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Vol* 5, fio. *8
-HOMER * ALASKA
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Your Corrnnunity* K jwspaper
/ ^December 16,’1954
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PUD CUTS TIME
After three executive session's this
week the board of- directors of the PUD
decided to cut the working hours of the
PUD manager. The board first voted, on
a motion by Harry Grego ire, .to abolish
the managers job but later ’■'e&endad the
motion to cut his parking hours Vtf iS*|4
U day and 30 hours .per week at the rate '
of $2.50 per hour. The board met,in
executive sessions, on Monday, Tuesday
and Wednesday nights.
At the regular meeting of the board
on Monday night about 30 local people
were on hand to take part in the meet
ing. • ' /[ .'1,
A letter, and telephone call iWfth
Amos Alter of the department of health,*
concerning the water at the hospital
was discussed. Alter said ln>ftfg two
messages that a filter system was need'- '
ed for the water and that if the board
i7ill give written assurance that such
a system will be:put in he will * notify
the Alaska Public Works that his dew
partment’s requirements have been ful
filled' and they 1 can go ahead with the
bids.
When asked what the engineers had.
estimated as accost of the filter sys
tem, it was noted that they reeommended
q unit costing $4030. However,the board
president stated that juices on other
units were beipgsoughts v -
Considerable time "Was s.pent,.in dis^
cussing the possibility 'of a community
water system. Th^ynatter 5 was brought
UP - by Ken Heath with several ideas ,
being proposed by those present.and'
nothing decided upon. . • •
In the matter of the dock tie-up
post for which rent sis-being sought by
Mrs. Wilkinson, a letter from the PUD
attorney, Mrs. vrilson, was read. Mrs.
Wilson state'd that in her belief Mrs.
1 ilkinson had no right to receive rent.
Airs. Wilkinson disagreed. Henning John
.son entered the conversation to suggest
that the post be moved about 10 feet
apd it would be off the Uilkinson prop
erty.
Six sites lor new street lignts were
recommended to the board. They were in
the vicinity of Sherry's Logtel and the
Stanley roodman residence on the CT
rpad, the Inlet Inn, the Homer Tele
phone company, the Church of Christ and
the Slks building. Other suggestions
from those present included lights at
Miller's Landing and at the end of the
Spit. The matter of the lights will be
taken under consideration by the board.
Don Dafoe, commissioner of education
wrote that he would look into the pos
sibility of allowing the proposed ar
mory-civic center building to be built
on the Homer Territorial school grounds.
Also concerning the building, it was
noted that the National Guard Bureau
had approved the half-unit armory type
proposed for several Alaskan cities,
and that the Alaska National Guard has
asked the PUD to advance 33,000 by the
end of January to cover design and en
gineering costs. Ceward has already
put up a similar amount for their share
of the project as they plan to have an
identical building there.
At this point the board xi&s asked
whether or not they had committed the
(Cont. on Page. 2, Cel. 3)
'h
STUDY FISHING
'Ed Hulzer, biologist with the Alaska
Department. ' of Fisheries was in 'Homer
and Seldovia this/weSk„.to get informal
tion on the importance ofarab fishing,
and canning to the two '■ communities.
Reason for the inquiry was given as^ the
luponcern of the department over the pos
sibility, of the U. S, State Department
reducing,the tariff on imported Japan
ese crab meat. All available figures
from Homer and Seldovia will be combin
ed with those of other Alaskan and
stateside figures and as an ar
gument against the lowering of the
tariff.
Wednesday night Kuizdr met with lo
cal fishermen .to outline his Claris |und
on Thursday he went on to Seldovia e^M*
pecting to return to Homer .'.Thursday
night to meet further with th^ulomer
group, but failed to make it back.
In figuring what the local fisher
men caught last year it was estimated
that the crab catch ran over 698,000
pounds which was sold to the thfee
canneries on the Spit. In a look to
the future, it was estimated that the
same three canneries will process up
wards of 2,000,000 pounds of crab pro
viding the crab is available and the
market holds up.
A report will be made up covering
the .crab industry economy here and its
relationship to the rest of tlie economy
to be sent to the appropriate govern
ment department. The report will be
sent out over the signature of -the,
president of the Chamber of Commerced - '
LEASES SOUGHT
John raterman returned, to Homer Sun
day from Anchorage where he has been
for the past several weeks and before
that for several months at Middleton
Islando
Hate man is now a representative of
the Alaska Lease Company, Inc-, an An
chorage firm which is seeking oil leas
es on private lands in the Homer area.
He states, that the company now has
leases on 1,029 acres near the beach at
the mouth of Diamond creek and is look
ing for leases in blocks of 1000 acres
or more elsewhere on the peninsula*
He also informed the News that his
corporation is selling stock at 35
cents a share with a minimum of 100
shares and a maximum of 1000 shares.
His firm has been contacted, he said,
by at least one major oil company to
drill on their leased land, and the
corporation hopes to have the first" or
one of the first wells to go down on
the Peninsula*
naterman plans to remain in the Hom
er area until V7ell after the first of
the year*
Herman Schultz pf Jiomer was . elected
chairman .of the newly JTofn^$ Central
Alaska Power Association this week when
d ire ctor s a nd mans g&vi'i Qo|\. fo ur pub li « : vy t.
po»er co-ops mot in Anchorage* John
King, also of Homer, was elected as a
director of the Association,, Both King
and Schultz arc directors of 'ifte, .Ijomor
Electric Association. u ,
•The noj.Assoclarion will b6 incorp
orated for, /JlOO,000,000 and will-'ste^
loans from 'the REA to explore and de
velop the steam and hydro-electric po
tentialities of tho Kenai Peninsula.
It is expected that the city of Sew
are • ill join the new association so on
giving all of tho members the advantage
of the power development program now
under ay by Seward. The port city has
been granted a preliminary permit for a.
;hydro-clectric • /development on Ptarmi
gan yGrel^., The proposed, .pro ject would
bo about SS^mile^-, north of Seward and
'd'quid call for a , d,am at the lower
end of ’^tarn^igan &ake,J about 14,000
foot of pipeline^f,a penstock and a pou
'drhhusp on Kbnai L&ke with initial in
stallation £f 1,500 horsepower and ul
timate installation of 6,000 horsepow
er• The- city is also -looking into the
possibility of developing hydro-elec
tric power at Crescent Lake which would
furnish about 10,000 horsepower#
Jiggs ‘Tiyoy HEA manager, attended
the Anchorage; meeting with the t~o di
rectors and reported[an excellent meet#
PLANE CRASH
A Pacific Northern Airlines plane
/;ith tT~o passengers and three crop; mem
bers aboard cracked up at the Homer air
port at 5:25 Sunday evening with no fa
talities.
According to the story released to
the Anchorage papers by the FNA, the
plane was taking off on a flight to 2b
diak from a runway which "’as covered
"’ith six to eight inches of no” snow
'hen pilot Robert Schofield "wasn’t
satisfied vlth the way the plane was
acting/' and *cut his engines while
still on the ground.
The speeding ship veered off the
runway and crashed onto the rough ter
rain bordering the airstrip*.
Aboard the plane with Schofield were
First Officer Erik Scheutte, stewardess
Eileen Donnan end passengors Ed Pierson
and Dorothy Davis#
Numerous stories concerning the ac
cident that differed slightly from the
PNA stories have been circulating in
the community and it "ill only be "hen
the official report is issued by the
Civil Aeronautics Board that the true
facts will be kno~n.
George E. Clark of the CAB was in
Horror this week along “ith officials
from the CAA and FNA investigating the
accident.
CHAMBER MEETING HELD
A nor standing committee has been
set up in the Homer Chamber of Commerce,
Named the Economic Committee, its mem
bers rill look into all of the phases
of the economic nelfare of the commun
ity. Members are: Carl 3aier, Leo
Rhode, Merrill Hatcher, Russell Cronin,
Clare Hiner, Jim Clemans, Jack Scott,
Bob Norman, Henning Johnson and Homer
Thompson.
Other business conducted at the Mon
day meeting included a brief discussion
on the possibility that the Chamber
might recommend abolishment or changes
in the 1953 Land Registration Act* The
matter r;as referred to the legislative
committee along tlth a suggestion that
(Cent., on Page 2, Coi> ij