22 NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS_
VOL. LVIII No. 112 NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1956_Per Copy—154
Mental Health Hearing Set for
8 P.M. Tonight at City Hall With
Four-Member PHS Survey Team
A four-member survey team of<
the U.S. Public Health Service
which is conducting a survey in
the form of public hearings thru
out the territory on the new men
tal health program are scheduled
to be here for a meeting tonight
at 8:00 p.m. at the City Hall.
The Alaska mental health pro
gram was authorized by Congress
with the passage of the Alaska
Mental Health Act of July 28th.
Congress directed the Public
Health Service to survey and de
termine the needs for mental
health facilities in the territory.
Open hearings in cities thruout
Alaska are being held. Other cities
being visited are Anchorage, Fair
banks, Wrangell, Sitka, Cordova,
Valdez, Kodiak, Bethel and Bar
row.
The mental health act authoriz
es an appropriation of $6Vfc mil
lion for the construction of men
tal hospitals in the territory, upon
approval of the surgeon general.
The mental health plan will first
be submitted to Gov. B. Frank
Heintzleman and then to the sur
geon general.
There is a plan submitted in
other cities for Fairbanks, An
chorage and Juneau to have hos
pitals. A former survey recom
mended that the Nome hospital
have a special room for tempor
ary care of those cases which do
not belong in the jail as hereto
fore.
The local Home Arts Club did
considerable work to have this
bill passed.
Arriving in Nome are Dr. Rob
ert Hewitt, director of the Nation
al Institute of Mental Health,
Washington, D.C.; Ruth Knee,
psychiatric social worker; John
Bell, psychologist for Regional
Public Helath Service in San
Francisco.
Super-Charged Jeep
Results in Return of
Torpedo Fuel to Navy
BLOOMFIELD, Ind. WV-Robert
Clark, Bloomfield used auto parts
dealer, couldn’t get his jeep
stopped after he filled the tank
with some new fuel he had bought
from the Crane Naval Ammuni
tion Depot.
“I couldn’t keep the dam thing
under 40 miles an hour,” Clark
said after he got it stopped. -An
noyed at the Navy, he called a
Terre Haute company and tried
to sell the rest of 980 gallons he
had picked up as surplus on a bid
of $156.80.
The company’s buyer smelled
the stuff and called the Internal
Revenue Service, which had auth
orized the sale. The IRS notified
the Navy, which agreed to take
back its $25,000 worth df torpedo
fuel and refund Clark’s $156.60.
Several persons had learned the
difference between ethyl alcohol
and premium gasoline, and the
only problem left was to tame
the jeep.
Nome Fire Dept.
Stands By During
Landing at Field
The Nome Fire Department was
called out to the airport this
morning when an Alaska Airlines
DC-3, piloted by Bob Hall, indi
cated it was having trouble with
its landing gear.
Although there are two U.S. Air
Force fire trucks at the field, nei
ther is manned at the present, so
there is no fire equipment avail
able at the field in case of emer
gencies such the one this morning.
The former base fire house
which housed the equipment is
reported to toe in use as a ware
house with the fire truck out in
the open; the other is under re
pair.
Fortunately the landing gear
functioned satisfactorily so there
was no accident.
In the change-over from Air
Force to CAA Nome Field seems
to be without the necessary train
ed firemen for emergencies. In
view of what might have hap
pened this morning, plans are
being formulated to rectify a very
serious situation.
Three Stratojets to Make
First Non-Stop Flight
From U.S. to Australia
CANBERRA, Australia, WV
Three Boeing B-47 Stratojet
•bombers from the U.S. 15th Air
Force are to make the first non
stop flight from the United States
to Australia.
Air Minister Athol Townley
announced today the planes will
fly in the first week of November
from California to Amberley base
near Brisbane. They will be re
fueled in the air.
Townley said that at the same
time six Thunderjet fighters from
the U.S. Far East Air Force will
fly from Japan to Sydney.
The minister termed the flights
Operation Handclasp and said
they would demonstrate that pow
erful friends, once regarded as
living half a world away, now are
only a few hours distant.
Despondent Airman
Finds Relief in Jet Ride
After Spat With Girl
WILLIAMS AFB, Ariz., UR—A
20-year-old airman, depressed af
ter a fight with his girlfriend, took
off in an F-86 jet last night and
circled this Air Force base for
46 minutes before he was per
suaded to land.
Al/C George Johnson of Los An
geles had no previous experience
in jets altho he had logged more
than 100 hours in the air as a ci
vilian pilot.
“I was depressed and thought
I’d feel better in the air,” base
officials quoted him as saying
Johnson landed the plane safe
ly following radio instructions
from two jet pilots who took off
to help him as he circled the field.
Seamen Attaek
Harry Bridges
In Men’s Lounge
SAUSALITO, Calif., UPi—Long
shore leader Harry Bridges was
beaten viciously by two assailants
in the men’s lounge of Sally Stan
ford’s plush Valhalla Restaurant
early today.
In the ensuing melee, Miss
Stanford was kicked and slugged
and her maitre d’hotel and bar
tender were cut and bruised.
Police Chief Louis Mountanos
said it took him and two officers
to subdue and jail the two attack
ers. He identified them as mer
chant seamen from San Francisco,
Donald R. Hansen, 28, and Fred
Rippini, 35.
Bridges said he never saw the
men before. He said robbery may
have been the motive for the at
tack. Chief Mountanos said Han
sen and Rippini recognized the
name Harry Bridges, head of the
International Longshoremen’s and
Warehousemen’s Union, but had
never seen Bridges before.
Mountanos said Bridge was
having a quiet social drink with
friends just after midnight. He
left his table to go to the men’s
lounge and was followed immedi
ately by the two seamen.
Bridges said one grabbed him
from behind and the other beat
him on the face and body. Then,
Bridges said, they threw him to
the floor and kicked him savage
ly. The maitre d’hotel, 50, and
the bartender, 34, joined the fray.
Bridges, bleeding from the fore
head and face, refused emergency
hospital treatment and left for
his San Francisco apartment.
Stevenson Says
Eisenhower Gave
kHalf the Facts’
By th« Associated Press
Adlai Stevenson accused Eisen
hower last night of giving “only
half the facts” on world peace.
The Democratic presidential
candidate fired a rebuttal to some
of the things Eisenhower said in
his nationwide TV - radio cam
paign address Wednesday night.
Altho applauding Eisenhower’s
expression of “this country’s pas
sion for peace,” Stevenson was
critical of the President’s refer
ence to “the free nation of Viet
Nam” and to Formosa as having
been “previously written off.”
Speaking before a cheering
rally in Silver Springs, Md., just
outside Washington, Stevenson
said that in mentioning Viet Nam
Eisenhower “left out the fact that
half of that nation, more than 10
million people, has been lost to
the Communists.”
Furthermore, Stevenson spid
Eisenhower “must have forgotten
that it was President Truman who
sent the (American) 7th Fleet to
defend Formosa,” the Chinese
Nationalist island. Stevenson also
said Eisenhower made no mention
of “ominous tensions” in Africa
and the Middle East, and he criti
cized what he described as Eisen
hower’s “passing reference” to the
Suez crisis.
U.S. Proposes Russia Join With It
In Making Photo-Map of Pole
With Nome - Murmansk Shuttle
Fublic Meeting
To Hear Former
Gov. Gruening
Ernest Gruening, governor of
Alaska from 1939 to 1953, arrived
in Nome this morning from Fair
banks. He will address a public
meeting at the City Hall tomor
row, Saturday, at 8 o’clock in the
evening.
Among his subjects will be
“How I brought the DEW Line to
Alaska,” “What We May Expect
from the Alaska-Tennessee Plan,”
and various other matters of cur
rent interest.
Former Gov. Gruening is a can
didate for the six-year term for
the United States Senate.
Improved Fishing
May End Relief in
Southeast Alaska
WASHINGTON, M—Improved
fishing in Alaska last summer
may end an emergency relief pro
gram instituted three years ago
to help economically depressed
areas of the territory.
Anthony F. Lausi, director of
the Interior Department’s Office
of Territories, said today a deter
mination of the program’s future
must await a final report on the
salmon catch now virtually over.
The relief program—which is
limited largely to Bristol Bay and
the southeast Alaska area—was
set up in the winter of 1953-54
after salmon runs plunged to lev
els insufficient to support the
many native villages which rely
on the fishery resource.
In the three succeeding years,
backed by a presidential declara
tion of the region as a “major dis
aster area,” the federal and terri
torial governments have sought
to bolster the native economy
with jobs as well as with surplus
foodstocks. The Red Cross also
aided the program financially.
The exact number of natives
benefitting from the program is
uncertain, but estimates run from
3,000 to 4,000.
In the last three years about
$450,000 has been spent on public
works projects—roads, airfields,
docks, and schools
Princess Margaret
Leaves on Visit to
British Territories
LONDON tP)—Princess Margar
et left today on a five-week offi
cial visit by plane and ship to
British territories in the Indian
Ocean and east Africa.
The five-week tour is the Prin
cess’ most important official func
tion since the breakup last Octo
ber of her romance with Group
Capt. Peter Townsend.
The handsome, divorced air ace
is himself soon to leave for Africa
—by jeep on a round-the-world
trip.
» WASHINGTON l*t—The United
States has proposed that Russia
join with it in making a photo
map of the North Pole’s shifting
ice cap.
The proposal was advanced in
a note made public today by the
State Department. Officials said
it was delivered yesterday to the
Soviet embassy.
It proposed flights by U.S. and
Soviet planes between Nome, Al
aska, and Murmansk in the So
viet Union.
Alternate flights shuffling be
tween these two points would be
made on a one-a-week schedule
during the March-September 1957
period. This is the period of max
imum daylight in the arctic.
The aerial photographing would
be a project of the International
Geophysical Year. This is an 18
month world wide study, starting
next July 1. Its purpose is to take
a long look at the earth—on land,
in the air and at sea—so as to
make accurate measurements.
Details of the joint U.S.-Soviet
photo mapping would be worked
out thru diplomatic channels. ,
Soviet acceptance of the idea in
principle is expected because cf
informal discussions at an arctic
conference in Stockholm last May.
The U.S. committee at that
meeting noted that both the Unit
ed States and Russia would be
measuring the polar ice cap. It
suggested that they coordinate
their efforts.
They suggested pooling their
resources, thereby making full
runs between Soviet and U.S.
territory, rather than stopping
half way and having to turn back.
SUMMER IS OVER
TOMORROW, 2:36 P.M.
By the Associated Press
Today was the last full day
of the summer season and chilly
autumn weather already moved
in over most of the eastern half
of the United States.
The summer season ends offi
cially at 2:36 p.m. Bering Time
tomorrow.
Temperatures were in the 30s
from Virginia and North Carolina
northward with some places re
porting readings below freezing.
Consumer Prices Dip
From July’s Record
WASHINGTON. Iff)—Consumer
prices dipped two-tenths of one
percent last month from the all
time high recorded in July, the
Labor Department’s Bureau of
Labor Statistics reported today.
Ewan Clague, BLS commission
er, said a sharp seasonal drop in
fresh food prices caused the de
cline. Other items in the index
generally rose.
Clague said an expected rise in
meat, apparel, automobile and
other prices may offset the still
falling fresh food prices in the
September index, and added:
“The September index could
equal the all-time high.”