m NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOlTLVi No. 46 NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, APRIL_16, 1954 Per Copy—S
Secrecy Surrounding Atomic Weapons
Progress Hinders Continental Defense
And Confuses Civil Defense Planning
WASHINGTON, — Secrecy
on atomic weapons progress has j
thrown civil defense planning into
confusion and hindered develop
ment of a continental defense
system, the American Society of
Newspapers Editors was told to
day.
Paul Block Jr., co-publisher of
the Toledo Blade, reported to'
some 400 editors at their annual
meeting that despite recent hydro
gen bomb revelations, atomic de- j
velopments have outrun public
information.
“The public appears to be rel
atively farther behind informa
tionally than ever before,” said
Block, the Society’s one - man
watchdog committee on atomic
information.
The sensation created by Atom
ic Energy Commission Chairman
Lewis L. Strauss with his recent
description of a 17-month-old
hydrogen bomb explosion, Block
said, raises the question “whether
the people must not be told much
more much sooner.”
“Witness the confusion of the
federal Civil Defense Administra
tion,” Block said. “The potential
of the H-bomb required a major
change in emphasis in the teach
ings of this organization.
“Now the watchword is ‘evac
uation’ and the training of rescue
units is pinned to the needs of
rescuing other areas rather than
one’s own city . . .
“And what of the many stories
about a cobalt bomb — which
would set off a rain of destruc
tion by the dropping of radio
active materials many miles from
the site of the explosion?”
A major question of national
defense policy, the editor went on,
is whether more money should be
spent on continental defense.
“Clearly the answer to this is in
the hands of the electorate,” he
said. “Does it have enough in
formation on which to base a de
cision?”
U.S; Troops Will Stay In
Europe As Long As Reds
Pose Aggression Threat
AUGUSTA, Ga., (^—President
Eisenhower pledged today that a
“fair share” of American troops
will be maintained in Europe as
long as a threat to the security
of the western nations exists.
In a six-point message to the
prime ministers of six western
European countries, the President
sought to assure French ratifica
tion of the European Defense
Community project by promising
in effect that rearmament of West
Germany would not be permitted
to endanger France.
France long has sought such
formal assurances before joining
in the creation of a six - nation
army designed as a bulwark
against any Russian aggression.
The proposed EDC has been rati
fied by Belgium, West Germany,
Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
Only Italy and France have yet
to act.
The President said: ‘The United
States calls attention to the fact
that for it to cease to be a party
to the North Atlantic Treaty
would appear quite contrary to
our security interests when there
is established on the continent of
Europe the solid core of unity
which the European Defense Com
munity will provide.”
The United States now has five
divisions, plus troop units equi
valent to a sixth, in Europe.
Telephone-TV Service
Starts in Japan
TOKYO, UPC-Little Ichiro in
Tokyo now can see Uncle Shoza
bura in Nagoya or Auntie Satsumi
in Osaka, 280 miles away, when
he telephones them.
The telegraph and telephone
service Thursday opened tele
phone-TV service limited to the
three cities.
Supernatural, Superstitious, Otherwise
Unknown Substance Pockmarks Auto
Windshields In The Puget Sound Area
SEATTLE, UP — Superbomb,'«
supernatural or superstition, there
was no doubt about it today, the
one million people in the Puget
Sound country were stirred up by
the case of the pockmarked wind
shields.
And the mayor of this city of
500,000 souls was trying to stir
up the President of the United
States. The mayor, Allan Pom
eroy, apparently was among the
believers that something, rather
than someone, is damaging thou
sands of automobile windshields
with an unknown but possibly
atomic substance.
The mayor asked the President
to “instruct appropriate federal
agencies to cooperate with local
authorities on an emergency
basis.”
There are doubters, too, who
think an awful lot of people are
victims of mass hysteria, sudden
ly conscious of something that
may have happened days, weeks
or months ago.
“Tommyrot,” exploded Dr. D.
M. Ritter, assigned by the chem
(Continued on Page Two)
Case Recommends
Alaska Partition
To Eisenhower
WASHINGTON, tf*—Sen. Case
<R-SD> has told President Eisen
hower he sees much merit in a
proposal to admit the more devel
oped and populated area of Alas
ka as a state.
Case visited Alaska last sum
mer to inspect various armed ser
vices installations.
He wrote the President that at
that time “he thought occurred to
me that a sounder economic unit
of the state would result if the
territory were divided on the
Yukon River and if the Aleutian
Islands were left out of a new
state.”
Case said he had been informed
95 per cent of the population
would be embraced within the
new state which could be called
“South Alaska” or Alaska, with
the name “Yukon Territory”
given to that portion remaining
in territorial status.
Case said a division of Alaska
on the Yukon would leave Sew
ard Peninsula and the Diomede
Islands in territorial status. Nome
would be the only town of any
size not included in the proposed
new state area, he said.
The South Dakotan also said
that the proposed statehood area
would include a much heavier
percentage of people who have
come from the states and would
leave in territorial status the
greater population of the Eskimos
whose background might make
them feel more at home there.
—
2,789 Persons Seeking
Work In Fairbanks
FAIRBANKS, UP>—Employment
officials said here yesterday that
2,789 people are seeking work in
Fairbanks and construction work
is not scheduled to begin until
about May 1.
A cold spring plus failure of
carpenters to negotiate a contract
with employers is holding up the
start of the building season. Mrs.
Ola Reeves, acting manager of the
employment bureau here, said the
job seekers are arriving in town
and applying for work at the rate
of about 10 a day.
One union reported it had 400
men idle.
ACTRESS CAN'T COMPETE
WITH TELEVISION AT HOME
LOS ANGELES, ufl— Dorothy
Ford, 6-foot actress, got a divorce
from auto agency executive Thos.
B. Chambers yesterday on this
testimony:
“He would come home, sit
down and look at television. He
would eat dinner looking at tele
vision. Then he would look at
television until he went to sleep.”
Chambers got the television set
under a property settlement.
Petitions Circulated In Anchorage
Asking Dismissal Gov. Heintzleman
On Grounds He Is Not People’s Choice
Rebels Ready 40,000 Fresh
Troops At Bien Dien Phu
HANOI, Indochina, <#> — The
Vietminh shoved tens of thou
sands of fresh troops into attack
positions around Dien Bien Phu
today. The third round of the sav
age battle for the French Union
stronghold appeared to be days
or even hours away.
Reliable sources said Rebel Gen.
Von Guyen Giap had rushed up
at least 40,000 unbloodied regu
lars to bolster his badly battered
force in the low hills encircling
the fortified plain and along its
fringes.
It appeared certain here the
Vietminh in their next all-out as
sault would outnumber the de
fenders at least 6 or 8 to 1.
2 Children Die
Trapped in Icebox
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah,
UP)—A pair of roller skates was
found lying in the doorway of a
vacant housing unit apartment
Wednesday night at Utah’s Hill
Air Force Base.
A neighbor went into the empty
apartment to investigate. In the
kitchen, he found a little girl’s
sweater. He also noticed that the
shelves of the apartment’s refrig
erator had been removed. He
opened the ice box door.
Inside, sitting upright on the
floor of the refrigerator, were the
bodies of Joyce Mullis, 6, and her
5-year-old sister, Donna.
Both had been dead of suffoca
tion for some time after appar
ently climbing into the refrigera
tor and closing the door behind
them.
The discovery climaxed a search
at Hill Field which had lasted for
almost six hours. The girls were
daughters of S/Sgt. and Mrs. Ray
Mullis.
Late Breakup Seen
For Tanana River
NENANA, Alaska, UP)—It looks
like a late ice breakup for the
Tanana River.
Slim Avery, manager of the
popular guessing contest on the
breakup date, said Wednesday:
“I’ve never known it to be so
cold at this time of year.” He pre
dicts a late May ice movement.
Avery said a recent seven-day
warm spell melted snow off the
hills but it froze into an added
eight inches of ice on the frozen
river.
The ice is 44 inches thick, he
says, and likely “won’t go out
until it wears out from the wind.”
'{ ANCHORAGE, W — Petitions
asking the dismissal of Governor
I Heintzleman are being circulated
! here and its sponsor says hun
dreds o-f signatures already have
been gathered.
The petition was described as
a non-partisan effort but its au
thor is Stanley McCutcheon, for
mer Democratic speaker of the
territorial legislature and former
Democratic national committee
man.
McCutcheon said the movement
started spontaneously and gained
momentum rapidly with support
from both Republicans and Demo
crats.
“Congressmen will assume the
governor , is speaking for the
people of Alaska,” the Anchorage
attorney said. “The only way we
can bring it to the attention of
Congress that he is not our rep
resentative is to discredit him.”
The petition is being sent to
every major precinct in Alaska.
It asks President Eisenhower to
“request the immediate resigna
tion of his appointee” on the
grounds Heintzleman was not and
is not now the choice of the peo
ple of Alaska nor any political
party thereof.”
It also criticizes the governor
for his recent suggestion that the
Territory be split for statehood
purposes.
“The appointed governor,” it
said, “grossly failed, refused and
neglected to defend and protect
the rights of the people of Alas
ka.” He has, it charges, “instead
catered to and curried favor with
Alaska’s absentee enemies as is
evidenced by his shocking effort
to divide our country, excluding
its rich fishing resources, thereby
protecting the rights of foreign
interests.”
I
Trading Post At Galena
Is Burned Out Monday
FAIRBANKS, UPP-The trading
post and store in the village of
Galena on the Yukon River was
destroyed Monday by flames,
wiping out the entire food supply
of the village, it was learned here
yesterday.
The U.S. Air Force base near
the village came to the rescue of
the inhabitants with food supplies
to carry them through the emer
gency.
The flames broke out early
Monday morning and made such
headway the store owners, Mr.
and Mrs. Spees were able to save
only a few personal possessions
and some raw furs.
Spees said he would fly in ma
terials and rebuild and restock his
store.
Saturday at N.C. Store
by
Women’s Society
of the
Community Methodist Church