Library and Museum
Juneau
Anchorage, Kodiak and Other Towns
To Discuss Tustumena Scheduling
Mayor Pete Deveau indicated at
yesterday’s chamber of commerce
meeting that his deep affection for
the Kodiak ferry boat, Tustumena,
is perhaps more in the form of that
of a proud parent rather than of a
green-eyed swain.
Having kept a jealous watch over
the Tustumena and she has yet to
make her maiden volage — and
having kept a nervously wary eye
on Anchorage interests who have
been making advances, both open
ly and according to Deveau, covert
ly, towards the Tustumena, he in
dicated that he is beginning to be
lieve that the Anchorage overtures
are perhaps honorable after all.
Deveau revealed to the chamber
that the state has set up a tentative
schedule for the Tustumena which
provides for her services to be pro
vided for Anchorage as well as
Seward, Homer, Seldovia and Ko
diak. The tentative schedule pro
vides for twice-a-week trips from
Kodiak to Seward and once-a-week
trips to H#mer, Seldovia and Hom
er enroute to Kodiak.
Chamber President John Butler
read a letter from the Anchorage
chamber suggesting that the Kodi
ak chamber issue an invitation to
meet here to discuss the tentative
routing and schedule. The latter
expressed hopes of establishing
greater trade and commerce be
tween the mainland metropolis and
this island city. Presumably An
chorage will offer these as a dowry.
A motion was made by Dr. Bob
Johnson to issue an invitation to
Anchorage and other interested
communities for such a meeting.
In the mood of a perhaps out
raged but resigned parent faced
with a shotgun wedding and unde
sirable inlaws, Mayor Deveau stat
ed stoicly, "I have been advised of
the tentative schedule for our Tus
tumena and believe we can sit down
with Anchorage and work this
thing out to our mutual benefit."
In a hushed voice he said, “Tus
tuinena will be expecting ... de
livery in less than six months, and
we simply cant afford to argue
abqut this any longer without se
rious embarrassment for everyone
involved."
Sam Pettikoff
Presumed Dead
The body of Sam Pettikoff, who
disappeared while duck hunting
alone in a skiff in the Port Williams
area on Nov. 11 has not yet been
recovered according to reports.
Pettikoff, 52, was heard firing his
shotgun just prior to his skiff being
discovered circling in the water
with the outboard motor still run
ning. His watchcap was found float
ing still relatively dry indicating
he had fallen into the water only
minute before. Drag were made in
the area but he was never found.
He is survived by his sister, Lucy
Lekanoff, of Kodiak.
Next Mirror
Last Issue
This Year!
The next issue of the Mirror, our
Christmas greetings issue, will be
the last one until Jan. 3,1964. The
Mirror staff will take its annual
one-week vacation during Christ
mas week. Those wishing to adver
tise New Years Eve parties should
get their ad into the MiTror by
5 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 17.
Russ Crab Fishing off Kodiak Seen As Mystery and a
Manenver By Soviets for Invitation to Join Treaty
Says Wakefield; Sees Treaty Protection 2 More Years
Russian trawling for King crab
•off Kodiak is likely a maneuver
by the USSR for an invitation to
become a member of the Interna
tional North Pacific Fisheries com
mission, according to Lowell Wake
field, president of Wakefield Fish
eries.
Wakefield who is an advisor to
the commission, made a report to
the Kodiak area chamber of com
merce on the meeting held by the
commission in Vancouver, B. C.
during the past two weeks.
In the question and answer pe
riod following his report, Wake
field stated that “it is my impres
sion that most of our State De
partment people feel that the Rus
sians are maneuvering for an in
vitation to join the commission and
they are studiously avoiding asking
permission to join.
He pointed out that the appear
ance of the Russian King crab
trawling fleet posed somewhat of
a mystery in that “to our present
knowledge they had no vessel with
them equipped to process King crab
in the fleet fishing here.”
He said the invitation by the
Japanese in the closing hour of the
commission meeting in Vancouver
to the Canadian and American
members to attend a meeting in
Tokyo next November “implies pro
tection of the terms of the existing
convention for Alaska fisheries for
one and possibly two years.” ..
In answer to a question as to
whether it would help to have the
Russians enter the commission,
Wakefield replied: “Obviously it
would help if they would enter in
good faith and cooperate.” He cit
ed the instances whereby the Rus
sians failed to perform in good
faith or cooperate in the Interna
tional Whaling Treaty of which
they are members.
“Just how can you negotiate with
people like that,” he asked.
Following is the report he made
to the chamber:
“In a sense the most significant
development at the recent session
of the North Pacific Fisheries com
mission in Vancouver B.C., took
place in the closing hour. Iwao
Fujita, Japan's chairman, invited
us, the Canadians and the Ameri
cans, to Tokyo for the 11th annual
session of the commission next No
vember. This implies protection of
the terms of the existing conven
tion for Alaska’s fisheries for one
and possibly two more years; and
although we would all like to see
the next North Pacific Treaty im
prove our position, the reverse
could all too easily occur.
“The present treaty was negoti
ated between Canada, the United
States and Japan, when the lat
ter was an occupied country, and
signed shortly after the peace trea
ty. It is fashionable in some quar
ters to criticize the government of
the United States for being soft
on Japan, and betraying the in
terests of the American fishing in
dustry. I hold a somewhat different
view. Never in recorded history has
a sovereign nation submitted to re
strictions upon its fishermen equal
to those placed upon Japan by this
treaty. We had, when the treaty
was negotiated, only three fisher
ies of substance: salmon, halibut
and herring. The treaty provided
in essence, that Japan stay com
pletely out of these fisheries —
the principle of abstention.
“In exchange, we undertook to
establish that these were justifiable
restrictions — that these fisheries
were properly managed and fully
utilized. The most extensive re
search program in history was
launched to try and learn the facts
(Continued on Page 15)
342 Houses of Aleutian Homes to Be
Sold; Tenants to Get First Preference
Aleutian Homes houses are to
be put up for sale to the public,
according to information received
by Elmer Gagnon director of the
Federal Housing Administration
for the state of Alaska.
Gagnon revealed the sale in the
near future in a talk he gave before
the Chamber of Commerce yester
day. He said that a man would be
sent to Kodiak within the next
three or four weeks to evaluate the
project after which the sale would
be arranged with present tenants
of the homes to be given a prefer
ence right to purchase, according
to past methods of disposition.
The Aleutian Homes project con
sists of 342 houses of which 327
are rentable and rented. The proj
ect represents one-third of the
city’s present tax base.
He said that 82 units of housing
on the naval station which were
built back in the early 1940’s and
converted to family housing would
be demolished as the new housing
was completed in accordance to
agreements with Navy officials at
a meeting held in Kodiak last year.
Gagnon was accompanied by
Boy Scouts to
Sell Yule Trees
Christmas trees will be sold again
this year by the Boy Scouts.
Members of the local troop will
have trees measuring from four to
six feet available at a flat $3. The
tree lot will again be located in
the empty lot next to Tony’s across
the street from Naughtons Bakery.
Paul J. Wild, assistant executive
director of the Alaska State Hous
ing Authority and Nile B. Pauli,
Alaska representative of the Urban
Renewal Administration.
Adi were invited to come to Ko
diak to meet with city officials and
discuss housing and city develop
ment plans.
New City Market
Grand Openiig
9 a.m. Tomorrow
Glen and Elaine Banks today an
nounced the grand opening of their
new City Market will be tomorrow
from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.
The Banks have issued a cordial
invitation to all area residents to
drop in and browse around their
newly constructed ultra-modei^i
super market located at the co
of Benson Ave. and Resonoff D
Mrs. Banks arrived back in 1
ak from the states where she s
four months shopping and buying
for the new establishment She saifi
she had been able to obtain many
new items and stressed the selec
tion of toys and many other gift
items the store is offering. $
Butcher Jim Escue said the ne#
City Market meat section will spe
cialize in fresh USDA choice beef.
Owner Glen Banks pointed oift
that they are offering the moat
complete line of delicatessen fooqg
as well as frozen foods and dairy
items. *
City Moves to Acquire Disputed
Tidelands; Willing to Cooperate
With Any Group Able to Build Dock
The City of Kodiak intends to
take action to acquire the tidelands
and uplands from the present city
limits to the Naval Station bound
ary.
The action to acquire the tide
lands which have been a subject
of some dispute and controversy
between the city and a group of
private investors operating under
the name of Kodiak Land Co., Inc.,
was taken at a special meeting of
the city council held last Friday
night.
The action was proposed by May
or Deveau who explained that the
state had contacted him to notify
him of the filing on 1736 feet of
tidelands by the Kodiak Land Co.,
Inc., and that objections must be
filed before Dec. 15.
Willis O. Benson appeared be
fore the council and identified him
self as the secretary of Kodiak
Land Co., Inc., and said he was
speaking for himself and was not
authorized to represent the firm.
He said that morally his group
had gone ahead in good faith, but
publicity had been adverse. He
said the group had the assurance
of $1,500,000 from security groups
and also the assurance of the util
ization of facilities that would be
built.
Benson stated that if land ac
quisition can be facilitated by the
city, his group would have no ob
jection and, answering a question
from Councilman Red Burnham as
to how long a period would elapse
before facilities could be ready,
Benson said that the actual con
struction period would be short
after acquisition of the property.
Mayor Deveau said that he had
asked John Waller, a member of
(Continued On Page 2)
City Compromises
Due to a heavy agenda the city
council was unable to complete all
the business before it last night and
recessed the meeting until tonight
at 7:30 p.m.
Mayor Deveau said that the coun
cil last night decided to file upon
only 1338 feet of the 2338 feet of
tidelands available in the proposed
ferry dock site. This will leave 1000
feet upon which the Kodiak Land
Company Inc., will he able to file
upon and place its improvements.
Along
The
f
Waterfront
By Karl Armstrong
Our old buddy Gib Monro and
his charming wife are back in Ka
diak right on schedule . . . per
haps a bit ahead of schedule. They
departed for Seattle about si*
months ago to establish their home
there. We recall predicting they
would be back to Kodiak in less
than six months ... we bate to
say it but “Yaa yaa, we told you
so!” ♦
t 1
t
Congratulations to Walt Berton
whose wife presented him with a
baby girl. Walt, who is one of
the Wakefield Fisheries supervis
ors was particularly pleased as the
other three are all boys.
&
Alaska King Crab Superintend
ent Emil Norton tells us that they
will continue processing right oh
through. He said they have been
“real steady the past several
days.” The San Francisco Chron
icle writer, Jack Foisie, who is do
ing a series of stories about ou*
fishing, returned to town on Alas
ka King Crab’s big G. W. King af
(Continued on Page 17)