Vol. 5, Wo. 34
‘HOMES ★ ALASKA*
Alaska Jlistlrt cal
1 Library & Tuseum
Box 2051
Your Community Newspaper
• February 3, 1955
Juneau, Alaska
10 Cents Per Copy
MARC HOF DIMES
It is expected that nearly #350 will
be turned in next week as Homer *s pon
tribution to the 1955 March of Dimes
campaign, according to Bill Raver, lo
cal chairman.
Nearly all of the money has been
raised by the ladies of the Homer chap
ter of the Alaska Crippled Children's
.Association who organized a Mother's
March on Polio last Monday. Over #300
was brought in by the following ladies.
Mrs. Mary Franklin, Mrs. Snma Miller,
Mrs. Walter Johnson, Mrs. Beth Temple
ton, Mrs* Floris Rhode, Mrs, Toni Wood
man, Mrs. Leo la Thome, Mrs. Violet
Jones, Mrs. Dorothy Straub, Mrs. Ann
Lawney and Mrs. Lois Lawrence. Mrs.
Lawrence organized the ladies and man
aged the campaign.
PUD MEETING
A special meeting of the directors
of the PUD was held Monday evening to
discuss correspondence concemix^ the
hospital-heelth center and other cor
respondence received.
The problem of the pumphouse for the
hospital well and the sewage disposal
system were discussed at some length.
It was agreed that an endeavor should
be made to get the immediate q? proval
of t he Department of Health on th e pump
house plans as laid out by the mgin
eers, and that as soon as approval is
received the job should be let out on
bid. The engineers estimate for the
total job is £6,025. However, it was
the opinion of the directors present
that the engineers estimates thus far
on the project have run considerably
higher than the actual costs.
The beard ordered the DuFour Truck
ing company paid for 45 yards of gravel
recently placed on the hospital access
road and instructed the manager to in
form DuFour by letter that no more
gravel was to be placed on the road un
til after the spring thaw. DuFour was
paid at the rate of $1.75 per yard for
the gravel.
After the business or the evening
was taken care of, the hoard was asked
by the editor of the Homer News whether
the hospital-he a 1th center was to be a
hospital or a clinic* Dr. Pnovonsha,
at the meeting a week ago, referred to
the proposed structure as a hospital
and spoke of 24-hour nursing service*
The board agreed that it wa3 not the
original intention of the HJD to make
it a hospital* They were unanimous in
the opinion that 24-hour nursing ser
vice would not be needed and that any
major surgery should be taken care of
at the Soldo via hospital and agreed
that the differences of opinion be
tween themselves and Dr. Provonsha
should be settled at the earliest pos
sible moment*
The directors pointed out that the
public has been led to believe that the
board had obligated itself to spend
$22,500 merely because it had taken out
performance bendr. in that amount* Such
is not the ca:.e, they said* The bonds
were taken out to- assure the Territory
than an access road would be built, a
water supply developed, telephone and
electric power toe made available, a
sewage disposal system installed and a
(Cont. qn 4)
TRUCKS ARRIVE '
TV * arrival of three large deisel
trucks with trailers Monday ni^ht'caus
ed quite a stir in Homer this week* The
trailers were loaded with large drums
painted olive drab and labeled* accord
ing to the drivers, jet fheli ai*ter
some confusion they were guided out to
ward the airport by a GAA trucks TV:o
arrival of the tiucks followed a v*ett
to Homer of several air force officers
who had indicated in their tdks with
local residents that there sould be in
creased activity at the local airport
in the next 30 to 60 days*
Carl Sholin, foreman of the Alaska
Hoad Commission shop here states that
he has been contacted by the military
and asked to estimate the cost of open
ing the road to Ohlson Mountain and
maintaining it*
MONEY RAISED
A total of ^304 was raised Saturday
night for the Homer boat basin through
the efforts of fire soldiers from Wild
wood Station in Kcnai. The soldiers,
Steve Bio die, Bob Erickson, Bill Barton
Xou Gebhart and Capt. William Rentoul,
provided an hour-and-a-haIf of comedy
and music that was thoroughly enjoyed
by those in attendance.
Following the show Marion Xcoopel,
Burt B.-thman and Ernie Carlson, Jr.,
provided the music for dancing as a do
nation to the basin fund.
CHAMBER NOTEb
A committee of ten Chamber members
was appointed Monday to carry on tlie
work of the Homer Booster Club. Ap
pointed were Herman Schultz, Harold
Billups, Sa Pratt, Bill Vfcllace, Ora
Jones, Ken Heath, A1 Hoerl, Paul Cho
quette, Alza Kirg and Milo Kullman#
They will elect their own chairman# It
was suggested that the first order of
business for the club should be to
erect a historical sign on the Sterling
highway west of town telliig sane of
the history of the area. The city of
Seldovia has indicated that it is in
terested in placing a similar sign con
cerning Seldovia at the end of the spit
It as reported that the soldier-of
the-month would be in Hovcr the second
weekend of each month starting in Feb
ruary# The soldier did not make his
appearance in Ho ar in January due to
the alerts called at Wildwood in con
nection with Operation Snowbird, the
military exercises being carried on in
the Territory at the present time#
Howard M; hill announced that Harold
Irons of Ninilchik has started a trixsk
route from Ho 'or to Anchorage# He
leaves Ho.cr on Tuesday aid returns on
Saturday and M[/iull suggested that if
a small sum could be raised perhaps
lions could be indieed to bring back
some of the Civil Defense equipment
from Anchorage from time to time#
Bill Ekloff told the group that he
had written to Harold Poi®roy asking
him to assist in getting the Bureau of
Land Management to hurry the process of
turning over lots 25 and 26 on the ^it
to the PUD so that work could go ahead
on the small boat basin# He also said
that perhaps Pomeroy could get some
surplus ^qqipment to use on the basin#
An affidavit questioning tne legal
ity of the vote fbr three directors at
Tuesday’s annual meeting of the HEA was
presented to the directcsrs of that as
sociation Thursday evening by Howard
'ickersham a member of the association,
in his affidavit ttickersham ques
tioned right of a wife or husbaid to
vote in the election if the membership
to the association is not in his or her
name and a joint Membership is not
held* He Said that he knew of at least
two such cases in Tuesday’s election.
He also questioned the legality of nom
inat ing a member from the floor if that
member is not present at the meeting
and suggested that the manner in which
the ballots were collected and counted
was not in correct form* He further
questioned the number or votes cast in
relation to the number of ballots pre
sented to the counting committee#
After considerable discussion on the
natter by the directors the judge of
the counting committee, Bill Raver, was
asked whether or not he would care to
ask in writing for a recount of the
ballots and whether or not he would
sign an affidavit listing the recount
as an official counting of the ballots.
He consented to this and a recount of
the ballot-s was held by five of the
nine members of the committee present#
The recount showed no change in the
standing ~of the top three candidates
with the exception that Jack Scott
picked up one vote. Ben Barbee lost
one vote and Noel Holt gai.ned one vote#
The official final taLly was: Iviarion
Koeppel, 68; Jack Scott, 58; Richard
Freimuth, 53; Marion Fncelewski, 52;
Carl Baier, 52; Bud Umindci, 28; Noel
Holt 28; Per Osmsr, 27; Ben Barbee 23,
and Yule ICilcher 7.
After tne Dai lots werei countea tne
registration list was checked with the
total number of ballots and it was
found that 141 had been registered on
the list and that there had been 142
ballots cast* It was the opinion
of all present that the registrar had
simply failed to mark the name of a
member in the rush to get everyone in
the hell*
The by-laws were consulted about the
questions but they revealed nothing
so the directors agreed to contact the
HEA attorney in regard to the legal
questions involved in the voting and
inform Wic ter sham of her findings*
In regard to the method of voting
and counting the ballots, it was agreed
that the committee should make written
recommendations to the board with the
thought that the by-laws might be
amended to set up better procedures*
At the annual meeting Tuesday night,
President Howard Myhill and HEA con
sult iig engineer Bob Hetherford spoke
of the accomplishment of the associa
tion during the past year with empha
sis on the new line to Clan Gulch* The
HEA saved $60,000, they said, by doing
the job on force account. The HEA paid
out a total of $135,346*25 in wages to
45 local m®. during the project, it was
pointed out*
* Prizes were won by Alex Flyum, Ben
Barbee, Ted Tythe, Mrs. George Miller,
Louise valli, Les Sollee, John Eing,
Lee Cole, Earl Si^el, Mrs. Mamie Wood
man, Jack McLaughlin, Howard Wickersham
Ernest Carlson, E* L. Dustman, Fred An
derson, Owen Gearhart, 3teve Smas and
Jim Faulk,! Sr*