Dal
Home-Owned Newspaper
volume xvi
and The ARROWHEAD PRESS
Member of The Associated Press
Wednesday, October 26. 1955
10c a Copy
" NUMBER 224
Mayor makes appointments
at session held last evening
City engineer hired
along with other
city officials
Appointment of present city
officials to continue in office
and oif Standing city council
committees was confirmed at
last evening’s session of the
city fathers with all present i
except Cecil McClain and
George Eliason.
COUNCIL APPROVED
Financing of a power shovel
iby authorizinlg the mayor to!
•borrow up to $14,000 on a 30
months contract at 4% inter-j
esit from the First Bank of|
Sitka. Resolution' 103 covering
this action was carried.
Hiring of Edward: L. Grif
fin of Anchorage to fill the
position olf city engineer. j
Setting of a sessdion to pro-'
ceed With codification of city;
ordinances on Tuesday, Nov. 1
A meeting with Elmer Gag
aon of the Alaska Housing*
Authority and federal hows-1
ing officials on Tuesday Nov- ‘
eniber 8 at 8 p. m. Regular,
council meeting will convene j
at 7 p. m. that evening. The ]
planning council and other in-'
terested citizens will join the |
council one hour later.
Request to the Civil Defense;
director that he continue to |
try to Obtain a surplus station
wagon (which cojfld he con
verted to an ambulance) or a
passenger car for use at the
Sitka Community Hospital, in
asmuch as an ambulance has
V eotchcombing
• If the hunters brought
an all the deer they tel'l their
wives they are goinig to get —
they would have to do their
hunting in a Seattle or Anchor
age nighitdulb.
_l_l_
• One of the most colorful
and progressive men to ever
live in Southeastern Alaska —
Hard Obmar of Petersburg —
passed awtay todiay. He made
thlat “little birt of Norway” the
Shrimp oaipitdl' of the west
coast and was airway promoting
something for Ms city and the
first division.
-I-I
• There Was a man who was
called “Bet a MiOjlion Gates”
— Sitka’s city government
needs someone to be a “Get a
Million” and then they would
be in position to do the things
so many people want them to
accomplish “right away.”
—I—I—
• I’m beginning to wonder—
now that the rains have stopped
(we hope) if Sitka will ever
have football!.
• I’ve been informed that the
Rotary minstrals will have as
high as 16 endimen if they can
find them. Sixteen ends to a
line? Sounds like a rope to me.
not become available surplus.
Appointments to city posi
tions as follows: Chief of po
lice, Burton E. Doucette; city
Clerk. Margaret Fedoroff; fire
chief and assistant chief, Art
Franklin and Tony Herman;
magistrate. D. R. Doyle; health
officer, Dr. W. C. Charteris;
attorney. W. C. Christianson.
COUNCIL CONSIDERED:
Change order on the hot
Water system feed and return
lines, as requested by the
school board; however, esti
mates of cost were not yet a
vailable, so no action taken.
Safety switches at the hos
pital. but postponed action un
til cost estimate received from
architect Linn Forrest.
Letter from the Alaska Na
tional Guard regarding the
cost oif repair to the roof of
the armory. Of the cost of
$1200, the ANG has but $600
availble for repairs. Roofing
tar which the city received in
ordering road tar may be made
available at cost for this work
No other action was taken.
Suggestion of Neill Ander
sen that traveling and other
incidental expences of the
mayor be included in the bud
get.
Mayor’s conference to be
held here tentatively Dec. 1. 2
and 3. Frank Calvin, Neill An
dersen, Everitt Calhoun and
George Eiiason were named
to a committee on arrange
ments.
Report of Ben Rigling that
one property owner near the
[ (continued on page three)
20 per cent sales
tax hike ordered
in Great Britain
LONDON (/P) Chancellor of
the exchequer R. A. Butler,
today ordered a 20 per cent in
crease in purchase (sales) tax
to cunlb Britain's home spending
and force more of her goods
into overseas mJarkets.
The chancellor ordered the in
crease in an emergency autumn
i budget he presented to the
| house of commons.
He also called for a sharp
hold down on local and nation
al spending.
Consumers have been paying
purchase tax on a wide range
, of goods at the rates of 25, 50
| and 75 per cent of the retail
price. The new rates will be 30,
60 and 90 per cent.
Butler gave a detailed picture
of a free spending British ec
onomy that is beginning to get
out of hand. Citing prosperity
at home he gave these examples
| Production is running 5 to 6
i per cent ahead of last year,
j Employment offices now list
j two vacancies for jobs for ev
, ery unemployed person in the
i country.
j Weekly wage rates rose five
points between December and
March, a further 3 points be
tween March and June and
since had gone up stiil another
point. ;
I
Chances for votes!
HENDERSON. Ky. (/P) A
new giveaway program makes
iits debut at the polls Nov. 8.
Each voter here and in Hen
derson county will receive a
ticket entitling the voter to a
chance on a 1956 automobile.
Spokesmen for both the Re
publican and Democratic par
ties approved the plan and
will work out details later.
They hope to get out more J
votes.
Earl N.Ohmer 73,
'Shrimp king/ '
dies at Petersburg
JUNEAU (/P) Earl Nicholas
Ohaner, chairman of the terri
torial game commission and one
of Alaska’s most prominent cit
izens, was found dead this
morning outside his home in
Petersburg, it was learned here
Ohmer, who owned and oper
ated the Alaska Glacier Sea
food company since shortly af
ter hiis arrivall in Alaska forty
years ago, was discovered lying
in a small! culvert near his home
shortly after eight o’colck this
morning.
He was to have been seventy
three years of age next month,
and is believed to hape succum
bed to a heart attack last even
ing as he was returning from
his office at the Alaska Glacier
Seafood company.
He was in the practice of
working late in the evening.
Ohmer’s body was discover
ed by Ed Cedergren, an official
of the Trading Union store in
Petersburg, on his way to work
this morning.
Ohm^r was tor over iwemy ,
years president of the Peters
burg chamber of commerce and
since 1935 has been chairman
of the territorial game commis
sion.
He served for eight years on
the Petersburg city council and •
three years as mayor. He also)
was chairman of the selective.
service board durihg World War ;
two.
He was one of the best known (
and colorful men in the terri-'
tory. j
Topsy-turvey
i weather reported
by The Associated Press j
Some of the nation’s weather
was a little topsy-turvy today,
It was near freezing in pants
of the south. Mild autumn wea
ther prevailed in the central
part o»f the country and the
i northern Rockies.
| Temperatures this morning
| dropped into the 30’s in inland
areas from Mississippi north
ward through the Carolina® and
into New England. The 34 de
gree reading at Jackson. Miss.,
wais one of the chilly spots. At
the same time i't was 66 degrees !
at Havre, Mont., near the Can
adian border.
Chattanooga, Tenn., and
Augusta. Ga.. each reported
reiadlinigs of 36. The coastal cit
ies were in the 40s, with a low
of 46 at Tallahassee. Fla. The
‘ 40 above at Charleston, S. C.,
was 20 degrees lower than yes
terday morning. It was radninig
! at Seattle.
President asks Russia match
U. S. desire for world peace
if new spirit is real
barriers will be
cleared away
DENVER (JP) President Ei
senhower today invited Soviet
Russia to match American con
ciliatory efforts at Geneva and
lay the groundwork for the
peace and progress “for which
the whole world longs.”
If the “new spirit” evidenced
at the “summit conference” at
Geneva three months ago is
real. Eisenhower said, the for
eign ministers will seek solu
tions for the reunification of
Germany and diear away other
barriers to peace at the four
Air force warns
new planes are not
flying saucers
by Elton C. Fay
WASHINGTON (JP) The air
force, busy for seven years try
ing* to scotch legends about fly
ing saucers, wants the public
to know those weird looking air
craft which folks will see soon
won’t be saucers.
They just look and act some
thing like ’em.
The air force last night issu
ed what has become a sort of
annual report on the flying
saucer situation, saying again
iit has found no evidence of fly
ing saucers.
But this time it attached to
the new and voluminous (316
page) report a statement by sec
rotary Donald A. Quarles. It
said some aircraft of novel
form are coming! along but
there wtill be nothing “supna
naturall or mysterious” about
them.
One will be me vermoai*-ris
ing, j empowered experimental
plane burilDt by Ruan Aeronaut
ical Carp. of. San Diego, Calif.
Quarles staid the craft wild fly
“in a miatlter of days.”
The plane described as the
first jet powered vertical-ris
ing plane, now is at Edwards
air force base, CalMf.. the test
center for jet aircraft. The
navy already has flown a simi'l
ar aircraft, the Convair VTO,
but this is powered with a con
ventional propeller.
Another strange plane, still
in the design stage, is being de
veloped by the Canadian firm
of Avro, Ltd., which has a con
tract with the U. S. air force.
This design, Quarles said, “cou
Id result in a diisc-shaped air
craft somewhat similar to the
popular concept of a flying
saucer.”
Avro officials have insisted
their product isn't a flying sau
cer. Gas exhaused through a
system of ducts would spin an
outer rim of the disc to propel
the aircraft vertically into the
air; the gas blast then would
be diverted from the dislk and
to the rear to provide forward
thrust, like any jet plane. ,
power conference opening to
morrow.
The president spoke out in a
statement issued from Mis sick
room on the eighth floor of
Pitzsiiimonis army hospital where
his progress toward recovery
from a heart attack was reflect
ed yesterday in the publication
of the first close-up photofera
phs since Ms seizure Sept. 24.
An eye-witness at the pict
ure taking on the hospital sun
deck said “you never would
guess from just the way the
president looks now that he
has h'ad a heart attack.”
Garnett D. Horner. Washing
ton (D.C.) Star reporter, ref ire
serttdng the combined press here
said the president’s cheeks
were “ruddy,- their flesh firm”
and thot his eyes sparkled. His
voice was strong, Horner re
ported, and “his manner is re
laxed but spry and chiiipper.”
The president voiced hope
Russia will respond in the same
“genuine spirit of conoiiliaition
and accommodation” to the pro
posals the United States mil
submit along with Great Brit
ain and France and with which
the Republic of West Germany
has been kept abreast.
“The world hopes.” the pre
sident said, that the conference
he attended at Gneva did, in
(continued on page four,,’
Agreement on
firemen's beds
ends ship tie-up
SANFRANCISCO (/P) Agree
ment on who should mlake the
beds for firemen on Pacific
ships East might cleared the way
for a contract between shdfpown
ers and the AFL Marine Fire
men’s union and an end to the
spreading ship tie-uip on the
Pacific coast.
Federal mediator George Hi'l
lenlbrand announced the settle
ment.
The Marine Cooks and Stew
ards, recently taken into the
AFL from independent status,
had announced they wouHd no
longer make beds for the fire
men, as they had done, said J.
Paul St. Sure, president of the
Pacific Maritime Asisn.
The firemen, refusing to work
j without a contract and to s%n
without bed-making provision,
had tied up 10 ships here.
Negotiating committees of
the Maritime association and
the firemen’s union were; soiled
uled to meet this morning for
j settlement of contract disputes
1 HiOTi'enibrand said the stewards
I would continue bed making,
- J
Marine forecast from Wed
nesday to Thursday.
Oultside waiters Dixon En
trance to Ytakurtiat variable wind
5 to 15 mph.
Partly cloudy with & fe^r
waddly scattered showers;