Vol.
NEWS
‘HOMES * ALASKA*
3, No* 33
Your Conmunlty Ncrspaper
January 20, 1955
LjuS^* ^®torica7
nlbr«ry &
OX
205J
lsetwi
'Uleau» Alaska
10 Cents tv,.
BASIN MEETING
Approx imately 30 local residents
were on hand Tuesday morning to mo$t
with Col. Farrell and Harold iwoats of
the District Engineers office in An
chorage who were in Homer to hear com
plaints concerning the site of the
small boat harbor.
Col. Farrell noted that public hear
ings had been held in 1946 and in 1949
in Homer concerning the harbor. After
these hearings, he said, the engineers
cane to the conclusion that the people
of Homer wanted a small boat harbor and
that they didn’t especially care where
it was located so long as they got a
harbor. It was pointed out that the
site on the Spit was economically feas
ible for the community as it would cost
about $485,000 as against $3,800,000
to build a harbor below Beluga Lake*
Both of the men pointed out th3t the
government requires that a dollar re
turn be realized by the people of the
community for every federal dollar »
spent, and that Homer was not in the
$3 million dollar class.
Leroy Duncan of Homer said that the
harbor at the end of the Spit would not
axxracx canneries ana a naroor in tJei.u~
ga slough would. Moats pointed out
that it was not possible to base con
struction figures on what might be,.but
rather on what exists in the community
when the study is made.
Moats also pointed out that if at
some future date Homer needs a larger
harbor and it is economically feasible,
then they can seek federal funds again.
He cited Ketchikan as an example of a
city that has ha;l two harbors built as
the city expanded,.
The present bill for the Homer har
bor is in the Bureau., of tho Budget,
Moats explained, and has been held up
because the Anchorage harbor project is
in the same piece of legislation and
more information has been requested on
it. That information has been given to
the Bureau and the legislation should
soon clear that body.
Howard Vickers ham asked Moats what
would happen to the end of a Spit after
the harbor has been built and'a 23 foot
tide pushed by a high wind hit the area.
Moats answered that everything would be
as safe as it is today under the same
ei rcumst an ces .
Several fishermen present spoke up
to defend the harbor saying that they
^separately needed a place to keep
their boats and that thoy felt that
Host of the fishermen in Homer had as
»uch invested in the area as did Duncan.
Henning Johnson presented a proposed
f>ian for a basin and it was to be given
farther study by tho fishennen.
Moats suggested that the fishemen
i^ply as soon as possible for their
feimit to build a brain as it wnuld
fake at least 30 days to process jt„
WEATHER
High Lot?
January 13 33 31
January 14 32 25
January 15 35 25
January 16 27 16
January 17 23 9
January 18 .36 27
January 19 31 26
BARGE MISSING
Considerable speculation concerning
a winter oil drilling operation was
aroused in Homer this week when a tele
gram was received from Seattle by the
bank asking whether or not a barge
loaded with equipment for that purpose
had ' docked in Homer. So far as is
known such a barge does not exist and
certainly has not docked hero. However
tho telegram was good for numerous gags
around town and caused considerable
wishful thinking on the part of local
residents.
BLOCH VISITS
Ivan Bloch, engineering consultant
of Portland, Marlin Stewart, manager of.
Chugach Electric in Anchorage and Bob
Rutherford, consulting engineer for SEA.
were in Homer Tuesday to meet with H3A
and Generation and Transmission Associ
ation officials.
Bloch, who was a featured speaker at
the All-Alaska Chamber of Commerce lost
November, stated that he was well ac
quainted with the coal and mineral re
sources of the Cook Inlet region, hav
ing studied reports of the area while
working for tho Department of tho In
terior. He is interested in ropresont*
ing the G & T Association as a consult
ing industrial engineer.
CHAMBER NOTES
The member ship of the Homer Chamber
of Commerce has reached an all-time
high of 62 members, it was announced by
Nelson Moyer, president, at the Monday
meeting of the group. Several of the
new members wore present for their
first meeting including Marion Sice lew
ski, Bill Eklaf, Terry Macke 1, Howard
Wicfcershem and Charlio Waldron*
It was announced that a tentative
date had been set for the visit of the
monbers of the local Chamber with the
Anchorage Chamber* The date set is
February 28* An endeavor wi 11 be made
to get a large enough group together to
charter a plane to make a one day trip#
Hans Autor of Seward spoke briefly
to the group urging a closer relation
among the towns on the Kbnai Peninsula.
He pointed out that all of the Peninsu
la has common needs and interests. A
representative of the .Cenai Company of
Seward, Autor is a business engineer.
A letter from Win. C. Strand, diroc
ter of Territories for the Department
of Interior was read. The letter was
in answer to the telegram -sent by the
Chamber asking for public hoariigs on
the proposed seatrain scrvico to the
Territory. Strand said that it was not
the intention of the department to is
sue a pomit to only one lino and that
small ports such as Homer may be assur
ed of continued service by boat.
The secretary gave a brief resume of
the Visit of tho president and manager
of tho Anchorage Chamber to Homer last
woek. The men discussed such topics as
sea food products in mhieh the military
is definitely interested, the future of
package tours of the area, the \ s<j of
local coal for industrial purposes, hy-=*
dro-electric power in connection with
(Cont. on Pago 5 Col. 3)
Approximately lou risnennen ana in
terested local residents were present
Monday evening in the school cafeteria
for the Fish and Wildlife hearings on
three proposals which had been advanced
to Congress and the FWS by representa
tives of the salmon packers and Lottie
jSdolman, agent for the defunct Alaska
Fishermen*a Union.
Seton H» Thompson, chief of the
branch of Alaska fisheries, FWS, Wash
ington, D. C., was on hand to conduct
the hearings. He said that the propo
sals ucre aimed at eliminating friction
confusion and hardships and at stabil
izing the fishing . opportunities in the
industry. He read the bill presented
to the present session of Congress to
amend the White Act, the law under
which present fishing is carried on.
The law is to be amended to read as
follows: "It shall be unlawful to lay
or sot any seino or net of any kind
within one hundred yards of any other
seine, net, or other fishing appliance
which is being or which has been laid
or set in any of the waters of Alaska,
or to drive or to construct any trap or
any other fixed fishing gear appliance,
except a sol net, st&ke not, or anchor
ed gill net, within six hundred yards
laterally or within one hundred yards
endwise of any other trap or fixed
fishing appliance*".
Thompson noted that tne Dili would
place the fishormon where they stood
undor the 1954 regulations*
The first proposal was the amend
ment to the White Act* The other two
proposals were that the FWS pinpoint
by survey all traps and that the drift
net lengths be placed at 150 fathoms*
Theso proposals, Thompson pointod
out, would place the competition in
fishing bctweon kinds of gear rather
than types as has been the case in the
past, and added that the proposals re
quired the support of the fishermen*
WhGn Thompson was asked why tho
traps and drift nots wore brought into
the proposals when only set nets wore
affected by the original ruling, he
Scaid it was a matter of conservation*
The discussion which followed gave
an opportunity for several fishermen
to express their views on trap, setnot
and drift fishing* Some stated they
felt that tho fisheimon should go along
with the proposals, others said the
fishermen should go along with the pro
posals only because if they didnft
the 1955 regulations would place tho
setnets at 1800 feet, the traps at one
mile and the drift nots * at 125 fathoms
in longth.
The opinion was expressed that the
now proposals would give the trap oper
ators a firmer hold on the sites, but
Thompson said that such was not the
case. W. C* Arnold, managing director
of the Alaska Salmon Industry, said
that if anything the traps ucro losing
because they could move last year, but
now they will be pinpointed*
Hot tie Edolman, former agent of tho
Aladca Fishermen’s Union, who helped
draw up the proposals, said that it
had been a tough job and that this was
tho first, time that the fishermen and
the packers hac* over gotten together on
anything, aae celled f*>T* the coopera
tion of all f.teiir*laionr '’Fighting,” she
(Contv on Pago 6 Col* 3)