™S NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LV No. 139 NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1953 ~ Per Copy—15^
USAF Dismisses
6,500 Airmen
Because of Cutback
WASHINGTON, I£1 — The Air
Force says it is dismissing a
Philadelphia Negro along with
6,500 other airmen because of
budgetary limitations — not be
cause he refused to sit in a seg
regated section of a southern bus.
The National Association for
the Advancement of Colored Peo
ple (NAACP) cited the case of Lt.
Thomas Williams of Philadelphia
in charging the Air Force is re
primanding Negro officers who
ignore “southern Jim Crow prac
tices.”
Clarence Mitchell, NAACP dir
ector here, said in a statement
yesterday that this amounts to
disobedience of Supreme Court
decisions outlawing segregation in
interstate travel.
But an Air Force spokesman
said last night the bus incident
had nothing to do with William’s
dismissal. The spokesman said he
was among 6,500 airmen being
let out because of budget curbs.
He said the 6,500 were chosen
because it was felt their release
would least disrupt the effective
ness of the Air Force.
Mitchell said Williams, a pilot
in training at Craig Air Base,
Ala., refused to sit in a segregated
section of a bus enroute from
Florida to Alabama.
He said Williams’s dismissal
was approved at a Pentagon meet
ing last Thursday despite a re
quest by the NAACP for a re
view.
Jury Recommends
Fairbanks Police
Chief Be Fired
FAIRBANKS, UP) — The same
federal grand jury that indicted
Mrs. Diane Wells and Johnny
Warren for first degree murder in
connection with the death of Cecil
Wells recommended Friday that
the chief of police who investi
gated the case be fired.
The recommendation was in
cluded in a report brought in by
the grand jury at the conclusion
of a lengthy session.
Referring to E. V. Danfcrrth, the
Fairbanks police chief, the jury
said:
“From the evidence which the
grand jury has heard, we are of
the opinion that the chief of police
of the City of Fairbanks is not
qualified to the position he now
occupies.
“We believe that the chief of
police should hand in his resigna
tion, and in the event (he) does
not desire to do so, the city, coun
cil should consider replacing him.”
During the investigation of the
death of the wealthy Alaska busi
nessman, charges were made that
the chief had “shouldered out oth
er law enforcement agencies” and
conducted the probe alone.
Special Election Tomorrow
8n TX/f TO A "D IX/T ANY citizen i year in the territory, — 30 days in the precinct may vote
A.1YA. o r.lu. - NO PRE - REGISTRATION NECESSARY -
i /
Philly Police
Round Up
1,000 Teen-Agers
PHILADELPHIA, UP) — Deter
mined Philadelphia police — del
uged with complaints of rowdy
ism by youthful mobs in recent
weeks—drove ahead with a crack
down on teen - age gangs today
after rounding up more than 1,000
youngsters over the weekend.
Capt. Howard Leary of the
Juvenile Aid Bureau and Police
Commissioner Thomas Gibbons
said the police will “harass and
haunt these gangs until they
make up their minds to settle
down, be good citizens and stop
bothering others.”
The comments came in the
wake of the unprecedented week
end roundup which saw 625 young
sters taken into custody from one
police division in the northern
section of the city while raiding
squads in other parts of Phila
delphia brought in more than 400
boys and girls.
Gibbons said increasing com
plaints of beatings, holdups, and
robberies by young toughs “who
hang around sleazy poolrooms,
taprooms and all-night diners in
stead of staying at home and do
ing something constructive”
prompted the crackdown.
Even as the raid was going con,
Gibbons disclosed, four youths
mugged a 45 - year - old woman,
held her prisoner and criminally
assaulted her.
Driscoll said a large quantity
of guns and switch-hack knives
were scooped up by police.
UCLA and Michigan
To Play In Rose Bowl
LOS ANGELES, UR—UCLA was
unanimously selected Monday to
represent the Pacific Coast Con
ference against Michigan State of
the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl at
Pasadena.
The official vote by conference
members had been considered a
mere formality since the Bruins
won the undisputed conference
championship with a 10-0 victory
over Southern California Satur
day.
Be Sure to Vote Tomorrow
One Vote elected John Quincy
Adams President;
One vote elected Thomas Jef
ferson President;
One vote elected Rutherford
Hayes President;
One vote enacted military con
scription in 1941;
One vote made Texas, Califor
nia, Washington, Oregon and
Idaho states of the United States.
One vote elected a governor of
Massachusetts;
One vote beheaded Charles I of
England.
One vote elected Oliver Crom
well;
tOne vote made France a repub
lic in 1875 and ended it in 1940.
No Liability For
City Taxpayers In
Light Plant Sale
“The purchase of the Northern
Light and Power Company could
never result in a burden on the
taxpayers and property owners of
■the City of Nome.” This was the
statement of William Winn, of Ju
neau, representative of Grande
and Company, Seattle brokers.
In an interview with the Nug
get, Mr. Winn clarified the posi
tion of his company as purchasers
of the light company bonds. He
emphasized that the only lien held
by the bond holders would be
against the revenues of the com
pany, not city property or the
physical assets of the plant.
“The worst that could happen
to the city light system,” Winn
said,” would be that through a
failure of the city to properly
manage the company, the manage
ment would be transferred to
Grande and Company as repres
entatives of the private bond
owners.” The city would have ab
solute ownership of the plant and
if the management was trans
ferred to the bonding company it
would be retained only until the
bonds were retired.
“Inability to pay for the plant
out of revenues seems hardly a
possibility,” Winn said. “The mar
gin between the payments to be
made on the bonds and the pres
ent profit of the company is the
greatest I have ever seen in an
Alaskan utility,” he pointed out.
Successful municipal operations
of light plants exist in all Alaskan
towns with the exception of Ju
neau and Nome: In Juneau, the
city has tried many times to buy
the light distribution plant but the
owners have been unwilling to
sell. Winn said that in all towns,
municipal ownership has resulted
in better service and lower rates.
Winn said that this was due to
the federal tax laws. A tax free
municipal operation has a decided
advantage—in the case of Nome it
would be a saving of $25,000 an
nual federal income tax—over a
private company. “Added to this
fact,” Winn 9aid, “my experience
has been that municipal control is
more efficient than the absentee
ownership that existed in the
majority of Alaskan cities. Our
company, as representatives of the
bond' owners, have never had to
assume management of an Alas
kan municipal utility.” Winn con
cluded.
HONOLULU, W)—Three pajama
clad survivors of a Navy plane,
ditching 146 miles north of Mid
way, landed at Hickam Field Fit
day and were taken to Tripler
Hospital for treatment of injuries.
Four other survivors of the PBY
ditching last Wednesday are still
on Midway and will be flown out
later.
Cpl. Dickenson
Given Rousing
Welcome Home
CRACKER’S NECK, Va., UR —
Cpl. Ed Dickenson was tired and
happy today after a homecoming
celebration that continued into the
wee hours and swept away any
doubts he might have had about
how his people would welcome
him.
There was a forgive-and-forget
air around the little hillside cabin
where his family and friends
greeted him with a warm affec
tion which bewildered even young
Dickenson.
He planned to sleep, eat the
home-cooked dishes he likes best,
and map his future that has been
fuzzy ever since he decided he
preferred life in his homeland to
life among the Communists.
Dickenson was one Of 23 Ameri
can soldiers who were listed as
having refused repatriation in the
exchange of prisoners in Korea.
But then he left the other 22 and
bolted to freedom a month ago,
saying he hadn’t acted sooner be
cause of death threats.
Dickenson, 23, has said he
would re-enlist in the Army after
his present 30-day furlough. But
last night he hinted he might stay
in the hills he left three years ago
to enter the Army. “I’ve got a
lot of thinking to do about it,”
he said. {
His 73-year-old father, V an
Buren Dickenson, said:
“I’m going to knock it out of
him, his going back into the
Army. We need him at home and
I don’t think it would be right for
him to leave again.”
Dickenson ended his 10,000
mile journey from a Korean pri
son camp last night and walked
straight into a rousing, almost hy
sterical welcome from brothers,
sisters, in-laws and friends who
had trudged up the hillside to the
family home.
Alaska Will Become State
When Govt. Releases Some
Of 98 Pet. Land It Holds
WASHINGTON, UP) — Alaska
can qualify to become a state
when its land is owned by the
!
people and not by the govern
ment.
That’s what Interior Secretary
McKay told a CBS-TV “Man of
the Week” program Sunday.
He said the government owns
about 98 per cent of the land in
Alaska now. McKay proposed that
a homestead plan be introduced to
enable the people to take over the
land.
McKay said he is opposed to the
government’s policy of support
ing such projects as the Tennessee
Valley Authority. Then a little
later he said of the Pacific North
west, when it comes to that,
“without the government there
wouldn’t have been the vast hydro
resources in the northwest.”
Chamber Makes
Request For
Special Session
JUNEAU, UR—A request for a
special session of the Alaska leg
islature has come from the North
western Alaska Chamber of Com
merce. The formal request was
delivered to Gov. Heintzleman by
Sen. Howard Lyng, Nome Demo
crat, who came here for a meet
ing of the Legislative Examining
and Investigating Committee.
The League of Alaskan Cities
also asked recently for a special
session.
Reasons listed by the North
western Chamber for a special
session are:
A decline in territorial income
tax; a need for the territory to
assume a greater share of road
building; a need for the territory
to take a hand in emergencies
such as the salmon season failure;
a need to adjust finances to re
fund to federal employes the taxes
paid on their 25 per cent salary
differential; to place the new
territorial police force “in its
proper financial perspective” by
direct appropriation; to enact
other legislation that didn’t get
.through the “60-day session.
William H. Olsen, of
Anchorage, Judgeship
Candidate, Viisits Nome
William H. Olson, prominent
Anchorage attorney and Republi
can, met with local Republicans
informally as a candidate for the
judgeship of the Second Division.
Aimer Peterson and two state
side aspirants have withdrawn
their applications, leaving only
Olson and Walter Hodge of Cor
dova.
Olsen is vice president of the
Alaska Junior Chamber of Com
merce and a member of the Inde
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, a
past president of the Sons of Nor
way, past president of the An
chorage Republican Club, and has
been in private practice of law in
Alaska since 1945.
He was accompanied to Nome
by his wife, and they have six
children.
Mr. and Mrs. Olsen remained
in town until Sunday visiting with
local people and getting acquaint
ed with the community in which
they may be making their home
soon.
John R. Noyes Promoted
To Brigadier General,
Alaska National Guard
WASHINGTON, (51 — President
Eisenhower Friday promoted sev
eral National Guard officers.
Colonels elevated to brigadier
general included:
John R. Noyes, adjutant gener
al, Territory of Alaska.
The promotion is subject to
Senate confirmation at the next
session of Congress starting in
January.