THE
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS _
62nd Year No. 24 NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1961_Per Copy 15<
Revision of State’s Employment
Security Program Is Before the Senate
By Ward Sims
Associated Press Staff Writer
JUNEAU UP) — Senate Majority
Leader R. J. McNealy introduced
companion bills today calling for
drastic revision in the state’s Em
ployment Security Program.
McNealy said the bill, research
ed and backed by the State Cham
ber of Commerce, will be co
sponsored by Sens. Brad Phillips,
James Nolan and Howard Pollock.
The first bill would make num
erous technical revisions in the
Employment Security Code —
lowering the taxable wage base,
screening out the casual worker,
revising the tax rate and boosting
the duration and amount of week
ly benefits, conditionally.
The second bill would replace
the quarterly payroll decline for
mula for measuring the unemploy
ment liability of employers with
a charge-back experience rating
system.
The first bill would retain total
tax contributions of $6 million
a year.
It would bring the present tax
able wage base of $7,200 a year
back to $5,400, which the Cham
ber said “recognizes a compro
mise factor of $500 above the
realistic $4,800 average annual
earnings of the Alaska worker
covered under the act.”
The taxable wage base of $5,400
would levy employment security
taxes on $163 million of the $200
million in total payrolls covered
under terms of the act.
The minimum tax rate for em
ployers under the Chamber pro
posal would be 1.5 per cent and
the maximum rate would be 4.9
per cent, compared to the pre
sent 1.5 and 4.0 per cent, respec
tively.
The proposed schedule would
give a reduction of 9 per cent in
total contributions, as a result
of lowering the taxable wage base
from $7,200 to $5,400 without an
increase in the tax rate.
There would be an average re
duction of 9 per cent in em
ployer contributions for the first
eight of the 10 rate classes, where
80 per cent of all payrolls are
classified.
The bill would require that a
worker be employed for at least
20 weeks before he becomes eli
gible for employment security
benefits.
Under the new proposal, the
amount of insurance a worker
would be entitled to receive would
be related directly to the amount
of work he performs and the
wages he receives.
A worker who qualifies with
a minimum work history of 20
weeks would be entitled to 10
weeks of benefits, and a worker
with a work history of 48 weeks
or more would be entitled to a
maximum of 32 weeks of bene
fits.
The bill would raise the maxi
"BAREFOOT DADDY" . . .
WASHINGTON UP) — “Barefoot
daddy just sits there,” reads the
headline on a page one item in
today’s Washington Post.
The story tells of three-year-old
Caroline Kennedy, the President’s
daughter, wandering into the
White House communications
room. She was asked what her
daddy was doing.
“He’s not doing anything,” she
replied, “he’s just sitting up there
with his shoes and socks off doing
nothing.”
mum weekly benefit amount from
the present $45 to a new top of
$50 for benefit claimants who
have $5,000 or more in base peri
od wages.
The bill would disqualify from
receiving benefits those workers
who quit their jobs voluntarily
and without good cause. They
would remain disqualified until
they become re-employed and earn
at least 10 times as much as they
would have drawn in employment
security benefits had they not been
disqualified. The same treatment
would be accorded those workers
discharged from their jobs for mis
conduct.
The financial status of a claim
ant for employment security
benefits would also be taken into
consideration when he makes ap
plication for benefits.
The bill would also require
that new employers be assigned
the maximum tax rate for the
first year, until their experience
rating is established, rather than
receive the standard tax rate.
The charge-back system would
require that benefit payments
received by a claimant be charged
against his employer’s account,
rather than have employment se
curity tax contributions tossed in
to one huge reservoir, from which
all benefits are paid.
Leo Kriska Wins Fur
Rendezvous Sled Dog
Racing Championship
ANCHORAGE UPl — Leo Kriska
of Koyukuk yesterday won tihe
Fur Rendezvous world sled dog
racing championship, edging Dr.
Roland Lombard of Wayland,
Mass.
Kriska won the third and final
25-mile heat and also posted the
best elapsed time for the 3-day,
75-mile run. The champion cover
ed the course in 5 hours, 52 min
utes and 10 seconds after taking
the day money in on one hour,
58 minutes and 11 seconds.
Dr. Lombard finished the three
days’ racing in 5:53.05. Henry
Agnes of Nulato wound up third
in elapsed time in 5:56.48. Wilbur
Sampson of Noorvik was fourth in
5:57.04.
Kriska also wound up top
money winner in the $7,000
event. His winnings totaled $1,850
with Dr. Lombard taking $1,500.
Third place finish for Agnes was
worth a total of 1,000.
Two Heads Resign from
General Electric Co.
NEW YORK UP) — Ralph J.
Cordiner, Chairman of General
Electric Co., resigned today as
chairman of the National Busi
ness Advisory Council. Simul
taneously he announced the retire
ment of Robert Paxton as GE
President.
Cordiner said he was quitting
the council, which advises the
Secretary of Commerce, to take
over the GE presidency until a
new president is elected.
Paxton, 59, is leaving General
Electric two years in advance of
his planned retirement because
of ill health, Cordiner said.
The announcements came in
the wake of government anti
trust actions in which General
Electric and 28 other electrical
equipment manufacturing com
panies were fined nearly $2 mil
lion on charges of rigging bids
and prices.
Ike Disavows
Colleague’s
Statements
WASHINGTON Iff) — Former
President Dwight Eisenhower
Sunday night disavowed as inac
curate and regrettable a fellow
Republican’s statement that Ei
i senhower is critical of the direc
' tion President Kennedy’s Admin
istration is taking.
Sen. Karl E. Mundt talked with
I Eisenhower for an hour recently
I at his Palm Springs, Calif., vaca
| tion spot. In a news letter he send
j to constituents, Mundt Sunday
| gave his impression of Eisen
hower’s views.
“He is critical of the tenden
cies thus far evidences by the
JFK Administration — too much
left of center: too partisan; too
slanted toward programs support
ed by union bossism,” Mundt
wrote.
Mincing no words, Eisenhower
issued this disavowal through a
secretary:
“Sen. Mundt’s statement as re
I ported to me Sunday evening does
I not accurately describe either my
views on public affairs or my
personal plans, and I very much
regret its issuance.
“The senator evidently intended
to repeat in detail our private
and purely social conversation, but
his recollection of the many sub
jects mentioned and his interpre
tations differ markedly from my
own.
“Especially I regret the assess
ment attributed to me of the per
formance of my successor and his
administration, on which subject
I have formed no judgement.
“•Moreover, I have always
directed my public criticism to
ideas and programs — never to
individuals. While in that con
versation and on prior occasion I
have expressed opposition to cer
tain of the pledges in the platform
adopted in Los Angeles, I have
likewise expressed the earnest
hope of every loyal American that
the future actions of the new ad
ministration will promote the
over-all welfare of the United
States.”
Mundt could not be reached
for comment on Eisenhower’s
statement.
NEW SPEED RECORD
SET AT "DAYTONA 500"
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. UP) —
Marvin Panch today had a new
speed record and 20,750 fresh dol
lars in his bank account as a re
sult of winning the ‘‘Daytona
500.”
The 35-year-old Daytona driver
Sunday covered the distance over
the 2V£ mile Daytona Internation
al Speedway asphalt track at an
average speed of 149 601 miles an
hour.
Panch’s time shattered the pre
vious mark of 138.767 for a 500
mile race set by Jim Rathmann
of Miami last year at Indianapolis,
and far eclipsed the 500-mile
record for Daytona of 135.129 set
two years ago.
THE WEATHER
Increasing cloudiness with oc
casional snow showers. Low to
night -20, high tomorrow 0.
In the last 24 hours as of 7:00
a. m. today, high of -4, low of -19.
Sunrise at 7:17 a. m., sunset at
5:13 p m.
Temperatures a year ago today:
High of 32, low of 30. Extremes
on this date since 1907: High of
35 in 1928, low of -35 in 1956.
Report on Estimated Stale Revenues
Handed to Members of Legislature
Bi/ Ward Sims
Associated Press Staff Writer
JUNEAU iff — A comprehen
sive report on estimated state
revenues for the fiscal years 1961
through 1966 was handed to mem
bers of the 1961 Legislature to- '
day.
The report was compiled by the i
State Department of Administra- |
tion at the request of the Joint
Senate-House Finance Committee.
Sen. James Nolan Chairman of
the Senate Finance Committee,
and Rep. Frank Chapados, Chair- j
j man of the House group, said the
j report, “as a working document :
j for legislators, is excellent.”
“The revenue projections indi
cate,” Nolan said, “that the Legis- ;
lature will probably have to pro- :
ceed with care in drawing up :
budgets in the coming year.”
The report covered all net state
revenues and federal transistional
grants. It did not include federal
matching moneys, such as those
1 used for highway and hospital
construction. Neither did it in
clude rebates made to cities, pub
lic districts and school districts
from taxes collected by the state.
The estimated revenue, by fis
cal year, including dedicated
funds and special fund earnings
used for administrative costs, was
listed as follows for the six fis
cal years covered by the report:
1961, $42,887,718; 1962 $49,258,
611; 1963, $51,247,412; 1964 $56,
785,456; 1965, $57,014,201; 1966,
$58,596,248.
Each year’s estimate took into
consideration the following reve
nue sources:
Taxes; business licenses and
permits; non-business licenses and
permits; application, examina
tion and filing fees; service
charges and miscellaneous reve
nue; receipts from state lands;
Alaska court system receipts; re
ceipts from federal lands and re
sources; federal transitional
grants; special purposes funds;
and special fund earnings used
for administrative costs.
Included in the projection was
Nationwide Manhunt
On for Murderer
Of 4-Year-Old Girl
NEW YORK UP) — The search
for pretty little Edith Kiecorius
is over.
Another has taken place — a
nationwide manhunt for the mur
derer of the 4-year-old girl.
Edith’s half-clad, bruised body
was found Sunday in a shabby
rooming house only hours after
her widowed mother had prayer
fully insisted, “no one can hurt
such a beautiful child.”
A medical examiner said Edith
apparently had been beaten to
death but an autopsy was ordered j
to determine the exact cause. The I
girl was sexually assaulted. The1
examiner approximated the time
of death at last Wednesday — the
day the child disappeared from
in front of her uncle’s home just
two blocks away.
Accompanying the nationwide
alarm was a description of the
toothless, middle-aged man who
rented the room Feb. 17 and was
last seen an hour before the child
vanished. Police said the man reg
istered at the drab west side room
inb house under the name Fred
Thompson. He was described as
about 50 to 55 years old, 5 feet,
: 3 inches tall and weighing 140
I to 150 pounds.
the fact that federal transitional
grant monies will not be avail
able to the state after fiscal 1964.
The revenue projection for fis
cal 1972. $49,258,611, is $9,753,800
short of Egan’s proposed state
spending budget for that fiscal
year.
“This is the first time in the
history of Alaska that we have
documented all state taxes and
presented them in one source,”
Floyd Guertin, Commissioner of
Administration, said.
“We called on every depart
ment in the state with a source
of revenue to contribute to this
projection. We tried to be as fair
and as reasonable in our projec
tions as humanly possible.”
In compiling the report, Guer
tin said his department had to
make certain assumptions. Among
these were the assumptions that:
The population of Alaska is
estimated to increase 20 per cent
during the five-year period end
ing in 1965.
The general economy of the
state is expected to advance pro
portionate to population growth
and also to experience some
minor advance as a result if in
creased wage levels and commer
cial investment and expansion.
“We also assumed that there
would be no major boom, and no
major recession, during the period
covered by the revenue projec
tion,” George Nichols, Guertin’s
deputy commissioner, said.
“They tried to be as realistic
and conservative as possible,”
Chapados said. “I think the re
port bears out my feelings that
the revenue of the state will grad
ually increase despite the loss of
transitional grants.”
Swollen Rivers in South
Leave 10,000 Homeless
By The Associated Press
Swollen rivers continued an
ominous rise in central and south
Alabama today, and the Weather
Bureau predicted more rain.
But unless showers forecast for
tonight and Tuesday are extreme
ly heavy, they will have little ef
f e c t on the already-flooded
streams.
The worst flood in many years
left 10,000 or more persons home
less in Alabama, Georgia, Louis
iana and Mississippi, and damage
is expected to run into millions
of dollars.
Flood waters began receding
slowly today at Montgomery, Ala.,
where more than 3,00 persons
have been evacuated.
The rampaging Alabama River
crested during the night and by 7
a. m. had receded a tenth of a
foot.
Downstream, the Alabama was
out of its banks and still rising.
Selma was hard hit. Lowland resi
dents were evacuated by the
scores over the weekend.
The Red Cross began establish
ing an emergency field disaster
headquarters at Montgomery for
flood victims.
At least 12 person have died
in southern flood waters caused
by torrential rains which lasted
most of last week.
THOUGHT FOR TODAY . . .
A honeymoon is the vacation
a man takes before starting to
work for a new boss.