THE
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS _
62nd Year No. 45 NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, APRIL 17, 1961 _Per Copy 15^
Invaders Launch Lons-Awaited
c
Battle to Topple Fidel Castro
By The Associated Press
Invaders landed in Cuba by sea
and air today, launching the long
awaited battle to topple Fidel
Castro.
Cuba charged before the United
Nations that the invaders came
from Florida and Guatemala and
the United States must bear the
responsibility. The United States
vigorously denied the charge.
Prime Minister Castro told his
people by radio the sea and air
borne onslaught was backed by
planes and warships and was
launched by mercenaries organized
by the United States. His regime
severed all communications to the
United States.
“Already our troops are ad
vancing against the enemy, sure
of their victory,” the bearded
revolutionary asserted in an ap
peal for Cubans to maintain order
and discipline.
Castro declared tihe invaders
struck in Southern Las Villas Pro
vince and fighting had broken
out at all points where the invad
ers landed.
Dr. Jose Miro Cardona, the
rebel leader who broke with
Castro over Communist influ
ence in Cuba, issued a statement
saying the battle had begun to
rid Cuba of Castro’s “despotic
rule” and “Communism’s cruel
oppression.”
Secretary of State Dean Rusk
declared the American people
sympathize with those fighting
Cuba Charges
U. S. with Backing
Invasion Forces
UNITED NATIONS, N. Y. UP—
Cuba charged today that an in
vasion of Cuba had been launched
from Florida and Guatemala with
the backing of the United States.
The United States replied with an
immediate denial.
Cuban Foreign Minister Raul
Roa told the U. N. Political Com
mittee that the United States must
assume the full responsibility for
the dawn landings.
Chief U. S. delegate Adlai
Stevenson asserted “these charges
are totally false and I deny them
categorically.”
“The United States has not
committed aggression against
Cuba and no aggression has been
launched from any part of the
United States,” he said.
He added, however, that the
American people sympathize with
“Cubans who do not stop being
Cubans because they could not
stand to live in Cuba” under the
regime of Fidel Castro.
Roa charged that the United
States had permitted the counter
revolutionaries to train in Florida
and had permitted “private
planes” to fly more than 50 mis
sions over Cuba with pamphlets
and military supplies.
Stevenson took Roa to task for
calling the invaders mercenaries.
“Dr. Roa knows,” the U. S. dele
gate said, “that the men of whom
he speaks are not traitors and
mercenaries. Many are his friends
and associates of long standing.”
He concluded:
“If the Castro regime is over
thrown it will be overthrown by
Cubans and not Americans. I do
not see that it is the obligation
of the United States to protect
Dr. Castro.”
against dictatorship but the United
States will not intervene. Rusk
said his reports indicated there
was no large-scale invasion.
The Soviet government news
paper Izvestia declared the Com
munist world stands behind Prime
Minister Castro, but it made no
mention of Premier Khrushchev’s
pledge last summer, later toned
down, to support Cuba with
rockets if necessary.
A Dutch airliner could not land j
at Havana. The pilot was told all |
Cuban airports were closed.
A rebel source in Fort Lauder
dale, Fla., said the landing forces j
had been waiting off the coasts of j
Cuba for 15 days. This informant, j
predicted 5,000 exile troops will
be in battle before the day is
over.
_
Rivers Would
Pay $35 an Ounce
Gold Subsidy
By Fritz Witti
Associated Press Special Service
WASHINGTON UP) — Rep.
Railph J. Rivers would give a
lift to the gold mining industry
! through a program of incentive
| payments ranging up to $35 an
| ounce.
He has drafted a bill under
which the Secretary of Interior
would make payments to domestic
gold miners in addition to the
$35 an ounce set by the Treasury, j
“Mv new bill is tailor-made to
preserve and encourage gold
mining without devaluating the 1
! dollar,” saicjl Rivers, who believes
the $35 price set in 1934 is too
low in the face of present pro- I
duction costs.
Rivers took the incentive pay
ment approach after President
Kennedy announced opposition to
raising the price of gold. An j
earlier Rivers bill would have,
raised the Treasury price to $70 i
an ounce.
The new bill would not affect j
the market price of gold but;
would provide incentives to gold
miners and thereby increase the
national gold reserve through sti
mulated production.
Under the bill, the Secretary of
Interior would set up regulations
for the incentive program and
make the payments to qualified
producers out of appropriated
funds.
The payments, in addition to
the $35 an ounce from the Treas
ury, would be:
1. $20 an ounce to producers
from mines in production at least
one year prior to passage of the
bill and which remained in opera
tion except for seasonal or other
temporary shut-downs.
2. $20 an ounce to producers
who derive gold as a by-product
of mining for other minerals.
3. $35 an ounce to producers
from gold mines closed down per
manently but rehabilitated and
reopened because of incentive
payments provided for under
Rivers’ bill. The payment would
drop to $20 an ounce after 10
years
4. $35 an ounce to producers
from newly discovered or de
veloped gold mines. After 10
years the payment would drop to
$20 an ounce.
The program would be in effect
only when national gold reserves
fall below $23 billion.
Ku'Siniami Pleads
“Not Guilty”
To 15 Counts
JERUSALEM UP — Adolf Eich
mann grated out the words “not
guilty” 15 times in court today,
denying all counts in Israel’s
monumental indictment naming
him as master destroyer of Jews j
in Europe during World War II. :
The prosecution, opening its!
ease, asserted that Eichmann beat
a Jewish child to death with his
own hands for stealing peaches.
“This,” cried Israeli Attorney
General Gideon Hausner, “is the
trial of the destroyer.”
The former Gestapo officer
; stared back at Hausner, unblink
I ing.
Spectators in the courtroom
wept, swallowed hard as though
1 physically ill, or looked at each
other in shocked disbelief as
Hausner, for nearly six hours,
piled horror on horror in his
I opening statement.
At the end of today’s court
I session, he said it would take him
; another half day to conclude his
statement.
Eichmann’s plea of innocence
marked the actual start of his
trial on charges of complicity in
the death of six million European
j Jews during the war. It came
after the three-man court headed
| by Supreme Court Justice Moshe
Landau overruled defense ob
jections to the court’s competence
to hear the case and to the Israeli
law under which Eichmann is
|charged.
Then Landau ordered Eichmann
I to stand up and remove the head
I phones over which he listens to
the translation into German of
the Hebrew language of the court.
Point by point, through the 15
sections of the indictment, Lan
dau repeated, “do you plead
1 guilty or not guilty?”
, Fifteen times Eichmann re
plied, “in the spirit of the in
dictment, I am not guilty.”
10,000 Cuban Political Prisoners
Freed on the Isle of Pines
MEXICO CITY UP — The
Mexico City agency of the Cuban
Revolutionary Council said today
anti-Castro rebels have taken the
Isle of Pines and freed 10,000
political prisoners, who joined the
rebellion. The agency said its in
formation came in radio broad
casts from the Isle of Pines.
The agency also said it had
learned that Lazaro Cardenas,
former president of Mexico, was
trying to arrange asylum here for
Fidel Castro.
Cardenas could not be reached
for comment.
Nurses Training to be
Given At Anchorage
Community College
Carol Fader, vocational director
for the Department of Education
announced here Thursday that
since the Bureau Indian Affairs
was closing down its Practical
Nursing School at Mt. Edgecumbe
the state was taking over with a
practical nursing course in the
Community College in Anchor
age.
Unlike the BIA school which
was limited to Eskimos and In
dians the course in Anchorage is
open to anyone which is an ad
vantage since it is equal for all
students interested, as well as
adults.
Nine “Oscars" Handed Out for Serving
Tourists - Nome Recommended Highly
JUNEAU — Nine verbal
“Oscars” for “outstanding per
formances in attracting and serv
ing tourists” were handed out to
various cities in the state by Alas
ka Commissioner of Commerce A.
H. Romick, whose department in
cludes the State Division of Tour
ism and Economic Development.
Higih on the list to receive com
mendation from Romick was Ket
chikan, whose signpost campaign
has resulted in an array of in
formative — and often humorous
— guideposts and information
markers. Says one sign, “Climb
Deer Mountain, 3,000 feet high.
Excellent 3-mile trail starts near
KPU warehouse. Don’t be a Piker
—be a Hiker.”
Another “Oscar” goes to Sitka,
said Romick, for the excellence
of the city’s new four-color travel
folder. Done in what the commis
sioner describes as “perfect taste”
the folder is “eye catching and
a sales piece which is sure to at
j tract thousands of tourists to Sit
i ka, one of Alaska’s most historic
I and interesting spots.”
Juneau drew accolades from
Commissioner Romick for its “pro
fessional handling — and more
important its early handling —
of the 1961 Golden North Sal
mon Derby. Although the Derby
| will not be held until Augusl
4-5-6, said Romick, the sponsor
j ing Territorial Sportsmen, Inc.
: have already printed an excellenl
1 illustrated brochure on the derby
and have placed it in distribution.
I Tourist-conscious Skagway, said
the Cofmissioner, deserves a par
ticular pat on the back for the
work it is doing in creating a
Skagway museum in the old court
house there. This museum, Romick
predicted, will become a high
light on any tourist’s visit to the
49th State.
“There may be a more praise
worthy' enterprise than the pro
gram of the Chilkat Dancers in
Haines-Port Chilkoot,” said Ro
mick, “but if there is I haven’t
heard of it.” This continuing pro
gram of encouragement of the
Alaska Indian dances, carving and
culture in general is more than
just a tourist attraction, although
it certainly is that.
The Commerce Department head
cited Kodiak as an example of
what a community can do to
graduate a local celebration into
the ranks of a national attraction.
Through early planning and early
notification of the Division of
Tourism the city has made it pos
sible for the state to mail Kodiak
Crab Festival news realeases and
mailers to the press, travel in
dustry, and general inquirers of
the USA and Canada. Not sur
prisingly, said Romick, the re
sponse has been highly successful.
Anchorage has proved to the
state and to the world, 9aid Com
missioner Romick, that cultural
pursuits are not only possible on
a “last frontier” but are vital
ized and emphasized by the front
ier spirit. “Even to speak of Alas
ka tourism without mentioning
the Alaska Festival of Music or
the dramatic pageant ‘Cry of the
Frank A. Metcalf,
Dept. Public Works, Retires
JUNEAU UP> — Frank A. Met
calf, coordinator for the Depart
ment of Public Works who was
the first registered professional
engineer in Alaska, retired Sat
urday after serving 10 years with j
Alaska Highways Division and j
Public Works Department.
Wild Ram’ would be a serious
oversight,” said Romick.
Fairbanks gave us a marvelous
example last year of what a clean
up campaign can do. Because the
“Golden Heart City” did such a
good job in I960 a full-scale clean
up won’t be necessary this year—
just a “catch-up and brush-up”
campaign. The Fairbanks ’60 drive
was truly a community wide cam
paign, Romick advises, with
not scores but hundreds of per
sons participating. “This is a
much needed enterprise in many
Alaska communities,” Romick
said. “So take a page from Fair
banks’ book.
Romick’s final mythical “Oscar”
was awarded to Nome. “Because
Nome has a true Alaska spirit
of friendliness and courtesy. One
of the highest tributes I can pay
to that community is the fact that
I have never heard a tourist or
tour operator complain about the
way they were greeted or handled
there. To the contrary, every
traveler I’ve talked to has felt
he was not a “tourist” but a true
guest in that city.”
In making his observations dur
ing the April 15-30 period which
Gov. Egan has proclaimed “Pre
‘ pare for Visitors” time in Alaska,
' Romick emphasized that the cities
r he praised were not only cities
1 which possessed the particular at
‘ tributes he spoke about. “But,”
» said the Commissioner, “I want
1 ed to point out what these cities,
' along with many others, were
; doing to prepare for visitors.” He
1 urged every town to take a good
look at the strong points of its
sister cities and when it is feasi
ble to adapt those points to its
own locale.
The official drive to “Prepare
for Visitors” lasts just two weeks,
Romick said. “But our continuing
efforts should span 52 weeks each
year.”
Adenauer Guest
Of Johnson in Texas
AUSTIN, Tex. UP> — West Ger
man Chancellor Konrad Aden
auer said today “all Germany
will be pleased about the out
come” of his talks with Presi
dent Kennedy and Vice Presi
dent Lyndon Johnson.
“I am pleased and satisfied
about these meetings because they
revealed an agreement on our ob
jectives and unity of views. They
are as firm and determined as
ever,” Adenauer said.
Adenauer reached the Texas
capital city late this morning
after spending the night at the
Johnson ranch about 15 miles
from Fredricksburg, where a
colorful German-English program
honored the West German leader
1 yesterday.
Last night at the ranch- John
son presented Adenauer with a
Texas-type saddle and spurs.
Supreme Court Rules Restaurant
Required to Serve Negroes
WASHINGTON UP) — The Su
j preme Court today ruled that a
privately operated restaurant in
| a city-owned garage in Wilming
| ton, Del., is required to serve
Negroes.
; The tribunal’s decision was on
an appeal by William H. Burton,
a Negro member of the Wilming
| ton City Council who was re
fused service in the restaurant
after parking his car in the ga
• rage.
Justice Clark delivered the
! unanimous decision.