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VOL. 19 NO. 1 __KODIAK, ALASKA, JANUARY 10, 1959 FEK* 10 CENTS
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Eisenhower Signs. Statehood for Alaska a Reality
Fishermen Oppose August 7 Closure
As Proposed by Fisheries Bureau
The August 7 closure for fish
ing as proposed by the Fish and
Wildlife Service in this area was
generally opposed by fishermen
ettending the fisheries hearing
held here Tuesday evening. The
meeting was held in the Federal
courtroom and was attended by
an overflow crowd. Howard Baltzo,
Assistant Regional Director of the
Bureau of Commercial Fisheries,
presided.
I Several speakers urged the con
tinuation of the August 13 closure
date. Main argument voiced was
that they would be unable to take
advantage of a late run of fish,
should there be one. “The field
representative can close the sea
son as hf. sees fit, anyway—so
what’s the advantage?” This argu
ment was given by Lloyd Swan,
“Tiny” Cichoski and others. The
speakers voiced the sentiment that
once the proposed closure date is
in the regulations, it would take
an act Of Congress to change it.
The fishermen did, however,
favor a tnid^eason closure, which
they said was advantageous to
future fishing.
Pete 01*0h, & fisherman, oppos
ed the closure of Cordova to fish
ing this year. He said it would
bring many boats from that area
to Kodiak. Baltzo countered by
stating that the fishermen would
be moving Out of the Cordova area
im any case this year, since n xfish
is anticipated. He said most of
them would go to the Copper River
area.
Area licensing, which has been
“Statehood” First
Of 10 Top Stories
Top Alaska news story for 1958
was the passage of the statehood
bill. At 8 o’clock on the night of
Monday, June 30. the United States
Senate in Washington voted 64-20
for passage of the Alaska State
hood bill.
It was midaftemoon in Alaska
when the bill was passed, and
joyous celebrations erupted
throughout the territory.
This event was voted the num
ber one news story of 1958 in
Alaska by the editors of the various
daily and weekly newspapers and
radio news directors, throughout
the new state, in the third annual
Associated Press poll.
Events surrounding House and
Senate approval of the statehood
bill dominated this years ballot
ing in the annual poll.
The political developments that
occupied Alaskans in the wake of
the congressional action were in
volved in half of the news stories
that finished among the top 20 in
the tabulations.
Only one of the ballots cast
failed to place the congressional
. approval of statehood at the head
(C«*tb«lt4 a* I)
a regulation the past several years,
came in for criticism by those
present. Many wanted it abolish
r Dyson cl d it . great
guessing game. “Yon have to be a
good guesser to coin? out ahead
with such a regulation.” he stated.
“I’m not a good guesser.” He
thought a fisherman with poor
luck in one area should be able to
move on to better fishing grounds.
Baltzo stated in reply that the area
licensing hadn’t proved successful*
but it was planned to leave it in
the regulations during the 1959
season.
Cichoski stated he thought gear
should be limited. Baltzo replied
that his department was unable to
regulate amount of gear. “We are
(Continued on Page 2)
Anchorage Hotel
DeSw/cyed by Fire
Anchorage UP. Flames that roared
out of control for more than two
hours in zero weather destroyed a
two-story hotel in downtown
. i Thursday.
Wa rued to ice as every
avails! city1 fire fighting unit
and firr ontrol teams f^om near
by m li lt ary bases battled the
blaze Several business establish
ments, night club, bar and restau
ant in the hotel building was ap
parently destroyed. No estimate
of the damage was immediately
available.
Some nearby stores and busi
nesses vacated but flames were
confined to the hotel building.
The cause was not, immediately
determined;
To Filn Kiag Crab Fishiag Industry
The “Go Ahead “ signal was
given to the proposed filming of
the king crab industry and opera
tion, at the meeting of the Cham
ber of Commerce Tuesday.
Chamber members voted to
underwrite the filming, which
w ill cost approximately $2200. Ap
proximately $1700 has already
been raised. Additional solicita
tions w ill be made from business
men and firms directly benefittiog
from k;ng crab processing.
The actual filming will be done
by a professional photographer, in
conjunction with the Alaska De
partment of Fish and Game. Film
ing will take place at the fishing
grounds and in the various pro
cessing plants.
Roy Rickey, agent here for the
department, has been working
several months in an effort to
raise the necessary funds. Suf
ficient funds were not forth
coming, hence the Chambers move
to underwrite the project. Actual
filming will take place during this
years fishing season.
In other business to come before
the Chamber, plans are underfoot
to have a reporting service on
meetings of the State legislature,
which would include actions taken
and proposed bills. The board of
directors in a meeting Monday
Egai Reeoveriig
Juneau UH. Gov. William A. Egan
was reported Thursday as making
a rapid recovery from a four-hour
gall-bladder operation which he
underwent Tuesday.
Doctors said Egan’s tempera
ture was reported normal on
Thursday.
The statement issued by Egan’s
doctors said extensive laboratory;
and X-ray examinations had shown
the governor to be suffering from
obstructive jaundice, caused by a
solitary stone of the common bite
duct with chronic inflamation of
the gall bladder and bile passages
will take action to implement the
. -'<* i ' •• W * i, V* i.\ ,
service.
A report was given oh an earlier
action to have king crab stickers
printed publicizing Kodiak as the
king crab capital of the world,.
The group authorized the printing
of the labels..
Harry Shuhart was a guest at the
meeting.
Owaers of Dogs
Waned by Police
Chief of Police Roland Vickery
issued a warning this week to all
dog owners that a drive is now in
force to destroy all dogs running
loose without tags.
Numerous complaints have been
received by the department of
packs of dogs running loose, es
pecially in the Mission Road area.
These dogs could have caused a
lot of trouble, the Chief stated,
had they gotten out of control.
“We are going to enforce the
ordinance which clearly states that
regardless of the fact that a dog
has a license or not, it must be
tied up all times, or on a leash,
and under control of the owner,”
the Chief said. “We cannot have
any child hurt by a pack of dogs.”
The dog catcher has been in
structed to shoot all strays running
loose that do not have tags on
them. The owners of dogs with
tags that are running loose will be
notified, and warned. On the
second apprehension of the dog,
the owner will be brought to
court.
Vickery also warned especially
that female dogs in heat should
not be allowed to roam as this
causes the most trouble. “It is my
last resort .to&hoot a dog,” he said,
“because I like them as well as
epyone. But we have no other al
ternative than to dlstfoy all dogs
running k*se and causing a nu4
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New Flag Design;
Seat Delegation
President Eisenhower proclaim
ed statehood for the vast territory
of Alaska, Saturday,‘January 3.
In a separate act, Eisenhower
the esign of the national
ag to provide for the 49th state,
e iuw hag becomes official next
July 4, and will have seven stag
gered rows of seven stars each.
The present flag has six rows of
eight stars each.
The signing of the proclamation
took place in a brief historic cere
mony starting at noon EST, in the
White House cabinet room. Feder
al and Alaska officials watched
the drama unfold.' Eisenhower
signed the one page proclamation
saying the requirements imposed
by Congress entitling; Alaska ad
mission to the Union were compli
ed with in all respects. " r~v
The proclamation said the ad*
mission of the state of Alaska in
to the Union on equal footing with
other states in the Union is now
accomplished.
BARTLSTT SENIOR SENATOR
• Sen. E. L. Bartlett won the dis
tinction of being called Alaska’s
senior senator.
^ Sen. Ernest Gruening won the
right to draw first on Wednesday
to determine the length of their
Senate terms. The question was
decided at coin flipping ceremoriy
in Sen. Gruening’s office after
Senate officials left the decisions
to them. Decided first was which
senator would draw first in the
following days ceremony. Bartlett,
who called first toss, said heads.
It came up tails. Gruening then
called the flip to determine who
would be called senior senator.
Again the call was heads, but it
came up tails.
The coin used was a 1923 silver
dollar. The drawing was done by
Frank W. Vaille, AP correspon
dent for Alaska.
VOTING DELEGATION SEATED
Alaska gained full voice in
national affairs with the seating
of its first voting delegation to
congress. Senators Bartlett and
Gruening took oaths of office
simultaneously at 12:39 p.m., EST,
Tuesday, as other senators stood
and applauded. Rep. Rivers be
came a member of the House.
Then in drawing of slips of
paper to decide the length of the
terms, Sen Gruening drew first
and won a term of four years,
ending Jan. 2, 1963; Sen. Bartlett
drew second and won a term of
two years ending Jan. 2, 1961.
Inauguration Date
Postponed Again
Inauguration ceremonies for
Gov. William Egan have been post
poned to a later date.
Originally scheduled for January
17, the date now is February 1, .
according to,word received here.
The change in date is due to the .
illness of Gov.-Egan.-V
Along The
Waterfront
The fishery hearing held here
Tuesday evening brought a
visitors connected with the can*
ning industry, as well as a few
fishermen from around the island
Among those in town were Vera
Hilliker, Superintendent at the
Alaska Packers: Pete Marink©
vich, assistant Superinten4ent
Alaska Packers; Wayne Axelson. .
Pacific American; Chuck Turner
Kadiak Fisheries; Bob Springhiii,
Libby’s cannery at Moser Bay
and Eric Bulmer, Superintendent
of the Ouzinkie Packing Co. ;
Some of the fishermen from ourf
of town, Out by no means all' of
them at the hearing, were Lloyd
Swan, Alex Brown and Jacob L&k~ *
tonen, the latter two from Kar>*k. •
Verne Hilliker stated his com
pany is -going to install four
shrimp peelers at Larsen’s Bay
Work may begin in April.
Pat Cannon and Tiny Cicho«kI
were apparently “gunning” for a
certain stream guard they have
run into for the past two seasons.
The guard, from their accOtfats*
had a nasty habit of sighting in
his scope equipped rifle with the
barrel pointed their way. It can
readily be seen how disconcerting
this would be. They said . he bad
several other bad habits, one of
which was playing favorite among
the fishermen, - and moving the
marker in order to give certain
ones an advantage.
FWS officials, of course, were
receptive to their suggestions that
the man not appear on that partic
ular bay next fishing season.
It was also brought out at the
hearing that the Canadian Fraser
River red salmon run was not af
fected. by the Japanese. The pink
salmon originating in the Kodiak
area apparently are not believed
caught by the Japanese.
The majority of the fishermen
did not favor changing the closing
date of August 13, but did set
seem to particularly object to an
earlier closure if condition war
rants.
There was complete silence on
the subject of traps.
• X
Elsewhere, they are not so
silent. Sec.-Treas. George Johan
sen of the Alaska Fishermen's
Union called Thursday for a
“period of orderly transition” in
abolishing of fish traps in Alaska
waters.
He estimated between 1,500 and
2,000 union members were involv
ed in work from pile driving to "
trap watchmen who Would he af
fected. ‘‘To arbitrarily-throwthese r;,
men out df work Without giving
them time tdlook for other jdUk
is not right,” Johansen said*.-He *
fi3»d he did -not think fishtreos r
were harmful to salmon conserva
tion.
* (Continued to 12)