Vol„ 5, No. 51
Your Dependable Community Newspaper
June 2, 1955
Alaska Historical
Library * Museum
Box 2051
NEW BOOKS
The first portion of the summer or
der of books for the Homer Public Li
brary ha3 been received, according to
Mrs# Jim Scott, chief librarian. The
order consisted primarily of children’s
books so that they may be enjoyed dur
ing the summer vacation, she said.
The children’s books received were:
Mrs# Piggle-Figgle1s Farm and Mrs. Pig
gle Wiggle’s Magic by Mac Donald; Son ,
of the Walrus King by McCraken; Rick of
High Ridge and Barney Hits the Trail by
Machetanz; Fish in the Air by Wiese;
Song of the Swallows by Politi; Apple
and the Arrow by Buff; Sawdust in His
Shoes by McGraw; Thanksgiving Story by
Dalgleish; Mister Boss by Beim; Hurry,
Skurry and Flurry 'by Buff; Aquanto,
Friend of the White Man by Bulla; Teddy
Roosevelt and the Rough Riders by Cas
tor; Robert Fulton and the steamboat by
Hill; John James Audubon by Kie'ran;
George Washington- Carver by White; Pony
Express and Santa Fe Trail by Adams;
Erie Canal by Adams; F.B.I# and Cus
ter’s Last Stand by Reynolds; Barbary
Pirates by Forrester; Story of the U.S#
Marines by Hunt; To California by Cov
ered Wagon by Stewart#
• A limited number of* adult books were
received and they were: Whepe Else But
Alaska? by Machetanz; State of Alaska
by Gruening; Land and the People of
South Africa by Paton, and This I Be
lieve by Murrow#
The library is open Wednesday,
Thursday and Friday from 1 to 4:30 and
from ? to 9, and v nn Saturday from 2 to
4 in the afternoon.
WEATHER
May 26 48
May 27 49
May 28 50
May 29 52
May 30 53
May 31 50
Juae 1 49
High
Low
30
41
31
31
39
40
39
BARTLETT SAYS
Delegate Bartlett this weak forecast
that Senate action in restoring funds
for Alaska programs in the Interior De
partment appropriation bill would be
sustained when the bill goes to confer
ence, probably this week#
Such action would bring the Alaska*
Public Works appropriation up to the
full budgetary request of $5,000,000
and the Alaska Hoad Commission appro
priation tq $7,800,000.
”0f course, we can never be positi
vely assured t^Jiat the conferees will
grant the money until the conference
report has been made and accepted by
both houses •f the Congress,” Bartlett
said. ’’However, I have had assurances
from sources which convince me that the
ARC and the APW programs will now go
forward without interruption.” .
The $5 million for A?W is intended
to be used for school projects at Doug
las, Homer, Talkeetna, North Star and
Ketchikan and other projects.
CHAMBER NOTES
A bare minimum for a quorum was pre
sent tor the Chamber of Commerce meet
ing Wednesday to discuss the budget for
the coming year and to hear the list of
nominees for the directors posts for
the coming year.
The budget as proposed Wednesday
• turned out to be s;>425 less than the one
mentioned at the meeting two weeks
earlier. The new- budget totaled $1075
and the old one $1500*
It was pointed out by Director Harry
Oregoire that the new budget was broken
down into two parts. Fart A totaled
$505 and included money for the news
letter, information sheets, correspon
dence, telegrams, guest checks, a fil
ing cabinet, farm institute luncheon,
Christmas decorations, secretary’s sal
ary and printing. This portion of the
budget ¥/as considered essential. Fart
B of the budget included dues to the
National Chamber, Alaska Chamber
dues, Alaska Visitors Assn, dues and
dues to the Better Business Bureau,
plus expense money for a delegate to
Alaska Chamber meetings* The Part B
total was considered "extra” expense.
Eleven members were nominated by the
board for the coming election of direc
tors. They were Rev. Moyer, J. C. Rey
nolds, Robert Norman, Ethel Scott, all
members- of the present board, and Burt
Bachman, Russ Cronin, Margaret Pate,
Jigga Tice, Alza King, Don Smith and
Elsie King. During the next three
meetings nominations will be received
from the floor and the election will be
held on July 6.
Henning Johnson, Civil Defense Di-r
rector, requested that the Chamber give
consideration to donating $50 to help
defray expenses in bringing CD equip
ment to Homer. Approximately $80 is
still due Floyd Hatfield on the trip.
The remaining $30 will be paid by resi
dents of Anchor Point and the East End,
Johnson said*
SPECIAL RATE
The Homer News this, week starts^ a
30-day circulation campaign to acquaint
the many newcomers in the area with the
paper. Called the Chechako Special,
the campaign offers non-subscribers an
opportunity to subscribe to the News
for a three-month period for only $1.
Next week will mark the final issue
of the first year for the News under
the management of Bill Raver#
The growth of the paper in both cir
culation and advertising has been
steady. It has become the leading pap
er on the entire Peninsula.
The publisher of the paper' also an
nounced this week that the advertising
rate would be cut, starting June 1. The
new rate for display advertising i3
80 cents per column inch* a drop of 20
cents from the old rate. It is expect
ed that the new rate will allow more of
the small advertisers to take advantage
of newspaper advertising. ‘Like the
publisher of the News, most of the new
businesses in Homer have started with
limited capital. They all want to ad
vertise and the new rate will give them
the opportunity they are seeking.
Homer and the Kenai Peninsula got
its first taste of what to expect in
the why of tourists last weekend during
the long Memorial Day holiday*
The hotels, motels'and cabins of the
community overflowed and the less for
tunate spent cold hours trying to catch
a feu uinks of sleep in their cars*
An idea of the number of visitors
on the road Monday uas gained in a talk
uith Mrs* Lillian Walli* . She said that
in driving from Ninil'chik to Homer she
counted over 300 cars.
The weather, for the most part, uas
fair over the holiday* Fishing, how
ever, uas reported poor as the big King
salmon seem slow in making their an
nual return to their spawning grounds.
Business uas good for those firms
catering to tourists, of course.
In just one short' month another
three-day holidey will occur when the
Fourth of July falls on a Monday and
Homer will again doubtless be deluged
by tourists,
PUD MEETING
Harry Cregoire submitted the lew bid
Wednesday everting on the Homer'-hospital *
health center water and sewage disposal
system and was awarded the contract by
the directors of the PUD* Gregoire’s
bid was $3670# The only other bid sub
mitted was by Gilbert Roberts, contrac
tor on the hospital building, who bid
.4194 on the job# /Gregoire stated in
his bid that he would complete the pro
ject within 60 days after receiving
notice of the award of contract#
Morris Killen asked that the request
that he had made for a franchise on a
proposed city water system be withdrawn
for the time being#' Killen stated that
until sufficient people in the area
show they want the water system he does
not wish to go through with the project
He offered the directors a report; on
the well water that had been made by
Culligan# The report indicated that
the water was excellent in every re
spect#
The problem of a permanent mana.ger
#for the dock was handled by passing a
motion stating that applications for
the job will be received until the next
meeting on June 13# All applicants are
tt state their expected starting salary.
The directors emphasized that they were
not in any way dissatisfied with the
work ©f Ralph Patterson, present mana
ger, but that they felt themselves ob
ligated to advertise for applicants as
Patterson had been hired on a tempo2*ary
basis*
The directors accepted the resigna
tion of fellow director Jack McLaughlin
effective yesterday# No action was
taken on a successor# McLaughlin stat
ed in his resignation that he expects
to be leaving Homer in the near future#
Jim Reynolds volunteered to move the
dental chair and equipment from Cham
berlain’s Store to the firehall. The
equipment was donated to the hospital
health center for use by all dentists.
The directors set the tax levy irate
for the 1954 tax year at 10 mills.
Action on the longshoremen's raise
was tabled pending receipt of a written
statement from the longshoremen’s
local#