■u ± UA. ttli V
"News of oAmerica’s Last Frontier”
KODIAK, ALASKA MARCH 3, 1945
, 5 NO. 1
PRICE 10 CENTS
Aissing Woman’s Body Found At Base
elephone
ranchise
ranted
franchise granting Martha
trometinoff, of Sitka, the
t to construct, maintain and
rate an electric telephone sys
in the city of Kodiak, was
ited at the council meeting
aday night, and is now sub
, as provided by law, to the
roval of the voters of the
[rs. Kostrometinoff is owner
operator of the telephone
em of Sitka, an installation
irted as orig nally costing ap
cimately $15,000 and subse
itly added to and improved
1 now worth approximately
000. It has been her desiie
xpand but addition of sys
s in small towns has been
libited by the cost of opera
of manual type installations,
i now reported that new-type
lern automatic equipment
now be obtained aud so the
lication for a franchise at
liaK followed.
he franchise will appear on
ballot as referendum No. 1
be general election to be held
il 3, and will require approv
f 55 per cent of the voters
ire becoming effective,
he franchise requires that
nn 36 months the system
1 be in operation, otherwise
ill become null and void and
iquired $2000 performance
d shall be forfeited,
lax Folsom, civilian employe |
ie base, appeared at the
icil meeting to explain that
iad in mind installation of a
phone system here, for which
iad arranged capital, but his
lest for a franchise and an
acement of definite plans a
*d further information on
lability of equipment and
ir details.
odiak is the only town of its
in the Territory without a
>hone system. In pre-base
itruction days there was an
illation of an approximate 20
y battery-operated system
proved ineffective. Only
3es now in operation are the
extensions of military lines
ted in town.
ineau (Special)—Rep. War
haylor introduced a House
t resolution to extend the
! of the Griffin Memorial
'ital to the Grey Nuns until
etails of a big St, Patrick's
dance, to be held March 17,
•o be announced next week.
Assurance Of Cold Storage Given
A projected cold storage plant
for Kodiak of 3,000,000 pound
capacity, costing approximately
$350,000 to build, was envision
ed by Wallis George, president
of the Juneau Cold Storage com
pany, who told a group of over
40 at an open meeting last Sun
day that "no matter how much
participation there is in financ
ing from local people, the cold
storage plant is going in ”
Mr. George’s visit came as
the result of months of negotia
tions by Chamber of Commerce
and city officials toward getting
a plant for Kodiak,
Mr George said he felt the
people here should have an op
portunity to participate in
financing the project first, and
i hat any additional financing
should be kept in Alaska a?
much as nossible.
In Juneau, where his com
pany is now starting a new ad
dition, he said an insurance
company tried to buy the entire
stock subscription but that the
(continued on page 41
Local Boy Sees Action Against Japs
Seventh Fleet, Southwest Pac
ific Area, Philippines (Special)—
Blazing away almost simul
taneously to right and left at
enemy luggers west of Cebu is
land in the Central Philippines,
a Seventh Fleet PT patrol des
troyed 4 of the small enemy
coastal freighters in a running
moonlit night battle Dec. 29.
At his battle station on a for
ward 20 mm gun on PT 190, was
Roy H. Madsen, 21, Quarter
master 3rd Class, USN, son of
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Madsen,
of Kodiak.
To Madsen and bi3 mates on
the "Jack of Diamonds” the
action with the enemy wasn’t
something new. Their boat is a
veteran of the battle of t he South
Leyte gulf. In that fight they
were under the gunfire of a Jap
battleship, several cruisers andj
destroyers.
In the latest action, the PT
patrol made a clean sweep of a
Nip inter island supply convoy.
Closing to a few hundred yards
they poured steel and incendiar
ies into the largest lugger until it
caught fire.
The Jap crews returned the
fire but were no match for the
speedy PT’s.
When Madsen’s PT came a
round to make a run on the sec
ond freighter, a third was detect
ed on their port side Gunners
shot up the one, then whirled
their guns around to bear on the
second.
Both were left dead in the wa
ter and later sunk.
Meanwhile the remaining Nip
ship was racing off in a vain ef
fort to escape At full throttle
Roy H. Madsen, Quartermast
er 3rd Class, Kodiak (at right)
and John Andrews, Motor Mach
inists Mate 3rd Class, Tolson,
Pa., (left) man a gun on a PT
boat in ' the Philippines. (See
story.-Official U. S. Navy
photograph.)
the PT took up the chase. Under
light fire from the enemy craft,
two strafing runs at close range
sufficed to set the freighter ablaze
and to leave it sinking in the
water.
The entire convoy had been
destroyed. A few small bullet
holes in the PTs was the only
damage suffered.
Madsen, who was making his
, first sea duty, is the husband of
Mrs. Katherine Madsen, KU
Cornell Ave., Swarthmore, Pa
He has been in the Southwest
Pacific for 8 months, and has
participated in 24 combat patrols
against the Nips,
i He enlisted iD the Navy on
I January 22,1943 and trained at
Norfolk, Va., Brambridge, Md.
and Melville, R. I.
Roy Madsen has one child, a
daughter, Elizabeth Carle/ie,
aged four months, whom he has
not yet seen.
He graduated from Kodi .k
High School in 1941.
The body of Dorothy lske,
27, who was the object of a 2-day
search after her disappearance
at an undetermined day earlier
in the week, was discovered in a
ravine about 1500 feet up the
southeast slope of Barometer
mountain about 12:30 pm yester
day.
The discovery was made by
two sailors of the searching
groups, who went into the ravine
to get a drink and in following
the stream down came across
the body lying with its face in
the shallow rivulet.
A detail of 1& men with a
stretcher, using ropes, carried the
body down the precipitous, bar
ren, grassy slopes to the foot of
the mountain, arriving there at
6:30
Above the spot where the
(continued on page 4)
Members Of
KEATo Pick
New Board
The annual election of the
board of directors ot the Kodiak
Electric association will be held
next Monday night at 8 pm at
the Red Cross Center, and it
will require an attendance of 50
members to form a quorum to
allow the scheduled election.
The important business of the
election will be combined with a
well planned social evening fea
turing music and a free luncheon.
The latter will range from coffee
and soft drinks to sandwiches,
and the orchestra, consisting of
^icK Lohr, Edgar Shell, Bea
Malutin and Bill Anderson will
start playing at 7:30.
The 9-meml)er board, which
will determine the policies and
govern the KEA for the coming
year, will be chosen from the
following: Robert King, Mss
Blinn, Beanie Sumerlin, Merrill
Coon, James Pierce, Stan Aus
termna, Sam Sears, Charles Mad
sen, Jorgen Fredrickron, Bill
Larnme, Walter Muller, Frank
Erhes, Walter Taylor and John
Steffgen.
(continued on page 4)
Second Clinic Shots
Due Thursday
Children who had their first
diphtheria shot at the health
clinic last month must come back
for their second shot at the clinic
to be held next Thursday, March
8, at 1:30 pm at Dr. A. Holmes
Johnson’s office.
Children who missed the first
clinic because of colds, etc., may
come on Thursday to begin their
immunization.