222 NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
62nd Year No. 85 NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 1961 Per Copy 15^
JFK Making
Decisions on How
To Deal with Reds
WASHINGTON UP) — President
Kennedy announced today that he
was making decisions immediately
on measures to deal with the So
viet threat to West Berlin and
will report to Congress and the
nation next week after consulting
U. S. allies.
He indicated at a news confer
ence that his plans include bol
stering U. S. forces in Western
Europe to improve the balance of
power between the Communist
bloc and the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization allies.
He also intiminated that the
United States might take steps to
strengthen the anti-Communist
position in Southeast Asia. He
mentioned that area specifically
as one of concern.
At a news conference the Pres
ident announced that a meeting
of the National Security Council
at the White House this afternoon
would produce decisions for deal
ing with the Berlin crisis. Later
this week he will consult with
NATO allies.
Next Tuesday evening he will
make a speech to the nation on
“our responsibilities and hazards”
in the Berlin dispute. On Wednes
day he will spell out his policies
program in a message to Congress
Kennedy declined today to say
exactly what he has in mind, but
he did not reject any particular
possibility such as stepping up
military expenditures, raising
taxes, declaring a national emer
gency, calling military reserves
and the National Guard units to
active duty.
What Kennedy did say quite
emphatically was that “we intend
to honor our commitments” to
protect West Berlin against Com
munist threats.
At the same time the President
issued a new appeal to the So
viet government to “reconsider”
its course on Berlin and turn
aside from a path which could
lead to war.
Biggest Oil and Gas
Lottery to Take
Place on July 25
ANCHORAGE UP) — This state’s
biggest oil and gas lease lottery
will take place here July 25 when
winners of 82 tracts in the Tyo
nek area will be drawn.
State Division of Lands offi
cials reported that they have re
ceived 13,381 applications for the
82 tracts. This tidal wave of
paper brought the state $267,000
in filing fees alone.
There are approximately 197,
000 acres involved in the current
non-competitive lease sale. The
majority of the 82 tracts contain
2,509 acres.
Winning applicants will have
30 days following the drawing to
roise the necessary 50 cents an
acre first year rental on the tracts.
If there are any unable to do so
or don’t wish to lease it, then the
second applicant in the sequence
of drawing has 30 days to lease
and so on down the line of pri
ority.
The Tyonek area, about 40 miles
west of here, is believed to have
a great oil potential. It was for
merly a military gunnery range,
recently given up by the Army,
and is located directly across Cook
Inlet from the Kenai oil field.
IRONWORKERS - AGC
ARE DEADLOCKED
IN NEGOTIATIONS
ANCHORAGE — A deadlock
in contract negotiations between
Alaska Ironworkers and the As
sociated General Contractors con
tinued today with no sign of a
break.
Barney Toner, federal mediator
from Seattle, assigned to the dis
pute, said he has found nothing
to justify another meeting of the
negotiators and has moved on to
another dispute in which he is
involved.
Representatives of neither side,
in the negotiations which broke
off after resuming only for a
brief session yesterday, could be
reached for comment.
The full extent of the effect on
Alaska construction cannot be
immediately determined but it
will affect several large construc
tion jobs in the Anchorage area.
Toner was expected to head for
Ketchikan where there is a dis
pute between the pulp mill opera
tors and pulp workers.
Alaska Mountain Climber
i Says Pair Who Quit Last
Week Weren’t Capable
ANCHORAGE UP — Bob Good
I win of Gird wood, until yesterday
: a member of the Italian expedi
! tion that is attempting to climb
j the sheer south face of Mt. Me
: Kinlev, said today that two mer
who quit the party last week
“weren’t capable climbers and
had to be sent back to Talkeet
na.”
Goodwin said he was compelled
to leave the expedition to return
to work with a New York archi
tectural firm designing the An
chorage-Fairbanks highway. He
i has been climbing in the Mc
I Kinley area for 48 days and was
| due back on his job Monday.
Last week Anchorage business
: man John Stocco and New York
copywriter Armand Petrecca re
turned to Anchorage and said they
had quit the Italian expedition
“because of developing friction
between ourselves and the leader
of the party (Riccardo Cassini.
They were critical of Cassin’s
leadership.
Goodwin attributed the episode
to the “clash of personalities”
and said Stocco and Petracca
“weren’t capable climbers and
would have endangered the lives
of others on the climb.”
The Italians are attempting to
scale the south face of the 20,320
foot mountain, never before
climbed. Goodwin said he and
bush pilot Don Sheldon flew over
the group yesterday and saw that
they were leaving their 15,500
foot camp and moving up the peak
again.
He said the action of Stocco
and Petrecca in publicizing their
break with the party “wasn’t
good sportsmanship on their part.
This outfit (the Italians) had
come all the way from Italy and
such publicity is bad for climb
ing.”
Castro's Prisoner Negotiating
Team to Return to Havana Sunday
MIAMI, Fla. (J1) — Fidel Cas
tro’s 10-prisoner team will re
turn to Havana Sunday but rela
tives will continue to appeal for
funds to buy their freedom.
The prisoners were sent to this
country last month to negotiate
the trade of American tractors
for about 1,200 captives taken in
the unsuccessful April 17 inva
sion.
Special Count of
Aleuts and Eskimos
To Be Taken
JUNEAU OP) — A special count
and tabulation of Aleuts and Es
kimos and their characteristics
will be undertaken by the Bureau
of the Census, Gov. Egan’s of
fice said today.
Egan said he was advised by
Richard M. Scammon, Director of
the Bureau of the Census, that
the Aleut-Eskimo material would
be published next year, after the
standard census compilation pre
pared for all states.
Alaska’s governor had asked the
i Census Bureau to prepare the
; special figures on Aleuts and Es
! kimos after noting that publica
j tions to date on Alaska’s popula
tion made mention only of the
state’s Indian population.
The absence of information on
Aleuts and Eskimos, Egan said
“presents a considerable problem
for the obtaining of sufficient in
formation . . . for any type of
planning and research.”
: Replying to Egan’s request,
I Scammon said the special data
will include a separate count for
Aleuts and Eskimos as well as
other information concerning the
makeup of Alaska’s Indian, Aleut
and Eskimo population.
Scammon said a figure of 28,
i 634 persons in the 1960 census
j reports for Alaska identified as
' “all others” would include pri
| marily Aleuts and Eskimos.
The 1950 census showed 3,892
Aleuts and 15,882 Eskimos.
Scammon said the sharp in
! crease in number may be due,
' in part, to more complete cover
j age in the 1960 census, parti
: cularly in the rural areas of the
state.
| Thick Cloud Banks
Cancel Grissom’s
Rocket Ride
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — I
Thick cloud banks forced a sec- I
ond postponement today of Virgil
<Gus) Grissom’s rocket ride into
space. Now he must wait until
Friday before he can try again
to travel the sub-orbital path
blazed by Alan Shepard Jr.
The slender, 35-year-old astro
naut sweated out three hours, 57
minutes in the cramped confines
of his spacecraft, but was still
able to muster a smile when he
climbed out.
At 9 a. m., two hours after the
scheduled blastoff time, Mercury
project officials made the de
cision to “scrub” the shot, be
cause of a heavy, high-level cloud
cover that would have prevented
photographic tracking of the
rocket.
Tuesday’s original attempt to
send Grissom on the big ride also
was postponed because of un
favorable weather.
A two-day postponment was
necessary because the Redstone
rocket must be purged of its fuels,
dried out, cleaned and checked
for contamination.
Had the rocket gone today,
Grissom would have been blasted
116 miles high and 290 miles
down the Atlantic missile range at
a top speed of 4,900 miles an hour.
The 40,000-ton aircraft carrier
Randolph and five destroyers
were strung out along the range,
redy to pluck Grissom and the
4,030-pound capsule from the sea.
Nine Districts Face ;
Possible Loss Of
State House Seats
ANCHORAGE UP — “Gerry
mandering is out” as a means of
apportioning representation in the
House of Representatives among
the districts of the state, members
of Gov. Egan’s Advisory Reap
portionment Board said as they
closed organizational sessions
here.
Nine election districts in the
state face possible loss of House
seats as the result of population
increases statewide and changes
locally. Gerrymandering — mani
pulation of district boundaries—
might be employed to allow the
affected districts to retain seats.
But board members said they
adopted a policy of “strictly ad
hering to the “exemplary” provi
sions of the state constitution re
garding gerrymandering. It was
pointed out that the constitution
is “quite explicit” in provisions
to prevent such practices from
occurring in Alaska.
Douglas Gray of Juneau was
elected chairman of the board.
The other members are: Richard
Greuel of Fairbanks; Jack Hinck
I el of Kodiak; Clinton Gray of
j Nome and Mrs. Irene Ryan of An
I chorage.
The next full membershij
! meeting has been set for Aug. 2<
I ard 21 in Anchorage.
Chairman Gray emphasized th
“automatic” provisions of thi
j Constitution are quite explicit ir
I requiring combination of Houst
j Districts within local Senate Dis
tricts if the population of a House
District falls below a major frae
j tion of the quotient required for
representation under the new cen
! sus figures.
Under the 1960 census, the quo
tient is 4,837 and the major frac
tion is half of that plus one, or
2.419, Gray said.
Nine districts apparently are
losing House scats due to lack
of sufficient population. Loss of
their sole represen ative is faced
by the present di victs of Prince
of Wales, Cordova, Valdez, Kus
kokwim. Upper Yukon, and Bar
row. As bounded now, Sitka, Ko
diak and Nome could each lose
one of two representatives.
The Anchorage District stands
to gain six seats for a total of
14. Fairbanks could gain two for
a total of seven.
Possible recommendation for
division of the Anchorage District
is seen in a remark by Gray that
(Continued on Page 3>
President Calls on All
Schools to Have Children
Exercise 15 Minutes a Day
WASHINGTON M*) — President
Kennedy, in an unusual post
script to his regular news con
ference, today called on every
school in this country to provide
15 minutes of vigorous exercise
each day for all students, boys
and girls.
Kennedy said he was alarmed
over how many U. S. youngsters
are not physically fit. And there
fore, he said, he wants schools to
identify these pupils and to try
to give them special work that
will make them strong.
And each school, he said,
should use valid tests to see how
well their youngsters — “both
boys and girls” — measure up
and how well they are progres
sing.
Archbishop Vagnozzi,
Apostolic Delegate to U.S.,
Makes Nome Visit Today
The Most Reverend Egidio
Vagnozzi, Apostolic Delegate to
the United States for the Catholic
Church, who is on a tour of the
Pacific Northwest and Alaska, for
the first time arrived in Nome to
day, accompanied by several dis
tinguished leaders of the church,
including the Most Reverend
Thomas A. Connolly, Archbishop
of Seattle; Most Reverend Joseph
Dougherty, Bishop of Yakima;
Most Reverend Dermot O’Flana
gan, Bishop of Juneau and Most
Reverend Francis D. Gleeson, S. J.
Vicar-Apostolic of Alaska and
Secretary to the Prelate Mon
seigneur Pio Laghi.
This distinguished prelate and
his party have already visited in
Juneau, Anchorage and Fairbanks
and Nome had not been on his
itinerary. However, while in Fair
banks he expressed his desire to
see the Eskimo people, as many
of them belong to his church, so
the Nome, Kotzebue trip was ar
ranged for him, as these two com
munities have Catholic churches.
The group were met by Mayor
Wilke and the city presented them
! with mining certificates. A tour
j was arranged by Wien Airlines
: for them in both Nome and Kot
zebue, so that they may see as
much of northern Alaska as pos
' sible during their short visit.
1 The Papal Delegate stated that
his responsibilities as the Pope’s
- personal representative in this
; continent were “essential, reli
1 gious and spiritual, and I dedicate
myself and my energies to be
the proper link between the Holy
See and the American Catholics.”
Although he finished his studies
at the Roman Seminary at the
age of 22, with three doctorates
in philosophy, sacred theology and
canon law it was necessary to get
special permission of the Holy
See in order to be ordained as he
J was two years too young to be
I called to the priesthood. He is
known by his colleagues as “a
priest with a flair for story-telling
and a zest for mountain climb
ing.” And is nicknamed by them
as the “The American” for his
informal ways.
Six King Island Dancers
To Represent Nome
At the Eskimo Olympics
Six King Island dancers have
been selected to represent Nome
at the Eskimo Olympics being
held in Fairbanks during the
Golden Days celebration. They
leave tomorrow to compete with
selected dancers from other parts
of the Far North.
The group, who are guests of
Golden Days, are taking with them
their walrus hide for blanket
tossing while on their expense
paid trip.
$1.78 BILLION GRANTED
FOR SPACE EFFORTS
WASHINGTON UP* — Plans of
U. S. space experts to land a man
on the moon and return him ad
vanced a big step in Congress to
day.
Senate-House Compromise Com
mittee, while keeping a watch on
television sets showing the weath
er — delayed attempt to launch
a second U. S. astronaut, wrote
an okay on a bill to authorize
$1.78 billion for space efforts.
The bill includes every cent
asked by President Kennedy and
his space experts.