HOMES * ALASKA
Alaska Historical
Library & Museum
Box 2051
Juneau, Alas tot
Vol«T 5, No. 41
YOUR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
March 24, 1955
FIRE BURNS HOME
Fire last Friday morning completely
destroyed the East End home of Mr. and
Mrs. Dave Morse and sent Mrs. Morse and
her small daughter to the Seldovia hos
pital with second degree burns. Loss
to the family through the fire was an
estimated $2,000.
The fire was believed to have start
ed from an overheated stove. Mr. and
Mrs. Morse were both outside when the
fire broke out and had to rush into* the
house to rescue their four small child
ren from the flames that quickly con
sumed the small structure. The first
report of the fire reached town via the
PNA plane when the pilot spotted the
burning building as he was coming in
fora landing at the Homer airport.
Neighbors rushed to the assistance of
the stricken Morse family but there was
little that could be done to save the
house or its contents.
Upon their arrival in Homer, Mr. and
Mrs. Morse and daughter were taken to
the hospital in Seidoyia by Dr. Frovon
sha where they were treated and return
ed here by nightfall.
The community responded lnrne a lately
t© the misfortune of -the family and by
evening clothing, groceries and $220 in
cash had been collected fo# them. More
donations, including ^25 from the local
Red Cross chapter, have been made and
it is understood that the fsmily is no
longer in need*
Plans for a new house for the family
are well underway with Cup King milling
. Kwik-Logs without charge this week*
This week Mr. Morse expressed his
deepest thanks for the many kindnesses
provided by the people of HomBr, and
suggested that a storage place be found
in the community for used clothing that
could be furnished on a moments .notice
in all future emergencies.
' CHAMBER NOTES
The Homer Chamber of Commerce decid
ed Monday to ask its members for volun
tary donations to send a representative
to the All-Alaska Chamber meeting in
Juneau April 14-15-16. It was estimat
ed that the trip will cost about $300.
A vote will be taken next Monday tor
choose a delegate.
Cecil Wyant told the members that
the Alaska Agricultural Lo$n Board has
decided, to finance' the purchase of over
a hundred calves for farmers in the
Homer area. The interest rate * is 5
percent and the repayment' starts in
three years, he said. >
A hydro-electric’ committee consist
ing of Don Staith, .Buss Cronin, Matt
Thome and Chuck Abbott was appointed to
keep in contact with hydro-development
plans concerning this area.
It was suggested that the Chamber
contact Montgomery lard and Sears Roe
buck concerning the possibility of the
two companies supplying shop tools for
the proposed workshop for the Homer
school. It was suggested that the P-TA
might be a better organization to con
tact the mail order firms.
Eric Anderson offered to sharpen any
tool that the children might use in the
shop and Heirgan Schultz suggested that
(Cont* on Page 4, C61.*l)~
CSG MEETING '
A. building to be used for a wood
working shop at the school was ’taken
under consideration at the CSG meeting
Friday night. Harry Gregoire offered
the logs on his homestead, and Cap King
offered to mill them free of charge if
he is s t ill* he re'. It was brought out
that about $200 would be required to
pay for doors, windows, etc. and’ ■volun
teer labor would be needed to cut the
logs an® put up the building. By Wed
nesday evening the' logs were all' cut
and cleaned, ready to be milled. Work
was done by Bud Uminski, tee Cole, Har
old Robbins and Harry Gregoire.'
Mrs. John King gave a report of the
work Of the education committee which
has been corresponding with other
schools♦ 'All' of the schools were in-7
corporate! into districts and most felt'
that it ras a more satisfactory ar
rangement than having tteir school Ad
ministered from Juneau. ,
Questioned about the financing of
thai r di stric ta, Douglas anstrered that
it had a local property tax levied by
the district, Cordova a 2 cent sales
tax, Seward a 2 ^cent sales tax, and
Seldovia a 2 cent sales tax. It was
noted that Homer would only have to
raise 20 percent; of its school costs,
with the Territory, carrying the remain
ing 80 percent•
•Any new building by the Homer dis
trict would have to be finamed com- ,
pietely by the ; area with its share of
the tobacco tax. It was felt that the
situation would bear more looking into
before the CSG took any stand on the
situation.
The beautification committee met be
fore the meeting and elected Lonnie
Seioggs as its chairman. The committee
has tentatively set May 16 as clean-up
day.
Two by-laws were passed by the group
one calling for at* least 20 partici
pants to be present for a quorum, and
the other setting the April meeting for
the election :of new officers. The
April meeting is scheduled'for the 15th
John Scott discussed the Fire De
partment and its need for more members
to serve on the board of directors.
John Pato, Nelson Moyer, Arthur Nichols f
Loola Thome and Dorothy Rcvcr offered
to servo on the board end Scott indica
■fced that *tho two remaining board mean- *
l bors would appoint these volunteers to
fill the existing vacancies.
Scott also pointed out the evorpres- .
ent danger of fire, and its disastrous
- consequences. He called for an alert
citizenry, aware of the dangers, and
ready to take precautions against them.
CSG president Don Smith and vice
president Burt Bachman were both unable
to attend, so the secretary, Bob Nor
man, presided. ... ,
WEATHER
March 17
March 18
March 19
March 20
March 21
March 23
March 23
High -
34
33
34
30
32 1 *
37
39
Low
29
18
16
12
' 14
. 8
17
* H6&eir*h6w has a marshal* U* S. Dep
uty. Marshal... Cecil Johnson arrived in
Homer Tuesday * afternoon to officially
open his' office. *The quarters' that
will henceforth be known as "the Mar
shal's * office" are located in the
Jim Reynolds building next to the
drug story and across the street from
the Aurora Grill.
Marshal Johnson has been with the
Anchorage marshal's office since last
November. ‘ Prior to that he served
three and one-half years with the An
chorage police force.
A veteran of both the Army Air Force
and the Navy, Johnson has been an Alas
kan resident since 1948.
A native of Thomasville, Georgia,
he is married and has-a'family of two
daughters, age 4^ end 2§. Mrs. Johnson
and the girls will remain in Anchorage
until later in the spring.
TEACHERS GATHER
Twenty four members Of the Kenai
Peninsula Teachers Association gathered
at ths Homer school Saturday fdr a bus
iness and social mseting. Mrs. Willie
D$il of Ninilehik, president of the As
sociation, presided over the tuslness
meeting.
A discussion of the film strip pro
gram of the group and the organization
of a spelldown took up most of the time
in the business meeting.
It was decided that an assessment or
50 cents per pupil according to average
daily attendance should be made against
the school to raise money for a film
strip library. The Association has al
ready donated $100 to start the fund.
The speildonfa will be held at Ninil
ls hi k on April 15 with the competition
split into three groups. Group I will
include the Third, Fourth and Fifth
grades, Group II will be Sixth, Seventh
and Eighth grades, and Group III will
’ be High School. A winner and a runner
up from each division will be chosen to
represent their school at the spell
down.
On April 30th there will, be ‘a dis
play of student work, a May pole dance,
square dancing, and a presentation of
on©-act plays at' Kenai.
In a panel disucssion on discipline,
Merrill Hatcher of Homer, George Fabri
ciua, Kenai, Robert Mason, Anchor Point
and Marvin DeYoung, Ninilchik, discus
sed the various phases of student dis
cipline.
\ The teachers enjoyed a delicious
french-fried shrimp dinner in the caf
eteria during the noon hour and during
social hour Steve Harcharik presented
films of local scenes.
HISTORY SOCIETY,
Three comaittee reports were heard
Sunday evening at the meeting of the
Hcner Natural History Society at.the
Jim Scott residence.
Yule Kilcher reported that he is
planning to interview several old-time
HomBr residents. Mrs. Harry Fteyer
stated that she has started cataloguing
artifacts in the possession of local
residents, and Jim Gross ssid that he
is laying the groundwork to establish a
library for the-society. '
The next meeting date: was set.