m NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LX No. 40 NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 1958 Per Copy—15<
President Signs Demo-Sponsored
$1,850,000,000 Housing Act But Calls
For Some Fast Corrective Provisions
WASHINGTON, UP) — Builders
and housing officials predicted
today the $1,850,000,000 Housing
Act will help push home con
struction, but emphasized it is
no panacea for the business re
cession.
President Eisenhower signed
the Democratic-sponsored bill
yesterday with a demand Con
gress quickly correct some pro
visions which, he said, conflict
with the private enterprise system
and “burden the public purse.”
But the Federal Housing Ad
ministration (FHA) sped orders
to its field offices liberalizing
down payments as the law per
mits. Some builders have noti
fied FHA they were waitind to
advertise the new terms to pros
pective home buyers.
The 3 per cent minimum down
payment now applies to FHA
insured mortgages up to $13,500,
instead of $10,000. On mortgage
sums above $13,500, the down
payment remains at 15 per cent
and, above $16,000, 30 per cent.
This means a $14,000 dwelling
which FHA calls the “typical”
new house may be bought for
$500 down instead of $900.
FHA Commissioner Norman P.
Mason said the lower down pay
ment and the removal of dis
count controls would be “a boon
to home buyers and the home
building industry.”
Mason did not mention the one
billion dollars earmarked to sup
port the mortgage market. The
billion dollars is at the disposal
of the Federal National Mortgage
Assn. With this money and 200
million dollars released to FNMA
a few weeks ago, that agency is
able to tell lenders and builders
they can go ahead with con
struction plans with the assur
ance the government will buy up
any mortgages they choose to sell.
PETE CURRAN, SR.
PASSES AWAY
AT AGE OF 91
Peter Curran, Sr., aged 91
years passed away at the hospital
yesterday afternoon.
Pete came to Nome from Erie,
Penn, by way of Dawson during
the days of the gold rush. He
made Solomon his home for many
years and his trading store was
a pioneer landmark. He was
the last of the pioneer merchants
remaining in business on Seward
Peninsula.
Curran, who married twice, is
survived by his widow and three
children; Peter Curran, Jr., Mrs.
John Fagerstrom, of Nome, and
Mrs. Ruth Seller of Anchorage.
There are twenty four grand
children and several greatgrand
children.
Although past ninety, until
very recently, his mind was clear
and faces and facts of the turn of
the century were recalled without
hesitancy.
His funeral has been an
nounced for Saturday afternoon
at two o’clock from the Covenant
Church.
Heavy Rain And Snow
Add To Danger Of
Floods In California
Danger of floods in sections of
California appeared increasing to
day as more precipitation added
to the already recent heavy falls
of rain and snow.
Across the continent, the
stormy weather which hammered
the Northeast coast appeared
diminishing. However, strong
winds and some rain continued
during the night near the New
England coasi.
Some 900 residents of Alviso,
Calif., 35 miles southeast of San
Francisco, were forced from their
homes yesterday by flood waters
of the Guadalupe River. Eight
rivers on the California coast
were bankful or overflowing.
The San Francisco area is having
its wettest season in nearly 70
years.
Showers fell in areas west of
the Rockies to the Pacific coast,
with snow at some higher ele
vations. Snow was to a depth of
20 inches at Mt. Shasta in North
ern California, including yester
day’s fresh fall of 12 inches.
! Nuclear Test
I
Ban Labeled
“Just A Gimmick”
WASHINGTON, UP) —President
Eisenhower said today Russia’s
nuclear test ban announcement
is just a gimmick which should
not be taken seriously.
Eisenhower told a news con
ference that evaluation does not
mean, however, we should stop
trying to find a common ground
for agreement with the Soviet
Union.
He recalled repeated U. S.
efforts over the years seeking
agreement with Russia in the
disarmament, nuclear test and
other fields.
The President said he does not
believe there is any justification
for labeling the U. S. position
a negative one just because it is
being firm in the interest of the
United States and the rest of
the world.
A good deal of the questioning
at the news conference dealt
with whether the United States
I could have gained if it had
labeled the Russian test ban as
just propaganda in advance of
the Soviet announcement.
Eisenhower replied that was
considered by his government—
along with the possibility of the
United States’ making the first
move toward banning tests—but
both proposals were rejected on
^he ground Russia was only seek
ing to gain from a propaganda
standpoint.
Japanese Fishermen
Protest Reservations
Of U. S. Training Areas
TOKYO, UP) — A fishermen’s
delegation complained today that
American military training areas
off the Chiba Peninsula, immedi
ately East of Tokyo, are driving
away their sardine, bonito and
mackeral catches.
The fishermen petitioned Jap
anese government agencies to
abolish the training areas. They
said four such already exist and
the U. S. military has notified
them it will establish a fifth soon,
for aircraft anti-submarine exer
cises.
Election Results
Steffen Andersen was re-elect
ed mayor yesterday by the voters
j of the Nome for seventh time.
This will make his eighth term
as mayor. And he can rightly be
called “the perennial mayor.” j
There were 446 ballots cast
in the municipal and school board j
election, as compared to 401 a!
[year ago.
Axel Edman was elected to the j
council for the one-year term, j
For the two-year term on the
council, Wallace Mclver, Roscoe
Wilke and Dick Miller were
elected.
In the only other contest, Mrs.
Dorothy Grant was elected to the
three-year term on the School
Board.
Following are the official re
sults:
For Mayor — Steffen Andersen
329, Wilbur Arnold 104.
For Councilman, 1-year term—
Axel Edman 227, Gordon Os
borne 195.
For Councilmen, 2-year term—
Wallace Mclver 232, Roscoe Wil
ke 230, J. R. Miller 213, Keith
Hedreen 175, Grant' Nelson 131,
Bob Lewis 121, Fred Cavota 91.
For City Clerk—Robert Scott
396.
For City Treasurer—William
Tuttle 387.
For Member of School Board,
1-year term—N. W. Foster 395.
For Member of School Board
3-year term—Dorothy Grant 306,
Earl Towner 124.
For Member of School Board
5-year term— Roy Snyder 394.
For Member Nome Light and
Power Utility Board—William
Haley 384. i
_f
Nenana River
Open Five Miles
Above Tripod
NENANA, (Special)—Don Clark ;
said that the ice is still 42 inches J
thick at the Tripod and according j
to reports from trappers there
is water flowing in the small
creeks of the Alaska Range
southeast of Nenana and that the
Nenana River is open five miles
upstream from town. He also
advises that midnight of April
5 is the last opportunity to par
ticipate in this Far North Event.
Igloo 17, Pioneers of Alaska,
Nenana, were hosts to the Fair
banks Igloo 4 and Auxiliary 8
on Sunday and a large number
of members were on hand for a
brief meeting. Jack Coghill was
master of ceremonies and officers
of both lodges spoke briefly.
After the business meeting a fine
dinner and social gathering was
enjoyed. It was the first time
for many of them, in being so
close to the Nenana Ice Classic.
The method of handling the ice
classic was explained to them.
There were many trips to the
riverbanks to photograph the
well known four legged tripod
with its array of colored flags.
It was very interesting to
hear the oldtimers discussing we
pros and cons of the moving of
the ice. There was a display of
winning tickets of previous years,
a replica of the tripod, and many
other historic interest of Nenana.
It was a gala day for all.
It was thought for a while that
the town would have to establish
a traffic patrolman on the city
street on account of heavy traf
fic, even the dog teams had to
take to the sidewalks. As a
caution to drivers that may at
tempt a last drive to Nenana the 1
ice on the slough has a few spots j
that don’t look too good. Drive
with caution.
Eisenhower Asks Congress Create
New Civilian Agency To Operate
America’s Space Exploration Program
WASHINGTON, (^—President
Eisenhower today asked Congress
to create a new civilian agency
to run America’s space explora
tion program.
His request went to the legis
lators immediately after a news
conference at which the Presi
dent said he will have another
special message tomorrow on his
program for reorganization of
the Defense Department.
Eisenhower told Congress, in
his message asking for the new
space agency, that it would ab
sorb the National Advisory Com
mittee for Aeronautics and would
be responsible “for an imagina
tive and well-conceived program.”
The new agency would admin
ister projects as well as conduct
space research. It would cooper
ate closely with the Defense
Department in carrying out some
military space research, but the
accent would be on peaceful uses
of outer space.
Eisenhower called it the “Na
tional Aeronautics and Space
Agency.”
He said it would be run by
a civilian director, backed up by
a space board composed of gov
ernment and private experts.
In the meantime, while the new
agency is being set up, Eisen
hower said he is ordering “an in
terim program of space tech
nology and exploration.”
This program, already an
nounced, includes plans to launch
a number of unmanned space
vehicles under difirection of the
Pentagon’s Advanced Research
Projects Agency (ARPA).
Eisenhower asked for “early
enactment of appropriate legis
lation” to set up the proposed
new agency.
At his news conference, Eisen
hower indicated that his defense
reorganization message will stress
the importance of giving the
Secretary of Defense authority
commensurate with his responsi
bility.
Substantial two-party backing
for the Pentagon reorganization
plan, and also for an upcoming
proposed agency to direct civil
ian space exploration efforts,
already had been indicated on the
basis of advanced reports.
Hawaii Bill .
Brought Out
From Committee
WASHINGTON, Of) —The House
Insular Affairs Committee by
voice vote today took the Hawaii
Statehood Bill from its Terri
tories Subcommittee.
The action brought the meas
ure before the full committee
where it can be acted upon at any
time.
The decision came on a motion
by Rep. O’Brien (D-NY), Terri
torries Subcommittee Chairman.
He was thwarted last week in an
attempt to make a similar move.
Rep. Pillion (R-NY) was the
only member to oppose the move
when Chairman Engle (D-Calif)
put the motion on O’Brien’s
proposal.
Prior to the vote, Pillion chal
lenged O’Brien’s motion on , a
point of order. He contended
House Rules require that a mo
tion to discharge a Subcommittee
from further consideration of a
bill be backed with a petition
bearing signatures of a majority
of the Subcommittee’s members.
Engle overruled Pillion.
O’Brien had said earlier he
wished to have the bill taken
from the Subcommittee and
brought before the full committee
as a gesture of “good faith” to
show Hawaii statehood support
ers the measure wouldn’t be
pigeonholed by the Subcommittee.
Report Of Downed
Plane at St. Lawrence
Completely Unfounded
A report yesterday that a Rus
sian plane had landed at St.
Lawrence Island has been denied
by the Alaska Air Command who
says that Air Force Intelligence
checked yesterday and there was
nothing to it.
Brig. Gen Conrad Necrason,
Commander of the 11th Air Divi
sion, says Ladd AFB sent three
planes to investigate and after
they combed the area throughly
found the report “completely un
founded.
Eisenhower Requests
Extra Billion and Half
In Defense Appropriations
WASHINGTON (#> — President
Eisenhower asked Congress today
for an extra $1,455,747,010 in
defense appropriations, mainly to
acquire B52 bombers and build
more missile-firing submarines.
His request was in the form of
a memorandum to the House Ap
propriations Committee asking
for an increase of that amount in
the defense budget for the year
starting July 1. If granted, this
would boost fiscal 1959 defense
appropriations beyond 40 billion
dollars.
Of the amount requested,
$218,100,000 would be for the
Army, $180,000,000 for outer
space research programs, $206,
800,000 to build two additional
Polaris-firing submarines, and
$518,400,000 to build more big
bombers and plane refueling
tankers.
ACS Discontinues
Seward Station
SEATTLE UP)—1The Alaska Com
munication System announced to
day that the coastal radio-tele
graph service at Seward was
discontinued yesterday.
Col. Carl H. Hatch, Command
ing Officer of ACS, said vessels
which formerly contacted the
Seward Station will have to con
tact the station at Kodiak in the
future.
A coastal radio-telephone ser- 4
vice, at 2134 kilocycles, will con
tinue to operate from Seward
during the day, Colonel Hatch
said.
Egelick Charged
With Manslaughter
In Amaktoolik Death
Joseph Egelick has been bound
over to the Grand Jury on a
charge of manslaughter.
He is alleged to have killed his
step-father Tomnjy Amoktoolik
while intoxicated. A coroner
gave the cause of death, following
an autopsy as caused by a vio
lent accident.