4
50*r/
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10 Cents Per Copy
¥o3. 5 No. 8
"Where The Trail Lnds Ana The Sea Pe^ins"
July 2£ 1954
GHAMBER -MEET
Pill Wallace, publisher of The Mile”
post, and sgt*er Ilcucr resident, Monday
told tbs Cbaxber of Ce©©erce that
the future of Hoirer 1 ay v i th the touri st
trade. The. uuch traveled publisher
said that in his opinion Ho©er was des
tined to beocos a resort cocoaunity for
three reasons. The reasons he gave
were:,
1. It is accessible to a population
center. The road cotrrission, he said,
had been given the green light to black
top the Sterling Highway in the next
three years if funds are available.
2. The scenery st Hooer is what the
tourist wants to see. The glaciers in
their recote and wilderness setting
appeal to the tourists, .he said.
2. Hotter, ne stated, has the best
cli©ate in Alaska. It is temperate and
ideally suited for a resort area.
Mr. Wallace said that the area need
ed ©ore .publicity and suggested that in
all publicity where the famous Alaskan
**?illikin" was used an explanatory note
be ©ade on such publicity giving a bit
of the history of the native good lack
sytrbol.
In regard to the Alcan highway, which
was the train subject of his short talk,
Wallace said that traffic over the high
way had fallen off about 27 percent so
far this year. Two reasons for this
falling off in the traffic were given
by the speaker. He said that a full-page
advertise©ent in the Saturday Evening
Post featuring Atlas tires saying that
the Alcan was"extremely rough and very
hard on tires and an article in Collier's
©agaaine about trucking over the Alcan
have probably done ©ore than anything
to discourage traffic over the highway.
Concerning the magazine article and
advertisement, Wallace said that he had
written to the Atlas Tire company, and
after a considerable nu©ber of letters
had passed between hi©self, the Cham
bers of Commerce of towns along the
highway and the company, the tire people
agreed that there would be no ©ore ads
of that nature in national magazines.
He said that the Alcan highway was
in good condition, noting that spots
which in the past had been bad were now,
for the ©ost part* repaired.
At the conclusion of his speech Wal
lace was given a Hocer Booster button
by the Cha©ber.
UNDER ARREST
Carl GuUey, of Homer, former emp
loyee of the Bank of Homer, was arrested
yesterday and charged with embezzling
about $5,000 from the bank. The embez
zlement, according to Assistant IR S.
Attorney James Fitzgerald occurred in
or about the month of September, 1953.
Gulley was arraigned before Commis
sioner Gene King and waived a prelimi
nary hearing. His bail was set at $5,000
end he was taken to the federal jail in
Anchorage.
Fitzgerald stated that the bank was
insured' and that the embezzled funds
had been replaced.
Fitzgerald was accompanied to Homer
by the Chief Deputy IRS. Marshall James
Chenow^eth who made the arrest.
OLD SABER FOUND
An olj saber and scabbard, rusty with
age but still in fair condition caused
considerable consent in Horer this week.
George Miller was logging on the
Dorothy Steby place 11 riles out on the
East End road Tuesday afternoon when he
uncovered the relic of days gone by.
In checking the saber a symbol, believed
to be Russian, was found on the flat
side of the blade. This discovery at
first .led Miller and others to believe
that the sa^er was of Russian origin.
Further investigation, however, dis
closed that the nare "RATE" had teen
stamped on the thick edge of the saber
leading to speculation that it right
have belonged to an English naval offi
cer.
Alex Wright at the Heady hotel has
suggested that be right write to Eng
land in an endeavor to trace the owner
ship of the old lost saber.
HEA POLE LINE
The pole crew working on the Horer
Clar Gulch power line reached Anchor
Point this week and returned to the
eight-rile point on the line and star
ted working back toward Horer.
The work, according to Jiggs Tice,
-HbA ranager, is coring-along on sched
ule. A wire crew, he said, would be
placed on the Horer”Anchor Point section
of the line as soon as all of the poles
are in. This is expected to be cor
pleted in a week.
Actual energizing of the line will
depend on the date of arrival of sub
station transformers. They have been
ordered and ray core up on the next boat
expected to dock in Horer about Aug. 13.
Tice rerinded the folks along the
new line that now is the tire to put the
wiring in their bores. He noted that
in March of 1951 about 90 people in the
Horer area were "screaring for electri
city," yet when the line here was ener
gized only four people had wiring in
their hores.
PUD NEWS NOTES
1 Homer Thompson, PUD manager, announ
ced this week that the delinquent date
for the 1953 taxes has teen extended
from September 1 to October 15, 1954.
The extension of time was made because
of the length of time necessary to get
the tax statements in the mail.
The PUD, he said, has received a let
ter from Ld Crittenden, architect for
the Hospi ta.1-Health Center, stating
that he had informed the Alaska Public
Works that he would present specifica
tions and drawings of the Center for
their approval on August 5. 1/r. Crit
tenden estimated that within two weeks
of the above date, the APW would prob*
ably issue the call for bids which
f*ould take approximately one month to
complete. Award of contract would pro
bably be made shortly thereafter.
The quit title suit concerning the
land upon which the Center is to be
built has received favorable action,
Thompson stated.
j nc vvai a ui & vi wic
rui./
found themselves deep in dock troubles
J/onday night when dock maneger Hugh Wat"’
son gave them 30-days notice that at
the end of that time he would start
working eight hours per day> 40 hours
per week, at the rate of $2.50 per hour
He has been working on a flat *$500 per
month salary and has placed himself on
call at all hours,
Reason for the dock managers deci
sion was the request by the longshore
men’s union, local 38-172, that in the
future the PHD live up to its agreement
with the union and that longshoremen be
caHed to tie up and release all tankers
calling at Homer- Watson has objected
to this, saying that it is not necessary
to pay four men four to six hours wages
to do a job which he said would take
two men only 20 to 30 minutes to do.
Further, ne said that it is not always
possible to call the longshoremen be
cause he often does not know the, hour
that the tankers will arrive. He ad
mitted, however, that the last two tan
kers have come into the dock very close
to their appointed time and that efforts
are being made to schedule hours of ar
rival for the tankers that will be
maintained.
After a study of the PHD-Pnion con
tract, the directors informed the dock
foreman that he would call the long
shoremen for all tankers and that they
would serve the union notice that they
wished to renegotiate the contract.
The union has 60 days to meet with the
board concerning any possible changes
in the contract.
Homer High, business agent for the
union, represented the union at the
board meeting and stated that the union
would be glad to meet with the board to
discuss the contract which dates back
to 1952,
It was suggested daring the discuss”
si on that a complete study of wharfage
charges be trade. It is telieved that
sotre types of cargo are being charged
too little while others pay too truch.
Mrs. Wilkinson of the hand pack can*
nery on the Spit, was present at the
treating and inquired why the union had
not been tying up the tankers in the
past and why, all of a sudden, they were
showing interest in their. The question
was not answered. She further stated
that the land tie~up peg for the ships
was on her property, although no per*
mission had been given the Road Commie*
sion to put it there. Further, she
said that she would allow no other dock
manager than Hugh Watson to live on her
place.
Mrs. Wilkinson also complained that
crab shells frotr .Alaska Fresh cannery
were fouling the beach. Shells were,
she said, being dumped at low tide al*
lowing them to come back on the beach.
Dick Heltiner of Alaska Fresh said that
he would give instructions that shells
be dumped only at the proper tide times.
He also said that so far as he knew only
shells were being dumped from his truck
off the dock. It had been stated at an
earlier meeting that old pieces of
hardware were seen leaving the truck
along with the crab shells."