as NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LIX No. 83 NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, JULY 12, 1957 Per Copy—15^
Eisenhower Program Threatened
By Girard Decision as Congress
Protests With New Legislation
WASHINGTON, 0P>—T he Su
preme Court’s decision in the
Girard case spelled potential
troubles for President Eisenhow
er in Congress today even as it
smoothed the path for his deal
ings with foreign countries.
On Capitol Hill, there were
loud outcries against the decision
t and a blossoming of moves to bar
' . any “Girard case” from happen
ing again. ^
An Eisenhower-opposed resolu
tion by Rep. Bow (R-Ohio) to end
foreign trials of GIs gathered
fresh support in the House and
loomed as a threat to Eisenhow
er’s foreign aid bill.
The House Rules Committee
yesterday cleared the $3,242,333,
000 aid bill for House eonsidera
Wieirs New F-27
W ill Give Nome
Twice-Day Service
KNOM-TV will feature a film
this evening showing the new
F-27 Fairchild which is in the
making for Wien Airlines to be
used on the Fairbanks-Nome run.
Noel Wien, who brought the
film, said today his company
hopes, to have the planes in oper
ation in January 1959, at which
time they will be able to give
Nome twice-daily service, as the
planes travel twice as fast as the
present DC-3s and are pressur
ized.
Wien stated that the F-27 will
have many advantages over the
present equipment as they can
use a shorter field than DC-3s,
landing in 3,000 instead of 4,000
feet. These planes will also have
jet-prop engines and will carry
40 passengers.
On the flight today with Wien
was his son Merrill, who is check
pilot for the company.
MMM Hospital Staff Organized For
Temporary Service With No Doctor
Under the capable management
of Mrs. Opal Catlin, new admin
istrator for the MMM Hospital,
the staff has organized to carry
on its responsibilities without a
physician.
Mrs. Catlin, who has come to
Nome from Samoa, managed two
hospitals of 250 beds as well as
several clinics and is well quali
fied and experienced for the work
here.
Until the doctor arrives, the
hospital will give nursing care
and first aid treatment for emer
gencies.
It cannot accept patients who
have contagious diseases, she stat
ed, because the hospital is not
so equipped.
Expectant mothers are being
accepted and cared for.
Cases requiring a physician are
given first aid treatment and then
shipped as soon as possible to
places where a doctor is available.
An Air Force doctor for Ladd
AFB was available over the
Fourth of July and a USN doctor
was available while the USN
Burton Island was in port. There
are several ships in the vicinity
carrying doctors who can be
reached in case of an extreme
emergency and even brought in
by helicopter if necessary, stated
Mrs. Catlin, so there is no imme
diate cause of anyone to become
alarmed.
It is also possible to communi
cate by phone with doctors in the
area at any time of day or night.
The exact date of arrival of the
new doctor has not yet been an
nounced.
ticn starting Monday but left the
Bow resolution in the deep freeze.
Rep. Bow promptly started to
study the aid measure to see
where he might offer his resolu
tion as an amendment.
Rep. Leo Allen '111), the senior
Rules Committee Republican, said
the House “without any question”
would, tack Bow’s amendment to
the aid bill if it comes to a re
corded rollcall vote.
If the aid bill passes Congress
in that form, Eisenhower would
be faced with the choice of veto
ing aid legislation which he says
is vital to free world security or
signing it with the Bow amend
ment in it.
And the Bow resolution, say
defense chiefs, could collapse the
global security system by forcing
America to withdraw its troops
from around the world.
In other congressional moves:
1. Bow introduced a new bill to
change the U.S. Uniform Code of
Military Justice so that no ser
viceman “shall be subject to the
criminal laws of any foreign na
tion.”
2. Rep. Keating (R-NY> said he!
would introduce a resolution to
set up a special committee to
study possible revision of the sta
tus of forces agreements, the uni
form code of military justice, and
other arrangements for trial of
U.S. citizens abroad.
3. Sen. Holland <D-Fla) predict
ed the Senate will give serious
attention to some form of treaty
limiting amendment proposed by
Sen. Bricker (R-Ohio).
4. Sen. Thurmond (D-SC) said
he would press for adoption of his
resolution against surrender of
any U.S. servicemen for foreign
trials.
5. Rep. Ayres <R-Ohio> intro
duced' a bill calling for a “full and
complete” investigation of the
Girard case.
Leffler and Rhode,
Interior Officials,
Visit in Nome
Ross Leffler, assistant Secre
tary of the Interior, visited in
Nome for a short time yesterday
on a tour of the territory. He was
accompanied by Mrs. Leffler and
Clarence Rhode, director of the
Fish and Wildlife Service in
Alaska.
Leffler and Rhodes are seeking
information pertaining to conser
vation of fish and wildlife, partic
ularly as they are affected by the
opening up of new areas by the
territory’s airfield and highway
programs.
Leffler stated that they were
particularly interested in walrus
and polar bear, hunting licenses
for which are available for the
first time this year.. They are con
cerned with the possible exter
mination of these animals if the
sport becomes too popdlar thru
hunting by airplane.
Clarence Rhode stated that it
is known that the mother walrus
bears pups only about every three
or four years so they do not mul
tiply very rapidly.
Secretary Leffler predicted that
the tourist industry is going to
increase very rapidfy until in a
few years it will outrank any oth
er Alaskan industry. He gave
ginia, which now has a $400,000,
000 annual tourist business.
The party left for Pt. Barrow j
and other points north.
Operation Alert
Puts Nation on
Practice Defense
NEWSPOINT, Operation Alert,
OS’)—Air raid sirens screamed out!
a warning of approaching imagin- I
ary “enemy” bombers at noon
(EDT) today to set in motion a
nationwide civil defense and mo
bilization exercise, called Opera
tion Alert 1057.
The alert was flashed to 200
possible target points by the Fed
eral Civil Defense Administra
tion <FCDA).
Within a few hours, simulated
nuclear attacks were to “blast”
more than half of these industrial
centers and defense installations
out of existence with tens of mil
lions of hypothetical casualties.
President Eisenhower and key
aides were ready to leave Wash
ington in a fleet of helicopters for
a secret emergency White House.
Already, in his imaginary proc
lamation, the President had de
clared an emergency, alerted mil
itary and civilian defenses, and
created a top-level home-front
war agency called the “Office of
Emergency Resources” to super
vise price, wage, rationing, prior
ity and manpower controls.
Next week, after three days of
| emergency civil defense tests,
more than 5,000 government offi
cials and key subordinates will
seek to re-establish normal gov
ernment operations from 80 safe
| relocation centers in half a dozen
j states.
SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS
GOVERNMENT DECISION TO
.GIVE GIRARD TO JAPANESE
WASHINGTON, liP>—'The Su
preme Court yesterday upheld by
8-0 the U.S. government’s deci
sion to turn over GI William S.
Girard to Japan for trial in the
killing of a Japanese woman.
The high court, in an unsigned
opinion, ruled:
1. Delivery of Girard is not
prohibited by the Constitution;
and, 2. In the absence of a consti
tutional bar, the judgment of the
executive department should be
Iranian Brothers
On World Tour
Stop At Nome
Two interesting visitors to ]
Nome, who will be here over the
weekend are Issa and Abdullah
Ommidvar of Iran.
The brothers, aged 24 and 27,
are on a 10-year goodwill tour
of the world, and plan to spend
several months in Alaska and
Canada.
They have completed three and
a half years of their 10-year proj
ect. Their travels so far have
been made by motorcycle but
they had to leave their machines
in Fairbanks for this jaunt.
“If you only had a road”
sighed Abdullah, “then it would
have been so much easier.”
They explained that Shell Oil
Co. is furnishing the gas for their
motorcycles. Both Issa and Ab
dullah have studied history and
anthropology at the University of
Tehran.
The young men have taken
movies and colored slides of the
24 countries they have already
visited and have consented to
show the slides at the noon meet
ing of the Chamber of Commerce
on Monday.
Government Releases Book Telling
Devastation From Super H-Bomb
WASHINGTON, UP)—'The gov
ernment today released the first
comprehensive picture of the
sprawling devastation which might
occur from an enemy attack with
super hyrogren weapons.
The issuance of a bulky hand
book entitled “The Effects of Nu
clear Weapons” coincided with
the beginning of Operation Alert
1957—the fourth nationwide civil
defense exercise which includes
mock nuclear attacks on cities in
the United States.
The book details the blast, heat
and radiation effects of high-yield
bombs ranging up to 20 megatons
—the power of 20 million tons of
TNT and a thousand times more
powerful than the atom bombs
dropped on Japan in 1945.
For example, it said that in the
aerial detonation of a 20-megaton
bomb there would be these effects:
1. Wood frame houses would be
almost completely destroyed out
to about 12 miles in all directions
from the point of the blast, and
there would be some damage to
such buildings out to 20 miles.
2. People could suffer third
degree burns out to nearly 30
miles in all directions from the
heat flash of the bomb, and first
degree bums to nearly 50 miles.
The report offered no estimate
of the total casualties from such
an explosion, but it recalled that
at Hiroshima, out of a total popu
lation of 255,000, 70,000 were
killed and missing, and another
70,000 injured.
On the subject of fallout, the
book recalled that in the Bikini
bomb of 1954, “a total area of
over 7,000 square miles was con
taminated to such an extent that
survival might have depended on
evacuation of the area or taking
protective measures.”
upheld.
Girard is to be turned over to
the Japanese under a status of
forces agreement, similar to pacts
the United States has with some
50 friendly nations.
No Constitutional Violation
The superior court held that in
the absence of a constitutional
violation, the “wisdom of the ar
rangement is exclusively for the
determination of the executive
and legislative branches of gov
ernment.”
The case had been under con
sideration by the justices since
Monday, when they held a spe
cial session to hear four hours of
argument on it.
Justice Douglas did not partic
ipate. He had left on vacation be
fore the high court agreed to pass
on an order by U.S. Dist. Judge
Joseph C. McGarraghy barring
Girard’s delivery to the Japanese
for trial.
Administration Victory
The decision was a major vic
tory for the Eisenhower Adminis
tration, which has contended that
refusal to turn Girard over to the
Japanese would be a grave threat
to America’s security. The admin
istration argument was that if
the agreements under which
Americans overseas may be tried
by foreign courts for off-duty
acts were cancelled, U.S. forces
would have to come home.
At the same time, the decision
was a setback for forces in Con
gress, which contended the U.S.
Constitution goes with GIs over
seas and they must have its full
protection.
Girard is accused of the Japan
ese equivalent of manslaughter in
the death of Mrs. Naka Sakai on
Jan 30 on a firing range used by
both U.S. nd Japanese troops.
(Continued on Page Two)