& MUStUM
Thought of the Week:
In a revolution the poor sel
dom change anything except
the names of their masters.
BOX 2031
JUNEAU ALASKA
The Frontiersman
PUBLISHED IN THE INTEREST OF THE MATANUSKA VALLEY
MATANUSKA VALLEY
THEATRE GUILD
presents
"THE CURIOUS SAVAGE"
Central School, Not 9 - 10
8 p.m.
PRICE 15 CENTS
VOLUME 15. NUMBER 7
PALMER. ALASKA THURSDAY. NOV. 8. 1962
TEN PAGES
; Reporters—
Notebook
Mr. and Mrs. L. C. Stock,
who will spend the winter
months in western Washing
ton, report a difficult trip over
the highway, with snow 20
inches deep the last 75 miles
before Fort. St. Johns, then a
blizzard on the Canada prairies
that limited them to only 60
miles in one day. The Stocks
wrote from Currie, Minnesota,
where they were visiting
friends and planning a pheas
ant hunt before returning to
Kelso in Washington state.
* * *
In a recent column, “Faces of
the City,” in the Seattle Times,
were these words: “Our little,
old fair is the first thing that’s
happened in more than 30 years
to lure Emil Kircher from his
happy and isolated bachelor ex
istence near Palmer, Alaska.”
The column, brought to the
Frontiersman by Betty Moffitt,
went on to describe Shorty’s
Matanuska Valley background,
his impressions of his first
plane (jet) flight, how the big
city looked to him, and what he
thought of the fair. The ac
count included a picture of the
Palmer blacksmith, who spent
two weeks sightseeing and
visiting Seattle area friends.
Ted Bronstein, Seattle free
lance photographer and writer
who did a picture-story of
Shorty for International Har
vester magazine over a year
ago, arranged a red carpet wel
come for the little blacksmith
and provided him with a Ger
man-speaking girl guide who
took him on a tour of the fair
exhibits.
* ♦
*
A recent letter from Lillian
and Lewis Pinkham, former
Valley farmers and teachers,
tells of their new life in Flem
ington, New Jersey. Lillian is
teaching a third grade class,
and Lewis is working with sev
enth and eighth grade mathe
matics, reading, and physical
education students. Both are
attending evening classes in
addition to their teaching du
ties. The children are fine and
are getting along well in school,
the Pinkhams report.
* » m
Rev. and Mrs. Duane Hunt
ley, formerly of Palmer, are
the parents of a new son, David
Earl, their third child. David
weighed nine pounds, five oun
ces at birth.
Mrs. Huntley is the former
Carol Splettstoezer, and Duane
is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Guy
John. He is the pastor of a
Portland, Oregon, Church of
God.
Roast Baof, Appjs
Pie Served Tonight
St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal
Church women will serve their
fifth annual roast beef-and-ap
ple pie dinner tonight at the
Elks hall from 5 to 7 p.m. The
charge will be $2.50 for adults
and 75c for children.
Also featured will be a gift
table and a baked goods table.
Aprons of all kinds will be
among the gift items, with var
ieties to suit every need.
FIFTH ANNUAL
ROAST BEEF
and
APPLE PIE
DINNER
Thursday, November 8
5:00 - 7:00 p.m.
ELKS HALL
SPECIAL HOLIDAY
GIFT TABLE
ADULTS $2.50
Children under 12—75c
Sponsored by
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S
EPISCOPAL CHURCH
Reid Elected District 7 Representative
Precinct Results of District 7
*o
_ e.
9 3
3 IS
Egan
.206
Stepovich_258
Gruening _233
Stevens _246
Rivers _
Thomas
.221
.260
Begich
Stratton
_227
-216
Lightwood _ 27
Kerttula
Reid _
_209
Combs
_267
. 1
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a a
2. e
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173
260
202
252
197
256
196
224
26
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5' 5.
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107
170
137
148
110
178
115
150
15
172
278
(write-in)
119
167
*0 -
11
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153
205
197
178
201
178
196
156
13
196
179
td
a *
41
47
56
37
45
49
49
37
5
57
35
w
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£ in
a ff
79
52
89
49
78
60
67
53
10
89
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*
a
al
84
52
85
50
77
62
77
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38
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>
r
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881
1078
1052
983
973
1076
964
905
122
982
1046
Chamber Meeting Discusses
Failure of School Bond Issue
The Palmer Independent
School District bond issue was
voted down in Tuesday’s elec
tion by the tax payers of the
four precincts included in the
district boundaries, Palmer No.
1, Matanuska, Butte, and Sut
ton-Eska. The total vote was
374 for the issue and 462 against
it. The passage of the issue
would have authorized con
struction of additional class
rooms at Swanson school and
BOND ELECTION RESULTS
Palmer Independent
School District
Palmer City
Butte _
Matanuska .
Sutlon-Eska
YES NO
_153 159
_ 83 104
_117 176
_21 23
classrooms, vocational agricul
ture space, a band and chorus
room, new administrative of
fices, an auditorium and a gym
nasium, with a swimming pool
to be added if sufficient funds
were available. The school
board estimated that passage of
the issue would result in tax
raise of three to four mills.
A school board representa
tive said yesterday morning
that the board has no plans for
calling a special bond election.
However, the subject of fail
, ure of the issue was brought
: up at the noon luncheon meet
i ing of the Matanuska Valley
Chamber of Commerce yester
day when Dick Benson sug
i gested that the Eklutna cutoff
j on the Palmer highway would
attact people to Palmer to make
their homes, but that lack of
adequate schools would be a
deterrent.
A1 Brooks stated that he felt
j that the proposed construction
| plans for the high school were
1 not adequate, with insufficient
i classrooms and poor design. He
! said he would like to see con
fusing aspects of the issue strai
ghtened out, and that the issue
ought to be brought before the
voters again in January. His
! statement that he felt the tax
I issue was less paramount than
j the practicality of the plan was
J challenged by V. Louise Kel
logg, who said that the raise
in taxes would represent a con
siderable hardship to the farm
ers of the area.
William T. Zahradnicek stat
ed that the high school plans
actually would make seven
more classrooms available,
since the chorus and band
rooms could double as class
rooms, and that the vocational
agriculture space is very defin
itely a classroom. He said that
that since mechinization is re
placing manual labor to such
an extent, high school students
nowadays need considerably
more training than was neces
sary in former years.
Brought out was the point
that school district voters,
while rejecting their own bond
issue, passed the state bonding
proposition No. 2, which auth
orizes funds for construction of
schools throughout the state.
Ivan Branton suggested that
this seemingly inexplicable
voter conduct might be ex
plained by the fact that only
property tax paying residents
of the district were allowed to
vote in the school district elec
tion while the general elec
tion encompassed a larger
number of voters.
Zahradnicek referred to
Chapter 164, Laws of Alaska,
1962, a law which regulates the
setting up of budgets within
any school district or borough.
It establishes a system for allo
cating state aid to education,
and went into effect July 1,
1962.
According to its provisions,
state aid will be dispursed be
ginning July 1, 1964. The law
sets up a formula for giving a
minimum education program
for all children in Alaska, to
which local agencies may add
(Continued on page 10)
MTA OPENS NEW
BUSINESS OFFICE
The Matanuska Telephone
Association business office will
open its doors to the public at
its new location on Tuesday,
Nov. 13, Max Clements, man
ager, announced this week. The
new offices are housed in the
recently completed addition to
the central office building on
the corner of Valley Street
and Independent Avenue.
Although MTA will make its
move tomorrow, the office at
the present location in the Sev
erns building will be open for
limited business throughout
the day.
The telephone co-op plans
an open house to show the new
facilities to members and
friends on Friday, Nov. 16. Vis
itors registering at the MTA of
fice on that day will be includ
ed in a drawing for three-min
ute long distance telephone
calls to any point within con
tinental United States.
Ordinarily, the 15th of the
month is the cut-off date for
payment of MTA bills, but the
penalty will be waived for per
sons who pay their bills in per
son at the new office through
Nov. 16, manager Clements
said.
TEEN-AGERS SHOW
REPUBLICAN LEANING
Most Republican of Republi
can strongholds in the state
appears to be in the Palmer Hi
school, where, in a mock elec
tion on Tuesday, the teen-age
voters showed a GOP prefer
i ence, almost three to one.
Governor Egan polled 65 of
the high school votes, against
Stepovich’s 176. Others were
Gruening, 75; Stevens, 169;
Rivers, 81, Thomas, 159; Beg
ich, 66, Lightwood, 13, Stratton,
149; Kerttula, 65; Reid, 170.
Voting for the capital move in
itiative were 213, while 36 were
opposed.
St. Michael's Raffle
Winners Announced
Raffle winners at St. Mich
ael’s Bazaar, held at the
Moose hall Nov. 3, were Coy
Bailey, Palmer, the RCA
stereo-console; G. Felzien, Pal
mer, the Machetanz lithograph;
Peter Corocoran, Wasilla, the
transistor radio; Phil Thomp
son, Palmer the hunting knife
and hatchet set; R. Grace Stine
berg, the doll and wardrobe;
and Mrs. Earl W. Berry, Pal
mer, the lace tablecloth.
Loan Hold Lifted By REA;
Power Needs Recognized
Washington, D. C. meetings
of MEA officials with Congres
sional representatives and REA
administrator Norman Clapp
have cleared the way for re
lease of MEA’s $1,500,000 distri
bution and transmission loan
and have pointed up the urgen
cy of the area need for interim
power, Phil O’Neill, president
of the MEA board of directors,
told a luncheon meeting of the
Matanuska Valley Chamber of
Commerce at the Frontier Cafe
yesterday.
The board president, report
ing on a trip which took the
MEA men to the regional NRE
CA conference at Eugene, Ore
gon, to San Francisco for in
formation on private financing
for a steam plant, and to Wash
ington, D. C., prefaced his com
ments by reading a news re
lease written by Mason La
elle, MEA manager. The arti
cle, which appears elsewhere
in this issue of the Frontiers
man, emphasizes the REA
stand on interim area genera
tion and points out the excel
lent cooperation given local
power associations by REA’s
Alaska representatives, Ralph
Mills and William Lightfoot.
A letter has been sent to
Chugach Electric Association
by MEA attorney John Shaw,
accepting the new proposal for
sale of power. This offer would
supply MEA with 3000 kilo
watts of power through Decem
ber, 1964, from CEA’s Eklutna
allotment at the same price
MEA now pays for Eklutna
power (10.5 mills), O’Neill
said. This acceptance is the
only requirement MEA has
been asked to meet to insure
release of the loan funds, the
board president added.
REA officials made it clear
during the Washington meet
ings that no further funds will
be lent to any area cooperative
for generation until all have
agreed on one feasible source,
O’Neill stated, but that the
federal agency stands ready to
release sufficient loan funds for
a 44-megawatt plant as soon as
agreement has been reached.
O’Neill pointed out that REA
has made a most important
and unusual concession by per
mitting the area cooperatives
to take the needs of the City
of Anchorage into considtera
tion in their feasibility study.
Meetings with the city and
with CEA are planned for the
near future, the MEA director
said. “We have got to get plant
construction rolling by Janu
ary 1. We have just about en
ough power to last us for the
next two years—no more.”
He noted that CEA, with a
distribution loan from REA
now in the final stages, is fac
ed with the same problem we
have had—assurance to REA
that they have a sufficient
amount of power to handle ex
pansion plans to be covered by
the loan funds.
If agreement can be reached
with CEA on our plans for
mine-mouth generation, a loan
application will be made to
REA for funds to build the
plant, O’Neill said.
“If not, the San Francisco
meeting with Sterns-Rogers (a
company which constructs
steam plants throughout the
Rocky Mountain region) re
presentatives supplied u s
with considerable informa
tion on the possibilities of pri
vate financing, and we know
now what we can do to obtain
it,” he stated. “If REA funds
are not available, we will go
to private financing.”
O'Neill was congratulated by
chamber president Barney Fish
on the success of the Wash
ington trip, and was pledged
continued Chamber support of
MEA efforts to reach an area
agreement.
In answer to a question from
the floor, Fish said that ar
rangements are being made for
radio broadcasts of five-minute
tapes covering the story of
mine mouth power, to be used
both in the Anchorage and the
Fairbanks areas.
Capital Move Gets
Enthusiastic Support
Voters of predominantly Re
publican District 7 elected Eu
gene Reid, Four Corners farm
er, to the Alaska state house of
representatives in a closely
contested race Tuesday, Nov.
6. He defeated his opponent,
incumbent Jalmar Kerttula, by
a margin of 64 votes.
Still to be counted are 89 ab
sentee ballots recorded in the
office of the deputy district
magistrate, who pointed out
that there may be a few Dis
trict 7 ballots in Hugh Wade’s
office. According to the Al
aska election code, absentee
ballots are counted in the of
fice of the election supervisor
ten days following the date of
election. Observers feel that,
since Kerttula would have to
pick up about 90 percent of
these votes to win, the outcome
of this count will not affect the
final tally.
The capital relocation initia
tive received enthusiastic sup
port in District 7. with all pre
cincts voting overwhelmingly
in favor of the move. Greatest
approval was shown in Big
INITIATIVE NO. 1
Capital Relocation
YES NO
Palmer _435 49
Matanuska _405 54
Butte _257 35
| Was ilia _367 14
j Big Lake_ 93 1
Sutton-Eska _118 24
Willow _134 7
Talkeetna _50 27
TOTAL_1817 211
Lake Precinct, with a vote of
93 to one while Talkeetna Pre
cinct appeared to have the larg
est percentage of dissenters,
voting 50 yes and 27 no.
Two Democrats gained vot
er approval in District 7, as
compared to the 1960 election,
FAA Agents Give
Private Pilot Test
As part of their regular
schedule, Federal Aviation Ag
ency representatives will be in
Palmer on Tuesday, Nov. 13, to
give written examinations for
private pilots.
The exams, which will cli
max the six-weeks’ Sanderson
Ground School course now in
its final week at the Palmer
Community College, will be
given in the cafeteria at the
high school, beginning at 6 p.m.
Since about three or four hours
are necessary to take the exam,
student pilots are reminded
that the building closes about
11 p.m. and that it will be well
to allow sufficient time to cov
er the test.
Any student pilot, whether
he has been enrolled in the
Sanderson course or not. may
take the examination.
The ground school course has
been under the sponsorship of
Hamilton Flyteways, with Lor
ene Nielsen as instructor. If
sufficient interest is shown,
the Sanderson course, which
employs audio-visual techni
ques, may be offered again in
the early spring.
REIDS OPEN HOME TO
DISTRICT 7 RESIDENTS
The Eugene Reid family will
have open house at their home
on Sunday, Nov. 11. for the
residents of District 7 between
the hours of 1 p.m. and 6 p.m.
The Reids urge everyone in
the area to come and enjoy a
social afternoon. Their farm is
reached by turning north at
Four Corners and then taking
the first turn to the right.
I when Jalmar Kerttula was the
only Democrat elected from the
district. They were Democratic
incumbent U. S. Sen. Ernest
Gruening, who polled 1052 vo
tes as compared to 983 for op
ponent Ted Stevens, and Nick
Begich, candidate for the state
Senate from District E, who to
taled 964. In the same race, in
dependent Sam Lightwood pol
led 122, and Bob Stratton, Re
publican, 905.
Mike Stepovich, Republican,
led in the race for governor,
with a total vote of 1078, with
Gov. Egan trailing at 881.
Lowell Thomas, Jr. piolled
1076, and Democratic opponent
Ralph Rivers received 973 in.
the contest for U. S. Represen
l tative.
District 7 voters approved
! state bonding propositions 1
I and 2, which provide for Uni
1 versity of Alaska and state
school construction, but voted
down propositions 3 and 4, for
trunk airport improvements
and a vocational school in the
Kodiak-Aleutians area.
I
They voted to retain superi
or court judges Dimond and
Nesbitt, 1378 and 1306 respec
tively, with a negative vote of
452 and 502.
Nearly 2100 voters turned out
throughout the district. No
figures are available for pre
ceding elections in District 7,
but the voter response is con
1 sidered to be heavier than in
the 1960 presidential election.
LOCAL DEFENSE
PLANS CONTINUE
City and area defense offici
als are in the process of corre
I lating plans on the local level,
according to Ed Smith, area
director. Particularly needed at
present is a suitable site for an
administrative headquarters, he
stressed. Plans to utilize the
basement at Swanson school
have been discussed, but fail
ure of the school bond issue in
dicates that space will not be
available there. The choice of
location is narrowed by the
necessity of a certain amount of
fallout protection.
Smith warned against drop
ping emergency plans because
of a seemingly brighter inter
national situation, pointing out
the lack of readines during the
real urgency ten days ago,
and emphasizing that the situa
tion could again become critical
at any time.
He reiterated the necessity
for each family to stockpile a
two to four week emergency
supply of food and water, to
install chemical toilet facilities,
and to make emergency eva
cuation plans by having on
hand a supply of warm cloth
ing and blankets as well as a
full tank of gasoline at all
times.
A basement alone is not suf
ficient fallout protection, he
warned. An outside excavation,
beefed up with heat and ventil
ation, is the best bet but dif
ficult to construct at present,
he said, and suggested as an al
ternative a frame construction
withing your basement, rein
forced with sandbags and ce
ment blocks (both overhead
and walls). Basement windows
should also be blocked up. Any
shelter with two feet of earth
above it that won’t shake loose
or come down supplies reason
ably safe protection aganinst
radiation, the area director
said.
Each department head is now
formulating his plans in writ
ing, with the idea of furnishing
a course of action for others in
j case he himself is unable to
i act in an emergency.
DOIT
NISS
’ The Curious Savage ” "\25£