"News oj oAmencas Last Frontier”
▼OL. 3 NO 44
KODIAK, ALASKA JANUARY 8, 1944
PRICE 10 CENTS
Kodiak Vice Operator Given Two Years
4 Civil Suits
Are Filed
Four civil suits were filed this
week at the U. S. Commissioner’s
office.
Stanley Krolick and Kenneth
Fuller, partners operating the
Brooklyn Avenue Garage, filed
suit against Clifford Lillethun,
accountant, naming two causes
of action. The first asks for
1221.95 c aimed due for repairs
and parts. The second, brought
on behalf of Pat Pestrikoff, seeks
recovery of $97 which it is al
leged Pestrikoff gave l illethun
to pay the plaintiff’s income tax
and which it is claimed Lillethun
failed to pay.
In a second suit the same two
plaintiffs seek $503 40 from Ben
Bolden, taxi opeiator for woik
said jetformed on the defend
ant’s car. It is claimed Bolden
presented a check for the amount
and then stopped payment on
the check
Trial in these two suits has
been set for Jan. 17.
A suit was also filed involving
the land on which the Chicken
Inn is located. Action was
brought by Norman Nelson, a
gainst A1 and Katherine L>acosse
who sold the inn this week. The
suit claims that the plaintiff sold
the land under contract to the
defendants and that all pay
ments were not made. The a
mount sought is $999.99. Trial
is set for Jan. 14,
A fourth suit was filed by the
Kodiak Garage versus A1 Nixon,
taxi operator, seeking $126 for
services claimed perfoin ed for
the defendant. Trial is set for
Jan. 18.
Hearing Set
On Fish Bill
Washington (T5)—The office
of Senator Wallgren announced
that the sub-committee of the
Senate Commerce Committee
will start hearing Jan. 20 on
Wallgren’s bill to enact a new
fisheries code for Alaskan waters.
The measure, which would
place all fishing in waters east of
the International date line under
control of the Wild Life Service
of the Interior Department
would prohibit fishing in those
waters except by persons holding
licenses.
The proposed action is intend
ed to bar Jap fishermen coming
into waters off the coast.
Mr. and Mrs. Nick Nekeferoff
are the parents of a son, weight
j pounds 9 ounces, born Jan. 4
t the Griffin Memorial hospital.
Attorney Gives Reasons Favoring
Statehood For Alaska In Club Talk
The addilional cost of state
hood for Alaska would more
than be offset by the ad
vantages, Warren A. Taylor, at
torney, declared in an address
on the subject of Alaska state
hood at the Rotary luncheon
Tuesday.
“Alaskan’s are not really sov
ereign Americans”, he said. “We
are taxed without represent
ation, we have a representative
in Congress who cannot vote or
introduce bills, and we cannot
even vote for the President of
the United States.”
The speaker listed a« disad
vantages of the territoiial form
of government that the gover
nor is appointed, not elected,
and that ill the history of Alas
ka only one Alaskan has been
named to that post; that the.
Territorial laws “are more a list |
of don’t's than of do’s”; that!
the people have none of the dis
position of natural resources;
that property outside of munic
ipalities cannot be taxed; that
decisions, such as withdrawing
from entry of public lands along
the new Alaska highway are
made by remote control; and
that in all cases this same re
mote contiol prevents Alaskans,
aware of local conditions, from
effectively controlling them.
To the criticism, that Alaska
is huge and unwieldy, Mr. Tay
lor answered that modern trans
portation, especially by plane,
had “reduced” the Territory in
size; to the criticism that state
hood’s operation would cost
more he said that’ additional
revenues would make up the
difference and be worth it.
“Alaska would mean more to
us as a state”, he concluded
“because each of us would be a
partner then, duly represented,
with a voice in our own affairs.”
World News Highlights
European Front
An RAF Heavy bomber feet
raided the Baltic port of Stettin,
Germany’s main outlet for
troops & supplies to the north
ern Russian front American
Marauder bombers sma bed mil
itary abjectives in northern
France, keeping the round-the
clock offensive rolling, after RA
F Mosquitos raided Western
Germany for 6 successive nights.
Pacific Front
As both sides brought, up ar
til ery & strafing American
planes supported attacking ma
rines, enemy losses rose to more
than 2,000 in the heavy fighting
in progress in the dense jungles
of Cape Gloucester, New Brit
ain island. Fierce enemy resist
ance has been encountered in a
push directed eastward toward
Borgen bay. U. S. Sixth army
troops which landed at Saidor,
New Guinea, have engaged the
enemy at Cape Regis, 10 miles
northwest of thi invasion beach.
Allied forces are within less than
50 miles of Madang, which was
plastered by a 243-ton bombard
ment. In the third recent car
rier-based plane raid against
Kavieng, New Ireland, 2 Jap
heavy cruisers & 1 destroyer
were damaged. Three 1,000
pound bombs & 1 torpedo slam
med into the others. Liberator
bombers downed 18 of 80 Jap
interceptors while raiding Ra
bau\, New Britain. Allied head
quarters disclosed that an air
field for light & medium bomb
ers has been completed on Bou
gainville, Northern Solomons.
The field is less than 250 miles
from Rabaul.
Russian Front
Gen Vatutin’s forces sped for
ward with new momentum after
smashing 10 miles beyond thej
prewar Poland border. The fan
shaped offensive threatened to
make lifeless the vital enemy
operations in the Ukraine &
Dnieper river bend. The Nazis
appear unable to halt the Rus
sian machine over the 175 mile
front from the Pripet marshes
near Rakitno. 10 miles inside the
Polish frontier, to Zhaskov, with
the First Ukranian army ripping
German lines to pieces & cap
turing hugh stores of booty. In
the Nevel sector to the north,
General Bagranian’s growing
Baltic offensive swept deep into
strong cores of enemy resistance,
where Germans faced the spect
er of encirclement similar to
that of those in the Ukraine.
Berlin dispatches in the Swedish
press quoted a German military
spokesman as saying there is a
possibility of the German army
being withdrawn entirely from
Russia in the face of what he
declared appeared to be a giant
Soviet offensive along the whole
front, from Leningrad to the
the Black sea.
Mediterranean Front
. Fifth army troops smashed a
Epidemic
Continues
Kodiak’s flu epidemic contin
ued this week, with the number
of cases estimated about the
same as last week. Only o ie new
flu patient was admitted at the
Griffin Memorial hospital, Flor
ence Freeman, employee of the
Chicken Pie House.
School was re opened Monday
but with an enrollment of only
70 students it was closed again
Tuesday and will start again
next Monday.
Two Deaths
Recorded
Annie Glass Sigfusson, 24,
died at the Griffin Memorial
hospital Jan 5 with interment
in ti e local cemetery.
She is survived by an aunt,
Mrs. Tex O’Riley, of Kodiak,
and by her parents and a num
ber of b:othc!S and sisters. The
latter were evacuated from the
Pribilof islands as was the de
ceased.
Kusma Tudwhan, 67, fisher
man, died of heart failure on
Woody Island Jan. 4. Funeral
services were held there Thurs-j
day.
Rain Breaks
Icy Spell
Rain on the icy streets and
roads this week resulted in re
ports of numerous oars and
trucks in minor accidents. An
army tiuck slid into Kraft’s
store, kn'X'kmsr nut two posts of j
the hardware store porch and
breaking a window. A truck slid
off the iey stretch of road near
the Russian church but was re
moved without damage.
A jeep and a car driven by
Charles Madsen collided in front
of the Club Liquor store. The
Madsen car suffered some dam
age.
head with gienades, machine
guns & small arms along a 10
mile front centered in San Vit
tore, where a no-quarter fight
raged from building to building
as the Germans barricaded & re
fused to give themselves up.
Progress of the offensive
continued to be slowed by rain,]
snow & mountainous terrain. On
the Adriatic coast, the Eighth
army drove the Nazis from the
ridge commanding the village of
Torre Mucchio & the road to
Pescara. P.eports reached Stock
Seattle (^)—Although Mis.
Doris Belle Graham, described
as a “top operator” of vice es
tablishments in Kodiak, wanted
to pay a fine of $4500 dollars in
stead of going to jail for violat
ing the white slave act, U. S.
District Judge Clack indicated
that Mrs Graham will be sent
to a women’s correctional in
stitution at Alderson, West Vir
ginia for 2 years with an added
5-year probation period during
which she is not to engage in
the business of prostitution. No
fine was asscsed
Mrs. Graham pleaded guilty
and the sentence was deferred a
week to give her time to
straighten out her business af
fairs, including sale of her Kod
iak property, and to obtain
medical attention.
2 Marriages
Are Performed
Two marriages were perform
ed this week by Mary G egoroff,
acting in the absence of in r
father, US Commissioner C. C.
Naughton, who is ill with the
flu.
On Dec. 30 Lillie E. Waller
was to Edward Rogers, with
Marian Curtis and H. C. Kabo
as witnesses.
Kathryn Breslich and Lindsey
R. Massey were married on Jan.
3, with Mrs. Albert Naughton
and G. R. McDonald as witness
es.
holm, Sweden, saying that AlJIe i
specialist troops have landed at
several strategic points on the
Yugoslavia coast. Dispatches
from Allied headquarters in Al
giers called the report errone
ous. London said the report was
probthly planted by the Ger
mans as a feeler of Allied plans.
Washington (^*)—Whole new
vistas in socket plane travel
have been opened by the dis
closure of a fighter plane using
‘ jet propulsion” developed and
pronounced a success. The new
plane, visions of which awakened
scientific research years ago, was
announced jointly by Army Air
Forces and the Royal Air Force.
The plane has completed
several hundred test flights with
out mishap. Quantity product
ion will beirin soon. As today’s
planes have about reached the
speed limits of their orthodox
design, jet propulsion has been
regarded by engineers as the
logical next step. Jet propulsion,
commonly called rocket propul
sion, eliminates the proptllor by
pulling the plane forward with a
series o f power! ul explosions
’ which “bite” the air.