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OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
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VOL. LXII No. 29 NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, MARCH, 7 1960Per Copy 15<£
Castro Blames U.S. For Explosion
Of French Munition Ship at Havana
By HAROLD K. MILKS
HAVANA, UP!—Revolucion im
plied today that U. S. interests
sabotaged a French munition ship
in Havana harbor as a prelude
to military intervention in Cuba.
The newspaper of Prime Min
ister Fidel Castro’s revolutionary
movement returned to the attack
on the United States as the U.S.
embassy prepared to hand Cuba
a stiff note protesting Castro’s
graveside speech Saturday. He
blamed U.S. officials for the blast.
An official announcement listed
the identified dead from the ex
plosions Friday aboard the
French freighter La Coubre at 46.
The announcement said many
more human fragments are in
Havana morgues and search con
tinues in the wreckage.
The article in Revolucion was
written by Leftist subdirector E.
Vasquez Candela.
“Every time the United States
has wished to prepare public op
inion in its country for military
action,” Candela wrote, “It has
promoted a ■ disaster producing
loss of lives and property.”
Friday’s technique, he went on,
“was the same as used at the
Alamo in 1845, in the explosion
of the Maine in 1898, the Lusi
tania disaster in 1915 and the at
tack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.”
The newspaper did not explain
how the sabotage of a French
ship — involving neither Ameri
cans nor U.S. property—could be
used by Washington as a pretext
for intervening in Cuba.
Strained U. S. - Cuban relations
moved closer to a showdown with
the Washington note expected to
accuse the bearded prime minis
ter of deliberately making an ir
responsible accusation.
Cuban authorities last night |
freed American photographer
Donald Chapman, 26, a passenger
on the ship, after holding him
two days in connection with the
disaster.
The free - lance photographer
was on the bridge of the freighter
when it blew up, killing 50 of 70
persons. He jumped to safety on
the dock after the first explosion.
Army Investigates
‘Inspection’ By
11-Year-Old Mascot
By JACK KOEHLER
MUNICH, Germany, Iff) — The
U.S. Army today investigated GI
complaints that their command
ing officer took his 11-year-old
son on an official inspection tour
and the boy bawled out a sol
dier for his uniform.
The youngster is Richard Juer
gens, son of Col. E. K. Juergens.
For the inspection he wore a
lieutenant’s uniform, complete
with campaign ribbons and swag
ger stick.
The boy reportedly tore apart
one soldier’s display of his cloth
ing, held up a parka and barked
to the first sergeant: “This guy
doesn’t have a shoulder patch. His
name is Holmes—H-o-l-m-e-s.”
Col. Juergens, commanding the
47th Ordnance Group with head
uarters in Munich, acknowledged
to reporters his son accompanied
him on the inspection of a com
pany here.
“Richard is my only son and
he’s quite a pal of mine,” the col
onel said. “When I took him along
I just didn’t think the men would
be embarrassed or upset about
it.”
When he learned later some of
the GIs were fuming—calling it
a “mockery of inspection” and
"disgrace of the uniform” — the
colonel returned and apologized
to the company.
Juergens said his son is a mas
cot of the 71st Ordnance Battalion
of which the inspected company
is part. The colonel said he paid
for the material of his son’s uni
form and gave it to the com
mander of the battalion who had
a tailor make it up.
Yellow Snow Falls
In Red Russia
MOSCOW, (ffl — Yellow snow
has fallen in Kazakhstan. The So
viet news agency Tass said
meteorologists explain a big storm
probably whipped up particles of
soil from China’s Yellow River
valley, then deosited then on the
Asian Soviet republic.
State Will Attempt To
Take Genius-Child From
‘Dumb’ Foster Parents
OLD BRIDGE, N.J., MV-A bril
liant 4-year-old girl faced the pos
sible loss of the only home she
has ever known because the state
says she is too intelligent for her
foster parents.
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Combs
said they’ll go to court Tuesday
in a fight to keep Alice Marie,
who has been called a near
genius.
The state says the couple is
more interested in watching tele
vision than in reading books.
Combs denied the state’s con
tention that he and his wife can’t
give Alice the “opportunities for
intellectual and cultural develop
ment” she deserves.
The State Board of Child Wel
fare placed the girl with Combs
when she was an infant. Then it
became aware of her precocious
development. The board said
Alice had an I.Q. of 138, which is
12 points below genius rating. The
board also said she had “a capa
city of potential far greater than
her present performances.”
The board filed custody papers
to take the child from the Combs
and find other foster parents who,
they said, should be financially
and intellectually better prepared
to aid her.
Combs, a sheet metal worker,
wants to adopt Alice, but was
turned down by the board. He
and his wife are appealing the
case. They have two daughters.
Combs, 25, said he is “confident
I’ll be able to send my girls to
college.” He said he is making
$120 a week.
The board conceded that Alice
appeared happy and well ad
justed. She does not know the
Combs are not her real parents.
Combs agreed that he is not an
avid reader, but said that he and
his wife are reading more because
of their smart daughter.
“There’s no question that she’s
very bright, but she’s emotional
as well as intelligent," Combs said.
“Taking her away from us would
hurt her deeply.”
Legislature
Overrides Veto
Of Lotteries Bill
Word was received this mor
ning from Juneau that Gov. Egan
had vetoed the lotteries bill.
At noon today, Senate Presi
dent Bill Beltz notified Judge
Gilbert here that the Legislature
voted 43 to 17 to override the
veto.
Seek to Change
Formula For
“Matching Money”
By FRITZ WITTI
WASHINGTON, UPi — The
amount of “matching money” for
federal highway aid funds would
be considerably reduced in some
western states under a bill draft
ed for introduction in the Senate.
Under the proposal, the amount
Alaska is required to put up
would be reduced by close to four
million dollars a year, says Sen.
E. L. Bartlett.
Apportionments under the Fed
eral Highway Aid Program for
fiscal 1961 earmarked $36,768,519
as Alaska's share. The basic law
requires each state to match its
share.
However, the matching require
ment in so - called public lands
states is reduced according to the
amount of unreserved and unap
propriated public lands and non
taxable Indian lands in each state
because they do not bring in tax
revenues.
Alaska has 270,885,166 acres of
land in these categories. Under
the present formula, Bartlett said,
Alaska’s matching requirement is
$5,940,877 a year.
The new proposal, favored by
several senators from public
land states, would apply the for
mula to all public domain lands
except national forests, parks and
monuments, Bartlett said.
In Alaska, he added, this would
r^iise the public land acreage for
computation purposes to 337,141,
411 acres and drop the yearly
matching requirement to $1,963,
725.
Grueiiing Urges
World Study
Center in Hawaii
WASHINGTON, l/Pi — Sen. Er
nest Gruening Saturday urged es
tablishment of an East - West
center of international study in
Hawaii.
He told the Senate the plan was
proposed by majority leader Lyn
don Johnson in collaboration with
John A. Burns, Hawaii’s Delegate
to Congress in the last years of
Hawaiian territorialism.
It would strengthen the rela
tions between East and West and
would be a place for cultural ex
change between the students of
the Western Hemisphere, parti
cularly of the United States, with
those of the Orient, Gruening said.
"Hawaii, because of its splen
did example of ethnic democracy
so well illustrated in the compo
sition not merely of its population
but of its representation in Con
gress, is the logical place for such
a center,” he added.
Gruening- said the great value
of this project was not appreci
ated by the Budget Bureau which
failed to recommend funds for it
in the budget this year.
SENATE HOLDS 90- ' I
MINUTE CAUCUS ON
ESC BILL SUNDAY
JUNEAU, (jT>—The Senate held
a 90-minute caucus yesterday to
discuss-possible changes in the ad
ministration’s employment secur
ity bill and there were indications
the bill may come up for floor
action tomorrow or Wednesday.
It was the first Sunday session
of the 1960 legislature. A night
session has been scheduled to
night for further discussion of the
controversial measure.
Teen-Agers and
Grandmothers
Greet Elvis
By BILL CRIDER
MEMPHIS, Tenn., UP)—Shriek
ing women — young and old —
greeted a trim Elvis Presley on
the rock ‘n’ roll idol’s return home
today.
“Touch my hand,” screeched a
crowd of about 100 fans, evenly
divided between school skipping
teen-agers and gray-haired grand
mothers.
Presley, in Army dress blues,
stepped from his private railroad
car and strolled along the iron
fence on the loading platform,
grinning and clasping the female
hands thrust through the bars.
Looking thinner and consider
ably happier than when he left
for a draftee’s hitch in the Army,
Presley said, “I’ve been waiting
for this day for two long years.”
The girls set up a shrill chant
“We want Elvis,” during a news
conference on the train and
groaned when a, police car was
backed through the gate to serve
as the idol’s getaway car.
The Presley uniform bore the
three stripes and rocker of a staff
sergeant instead of his rating of
three stripes. A mistake at the
tailor’s, he explained.
The singer said he was putting
his uniform in mothballs as soon
as he arrived at Graceland, his
Memphis home, and got hold of
some civilian clothing.
Along with the civvies, he will
resume his old nightowl routine
of rising at noon and ending the
day about 3 a.m.
Eisenhower Leaves
Puerto Rico for Home
WASHINGTON, 141—The White
House reported that President
Eisenhower took off from Ramey
Air Force Base, Puerto Rico, at
11:57 a.m. today for Washington.
55 CLUB MEETS IN JUNEAU
JUNEAU, UPI — The 55 Club,
whose members wrote Alaska’s
Constitution, gathered here Sat
urday for its annual reunion.
Twenty-two of the 55 delegates
attended the meeting. Gov. Egan,
president of the Constitutional
Convention in 1955-56, presided
at the reunion.
Delegates, wives and friends at
tended the banquet following
which tribute was paid to George
McLaughlin and Victor C. Rivers,
members who have died since the
convention adjourned.
Russian Laboratory Ship
Repaired at Halifax, N. S.
HALIFAX, N.S., UP)—The Soviet
laboratory ship Mikhail Lomono
sov is under repair in Halifax
after battling an Atlantic storm.
With a heavy lift winch torn
away and rails bent and broken,
the 3,400 ton vessel put into port
here Saturday. The repairs are
expected to take a week.
Object Sighted
Sunday at Teller,
Nome, Moses Point
Strange things are reported in
the skies of this grea again, and
all the way from Teller to Moses
Point.
Sunday evening at about 8:15,
Helen Blodgett in Teller says,
a blue light, then two flashes of
lightning-like light, followed by
a booming sound which seemed
to come from the west, was re
ported seen by children playing
outdoors. The light was reported
moving easterly, originating in
the west from Teller.
In Nome, several residents re
ported seeing two flashes of blue
light about the same time, and
some heard a booming sound.
Reports from the Moses Point
area also record the light, seen by
an F.A.A. plane in flight.
Art Sandstrom of the ACS was
outdoors at the time, and describes
what he saw as something that
looked like a pistol flare, which
drifted down over the northwest
corner of town.
Deputy Marshall Don McKay
reports that children playing
near his home saw the light trav
eling in a northwesterly direc
tion, and that the light broke into
two parts, and one part continued
in a northerly direction.
Anyone having seen or heard
this mysterious object should re
port to F.A.A., the Marshall’s
office, or call The Nugget.
Automatic System
Will Spot Nuclear
Explosions In U.S.
WASHINGTON, UR—The blind
ing flash of light that flares from
a nuclear blast will be the only
trigger for an automatic bomb
alarm system being installed
throughout the United States.
The first alarm stations will be
operating in two or three weeks.
The national system will be com
pleted in a few months.
In the momentary interval be
tween any nuclear bomb burst
and the pulverizing blow of the
following shock wave, the system
will let the nation’s high com
mand know which areas have
been hit.
The automatic relay will report
only nuclear hits. It will not give
adance warning of an attack.
The first of more than 101)
“sensor” stations already are be
ing installed by the Air Force.
The stations will be linked by
wire communications to six major
centers.
"ICE" LOST IN THE SNOW
NEW YORK, UR — Tommy Mc
Cauley, 23, thought he had lost
his bride-to-be.
Joyce Mullan, 21, gave him
back his ring after a spat at
the door of her Brooklyn home
Saturday night.
Angrily, Tommy threw the
$2,000 ring into the snow. It
landed in a 4-foot snowdrift.
Tommy and Joyce searched
through the snow. No ring. They
woke up her parents, who helped
search. No ring. They called the
police who sprayed hot water on
the snow a shovelful at a time.
Seven policemen prowled the
area with flashlights. Others
searched a subway track below
the sidewalk.
During the search, Tommy and
Joyce made up, but there was still
no ring.