* THE KENaI PENINSULA PIONEER
(Formerly The Homer News)
Alaska’s Largest Mimeograph Weekly
Published every Monday at Horner^ Alaska
Bill Raver* Editor and Publisher
Dorothy Raver* Compositor
Subscription Rates:
1 year,*..,.^3.50
6 months•••••..... 2*00
3 months..«... 1.25
/
i \
VOTE' FOR 3
Tomorrow night at 8 o'clock the consumers of the Homer
Electric Association will gather for their annual meeting.
It is an important meeting and we urge all consumers to be
present to vote and to taKe part in the meeting.
For the first time an open campaign is being waged to
elect three candidates to the board of directors in the be
lief that new blood is badly needed on the board* The, qomer
Consumers Committee is asking that you vote for Jayne Bishop
of Ninilchik, Jim Calkins of Haner aid Ed Wilson of Anchor
Point. We urge that you follow their l&ad andesupport these
three men.
‘Two of the three men mentioned above were nominated by
the HEA nominating, committee. They were Wayne Bishop and
Jim Calkins. The third man was asked by the committee to run
after residents of Anchor Point assured committee members
that he wnuld be an asset to the board. He assented and his
name was placed on the list of candidates by petition. That
man was Ed Wilson.
In trying to decide the talents necessary to make a good
director for the HEA, the committee members felt that two
things were most important* They were independent.thinking
and experience. Having set forth these requirements, the
list of nominees by the HEA members was inspected. Two men,
and only two, stood out as qualifying. Wayne Bishop is very
highly respected as a man of independence. a man who will
hear the problem at hand and state freely his opinions. He
nas the ability to think for himself and not be swayed by
a lot of fancy talk by men from Outside, Jim Calkins is just
tne same type of man* Both men have worked hard with their
hands and their heads to make their way in this world* Jim
Calkins is probably the more experienced in the field of
electricity, having worked on utility construction jobs for
many years. They were.qualified to really represent the con
sumers of the HEA, the committee felt, a third candidate was
nee'ded, however. In order to get true representation for all
of the Western Kenai, the folks at Anchor Point were asked
who they thought might be a good man from their area. With
out hesitation they recommended Ed Wilson. He is a newcomer
to the area, having arrived in August. a talk with vVils#n
revealed that he had worked with his father who owned a pri
vate utility in Kansas, for mine years,, He also operated, a
power house in Alaska for one year. He is also a man.of in
dependent thought,
hone of these three candidates have committed themselves
to any particular policy, The^ are not beholden to the com
mittee for supporting their cesndidacy. They did not ask for
the committee's support.
we again urge you...if you want a Haner Electric Asso
ciation operated as a local business, for the good of all of
the consumers,- vote for these three candidates tomorrow night.
Q; L A , " ■-*:
We had hoped to bring to our jreaddrs answers to some
questions that have been bothering us for some time, but
alas, our batting average has been poor and we ca* only re
veal a prrt of the ansv^ers this week*
On Friday afternoon we v/ent into the HEA office to ask
four questions of Jiggs* Tice, HEA manager*. The questions
were as follows: (!) I would like to know the total of your
expense account last year* (2) I would like copies of , your
telephone bills f rtm both the Homer Telephone Company and
Kenai .Communications for the past year, (3) Is the HEA up
in Its principal and interest payments to HEA# (U) Has Mrs*
Green caught up with her books, :
To the first question concerning the expense account,
the manager allowed that if would take a lot of time to get
the information, and as they v/ere busy preparing reports for
the annual meeting he doubted if they could get to it'before
that time*
. io me secona question, tne same answer,..plus znem xatt
that the Homer Telephone Company provided services to the
VHF site which would not truly reflect the services to the
HEA.
To the third question about the principal and interest,
Tice said that the HEA was up on the payments, at this point
we asked Mrs. Green, the bookkeeper, if the manager's answer
was correct. She said nothing and the manager said nyou can
ask me the questions, you have no right to ask her anything,
she is the bookkeeper."
To the final question about Mrs. Green and the books,
the manager said that Mrs. Green nad caught up with ner books
and he stated that she had done a fine joiq during the past
year.
After answering, or not answering the questions, we ask
ed Tice if we coulo drop'around. Monday to get the total of
his exorase accorao and the copy of the telephone bills. He
then said that he v/ould have to bring the matter up to •< the
directors before he could release the information* i/ife re
minded the manager that HEA president Howard Myhill had stat
ed at a recent meeting thaj^/the records were always open to
inspection. To this Tice said that if Myhill told him to re
lease the information he' would.
After leaving the HEA office and the Happy company of
the manager, we went directly to the drug store and asked Mr.
Myhill if hrelease said information. He stated that
he could see no reason why it should not be released as we
were the only ones interested in, it. fe asked him to call
the manager and inform him of the decision and he assured us
he would. Me assume, he did. j I
We v/anted to know about the 'manager's expense account
simply because we think it dould be made public, vile dori*t
know whether it will run 41 or <jpl,000.
We wanted copies of the telephone bills because we think
that the manager is using the more expensive method of con
tacting out of town firms. It would be interesting to taiow
why he uses Kenai Communications to make the out of •own
calls instead of the Homer Telephone Co.
We wanted to know about the principal and interest pay
ments because we wondered if the iiEA was behind in payments.
We asked about Mrs. Green's books because Tice had told
the directors in December that on^ of the reasons Russell
Wade was in Hcmer was because Mrs, Green wassbehind in her
books. That was a lie. Mrs. Green 4 wa-S- no-i behind in her
books.
While we are at it we might * enlighten the directors fur
ther. Tice told them at the December meeting that the ACS
would be using 30 KW at the VHF site. While we: were in the
HEA office waiting for Tice to return, Bill Parkirson of the
Page Communications Co., and who is in charge of‘ the VHF
work for the ACS, came in. We asked him how mray KW's they
' woiDLd be using at the VHF site. He said 1$ at the most.
We think that the consumers* shbtild be told at the an
nual meeting just how much the manager did get last year in
expense money...over and above his salary,...Wc further think
that such a report should be signed by Mrs, Green...it is
obvious you can't trust the manager's v/ord. The consumers
should 'also be told hew many calls and the amount of the
telephone bills,,.by the month.
The time has come for honest answers and the place f#r
consumers to receive them is at the annual meeting.
KENitl MARSHAL LEAVES
Mr* Burl Parrot, Konai
Marshal, has taken a six
month leave of absence from
duty here and with his family
Mrs* Parrot, Jimmy, Phyllis,
and Shirley,plans to leave on
the 11th of February for Cen
tral and South America to
“look the situation over*”
They will drive out the Alas
ka Highway, visit a son, Bob,
and family in Idaho, spend
about a week in Oregon, their
former home, and then on
south* V/e*ve certainly en
joyed knowing them and know
that Konai will miss them*
They have promised to keep us
informed of the journey.'
RETURN FROM STATES
i.ir, and Mrs* Claire Hiner*
and family; Mr. and Mrs* Bob
lurking ton and family and Mr.
and Mrs* Jim Reynolds and
family all returned from the
States this week*__
i
| GIFTS MAGAZINES BOOKS
NOVELTIES YaRW
SOUVENIRS
\ vtGAS ART 6 GIFT SHOP'
|___ Homer___L I
TO attend convention signing
Mrs, Ruth Kilcher left
Homer Wednesday for Fairbanks
whgre she attended the sign
ing of the constitution for
the state of Alaska on Sunday.
Her husband, Yule, is the
delegate to the convention
from Horner*
DOCK!PILING ARRIVES
Floyd Hatfield delivered
one lo&d of the dock piling
* from Seward last week, A
broken universal joint forced
him to stop on the highway
for repairs,
HORSES STARVING IN HOMER
according to reports, sev
eral horses are wandering
along’ the East End Road and
;i are in a starving condition.
The ownership of the horses
•is not known,_
HOMER KENAI
REALTY
Listings on Good Acreage
n needed, I
. •* Star Route Box 562 1
L Spenard, Alaska___;
LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN
Listen to the uCMER RADIO STATION
this Friday night for a new program with
live local talent.
Linda Smith oT -.Hamer nigh school
will be on hand to spin a few records at
the request of her fellow students.
Linda can do just aoout as she
pleases with the 15 minute program^ so
tune in at 6:30 next Friday night and
enjoy nomer’s newest disk Jockey.
HOMER RADIO STATION 700 ON YOUR DIAL.