* * i K
"News oj oAmencas Last Frontier
)h. 4 NO. 41
PRICE 10 CENTS
__i
KODIAK, ALASKA FEBRUARY 24, 1945
ild Clothes
'o Have Use
March, as you know, is the
nonth of the Red Cross Drive,
i keep in mind thar after doing
our part in that drive you will
j called upon to gather up your
>ld clothes and contribute them
In a campaign that will be con
noted during April.
Stan Nelson was appointed
iay by Rotary President
v. A. Holmes Johnson to act as
airman for the latter, and al
ady he reports people are com
5 in with voluntary offers of
rded clothing, and that they
to be glad for the oppor
nity of getting rid of them.
Mr Nelson will announce his
amitteemen later and also
|rurther details of the drive, which
i being held nationally at the
equest of the Allied Nations
elief and Rehabilitation Ad
Qinistration.
GM Deficiency Bill
Passes House
Juneau s' Special)—A deficien
cy appropriation bill in the a
mount of $7000 for the payment
•f debts of the Griffin Memorial
hospital at Kodiak was passed
Thursday by the House. The bill,
introduced by Representative
Warren Taylor, originally asked
for $9000,
The bill provides:
1. The sum “or so much there
of as may be necessary” shall be
applied to the debts incurred
from April, 1943 to November,
1944.
2. The appropriation shall not
he available until Kodiak and
the Board of Trustees assign to
the Territory all accounts and
sums due the said hospital.
3. The Attorney General is dir
ected to collect by legal action
or otherwise said accounts and
money due and deposit it in Ter
ritorial Treasury.
4. It shall take effect immedi
ately upon its passage and ap
proval.
Pictures
For pictures of the Big Three
conference, turn to page 6.
Mrs. Anna Kewan, from Afog
nak, underwent a major opera
tion at the GM hospital this
week.
In Manila
sm~
Two American infantrymen,
under fire of Japanese snipers,
crouch low as they dash through
the ruins of buildings in down
town Manina where the Nippon
ese put the torch to many struc
tures as they retreated.
Alaska Comes
Under ‘Brown-out’
Designed to conserve critical
fuels, the War Production Board
has issued a “brown-out” order,
No. U-9, which prohibits out
door promotional lighting and
forbids advertising, decorative,
ornamental and sign lighting in
arcades, transportation termi
nals, subways, lobbies and other
similar passageways.
Anchorage this week went un
der the brown-out by proclama
tion of the city’s mayor, after it
was determined the order applied
to the United States and its pos
sessions.
In a release to the Mirror the
WPB said “the Pacific North
west was one of the few areas
where the brown-out has not
been enforced.” This is presuma
bly due to the fact that much of
the electrical energy in that area
is furnished by water power.
An additional order requires
liquor establishments, theatres
and other places of amusement
to observe a 12 o’clock closing
every night of the week.
The new regulations are to be
come effective next Monday.
Collector Due
A Verle Collar, deputy collec
tor of internal revenue, wired
this week that he would be here
Friday, but as no plane arrived
then it is expected he will be on
the next plane this weekend.
Washington (JP)—The Army
is about ready to close down its
Canadian oil development and
write off as much as 134 million
dollars of investment as a stra
tegic war expenditure, informed
Congressional sources said.
Downtown
Lot Bought
Loran Whittington, local meat
market owner, announced this
week the purchase from Rose
Martin of the downtown busin
ess property located on the south
side of Alaska Way between
Fredrickson’s liquor store and
Dad’s liquor store.
The lot has 87 feet of street
frontage and runs back to the al
ley. On the rear of the the pro
perty is a building containing 3
apartments. Purchase price for
the entire property was $8000.
Mr. Whittington said he had
no immediate plans for addition
al use of the property other than
now in effect.
Cadet Midshipman
Visits With Parents
Cadet Midshipman Robert
Holmes Johnson, son of Dr. and
Mrs. A. Holmes Johnson of this
city, arrived in Kodiak this week
on indefinite leave before report
ing to Kings Point, New York,
for advanced merchant marine
training.
He has just completed 6
months of sea duty which fol
lowed 6 months of basic training.
His sea duty took him to the
South Pacific and Christmas was
spent in the Philippines, where
nightly bombings by the Japs
were the rule. He admitted the
islands of the South Pacific look
ed beautiful, but that as he flew
back home he realized “this is
the most beautiful island in the
world”.
Bob is a graduate of Kodiak
High School and before joining
the merchant marine attended
Willamette University at Salem,
Oregon.
C. of C. Hears
Storage Report
Thirty-one members, a record
number, gathered at the noon
luncheon of the Chamber of
Commerce Thursday to hear the
report of President Lee Betting
sr, who returned last week from
the States.
Speaking principally on cold
Btorage, President Bettinger said
he contacted two firms, one in
Seattle and one in Portland, and
that both were aware of cold
storage plant possibilities here
and enthusiastic about its future.
One of the firms asked for ad
ditional information about the
locale and pointed out that they
felt any plans must be projected
for the post-war period, he said.
The Seattle fiim, expressing
themselves as interested in a
year-round operation, is seeking
further data on sites, power (es
pecially in regard to industrial
rates) and water.
“1 found my contacts more en
thusiastic than even I was,” Mr.
Bettinger said, “and I know that
all that is necessary is to contact
the right people.”
Mr. Bettinger met with the
Alaska committee of the Seattle
Chamber of Commerce and said
they promised to have a repre
sentative of theirs in Washing
ton, D. C., help in the matter of
location of a small-boat harbor
here.
R. H. Chadwick, chairman of
the local Industries committee,
?ave a brief history of the com
mittees work on cold storage
vi th the Juneau Cold Storage
rompany, and reported that
Wallis George, president of the
:ompany, was in Anchorage en
•oute to Kodiak.
Revised Tax
Plan Drawn
Recent conferences of the city
tax committee have resulted in
the forming of a new basis for
assessing the valuation of prop
erty for tax purposes, and the
new plan will be outlined at the
regular meeting of the council
next Monday night at 8 pm at
the city hall.
Feeling that present assessed
valuations have many inequal*
ities the new method is designed
as a more equitable basis for de
termining taxes. The plan is said
based on a rate of value per
square foot of building space
with standard rates for various
types of construction.
Mayor Emil Knudsen and
members of the committee ask
that all interes!ed persons attend
the council meeting to partici
pate in the discussion of the new
tax measure before its final ad
option by the council.
Seeks Change In
Fisherman Draft
Washington, D. C. (./P)—Lack
of unity of policy in drafting
commercial fishermen is "serious
ly endangering” the industry
Senator Magnuson declared as
he introduced a bill to put these
workers on a par with farm labor
in essential production of food.
One serious trouble, be said, is
that draft boards are taking fish
boat captains and chief engineers
with the result that the whole
crew is taken out of production.
Contributions Sought
For Bear Expense
A collection was started li
the Rotary club Tuesday to hel
defray the expenses for mount
ing and shipping of the bear giv
en by the people of Kodiak t >
the Victory ship named after the
town.
The expense ran to almost
SoOO and all Rotary members
are contributing personally to
the fund and contributions are
being sought from other towns*
people to make up the balance.
Voluntary contributors wish
ing to help pay for Kodiak’s gift
may leave their donations, in
any amount, with O. A. Torger
son, at the Bank of Kodiak.
Investigating
Amos La Fon, who arrived by
plane last week from Silver City,
Nevada, is making a trip around
the island this week with A1 Syl
ling on Bob Von Scheele's mail
boat.
The purpose of the trijp ie to
investigate stock raising possibil
ities.