m NOME NUGGET
__OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LVII No. 20 NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1955 . Per Copy—15^
« *
Comic Books and
Teachers' Salaries
Before Legislature
*By JIM HUTCHESON
•JUNEAU, (At—*The much-talked
about* subjects of objectionable
comic books and raising teachers’
salaries were placed before Al
aska’s lawmakers yesterday in
the form of new bills.
Introduction of the two mea
sures shared attention on a busy
day in the House with debate on
a dental regulation and licensing
bill and a controversial civil suit
judge removal measure. The Sen
ate had a. brief morning calendar
and turned to committee work in
the afternoon.
Rep. Lester Bronson (D-Nome'
brought in the comic book bill, on
request. It would prohibit the dis- |
play, sale or distribution by gift j
or lending of comics of the horror,
crime or sexually indecent va
riety. Violations would be mis
demeanors, with penalties up to
$300 fine or 30 days imprison
ment, or both.
School Salaries Increased
The school salaries bill was in
troduced by Rep. Peter Kalama
rides (D-Anchorage*, also by re
quest. It would raise the ceiling
on the upper level of teachers’
salaries $1,250 and allow a boost
of $1,665 in the top salaries for
school superintendents, while
leaving the minimum salary lev
els at the present scale in each
division.
In detail, the top level terri
torial salaries for teachers in the
Second and Fourth divisions
would be raised to $7,470 from
the present $6,200 maximum; in
the Third Division to $7,210 from
$5,940; and in the First Division
to $6,870 from the present $5,600.
For superintendents, the bill
would set up a new top of $9,340
a year in salaries in the Second
and Fourth Divisions; $9,040 in
the Third and $8,640 in the First.
Denial Bill Back Again
The dental regulation and li
censing bill was back in the
House for its biennial visit and
it took up most of the morning
and afternoon, with no final de
cision reached.
The members argued like they
were pulling teeth, and when it
was all over the slightly amended
bill went on to third reading. It
will probably come up for final
action later in the week.
The big arguments were over
how far the bill should go in
opening the gates for qualified
dentists »to come into the terri
• tory without jeopardizing the ter
ritory’s standards. The measure
also sets yp stringent prohibitions
• against what is generally known
in the states as “advertising den
„ tists.”
* --
Weather Causes Atomic
Tests To Be Postponed
LAS VEGAS, Nev., — The
first explosion of the 1955 atomic
* test series, which had been set
for pre-dawn, was postponed yes
terday by the Atomic Energy
Commission.
The AEC cited unfavorable
weather conditions.
About 1,100 men and 100 planes
had been prepared to take the
military’s part in the first test
shot from a 500-foot tower on
Yucca Flat.
NOTICE
Business houses will be closed
on Monday, observing Washing
ton's Birthday, instead of Tuesday
the official holiday. a
Trio Surrender
After Barricade
In Red Legation
BERN, Switzerland, —All
three anti-Communists holding
the barricaded Romanian legation
here surrendered without blood
shed today.
Capt. Hermann Alboth of the
Swiss army said there were only
three men in the building at the
end and the fourth man was “only
a bluff.”
Police officers who entered the
legation after the three men had
, walked out, ending their dramatic
24-hour occupation of the lega
tion, said the building was strewn
with torn-up Communist propa
ganda material. Otherwise, they
said, the building was not serious-*
ly damaged.
Three men were between 27
and 35 years of age. They refused
to give their names. Police said
the lpader of the band told them
his father had been killed by the
Russians in Romania.
The group, which slew the lega
tion chauffeur when he resisted
them early Tuesday, had vowed
to hold the legation buildings in
this capital of neutral Switzerland
until their Red homeland freed
five resistance leaders from im
prisonment behind the Iron Cur
tain.
“We have nothing to lose but
our lives,” the band’s leader had
called in German to rifle-armed
Swiss police who surrounded the
legation and sought to persuade
the band to surrender.
The legation chauffeur, Aurel
Setu, was knifed and struck down
by submachinegun fire yesterday
when he tried to resist the at
tack. He died in a hospital.
Bern’s police chief told a news
conference the band was believed
to have entered Switzerland ille
gally for the specific purpose of
invading the legation and forcing
the release of the five prisoners,
including a general and a bishop,
held within Romania.
Woman Works 54-Hour
Week For Only $20.93
BALTIMORE, Md., W — After
Mrs. Augustine Bright, pleaded
guilty yesterday to the theft of
$189.13 from her employer, Judge
Joseph R. Byrnes gave her a 30
day suspended sentence, placed
her on probation and said there
should be no restitution.
“If it weren’t for my oath of
office, I would find this woman
not guilty,” Byrnes added. “Any
time a man works a woman like
that for $20 a week ...”
The 32-year-old Negro mother
of one child admitted she took
the money from her employer in
small amounts over a six - week
period. It was testified she earned
$20.93 for working a 54 - hour
week in a laundry and dry clean
ing store. Her husband is in the
Navy.
Penguins Spotted in
Pacific Off Panama
PANAMA, US)—A note to Pacific
Coast bird watchers:
A correspondent of the news
paper Estrella Panama reported
that a colony of penguins wa*
sighted Monday, swimming close
to shore off the banana port of
Armuelles.
The report said children cap
tured one of the antarctic birds
and that it didn’t seem bothered
by the tropical climate.
House Committee Approves Alaska Statehood Bill
W hich W ould Permit Military Reservation be Made
Of 40 Pet. Of Area North and West of Yukon River
-«
House Memorial Asks
For 90-Mile Hoad Linking
Unalakleet and Kaltag
JUNEAU, ^ - The Alaska
House of Representatives approv
ed a memorial to federal and
territorial officials yesterday ask
ing funds for a 90-mile road be
tween Unalakleet and Kaltag in
j western Alaska.
/t said the link would save
j about 400 miles over the ship
1 ping route up the Yukon River
from St. Michael to Kaltag. It
said the road also would provide
a much shorter supply route for
Galena than the present down
i river route from Nenana.
The memorial was introduced
by Reps. Lester Bronson and
Charles Fagerstrom, Nome Demo
crats, and Hubert Gilbert <D-Fair
banks».
Russians Report New
Geographic Discoveries
“Remake" Map of Siberia
LONDON, (jf> — Russian geo
graphers today claimed vast new
discoveries that have “completely
remade” their maps of eastern Si
beria.
The said their finds include
new rivers, plateaus, glaciers,
mountain ranges and a 22,500
foot peak which was named for
Joseph Stalin.
Moscow radio, announcing this,
quoted an article in the Soviet
government organ Izvestia by
academician Evgeny Pavolovsky,
president of the U.S.S.R. Geo
graphical Society.
The report said “one of highest
mountain formations on the
earth” was also turned up. Hence
forth it will appear on Russian
maps as “the Range of the Acad
emy of Sciences.”
Miners Find Wild Pet,
Dog-Without-A-Name,
Riddled With Bullets
BINGHAM, Utah, (#1—A dog
without-a-name was a tough old
hobo, but not tough enough for
bullets.
Just another big, shaggy, black
and-brown stray, he got to be a
familiar sight to miners driving
to and from, work at this huge
open-pit copper mine.
He wouldn’t let anyone within
25 feet of him, but he always
stationed himself beside the high
way leading to this canyon town.
Many miners saved scraps from
their lunch boxes to place in a
box at the road side for him.
But he wasn’t at his station
Monday. Yesterday, a group of
miners went to look for him.
The found his body, riddled by
five .22-caliber rifle bullets, lying
in blood-spattered snow.
Someone had used dog - with
out-a-name for target practice.
ANCHORAGE LEADS IN
PASSENGERS BOARDING
PLANES IN ALASKA
WASHINGTON, (jf»—’The Civil
Aeronautics Administration re
ported yesterday that Anchorage
leads all Alaska cities in the num
ber of passengers boarding planes.
Anchorage is followed by Juneau,
Fairbanks, Ketchikan and An
nette Island. The Seattle-Tacoma
airport was listed . as one of 22
“large” air traffic hubs.
» -
Nome, Alaska Peninsula,
And Aleutians Excluded
From Military Area
WASHINGTON, 'The House
Interior Committee voted 19-6 to
day to admit both Alaska and
Hawaii as states.
Committee approval cleared the
bill for action by the House when i
and if the Rules Committee gives j
it clearance.
Approval of the bill, which lacks
administration endorsement in its
combined form, was voted by 10
Democrats and 9 Republicans and <
moved the issue toward an un- ;
certain fate. Four Democrats and '
2 Republicans voted “no.”
Prior to its vote on the whole*1
bill, the committee approved an |
amendment by Delegate Bartlett!
to permit the President to estab- |
lish a military reservation limit- i
ed to 40 per cent of the area of j
Alaska roughly north and west
of the Yukon River.
Rep. Miller (R-Neb>, ranking
Republican member of the com
mittee, said he felt the amend
ment gave the bill an excellent
chance of being approved by the
President and the administration.
The committee rejected amend
ments which would have permit
ted approval of the constitutions
of the proposed states by the
President without further action'
by Congress. It approved, how- [
ever, an alternative proposal re
quiring Congress to act on the
constitutions within 60 days of
their submission. Failure to act
would constitute approval.
Also approved was an amend
ment to delete a provision which
would give the proposed State of
Alaska 37 per cent of receipts I
-1
Both PAA and Northwest
Authorized To Continue
Transpacific Routes
WASHINGTON, UP*—'The Civil
Aeronautics Board today author
ized both Northwest Airlines and
Pan American World Airways to
continue operating between the;
Pacific Northwest and Hawaii for!
three years.
The CAB also renewed, for
seven years, Northwest’s author-:
ity to serve Seattle, Portland, An-!
chorage, and Japan over the great i
circle route, but deferred for fur
ther study Pan American’s appli
cation for a great circle route to
the Orient.
Pan American’s operating au
thority in the Orient was renew
ed, but applications of Trans
World Airlines and Transocean
Airlines routes in the Orient were
denied.
The CAB renewed, on a per
manent basis, United Airlines’
authority to serve Los Angeles as
a co-terminal with San Francisco
on the California-Honolulu route.
The action was taken in accord
ance with orders from President
Eisenhower, who initially had di
rected the CAB to cancel North
west’s Seattle - Honolulu service
and leave Pan American in ex
clusive operation.' The President
reversed himself after studying
protests from the Pacific Coast
area.
In issuing its final orders as di
rected by the President, the CAB
also released its own findings in
the controversial case.
from its national forests as op
posed to the 25 per cent given
other states.
Nome Excluded From
Military Reservation
The provision for special na
tional defense areas is a compro
mise version of an amendment
voted down yesterday. The re
vision, proposed by Delegate
Bartlett excludes' Nome, the Al
aska Penisula and the Aleutian
Islands from the area in which
such areas may be established.
It also limits the President in
creation of such areas to not more
than 40 per cent of the land lying
generally north and west of the
Yukon but cutting westward ac
ross the lower quarter of the
Seward Peninsula.
Wilson Against Statehood
Defense Secretary Wilson yes
terday turned thumbs down on
Alaska statehood “for the pres
ent.”
A letter from Wilson to the
committee set out Alaska’s “great *
size . . . sparse population and
limited communications ... its
strategic location” and the mili
tary contribution to Alaska’s
population and economy.
“In the light of these facts and
the international situation that
exists today,” he declared, “it
seem important that no immedi
ate change in the political status
of this federal area be made.”
He said the department “sees
no objection to Hawaiian state
hood.”
After adoption of the military
amendment Miller told the com
mittee:
“I’m now convinced the bill as
reported stands an excellent
chance to receive the approval
of the chief executive. I’m also
convinced that without the
amendment it would have meant
the loss of statehood for both Al
aska and Hawaii.”
As adopted today the area in
which military reservations could
be established is roughly two
thirds of that proposed by Miller
yesterday.
Boundaries Laid Down
The compromise reservation
amendment limits the Presi
dent’s authority to 40 per cent of
the area of Alaska situated north
and west of the following lines:
“Beginning at the point where
the Yukon River crosses the inter
national boundary between Alas
ka and Canada, thence down
stream along a line parellel to,
and one mile from, the right bank
of the Yukon River to the point
of intersection of the Yukon River
with the meridian of longitude
158 degrees west of Greenwich;
thence north to the parallel of
latitude 65 degrees north; thence
westward along said parallel to
its intersection with the meridian
of longitude 169 degrees west erf
Greenwich.”
Delegate Bartlett told a news
man later:
“From all available evidence it
would seem the prospects of ad
ministration support for Alaska
statehood are notably increased
by incorporation of the amend
ment which simply spells «s*ut
authority which the President al
ready has under existing laws arid
regulations. The real test is ahead
in the Rules Committee. If a rule
can be obtained, I’m confident
the votes can be bad to assure
House passage.”