
ectric Corp., which operates it
under contract with the Air
Force.
Bartlett Asks
Congress Authorize
All APW Monies
WASHINGTON, UP)—Del. Bart
lett asked a Senate Appropria
tions subcommittee yesterday to
recommend Alaska be given all
the remaining money authorized
for the Alaska Public Works pro
gram.
The 10 - year program now is
scheduled to end June 30, 1959.
The administration has recom
mended an appropriation of four
million dollars for the program in
the year beginning July 1. This J
wcjuld leave $1,323,800 unappro
priated of the 70 million dollars
which Congress has authorized to
be spent in carrying out the act.
Bartlett said later he consid
ered Sen. Hayden (D-Ariz), com
mittee chairman, to be sympath
etic to his request for the full
amount. He said he also had talk
ed with officials of the Depart
ment of the Interior and was
“hopeful they too will support”
his request.
The Alaskan recently intro
duced a bill to extend the life
of the APW program another five
years and to provide authority
for another 30 million dollars in
appropriations.
Russian Scientists To Be
Invited To Observe U.S.
Pacific Atomic Tests
WASHINGTON, UP— President
Eisenhower announced today a
group of foreign scientists, prob
ably including Russians, will be
invited to observe a large U. S.
atomic explosion in the Pacific
this summer.
The purpose will be to show
a big cut in radioactive fallout
produced by an H-bomb.
Eisenhower also told his news
conference “a representative
group” of American and foreign
correspondents will be invited to
observe and report on nuclear
testing in the next Pacific series.
Judge Hodge Finds
Liquor Law Flaw
In Regard Minors
In the case of the U.S. vs. Dale
Mitchel, charged with giving in
toxicating liquor to a minor, U.S.
District Judge Walter Hodge, dis
missed the complaint Tuesday
and held that the law defining
the charge does not apply unless
a licensed premise is involved in
the violation.
The complaint from Kotzebue i
charging Air Force Sgt. Dale j
Mitchel with giving beer to a J
minor over the age of 18 years,
was dismissed for failing to state
an offense under the law as it!
now exists. A distinction was
made, however, as to the law re
lating to contributing to the de
linquency of a minor by giving
liquor to such a person.
Fred Crane, attorney for the
defendant, made the motion for
dismissal.
Judge Hodge found that the
section of the Territorial Liquor
Law regulating liquor traffic,
provides it is unlawful to give j
intoxicating liquor to any person
who is under the age of 21 years,
relates only to liquor stores and
dispensaries licensed to sell liq
uor, and that there is no statute
making it a crime for any other
person to give intoxicating liquor
to a minor oVer the age of 18.
The judge held that the legisla
ture had not shown its intent to
punish persons for giving liquor
to a minor where the sale of the
liquor was not concerned. The
law in question has been in effect
for many years and was re
enacted last year by the 23rd
legislature.
U.S. Atty. Russell Hermann ad
vises that the City of Nome does
have an adequate ordinance to
punish those who give liquor to
minors and that hereafter such
cases which come under this jur
isdiction will be prosecuted be-'
fore the city magistrate.
Portland Trade
Group Samples
Nome Hospitality
The Portland Chamber of Com
merce delegation which arrived
yesterday with Wien Airlines via
Kotzebue from Fairbanks was
greeted at the field with the
Nome School Band in full uni
form. Those players who could,
kept their mittens on while they
played as the air was bblow zero.
The visitors all got their cam
eras out for pictures in and a
round the snow igloo which Ex
plorer Post 766, Boy Scouts had
erected for the occasion. Even
a dog team with Rev. Bibbs at
the handlebars was available for
those interested in riding to town
the pioneer way.
“I can see why Nome is noted
for its hospitality” stated Phil
lip Hunt, Portland Chamber pub
licity man, “everyone is so
friendly.”
The guests were given the keys
to the town for the rest of the af
ternoon and met together again
at the Seaview Room of the North
Star as guests of the Nome Cham
ber, for dinner, following a cock
tail hour at the Bering Sea Club.
Baker Ferguson, Portland bank
er was spokesman for the visi
tors and expressed special ap
preciation to the band and its
warm reception at the field. Jer
ry Manning, toastmaster and
president of the Nome Chamber
had the Chamber members intro
duce their individual guests after
which the guests were presented
with mining permits and Billiken
place cards were also given as
souvenirs of the occasion.
The party left this • morning
for Anchorage.
Two Families Die
In Light Plane
Atlantic Ditching
MIAMI, Fla., If) — A carefree
day of shopping in the Bahamas
ended last night with a plane
crash which drowned three adults
and two children.
The only survivor was Lloyd
Scites of Detroit, Mich., who was
rescued from the Atlantic by a
fishing boat which came upon
the crash scene by chance.
Scites said he and the Hugh
Wilkinson family of Dania, Fla.,
took off from Fort Lauderdale
yesterday in a rented single-en
gine plane.
The party spent the day shop
ping at Bimini and Nassau and
started back about sundown. At
about 7:15 p.m., Scites said, Wil
kinson, 34, who was piloting the
plane, commented almost non
chalantly “It looks like we’re out
of gas.” With that,#the little plane
began losing altitude, hit the
water and sank within five min
utes. Wilkinson, his wife, Patri
cia, 30; their son, Dana, 7; Scites*
wife, Dolores, 30, and their 18
months-old daughter Deborah
were drowned.
Scites said he held little Deb
orah up until his strength failed
him. He reported he could find
no life preservers aboard the
plane.