Vol- 5 .K'o. 10
;flOMER * ALASKA
re The Trail Ends And The Pea Begins"
__'August 12, 1954
"fttttSkA ri/srmc*,,
A* ^ <L fiJ'/SS'fA)
‘^UMsr/M
10 Cents Per Copy
WATSON RESIGNATION REFUSED BY BOARD MONDAY
CHAMBER MEET
8 bare ouorun was present * at the
Shatter of Conor eree nee ting Monday to
iiseuss community problea s
Coring under discussion again was
the possibility of getting soore type of
^sreureion boat to ply the Pay for the
tourist*. Ethel Scott stated that she
had received a reouest for a boat to
carry about 20 tlmendorf women on a
tour of the Pay. 8 similar number of
girl* fror the Air Force Pase toot? a
tour atout two weeks ago in the Alaska
Fresh boat and apparently there are
tore girls wanting to ma«<e the trip.
It was suggested that fl3ex Flyua be
contacted to see-if his boat might, be
available for such trips.
The possibility of stocking Peluga
Lake wi,th sore variety of game fish was
also discussed with no decision of the
topic being made
President Voyer stated that he would
appoint a greeting committee to offici~
ally greet Archer Nelson* RE.a admini
strator, when he arrives in Homer next
peek.
DAVISES LEAVING
Pastor Dale Davis will be ta^ng.
leave of bis work at the Grace baptist
church this Sunday. He and his family
i»ill .return to the states t'or eight or
nine months of deputation ministry and’
plan to return to Homer in the late
Spring of next year.
In the states the Davises will cake
their headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio,
hut will be attending missionary con
ferences along the Last coast, in the
Southern states and in the Midwest. .
In the absence of Pastor Davis, Pas
tor Paul Aeioer will carry on the mini
stry of the Grace Paptist church- The
teicers have been in Homer for the past
several weeks acquainting thee selves .
with the community and the work which '
they will do.
CAP BUSY
The Civil Air Patrol plane has been
«ept busy this week with three mercy
flights the first three days of the
week.
Monday, Reuben Lee was called to fly
Mrs. Russell to^the hospital in Anchor
age*.''. After arriving in Anc,borage.Lee
found that he was "weathered in!* / and
had to wait until Tuesday mofning to
return to Homer.
Tuesday afternoon Pob Ldlund flew
Lesley Henry, P9, to Ancnorage and the
hospital. Like Lee, Edlurid found-y that
he could not return to his home bVse and
waited until Wednesday morning before
making the trip back here.
0n~Wednesday afternoon Gene Lawrence
took the CAP plane to Anchorage with
Dempsey Deitz, 2P, as apassenger.
All of the ^passengers were, of
course, emergency hospital cases;
CONTRACT OK'D
Jiggs Tice announced this week that
he had received a five-year contract
from the district engineers .covering
the land that he bad donated to the Ar
my for a restjCamp. The contract, he
said, nas signed and returned.
POOR POKER '
tDI70H!«L
' Probably the best prerequisites of a
good porter player ar^ that he have a
cool head and a straight face.
These attributes are also handy, in
everyday life and it grieved us deeply
to see the president of the PUD board
of directors. Bob Kranich, display a
lacrt of these attributes at the PUD"
meeting Monday night. He left no doubt t.
in our tr-ind that he i s on the side.of.
the dock oranagdr in the present contro
versy concerning the docrt and the long~;
shoreiren. He also left no doubt in our
irdnd that as far as he was concerned
the long shoreiren's Local 38-172 will
■ have toireet his terirs when negotiations
are opened next Monday night"for a ne^.
contract between the union and the
have no doubt that the .presidCTi/v
of the bc/ard. is sincere in his desire
to see the Hoirer docrt run as efficiently
as possible and as inexpensively ag pos'f,?
si tie. We t-binrt that his method * ofr
approach is*wrong and that if continued
the end result will be trouble for the
whole cotfcundty.
In the first place the president of
the board' seems to go along with others
in the community who feel that the pre~
sent dock-trouble, which has caused the
ftanager to hand in his resignation,
stairs; frbm\a so-called union'agitator
who felt 'it was "time to stir, up a
stink-1';
We disagree with this groups From
sources.which we feel to be reliable we
have learned that the present controver
sy has grown out of a simple discussion
-between two union men, neither of whom
could be called an agitator, concerning
whether or..not the union had a contract
with the %>$UD .to longshore all ships
tying up/t the\Hdmer dock.
However it took more than a simple
conversation to irake the present situa
tion. The alleged agitator, as we un
derstand it, does not belong to /he
union and did not enter into the con~
versation between the two union men
mentioned above-f fte believe that the
g-loup of peopleiwbose thinking is rep
resented by the president of the board
have siesed upon this unfortunate
' statement by a man who is POT ’8 union
member and' .given it a prominence of
which it is; unworthy
There'is in every,group a man or men
f*ho are willing, at the drop of a hat,
to defend'*the honor of the. group. We
are sure that there are longshorecen in
Local 38-172 whOjprobably would^ witb~
out too much thought, sftiuftf themselves
hoarse against the wind for what they
believe-to be right. They are like the
presidentKof the board, they have an
opinio^ and that's that. ^
We believ$ that the officers ofHsoQT:
al 38-1*72 are’ sensible. men who want,
just as much as does the president of
the board, to see the Homer dock run
efficiently and inexpensively. They
have, publicly stated^that they are wil
ling to negotiate their contract and
have indicated that they would be fill
ing to c’Ut down the tanker longshore
crew from four to three men and perhaps
make other concessions. They have
guaranteed,to furnish men when called
to work at the dock. In other words,
jhe PUD board of directors'- Monday
night rejected the resignation of dock
manager Hugh ftatson and made plans to
meet'with the longshoreiren's union of”
facials next Monday night, if possible,
to discuss the lengshoring contract be”
lieved to be in effect between the
union and the PUD.
President Kranich of the .board left
• no doubt; where he stood in regard to
the contract when he stated that he felt
that the board had acted too hastily at
their last meeting in agreeing with the ^
union officials about the contract. At
the last meeting the'board passed a mo-*
tion directing the dock manager to call "
loggshoremen to tie up and to untie
• tamkers whenever possible. They stated
that* i t-wasr. their understanding that
t>h* 1952 agreerrent between the union
‘-and the PUD was still in force thus
giving their no choice but to use long”
shoremen. Kraniep ther) instructed PUD
Manager Homer Thompson to get the costs
ojt. longshoring aiT tankers , for the past
year and to-figure the average eo'st for
longshorigg' said ships,./ • indicated
that this average cost'\woul£Mjl e a i^asis
for negotiating with the union, on -a new
Neontract. <
Other business conducted by the
board iricludi^d the passing of a notion
indicating that the PUD 'would stand
certain costs- in the construction of an
,Arcory-Civic Center building for Homer.
iThe Hatiohal Guard has asked for an
immediate- answer as to whether the PUD
could pay-for half of the engineering
costs, provide the ground, utilities,
an access road, put in hardwood floors
and bleachers for the proposed building.
It was.estimated that all of the above
mentioned item-s wotlld reach about
$12,000. The agreement to pay these
costs was contingent upon the possibili ty '
that the.„territory would allow the PUD
to pay their spare of the construction
cost of the building, an estimated*
$25,000, on an installment plan basis.
Ph the third major piece of legis”
lation .of the evening the board passed
a motion halting all dumping off the
Hotrer dock. They had been allowing the
Alaska Fresh cannery to dump crab shells
and waste off the dock.
FOUNEX GUILTY
Harold Bobbin, Last Lnd homesteader,
was fined $50 Tuesday afternoon by Com"
missioner Gene King after he had been
found guilty of shooting a dog belong"
ing to George Fowler. The dog, a reg"
istewed Beagle,was shot about two weeks
ago causing the owner to sign a com"
plaint.
a-s we see it, it has been, the union
that has held its head and kept a
straight face. Perhaps they learned to
play the game at a different school than
president of the board of the PUD.
It isn’t>vestey' tp‘ play the game straight
when people on the sidelines are call"
ing your team "agitators” and "commu"
nists" and many other names not fit for
pri nt.
We hope, as we, said last week, that
the dock manager stays on -the job. He
is a good, hardworking man. But there
is no reason to vilify the union so
that he can keep the job. It isn’t
necessary and it is sure to break down
our community spirit and respect.