HOMER NEWS
‘HOMER * ALASKA'
f• 5, lo, 25
Your Community flaws papar
NovamPar 35, tq$d
to Cants Par Copy
Howard Hyhill, president of the board
Qf directors of the Homer Electric As
socialion, threw the switch Wednesday
%fttr*«an that energized the first por
tiaa af the Homer-Clam Gulch power line,
Slcetricity now .flows through the line
%a Anchor Point, with Clark Peterson of
that community being the first person
' to receive the power, ft is expected
that the remainder of the $842,000 line
will he completed to Clam Gulch some
time *• January,
In a few words before the throwing
®f the switch, tiyhill said that the en
ergising of the line meant many differ
' cut things to many different people, To
the consumers he said it meant a higher
Standard of living, easier working con
ditions, better meals, cleaner homes
and safer, norms and barns,
To those homes and busine sses which
now have their own light plants, the
president said, it means cheaper opera
tion costs with low investment, less
Work, more time for other things and
better service,
To the REA it means another good in
vestment of public funds to perform a
public service through a non-profit or
ganization, My hill continued,
To fellow power co-ops it means
gteater potential bargaining power for
cheaper electricity for all co-ops, he
stated*
The engineer and crew who helped
Id the line can point with pride to
■their record and their accomplishment,
Myhill stated, and for the manager and
board of directors the new line means
dot only the realization of a dream but
the opening of a wider door of service,
The ceremony was lacking in out-of
town visitors as the plane carrying Ben
Wallace, REA engineer, Bob Rutherford,
REA engineer and oth ers, was forced to
return to Anchorage because of bad
weather,
Jack fferner of Seward, Territorial
senator-elect, was unable to attend the
ceremony due to an injury to one of his
employees. His telegram to the HEA
stating his regrets, contained the fol
» lowing; "Best wishes to Homer and to
highway points serviced by your new power
system* Your area is keeping pace with
Alaska% growth and progress, People
everywhere in Alaska are watching you
and ari envious of your achievements, ”
The ease with which the changeover
from the old substation to the new and
larger substation was made speaks well
for the working crews, The new plant
has a total capacity of 1050 kilowatts,,
and will allow an addition of one more
deisel generating unit of a larger cap
acity than those now being used in the
plant.
In speaking of the future operations
®f the REA, Jiggs Tice,manager, reveal
ed that the REA had been petitioned to
Supply power to 14 people living north
of Soldotna and that the Alaska Road
Commission has requested the REA to fur
nish 40 kilowatts for their shops at
Soldotna which will be constructed next
Summer,
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The Homer Chamber of Commerce will
assist in sponsoring a "Soldier of the
Month” program to be initiated by the
Army's Wildwood Station at Kenai, it was
decided at the meeting on Monday«
Captain Rent out of the Kenai base met
with the Chamber directors last Friday
to outline the program, He told the
directors that the military would like
to have the Chamber provide housing,
food and entertainment for the soldier
who would be sent by staff car to Homer
each month• If the present plans mater
ialize, the first soldier will arrive
in Homer around Christmas* It was sug
gested tkat this is an excellent oppor
tunity to improve the relationship be
tween civilians and the military per
sonnel as more of the Kenai soldiers
will probably be tin the community this
winter using the local skiing facili
ties,
A notice from the corps of engineers
was read stating that in March or April
of 1955 they expect to advertise con
struction work which will involve com
plete military installations at Ft, Yu
kon, Chiniak (Kodiak), Unalakleet, Beth
el, Kotzebue and Homer,
A letter from Major General Acheson,
commanding general of the Alaska Air
Command, stated briefly that the con
tractor getting the bid for the mili
tary installation planned in this area
will be responsible for the housing of
his personnel. In regard to the mili
tary housing, the general stated that
the facility will be a small, self-con
tained unit, that will house the as
signed military personnel with no pro
visions for dependent housing. He fur
ther stated that possibly a few mili
tary families may locate .in the Homer
area.
In regard to the use of the Homer
dock, General Acheson said the annual
resupply of fuel, lubricants, mainten
ance materials and non-perishables will
probably be brought in over .the dock
each summer. The quantity involved
each year may approximate 1300 measure
ment tons, plus 1200 long tons of dies
el fuel.
The Chamber of Commerce will also
sponsor a kickoff luncheon for the
Farmer's Institute which will be held
some time in January,
PUD NOTES
Gene Browning was elected president
of the PUD board of directors Monday
evening to succeed Bob Kranich who re~
cently resigned,
Mrs, E, L« Wilkinson presented the
board with a statement for $ioo for
rent which she claimed is due for the
use of the dock mooring post which is
located on her property on the Spit.
The post is used to tie up all large
vessels that unload at the dock, So far
as anyone present at the meeting knew,
there is no existing agreement between
the Wilkinsons or the former owner of
the property, Alfred Jones, in regard
to the post, The matter was referred
to the PUD attorney for her opinion on
the subject«
(Cont* in next column)
Plans art nearing completion for the
big community Talent Show to be held
tomorrow (Friday) and Saturday nights
at the old Skyway theater building, ac
cording to Mrs• Violet Wythe, chairman
of the program committee. The program
is being sponsored by the library board
in an endeavor to raise funds for the
Homer library,
The two-hoar show will be made up of
numerous skits, family acts and mustcal
numbers, Mrs« Wythe said, plus a style
show being sponsored by the Homemakers•
Some of the numbers appearing on the
program include a ladies trio composed
of Ruth Kilcher, Elsie and Margaret
King; vocal and musical numbers by Jake
HcLay who is representing the Ski Club;
two numbers by thti Community Chorus; an
accordian duet with Cap and Margarat
King; a number featuring the Alaskan
flag, sponsored by the Legion Auxiliary;
a family act by the Kilcher family; a
marimba and piano duet and a marimba and
guitar duet, both by Miriam and Lois
Nichols, plus several other skits and
readings•
Children in the program will be ad
mitted free, according to Ruth Newman,
president of the library board. She
also noted that only enough tickets are
on sale to fill the seats available and
she urged people to get their tickets
early.
The tickets are on sale at Nythe *s,
Campbells and Vegas1 Art and Gift Shop.
Admission is $t for adults and 50 cents
for children♦
The show will get underway at 8'p*m,
each evening«
PLANE CRASH
Ernest (Bill) Beagle, 28, of Kenai
and his four-year-old son, Paul, were
victims of drowning following a plane
crash in Cook Inl^t north of Kenai last
Friday night, Two other persons, pilot
Don Johnson and Mrs• Florencet Ramsey,
both of Kenai, survived the crash and
made their way to shore•
(PUD - Cont• from Col• 2)
A letter from the Director of Aero
nautics, Territorial Department of Avi
ation, was read concerning the Homer
airport, The director asked whether or
not the PUD might be interested in tak
ing over the Romer airport• He stated
that federal money would be available
for enlarging the airport only if it
was operated by a civic body• He sug
gested that a representative of his of
fice come to Homer and meet with the
directors to explain the proposed trans
fer, The board decided to accept the
vtsit offer•
The board gave the library board 30
feet of concrete pipe to place in front
of the library to allow more parking
space there, The pipe was left over
from the hospital road job.
The following bills were approved or
disapproved by the board; Paul Cho
quette, $3$, for October, *953 rent;
Hover News, $to, mimeographing; Lloyd
Maxwell, $%5, cat work at dump, disap
proved; Juliana Wilson, $220, 16, for le
gal services on l elinquent taxes; Yule
Kilcher and Howard flicker sham, $233,
total payment for road work at hospital;
Thomas Randall, $193, for putting siding
on fire hall•