zs NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LXI No. 48 NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 1959_Per Copy—15*
Fallout Danger Is Primary Concern In
President’s Atomic Test Ban Proposal
WASHINGTON, UP) — President |
Eisenhower’s proposal to the So- |
viets that nuclear tests be banned
below altitudes of 30 miles —
•unless underground — is aimed
to elimnate danger from fallout.
A nuclear explosion spews out
radioactive particles. Their rain to
the earth is called fallout. The
extent of the threat this offers to
the world population is a point
of some controversy among sci
entists. But all agree that in suffi
cient concentration there is a
danger.
An underground explosion, if
sealed deep in the earth, brings no
fallout. The radioactive particles
are confined.
As to high altitude shots, such
simple factors as gravity and the
rate of decay of fission products
enter into the calculations of re
duced danger.
Radioactive particles from a nu
clear burst in the earth’s atmos
phere drop fairly fast toward the
earth. This means that they reach
the surface while they are still
radioactively hot.
But as altitude increases, par
ticles have longer opportunity to
lose their radioactivity. By the
time they reach earth, some sci
entists believe, contamination has
become a mere harmless trace.
However, the rate of decay for
Strontium 90, most persistent and
dangerous of the radioactive pro
ducts, is far slower than other
elements. But, say the scientists,
out in space concentrations of
Strontium 90 probably become
widely diffused and tend to drift
down slowly, thus reducing the
dangerous effect by dispersion.
The United States has fired at
least five atomic explosions at al
titudes, about 30 miles — three in
Project Argus over the South At
lantic last summer, and two sent
up from Johnson Island, over the
Central Pacific, a few weeks
earlier.
The Argus explosions were at
altitudes of about 300 miles. The
two Johnston Island tests were
believed to have been made at
altitudes of between 50 and 100
miles.
The Soviets so far have made no
direct claim to having conducted
edge-of-space nuclear tests.
Dalai Lama Denies
Being ‘Captive’
At Indian Refuge
MUSSOORIE, India, UP) — The
Dalai Lama today said he stands
by his statement denouncing Chi
nese Communist rule in Tibet.
Tibet’s fugitive religious and po
litical leader denied Red China’s
charge that he was not responsible
for the statement issued at Tez
pur, India, Saturday.
The Dalai Lama’s denial of the
Communist charge coincided with
a speech in Peiping by the usur
per of his throne, the Communist
installed Panchen Lama, who de
fended the Chinese Communists
and parroted the Red line that his
holy colleague was a captive of
“reactionaries.”
The 23-year-old Dalai Lama said
he hadn’t intended to make an
other statement at this stage but
he had seen the Communist report
“implying that I was not respon
sible for the one issued in Tezpur.
“I wish td make it clear that
the earlier statement was issued
under my authority and indicated
my views and I stand by it,” the
refugee Tibetan ruler said.
The Dalai Lama charged in his
first statement that the Chinese
Communists broke their pledge of
self-rule for Tibet, destroyed mon
asteries, killed Buddhist holy men
and sent others into China with
slave labor gangs.
British Royalty Visit I
Pope John XXIII In Rome
VATICAN CITY, UP — British
Queen Mother Elizabeth and Prin
cess Margaret called on Pope John
XXIII today for a 25-minute audi
ence which some British Protes
tants criticized in advance.
It was the Queen Mother’s fir^t
meeting and Princess Margaret’s
second with a supreme ruler of
the Catholic Church. The Princess
had an audience 10 years ago with
the late Pope Pius XII.
A thousand British students,
priests and sightseers cheered the
royal party as it passed through
the Vatican’s Clementine Hall in
route to the Papal apartments.
PNA Sets Record Year
In Increased Profits
SEATTLE, UD — Pacific North
ern Airlines "reported record busi
ness and profits today for 1958,
and said prospects for this year
appear even more favorable.
The Seattle-Alaska carrier, in
its annual report, listed total rev
enue at $10,367,771 and net in
come at $393,816, equivalent to
37 cents a share. The profit rep
resented a 51 per cent gain over
1957.
Arthur G. Woodley, president,
said PNA’s passenger traffic was
up 5 per cent, cargo and express
ton-miles 9 per cent, and mail 11
per cent.
The report said traffic growth
continued during the first quar
ter this year with a 13 per cent in
cease over the same period of
1958.
San Quentin Escapees Surrender After
‘Bluff’ Threats to Knife Woman Hostage
SAN QUENTIN, Calif. —'Two
small-time burglars who escaped
from San Quentin prison and held
a woman hostage at knifepoint
for six hours at the end of a fish
ing pier before surrendering Tues
day, say they were bluffing.
“We didn’t really want no hos
tage, just a car to get away,” said
Billy Joe Wright, 26, and auburn
haired Louise Geschwend, 55,
agreed.
“I hope these boys get a break,”
she declared. “They didn’t hurt
me. They gave me a break.”
At the beginning of the ordeal,
she said, “I was scared. I felt
sick and I was faint. When I al
most fainted, one of the boys
wrapped my coat around me.”
The trusty who did that was
William D. Werner, 24. Both he
and Wright had jail-break records.
They broke away from work
parties outside the bleak walls of
the huge prison 20 miles north of
San Francisco, Wright fleeing from
a grass-mowing party and Werner
from the prison quarry, with
guards in hot pursuit.
Failing to find a car, they ran
down the half-mile wharf that juts
into San Francisco Bay near the
Alaska Oil - Gas
Leases In Process
Cover 10% of State
WASHINGTON, UP>—More than
37 million acres of Alaska —
roughly 10 per cent of its land
area — are represented in oil
and gas leases already granted or
pending before the Bureau of
Land Management.
Sen. Ernest Gruening released
the compilation Wednesday on the
basis of data supplied by Edward
Woozley, Bureau of Land Man
agement director.
The BLM report showed 11,586
outstanding oil and gas leases cov
ering 22,652,733 acres in Alaska
as of March 1. At the same time,
there were 6,179 pending appli
cations covering approximately
14,739,925 acres.
The repport contained no state
ment as to lease rentals or roy
alties, 90 per cent of which accrue
to the state.
Of the total, the Anchorage Land
Office issued 6,875 leases cover
ing 14,544,712 acres and had
pending 3,550 applications affect
ing approximately 8,000,000 addi
tional acres.
The Fairbanks office granted
4,704 leases on 8,100,722 acres and
had 2,628 applications pending af
fecting 6,739,845 acres.
Leases issued by the Juneau
Land Office number 7 and covered
7,299 acres. One application was
pending on 80 acres.
President Appoints New
Vice Chief of Army Staff
WASHINGTON, UPI — President
Eisenhower today named Gen.
George H. Decker, now command
ing U. S. forces in Korea, as vice
chief of staff of the Army.
Lt. Gen. Carter B. MaGruder
was given Decker’s Korean com
mand.
Magruder has been deputy chief
of staff for logistics for the Army
in Washington.
In connection with the change,
Eisehhower sent to the Senate a
nomination to promote Magruder
to the rank of full general.
| prison entrance.
Mrs. Gschwend, a beauty oper
ator, was fishing there with Doug
Harrison, 62, a hotelman and
friend of 35 years. Her husband,
Walter, was working as a hotel
bellman. All live in San Francisco.
Harrison recalled that “Louise
let out a scream and I saw they
had a knife at her neck.” He added
that Wright “told officers ‘Don’t
come any closer or I’ll kill her’
but I think they were just bluff
ing all the time.”
Wright and Werner, with Har
rison carrying messages between
them and the guards, demanded
a speedboat with plenty of gaso
line and at another time the keys
to Mrs. Gschwend’s car and a half
hour start.
With guards blocking the end of
the pier and Coast Guardsmen pa
trolling off the pier by boat and
in the air with a helicopter, pris
on officials refused. The stale
mate continued.
Finally the prisoners gave up
when Marin County Prosecutor
William Weissich promised not to
prosecute them for escaping and
they were given a chance to tell
their grievances to newspapermen.
Nome High Band Set for 3 ■ Day
School Band Festival at Anchorage
-<
Sugar Ray Must
Fight Basilio*
Rules N. Y. Court
NEW YORK, UR — Supreme
Court Justice Saul Streit today
directed middleweight champion
Sugar Ray Robinson to agree to
defend his title against Carmen
Basilio within 15 days or face
loss of his crown.
The court, in a 12-page decision,
upheld the power of the State
Athletic Commission to choose the
challenger for a championship
bout and to fix the date.
Justice Streit said, however,
that the commission did not, ac
cording to its own rules, have the
authority to pick the place for the
fight.
Robinson went to the courts af
ter the commission, on April 3,
ordered him to sign for a defense
against Basilio, by noon, April 15,
or face loss of his championship.
The commission took the action
under its rules requiring cham
pions to defend every six months.
Robinson hasn’t fought since he
regained the title by outpointing
Basilio at Chicago, March 25, 1958.
‘Beat’ Is Rocking
Itself Out, Reports
Music Club Parley
SAN DIEGO, Calif., UP)—Rock
’n’ roll was being treated like a
condemned killer at the biennial
convention of the National Fed
eration of Music Clubs today.
Its early end was freely pre
dicted — “and a good thing, too,”
declared Mrs. Blanche Buford of
Dallas, Tex., chairman of the
group’s publicty department.
She and such a noted music
authority as Sigmund Spaeth,
writer and lecturer, blamed it for
killing television’s “Hit Parade”
program, which they said was end
ing soon.
Dr. Vera Wardner Dougan of
Beloit, Wis., president of the fed
eration, declared: “It was nothing
but a beat anyway, and it is just
beating itself out.”
Their comment followed and
supported a report to the conven
tion by Ada Holding Miller of
Providence, R. I., chairman of the
group’s American music section,
that rock ’n’ roll was rocking and
rolling itself out of popularity.
Spaeth said reports from music
publishers and recording com
panies also showed rock ’n’ roll
was coming to an end.
“It was nothing but a jungle
beat,” he said, speaking of it in
the past t^nse. “Perhaps, it did re
flect a spirt of our times, but
even the kids are'dropping it.”
TUESDAY BASEBALL SCORES
American League
Cleveland 14, Detroit 1.
New York 11, Washington 4.
Kansas City 8, Chicago 3.
Baltimore 5, Boston 2.
National League
Los Angeles 9, San Francisco 7.
Milwaukee 7, Cincinnati 4.
Chicago 1, St. Louis 0.
Pacific Coast League
Sacramento 1, Vancouver 0.
Phoenix 7, Portland 5.
San Diego 2, Spokane 1.
Seattle 6, Salt Lake City 5.
The Nome School Band is all
ready to leave tomorrow morning
for the High School Band Festival
in Anchorage. This will be the
first time that the group will be
taking part in this annual event.
This trip has been made possible
through the cooperation of the
entire community, which has con
tributed generously in many ways
to raise the funds for the trans
portation of the group.
Under the leadership of a Band
Festival Committee, headed by
Jim Blanning and Dorothy Young,
several projects were set up and
successfully executed until the
goal of $1,800 was achieved last
week.
Time and Talents Given
Many persons, too numerous to
mention here, gave their time and
talents for the various fund-raising
projects, to make the undertaking
a success. Almost everyone in'
Nome contributed in one way or
another. Following is a list of
cash contributors:
Ernie Bohrer, $5; Nick Simeon,
$10; Breakers Bar (prize money
won by Mrs. Gillespie and con
tributed), $15; Evelyn Langhus,
$5; Axel Edman, $5; Catholic
Church (from St. Patrick’s Party)
$20; Lennie Nerland, $20; P-TA,
$75; Methddist Church, $9.35;
Nome Nugget (in advertising),
$77.50; Explorer Scouts $16.35; B.
Young, $20; T-V Station (spot
announcements and interview
time donated); Mrs. John Gilles
pie, $32.50 (this is her profit on
selling subscriptions to Readers
Digest Magazine, especially for
the Festival Fund, and she wishes
to express appreciation to the
telephone operators for their co
operation in her project).
Housing in Private Homes
Housing arrangements have
been made through the courtesy
of the Anchorage Schools, and the
students will be in private homes
during their three-day stay in
Anchorage. Among the hostesses
are several former Nome families,
including Mrs. Wm. Barber, Mrs.
Earl Coulthard, Mrs. Spear, Mrs.
Peggy Kraun and Rita Travis.
Mr. Bixby, band director, states
that the Festival activities start at
7 a.m. Friday morning.
Mr. Robert Vagner, professor
from the University of Oregon,
will be the adjudicator for the
bands, and adjudicator for wood
winds will jbe Kurt Pasch with
Joe Dechario, and for brass, Rob
ert Morgan.
Nome Soloists Featured
Features played by members of
the Nome band will be Fritz
Chambers playing “Jupiter” by
Goldman; Susy Saito playing “Ori
ental” by Cui; Judy Bixby playing
“Ocean Beach” by Harris; Earl
Towner playing “Entrance of The
Nobleman” by Peltze; Rodney
Boucher playing “Donkey Sere
nade” by Friml; Ruth Towner
playing “Gay Minuet” by Harris; N
Mary Jeanne Longley playing
“Gigue” by Gossac; David Grant
playing “Militaire Polka”; Eddie
Johnsen playing “Novellette.”
There will be an instrumental
clinic, where the students will
learn more about their instru
ments, additonal pointers on how
to play, and hints on care of the
instruments.
(Continued on Page Two)