MERRY CHRISTMAS
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Pena Nena Henash The Land Sneaks I C
Aleut I ~—V'1-" *t —THl
Unungang Toonooktakuk The Aleuts Sneak j
Vol. 1, No. 6 M .
- -. Monday, Dec. 17, 1962 _ . . , ...
— -— ——— -__ Fairbanks, Alaska
CHRISTMAS INDUSTRY
POSSIBLE
Judge Rules
‘Santa Claus’
Belongs to World
By Thomas Snapp
Times Staff Writer
It was April 17. 1953. The atmos
phere was tense as federal court
commenced its afternoon session in
Fairbanks. Alaska.
A large number of local interested
citizens had gathered in the court
room, to hear the special court case.
A Fairbanks man, Robert Lee
Chesser, had petitioned the court to
legally change his name to Santa
Claus.
Judge Harry E. Pratt pounded
the gavel and the case began. Judge
Pratt asked if there was an objec
tion to his granting the man’s re
quest. Four people stood up and
one by one was heard.
First Protest
Mrs. Ethel Granite was the first
to protest.
“The name belongs to children,” .
she said, “And I don't think any one |
individual should be allowed to have
that name.”
Chesser who was horn in Now- :
burgh, New York, on April 25. 1912.
(Continued on Page 3)
DON’T FORGET I'S—Two little Eskimo girls, Shirley Pete, 5. and her sister, Alvina, 3, promise Santa
at North Pole, Alaska, that they’ll he good and ask him to be sure to stop at their house before de
parting on his annual spare trip around the world on Christmas eve. —Staff Photo.
Needs Capital
For Expansion
Jobs, Backhaul
May Result
A small Fairbanks corporation
has launched the Christmas tree
business in Alaska which it hopes
will eventually skyrocket into a
booming industry providing jobs
for residents and backhaul for com
mon carriers.
The corporation, Alaska Arctic
Resources, Inc. is exhibiting and
selling in Fairbanks several hund
red black spruce trees, each laden
with houndreds of cones.
According to FXan R. Ficwley,
principal stockholder in the cor
poration, the present pilot program
is for the purpose of proving that
with capital and operation can be
expanded on a large scale.
Big Potential
According to Fred Waldhaus, .
Chief, Branch of Range and Forest
ry, U, S. Bureau of band Manage
ment, here there is a “tremendous
(Continued on Page G)
Editorial
Christmas Observance
During the holidays, we, of the Tundra Times, wish
to extend sincere good wishes to all the natives in Alaska
and many, many new friends we have acquired all over
the United States, since we first published on Oclober 1,
this year.
The observance of Christmas was adopted by the na
tives of Alaska with deep reverence. They have found in
it a great boon to spiritual uplifting. Above everything
else civilization has had to offer, the natives have em
braced Christmas with all the Christian feeling it deserves.
In some native communities it has replaced a custom that
was observed annually around the same time of the year.
In the ancient times, people of the Arctic held festivi
ties that roughly corresponded with that of Christmas, the
festival of the Return of the Sun.
As they do now for the observance of Christmas, the
people of ancient times made elaborate preparations for
the return of the sun. Women fashioned garments of ex
quisite beauty for their family's wear; men made additional
efforts in pursuit of game, such as caribou, to fill the larder
for the feast.
(Continued on Page 2)
Motive Named f@
MEMBER OF FISH AND GAME BOARD—Frank Degnan, mayor of
Unalakleet, was appointed on December 3 to fill an unexpired term
on the tSate Fish and Game Board. Degnan is also the Wien Alaska
Airlines station agent at Unalakleet.—Staff Photo
Frank A. Degnan. mayor of Una
lakleet and delegate to the recent
Inupiat Paitot meeting at Kotze
bue, was appointed by Governor
William A. Egan on December 3 a
member of the Alaska Board of
Fish and Game.
'I have leng been interested in
fish and game because they are so
important to our people. I can as
sure you that as a member of the
board I will do everything I can to
see that fair laws are passed,”
Degnan said Thursday in Fairbanks.
Degnan participated in the meet
ing of the fish and game board re
cently in Gordcva, one of the short
est sessions it has had thus far
primarily for financial reasons.
He succeeds Dale B. Friemering,
who recently resigned membership
on the board after moving from
Unalakleet to Anchorage. His term
will expire on January 31. I960.
At the meeting the board approv
ed regulations reducing the herring
industry in Southeast Alaska and
increasing the yearly beaver limit
in certain areas.
(Continued on Page 7)