sal NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS ,_
VOL. LVI No. 5 NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, JANUARY 11, 1954 Per Copy—15f
Air Force Faces
Shortage Of Crews
For A-Bomb Planes
WASHINGTON, OP — Sen. Rus
sell (D-Gal said today the Air
Force faces a “serious shortage”
of pilots and crews for A-bomb
carrying planes because of Eisen
hower administration cutbacks in
the defense budget.
Russell, a member of the Armed
Services Committee and one of
the chief spokesmen for Senate
Democrats on military matters,
said in an interview he believes
the administration’s new defense
program will close the gaps on
combat plane building without
too much loss of time in that
particular.
“But there isn’t any doubt that
the reductions they made last year
have caused a serious shortage of
pilots and crews,” the Georgia
senator said. “Sure, they’ve got a
pilot for every plane, but the com
mercial airlines have three crews
for each plane.
“It takes a terrific amount of
training for the super-sonic planes
and particularly the long range
bombers on which we are depend
ent to retaliate against the enemy
if we are attacked.”
Russell said he doubts that the
pilot shortage will be remedied
under the new defense program.
He said the Air Foi'ce had cut
off 50,000 men in nine months,
had “gutted” its reserve officer
training program and had cut fly
ing training 20 per cent.
$1,300,000 Allotted For
School Rooms At Fort
Richardson and Elmendorf
JUNEAU, (J3)—Commissioner of
Education Don M. Dafoe an
nounced Saturday that $1,300,000
has been allotted by the federal
government for building of new
school rooms in Anchorage area
military bases.
Dafoe said the allotment was
approved by the U.S. Office of
Education for construction of 23
classrooms at Ft. Richardson and
10 at Elmendorf Air Force Base.
The commissioner expects to
meet with officers of the Housing
and Homes Financing Agency,
federal contracting body, in about
30 days to formulate construction
plans, with bids to be asked this
spring.
Funds are from appropriations
for financing necessary school
facilities in areas where federal
activity directly caused the need
for schools. When completed, the
schools are turned over to the
territory for use with the federal
government paying operating
costs.
FRENCH ASSERT THEY HAVE
WIPED OUT REDS IN LAOS
SENO, Indochina, UP\ — French
parachutists and North African
troops kept up a “deadly game
of hide and seek” today with
Communist-led Vietminh guerril
las in the jungle northeast of this
French-held Loatian fortress.
The French forces claimed more
than 1,000 casualties among their
rebel enemy and asserted they
had wiped out any serious Viet
minh menace in central Laos.
Ike Asks Revision
T-H and Flexible
Farm Program
WASHINGTON, UP) — President
Eisenhower recommended Mon
day that $2,500,000,000 of present
farm surpluses be “frozen” from
regular markets and that the gov
ernment move into a flexible farm
price support program.
Eisenhower also sent the law
makers a separate message asking
revision of the Taft-Hartley Labor
Law. A major point of his re
quest on this was for a provision
requiring a vote of workers be
fore a strike could be called. He
also called for a “thorough study”
of union welfare and pension
funds “with a view of enacting
such legislation as will protect
and conserve these funds for the
millions of working men and
women who are beneficiaries.”
These two programs—farm and
labor — affect the two largest
groups of voters in the nation.
As he did in his state of the
union message last week, the
President said a flexible price
support plan must be the back
bone of the new farm programs.
Eisenhower also said special
emphasis in the future must be
placed on efforts to develop for
eign markets for agriculture’s
greatly expanded productive
capacity.
Of the 14 amendments Presi
dent Eisenhower asked Congress
to enact on the Taft-Hartley Law
some were suggested by manage
ment and some asked by labor.
He reiterated his conviction the
Taft-Hartley Act is “sound legis
lation.” But he said experiences
gained during the seven years the
law has been in effect, indicates
that change*s are needed “to re
inforce its basic objectives.”
I
400-Man Posse Searching
For Berserk Negro Who
Killed Three With .22
LEXINGTON, Miss., UP — Of
ficers were “on the move” at day
break today to scour a five
square mile area for a Negro who
killed three men and wounded two
others in a shooting spree that
began Saturday night.
Officers and citizens who form
ed a 400-man posse were “broken
up in raiding parties” to search
the woods. The posse formed a
human chain around the wooded
area last night, as temperatures
dropped below freezing.
The hunted man was believed
to be in his shirt sleeves, and
was known to be armed with a
.22 automatic rifle.
Sheriff Richard F. Byrd said
the Negro was Ed Noel, an ex
pert marksman who practiced by
shooting matches from his wife’s
mouth.
Byrd said Noel, who had never
been in trouble, apparently went
berserk Saturday night in an ar
gument with storekeeper Ray
mond Dickard, whom he killed.
Later Deputy Pat Malone, 65,
was shot in the head and he died
two hours later. Then Joe, Stew
art, 33, a member of the posse
was killed when he and two
others cornered Noel at his house.
Reds Propose
Reopening Korean
Peace Conference
PANMUNJOM, UP) —The Com
munists today proposed reopening
of the broken - off preliminary
negotiations for a Korean peace
conference.
The Red move came as India
officially requested that the U.N.
Assembly reconvene in New York
“at an early date” to discuss the
Korean question.
Indian officials insisted the ac
tion was not intended to delay
freeing of some 22,500 war pri
soners. A spokesman said:
“That is a matter for the two
commands to settle and as far as
India is concerned, Jan. 22 is the
deadline for their release under
the agreement of those com
mands.”
The first preliminary talks to
set up a peace conference were
broken off by U.S. special envoy
Arthur Dean after six weeks of
fruitless haggling. Dean said the
Communists would have to with
draw a charge of U.S. “perfidy”
before he would come back. The
talks themselves were bogged
down over U.S. refusal of Red
demands that Russia be invited
as a neutral.
Later, however, a high source
in Korea said the United States
might consider a direct Red move
to get the talks going again as
tantamount to withdrawal of the
perfidy charge.
Army Belatedly Confirms
Million Dollar Fire At
Ladd AFB On Dec. 29
ANCHORAGE. UP) — Army au
thorities belatedly confirmed Sat
urday that a December 29 fire at
Ladd Air Force Base, near Fair
banks, destroyed an estimated
million dollars worth of ordnance
material.
The confirmation from the Fort
Richardson headquarters of the
Army in Alaska came several days
after interior Alaska newspapers
printed unofficial reports that the
fire had done a million dollars
worth of damage.
The blaze destroyed a large
ware house and storage building
at the Ladd airbase.
The Army said the exact
amount of the loss would not be
available until a military board
completes its investigation.
Cause of the fire was not given.
Grandson of First San
Francisco Mayor Dies
ARCADIA, Calif., UP) — Dr. H.
Logan Geary, 76, a dentist, stamp
collector and grandson of San
Francisco’s last “alcalde” under
Spanish rule, died at his home
Saturday, relatives reported.
Geary practiced dentistry, pros
pected for gold in the Yukon and
served as a purser aboard a ship
plying between Seattle and Alas
ka until 1929, when he moved to
Beverly Hills and opened a gift
shop. He retired in 1945.
His grandfather was Col. John
White Geary, who became mayor
of San Francisco in 1850, when
' that city’s charter was adopted.
McCarthy To Investigate Charges
Of Corruption In Federally Financed
Development Projects In Alaska
-i
3 Plane Crashes
Take 50 Lives
(By the Associated Press)
Three plane crashes, two in the
southern United States and one
in the sea off Italy, took the
lives yesterday of 50 persons.
There were no known survivors.
Many of the victims were top
figures in aviation and industry.
The largest toll was in the
plunge of a British Comet jet
liner into the icy waters of the
Tyrrhenian Sea, an arm of the
Mediterranean. It was carrying
35 passengers and crew members
as fishermen watched it dive into
the water between the islands of
Elba and Montecristo.
Thomas Braniff, 70, founder of
the airline bearing his name, and
nine other wealthy businessmen
were aboard a private plane that
crashed and burned in a swamp
near Shreveport, La. The two
pilots also died in the crash.
In another crash yesterday, an
Air Force B-25 medium bomber
plummeted into a pasture about
six miles from Gaffney, S.C. The
plane carrying a crew of three,
was on a training flight from
Rome, N. Y., to Donaldson Air
Force Base, S.C.
There were no reports of sur
vivors in any of these crashes;
but two pilots came out of a
crash near Burbank, Calif., with
cuts, burns and possible frac
tures.
A third man was burned criti
cally when the plane, a converted
two-engine bomber owned by the
Fulerton Oil Co., smacked into, his
apartment. The crash wrecked
two residence buildings and two
garages.
Worst Storm In Five Years
Hits New York City Today
NEW YORK, (JV-Near-blizzard
conditions brought New York
City’s worst snowstorm in five
years today.
Eight inches of snow had fallen
at 7 a.m. and the weather bureau
predicted a fall in excess of 15
inches before the storm subsides
early tomorrow morning.
Strong winds were expected to
cause deep drifts in open areas.
Five deaths in New Jersey were
reported due to the storm.
The heaviest snowstorm in 7
years dumped nine and one-half
inches of snow on Philadelphia
and surrounding areas today.
Schools shut down. Industries and
offices operated with partial forces
as workers gave up or were be
hind schedule in efforts to reach
their jobs.
Flight schedules were disrupted
at LaGuardia Field and Idlewild
Airport in New York City. Only
one runway was open during the
morning at eacn Held. Snow re
moval crews experienced diffi
culty in clearing other runways
when drifting snow covered areas
previously cleaned.
► WASHINGTON, UP) — Sen. Mc
Carthy (R-Wis), who has spent
most of the past year hunting
Reds, moved into a new field Sat- *
urday — investigation of charges
that government officials have
lined their own pockets out of
federally-financed Alaskan devel
opment projects.
McCarthy announced yesterday
that his Senate investigations sub
committee will start closed hear
ings next week to consider re
ports from its staff probers who
recently returned after two
months in the territory.
The subcommittee has authority
to examine any situation where
federal funds are involved.
Since McCarthy became chair
man, it has been devoting most
attention to charges of Communist
penetration in the federal service.
Recent published reports that
the administration had induced
McCarthy to work in other fields
brought a flat denial from the
senator.
But he said “there is nothing to
indicate that Communism will be
an important element” in the Al
aska inquiry—the first major pro
ject announced for his subcom
mittee in this new session of Con
gress.
j McCarthy said there was “no
significance at all” in this, adding:
“This case just happens to be
ready now.”
The senator said his subcom
mittee will continue its investiga
tion of Communism in several
areas.
The Alaska probe, he explained,
will cover charges “of false claims,
bribery, misapplication of govern
ment funds and waste of millions
of dollars in various development
projects financed directly or in
directly by the federal govern
ment.”
In this connection, he said the
subcommittee would examine “the
conduct of various individuals
who held governmental positions
dealing with Alaska to determine
whether some of the Alaskan de
velopment activities were oper
ated for the personal financial ad
vantage of some of the govern
ment officials involved.”
McCarthy said both past and
present government employes as
well as private individuals may
be involved, but he stressed that
the subcommittee has received
“absolutely no evidence which
would indicate any wrong-doing
on the part of the present govem
(Continued on Page Two)
ZARUBIN AND DULLES
CONFER ON A-PROPOSAL
WASHINGTON, UFi — Soviet
Ambassador Georgi N. Zarubin
conferred with Secretary of State
Dulles for less than half an hour
today on President Eisenhower’s
atoms-for-peace proposal.
The talk was private, and it
was not announced whether any
statement would be issued by
either side today or when an
other meeting would be sched
uled.