FOR THE GOOD OF SELOOVIfl?
The cannery operators in .Seldovia must
feel extraordinarily good this week. They
just chalked up another astounding financial
saving, when they last week threw their
weight against a proposed garbage ordinance
for this city, and thereby saved for them
selves probably as much as $50 a year by so
doing.
Not that all of the blame can be saddled
on the shoulder? of cannery operators.
There’s enough left over- to be shared equal
ly with all :of.the private citzens of this
town, who let the matter slide through with
the’’ •‘’passing thought that It^s &/'go©4 :i'£ea,
and certainly something’s got to be done.”
..^s is usual when^ there- is an issue to be
faced, .the "I’m - agin - it” crowd:were the
noisemakers, and the^ folks who thought it'
was a-good idea sat* with ‘ closed mouths' and'
: their thoughts. 4
• >
However the cannery operators headed the
opposition, and it Was their -decision which
probably did mor.e "to' inf luence the council
toward negative, aptiqn than ariy other group.
; Sampling the .'attitudes of the. town’s Big
. Three, questioning counCilmen We're told thcrt-'
the .-canneries would, simply" refuse' to pay or
to subscribe to any garbage collection sys
tem » • . r * ’
"We’ll just dump our garbage in the: gurry
scows pnd .. take care of it that way," city
’ councilman w.ere ;told, when an expression of
opinion was requested, Which probably'set-,
ties their garbage question very nicely al
though one can’t help wondering why they'
haven’t done it years.ago, and thereby help
ed a little bit to clean, up the mess bn the
beach, no small Lprai^t of wfej.c|k<\ is of their"
making. ;~ 1 ' '
However that decision doesnrt do much for
the rest of the town, which cannery opera- •
tors have been spoon-feeding a*d sitting up
nights with for these' many, many years ac
• cording to their own admission’, "-We are an
xious to see , Seldovia get ahead. We would
like to see the town
make something of it
self, and certainly
we have done more
good for this city
than anyone else
since the Russians
first discovered her
ring,” * they quote
with modestly down
cast eyes. Occasion
ally one of-them will
admit that he may
have mad& a nickel or
two back in the dim
past when ; ’ seasons
were good, but the
nickels all came rol
ling back to dear old
Seldovia, he always
hastens to add.
all of which is
rather hard .to recon
cile with last week*s
policy of dollar-sav
ing; Could it be
that this • selfless
romance of the years
has been based on the
hard metal- of a dol
lar? after all these
years of happy honey
mooning, that would
be a bitter pill to
swallow*
Let us hope, "for
the good of Seldovia"
that there can be
some more altruistic
explanation for their
refusal ' to back a
municipal garbage
collection system.