m NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER DR ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PEE8S _
VOL. LXI No. 42 NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 1959_Per Copy—15*
U. S. Coast Guard Cutter Speeds To Aid
Of Injured Seaman on Russian Vessel
KODIAK, * - A U. S. Coast
Guard cutter and a Soviet tug
were racing toward each other
for a rendezvous today in a tense
drama of mercy enacted in the
vast, ice-choked Bering Sea.
The well-being of an unidenti
fied Russian seaman hung in the
balance as the cutter Storis and
the tug headed for Akun Bay,
about 50 miles east of Dutch Har
bor in the Aleutian Islands.
Coast Guard headquarters re
ported a message froih the Storis
said it had contacted the Soviet
trawler Pischavuya Industria by
radio and was told the injured
seaman had baen transferred to
the tug.
The trawler asked for aid Mon
day, saying one of its crewmen
had tumbled into a hold, breaking
both arms and legs.
The Coast Guard said the Storis,
which had been heading for a
rendezvous point in the Bering
Sea, had changed course and was
to have arrived at the sheltered
Akun Bay at 3 p.m.
Information from the Russians
indicated the tug was aided by a
north wind and calm seas, and
would arrive at the rendezvous
point between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m.
The Coast Guard said the in
Labor Rally In D.C.
Calls for 30-Honr
Workweek In U. S.
By NORMAL WALKER
WASHINGTON, (JR—Organized
labor staged a giant rally in the
nation’s capitol today to drama
tize the plight of the unemployed.
Over 5,000 delegates, many
without jobs, filled the National
Guard armory, biggest hall in the
capitol, in a mass demand for
more government jobless aid and
job-making moves.
George Meany, president of the
sponsoring AFL-CIO, drew ap
plause when he minimized Tues
day's government announcement
of a nearly 400,000 drop in March
in the idle total. Meany main
tained the nation still has a des
perate problem with 4,362,000
still unemployed.
Listening to glowing accounts
of economic improvement from
President Eisenhower’s adminis
tration, Meany said, “You would
think the sky is full of bluebirds
— that everything is going to be
all right. Well of course if we
had a little salt we might eat
some of those statistics.”
The throng waved such signs
as "Wake up, Washington,” “30
for 40” — meaning 30 hours a
week of work for the present 40
hours pay, and “Put America Back
to Work.”
There were also signs depicting
a teed-up golf ball and golf club,
and saying “On To Augusta.”
Eisenhower went to Augusta Tues
day for a golfing vacation.
Lucy Monroe, the soprano
whose rendition of “The Star
Spangled Banner” has opened
many political conventions and
World Series baseball games, sang
the National Anthem at the open
ing.
Meany, in introducing her, re
minded the audience “She is a
union member.
There were complaints from
Ohio and Michigan delegations of
illness, blamed by them on turkey
dinners they had Tuesday night on
railroad dining cars.
'ured man would be taken to the
best hospital available, presum •
ably the U. S. Air Force hospital
at Elmendorf Air Force Base.
Weather conditions were ex
pected to be favorable for the
transfer and the Storis reported
it would take the seaman to
Coal Bay late today. There, he
would be transferred to a twin
engine Albatross Coast Guard
plane for the 5V4 to 6-hour flight
to Anchorage.
The Storis was originally sched
uled to meet the trawler in the
Bering Sea, but heavy seas and
difficult communications had in
terferred with the rendezvous.
The Coast Guard said it was
not known why the injured sea
man had been transferred to the
tug. Officials theorized, however,
that the Pischavaya Industria ac
tually is a mother ship and was
needed in the area to service some
50 Soviet fishing vessels operating
in the Bering Sea.
Oklahoma Voters
End 51 Years of
Liquor Prohibition
OKLAHOMA CITY, (JPt — Okla
homans struck prohibition from
their constitution Tuesday.
With all but 13 of the state’s
3,234 precincts in, repeal carried
395,242 to 313,574.
The state still isn’t off the
wagon. Legal liquor is at least
two months away.
A constitutional amendment
substituting privately owned pack
age stores for prohibition was ap
proved by a margin of more than
80,000 votes in a record-breaking
special election called at the urg
ing of Governor J. Howard Ed
mondson.
The Legislature must validate
the amendment and repeal anti
whisky laws before liquor can be
sold legally. This probably will
take 60 to 90 days.
Oklahoma then will emerge from
51 years of prohibition. Mississippi
will be the only dry state left in
the union.
Failure of a county option pro
posal Tuesday means the entire
state will go wet, although liquor
stores will be limited to towns
of 200 and larger.
Liquor can be sold only by the
bottle when the hew amendment
goes into effect. The “open saloon”
will be banned, although 3.2 beer
still will be sold in taverns.
Satellite Nose Cone Is
Recovered Alter 5,000
Mile Atlantic Shot
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., (A —
A powerful two-stage rocket shot
a tiny ICBM nose cone of the fu
ture 5,000 miles over the Atlantic
today. It was recovered two hours
later for the first time in aeven
launching attempts.
The cone, which could carry
power-packed ICBM warheads,
was fired on target by an 90-foot
Thor-Able rocket.
Air Force officials announced
that the recovery by ships located
in the impact area was “a sec
ondary test objective but an addi
tional bonus to the test program
as it will provide physical verifi
cation of telemetry instrumenta
tion data received.”
Two hours after it hit the
water, the cone was spotted by a
C54 reconnaissance plane.
City Election
Brings Out Record
Municipal Vote
A record of 586 votes were cast
in yesterday’s municipal election.
It is reported that many people
were turned away who arrived
after the polls closed at 6 o’clock.
This is due to the conflict in clos
ing time of the polls for city elec
tions, and the 8 o’clock closing
time for the State elections.
Three of the councilmen elected
have served before. They are
Keith Hedreen, Allan Doyle and
Axel Edman. Clinton Gray will
be serving his first term on the
council.
The Mayor, Steffen Andersen,
was elected for the eighth time.
The vote count:
For Mayor — Steffen Andersen,
511.
For Councilman (1-Year term)
One elected: Axel Edman, 233;
Verna Mickelson, 179; Everett
Bachelder, 151.
For Councilman (2-Ye^r Term)
— Three elected: Clinton Gray,
314; Keith Hedreen, 310; Allan
Doyle, 266; Gordon Osfc rne, 195;
Charles Casperson, 181; Jack
Blattler, 173; Fred Cavota, 142.
For City Clerk — Robert Scott,
507.
For School Board Member (One
elected) — Ash Craft, 334; Edgar
Bibb, 226.
For Utility Board Member (One
elected) — Lester Keller, 321;
E. C. Straub, 240.
Legislators Mark
April 16 Deadline
For Bill Clearing
JUNEAU, — Alaska’s legis
lators, with their pay guaranteed
for another week, spent yesterday
trying to clear their desks of im
portant pieces of legislation.
While the legislators worked,
acting Governor Wade signed a
$76,120 appropriation bill to cover
legislative expenses through April
15. It seems likely that every pen
ny will be necessary, as several
major items remain to be cleared
before adjournment.
Should the legislative session
continue beyond the April 15
deadline, another money bill will
have to be passed.
Action on a bill to regulate the
sale of securities, considered a
must item, was delayed yesterday
when Senate President William
Beltz ruled the worked-over meas
ure amounted to a substitute bill
which could not undergo floor ac
tion on the same day it was in
troduced.
Some senators disagreed, but
the point was not debated and
the bill was expected to come up
for action today.
In a report on a commerce and
labor bill the Senate Judiciary
Committee has proposed more
than doubling the ceiling on wages
subject to the employment secur
ity tax. The committee suggested
increasing the present $4,200 ceil
ing to $9,600, which would repre
sent an increase of the worker’s
contribution to the unemploy
ment compensation fund from $21
a year to $65.60.
To the employer, the changed
ceiling would mean an increase
from $113.40 to $259.20 for each
employe who earns up to the
$9,600 ceiling.
9
Alaska House Revises Magistrate Bill
For Acceptance of Non-Attorney Judges
JUNEAU, UT — The House r ade
two major revisions in the magis
trate court bill yesterday, then
passed the measure and sent it
back to the Senate.
Key change in the bill, which
would set up a system of local
justice courts to replace work
now done by U. S. commissioners,
is the elimination of a provision
that only lawyers could fill the
10 magistrate jobs created under
the measure.
Rep. Orval Freeman of Ketchi
kan based his successful fight
against the provision on the fact
that the prescribed $10,000 salary
would attract only “wet-nosed
kids right out of law school, or
broken down has-beens.”
The second major change con
cerned fines. The Senate version
provided keeping fines on the lo
cal level; the House recommended
Government Seeks
Dismissal of Trap
Owners’ Suit
Associated Press Special Service
WASHINGTON, (A — A long
standing Alaska controversy,
spawned by dwindling salmon
runs and containing echoes of last
fall’s political campaign, erupted
anew today before District Judge
John J. Sirica.
The occasion was a court test
brought by a segment of Alaska’s
fishing industry to overturn Sec
retary of the Interior Seaton’s
order banning the general use of
fish traps in Alaskan waters.
The government seeks dismissal
of the action, contending the Con
gressional grant of statehood to
Alaska left Seaton no alternative
but to close down the traps.
Seaton issued his ban on trap
operations — long sought by
Alaskans — as a part of his regu
lations governing the 1959' com
mercial fishing season. The order
would be applicable to all - traps
except 11 operated by Alaska
natives.
In its petition, the industry con
tended the ban would require the
closing of at least six canneries,
result in lost employment for
some 2,200 personnel and render
surplus an industry investment of
some 16 million dollars in plant
and gear.
The industry also recalled that
Seaton first announced his inten
tion to eliminate traps while in
Alaska last fall campaigning for
Republican candidates in Alaska’s
first state elections.
Disputing the industry conten
tion that he was without authority
to ban traps, Seaton told the court
that with Alaska’s admission he
“was required by mandate of law
to conform” his regulations con
cerning traps to provisions of the
Alaska Constitution.
He cited specifically the 1956
action of Alaskans in approving
by a vote of 21,285 to 4,004 an or
dinance to the then proposed State
Constitution prohibiting traps.
Previously, Alaskans voted 6-1
in 1948 for abolition of traps and
tiie Territorial Legislature on sev
eral occasions memorialized Con
gress unsuccessfully seeking a trap
ban.
When Alaska attained statehood,
one of the first actions by Gov
ernor Egan was to direct the State
Tax Commissioner not to accept
I any trap application for a state
| license.
the fines be turned over to the
state.
Rep. John Hellenthal said the
bill was needed in case the pres
ent Alaska judicial system was
overturned because of what he
called defects in the statehood act.
In other action yesterday, the
House reversed itself on the
question of vacations for state .em
ployes.
Thursday the House had voted
to cut vacation periods in half,
but on reconsideration members
decided to send the matter to its
State Affairs Committee for fur
ther action and possible hearings.
Rep. James Fisher said there is
a 50 per cent turnover among state
employes and contended wage
scales are below those of federal
and private workers.
Employes now are allowed two
and-one-half working days vaca
tion for each month they are em
ployed, which averages out to
about five weeks per year.
Those opposed to the cut said
they favored a slidng scale for
leave time which would grant
longer vacations to more experi
enced workers. This would also
be valuable as an incentive, they
said.
‘Everybody’ Wants
Land In Alaska
WASHINGTON, M — Statehood
has boosted interest in Alaska to “
such a degree that predictions of
increased population “will be
borne out, if only by the increase
in promoters there.”
That’s the opinion of James E.
Newton, Securities and Exchange
Commission regional administra
tor at Seattle, as disclosed in tes
timony made public today by the
House Appropriations Committee.
Newton told the committee that
during a visit to Alaska last fall
he talked “to some of the sounder
elements up there with regard to
financing,” adding:
“I noticed that they were sur
prised at the tremendous influx
of calls and requests for informa
tion with people calling and say
ing, “I want,a piece of land in
Alaska.”
“They would ask, ‘What do you
want?’ and the callers would re
ply, ‘We don’t care; just land in
Alaska, that’s all we want.'
“NcHidless to say, that has con
cerned some of the oldtime Alas
kans because they are afraid of
the slick promoters coming in and
judging by the ones I saw in An
chorage they are starting to come
in.”
Referring to the influx of pro
moters, SEC chairman Edward N.
Gadsby told the committee:
“I understand some of our old
friends whose names we recog
nize, who have ben operating in
the United States, have been found
in Alaska.”
Gadsby said it may be necessary
for the SEC to establish an Alaska
branch office.
WEATHER FORECAST
Fair tonight with increasing
cloudiness Thursday. Lowest tem
perature expected tonight -10, the
high tomorrow 25.
In the past 24 hours: highest
temperature 12, lowest -13. Sun
rise 4:54 a.m., sunset 7:15 p.m.
Extremes on this date since
1907: highest 46 in 1940, lowest
-25 in 1920.