THE HOMER NEKS
Alaska's Largest Mimeograph Weekly
Published every Thursday in Homer, Alaska
Bill Raver, Editor and Publisher
Dorothy Raver, Compositor
Subscript ion Rates:
i year ........... *3, 50
6 months ........ 2, 00
3 months .. 1. 25
A STUDY IN DEMOCRACY
A situation calling for the use of some good old-fash
ioned common sense plus., lots of good clear thinking confronts
the people of the Kenai Public Utility District Ho. t this
week, A'decision of the board of directors has been seriously
questioned which may effect not only the future of our hos
pital-health center, but possibly the future of the P(JD,
The whole trouble started/ when the directors rejected
the bids of three local contractors to cut an access road in
to the hospital-health center then decided that the road that
Surveyor Henning Johnson had just finished wasn't what they
wanted and they staked out their own road The folks in Kenai
probably heard the scream that Mr Johnson and two of the
contractors, Morris Kijlen and Howard Wicker sham let out when
they heard the decision of the board. A special meeting of
the board of directors was called for last Friday night and
the contractors and the surveyor were all invited to attend,.
Before the meeting the contractors and Hr. Johnson placed
paid ads in the press and over the radio condemning the ac
tions of the board and urging local iitizens to be at the
tocjrd meeting
The meeting Friday night was not a thing that responsible
Americans should be proud of, A bqard of elected representa
tives of the people was mistreated and realigned in a most
vicious manner. Charges were made that we do not believe can
toe proven« If those in opposition wanted a change in admin
istration they won a partial victory After the meeting
President Bob Kranich handed in hi‘s resignation. tie were
sorry to see him resign, While we did not agree entirely
with the board's decision on the access road and while we
have disagreed with Mr, Kranich on one or two occasions, we
believe him to be completely honest and sincere in his actions
while president of the board, In our bqok he is a far better
citizen than those who waited until the board was on the de
fensive to add their vicious kicks to the ribs,
Most of those present, while they disagreed with the
board, were sensible and sincere in their statements, However
we felt that several of those .present took unfair ad
vantage of the board and seemed to take pleasure in embarass
ing the president and the members They added nothing to the
meeting by their remarks,
The beard of directors, in upholding their stand on the
access road, stated that they weMe trying to get the road
built for the $1500 allotted by the territory for that purpose,
They said that $350 was spent on the survey by Mr Johnson
and that it would cost about $900 to gravel the road thus only
about $300 could be used to cut the road in. The low bid on
the job was $562,65 and that was too high for them, they said.
The contractors declared that the reason the bids were re
jected was that the access road conflicted with the road into
the adjoining property owned by Harry Gregoire, a board di
rector, This charge, of course was denied and no proof was
forvncoimng to sues
After the meeting on Friday evening the board decided to
go ahead and put in the road by force account, They based
their decision on their understanding that when the proper
authorities in Juneau are notified that a contract has been
let for the access road, then, and only then, will they let
out the bids for the construction of the hospital building.
As to Mr, Johnson*s suggestion that a referendum vote
be taken on a new hospital site we'll stand neutral* His
argument is that the present site is not easily accessible,
that because of the terrain the building designed is expensive
to build and that expansion is not practical because the
building is against the hill. The board of directors say
that the site was agreed upon by the health council which •is
composed of members representing a large share of the com
munities civic organizations and hence a fair share of the
local population and that any change of location now will
cause the Alaska Public Harks to withdraw the funds pledged
for the construct ion* of the hospitalThese funds amount to
approximately i>7$,ooo, (The PUD pledged cbt5,000 for the hos
pital plus the land, water, sewer, road, etc which, wtllpro
pably bring the total figure to between *20,000 and $25*000*)
Those thinking citisens* such as Mr* Johnson and Mr*
ticker sham are not trying to destroy the PUT' but rather to
change the views of the board an the hospital* Others in the
crowd last Friday night were obviously waiting for the kill*
They tried once and they will try again*
Probably the PUD is at fault in not making sounder deT
cisionS on a number of things, the access road being the one
at point* But just as surely as the PUD is at fault the people
are as much at fault for not attending the PUD meetings to
express their feelings on the issues that confront the direct*
ors who are, after, ctll, just fellow working men in the cow
munity*
It has been suggested that the PUD publish an agenda of
their meetings, We 'think that this is an excellent idea and
we would be more than happy to print such an agenda and to
announce the agenda over the air•
We believe that the PUD is a necessary factor in the
steady growth of our community and we certainly do not believe
that its future should depend upon the hospital issue alone.
We hope that coal heads will prevail and that the PUD will
gain strength from thir experience, v
Ser. er :-i weeks ago we suggested that a board of interested
and intelligent citizens he eet up to study the dock problem,
Tne board of directors saw fit to make up what it called a
ndock f.alicy" vdAch turnea. out to be, in our opinion, a farce,
We now vy Vd like tc suggest that a board representing the
many sides of ’the 'nr 3 pit at issue be set up, independent of the
board ri directors. so recommend to the beard its findings,
Jf such a tcara or committee were set up we believe that th<,
hospital issue will be resolved with z nihiuuih of fuss.
BRING BEt BAb'f km ■ .
Wally Atkinson and for* and
Mrs* Duane Beil nap dr ova t o
Palmar aver the weekend to
bring Mrs. ftkxnson and the
new daughter pack Horne*
APPLICATIONS ASKED '
Merrill Hatcher, superinten
dent of the Earner school is
taxing applications for the
job of custodian at the school*
Cha^lxe Roehl, custodian had
quit the job
The job pays just .over
i>3oo Per month and requires
about 48 hours of work per
week, Hatcher says,
HOBO JOE HERE
Hobo Joe, well-known Alas
kan v.usia an and composer was
in Homer last week
1
Hoao
Electric
Association
iW />///{ due 6/
Wo t/€J>i be t- J&
Mo t C J^oujq y f e> 0
LEAVE FCR OHIO
Mrs Carl Kibbey and child
ren left by plane Friday for
Ohio, ft :JL<aplanned to
start the cnildren in school
in Chic on Monday morning if
all conn id ions were made*
KACHEMAK
KLEANERS
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