VALLEY FRONTIERSMAN
Published each Thursday
Palmer, Alaska
Entered as second class matter on Oct. 21, 1947, at the post office
at Palmer, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Subscription rates .50c month, $5 a year
Viola Daniels .Editor
No printed material in the Valley Frontiersman may be
reproduced except by permission of the editor.
Mailed to all points in Alaska and the United States
DANIELS — In The Lion's Den
As the Frontiersman goes to press this week, ii appears that
another new project for the Valley looms on the hori/on. To us
the idea of a territorial mental hospital in the immediate vicinity
of Palmer appears as distasteful today as it did when the project
first came to our attention, almost two years ago.
We can’t believe that a mental hospital in Palmer can be any
thing but harmful to the long-term future of our town, which we
believe is destined to be one of the most prominent in Alaska in
years to come. We’d rather have a tuberculosis sanitarium, an Alas
ka Native Service school, a Methodist college, or the state capital
here. We’re firmly convinced that if Palmer is the recipient of the
mental institution, we'll get none of these other plans which have
dangled so temptingly before us in the past two years.
However those who have a much better understanding of fi
nance and business than a Frontiersman editor tan ever hope to
have, say the mental hospital will bring us the crutch we need in
the form of a large and stable payroll, increased population and
a market for the produce from our farms. The argument also has
been advanced that the construction of the six million dollar in
stitution will give employment to our homesteaders.
We feel that those arguments, in part at least, arc basically
sound. Flowever we also feel that the arguments would be just as
sound for an institution located somewhere outside a 10-mile radius
of Palmer’s present boundaries We’d say, get the mental hospital
located in the Matanyska Valley, by all means. But why discuss
it in terms of a location in Palmer?
Why wouldn't it be best, both lor Palmer and the hospital, to
locate it on the shores of one of our countless lakes? Win not give
it the seclusion it properly needs, along with accessibility to Pal
mer’s markets and shops?
And while we're looking for a site that’s not too close to Pal
mer, why not give some thought to a new postoffice address tor the
institution? Those who understand these matters say that the men
tal hospital will form the roots of a young village of its own. Whv
not divorce it completely from Palmer, with a separate mailing
address.
We like Palmer. We’re proud of our town. We just tau t look
with any favor on a plan that can’t help but bring the town a
measure of undeserved ridicule. We’d like to see our town go for
ward to bigger and better things, and we don’t think that's possible
as long as people take the attitude they do toward a mental hospital.
Think back to the town that houses the state asylum in your
home state, and see if we’re not right. If Palmer were already a
large and established city the stigma attached to the town which
houses a mental hospital wouldn’t hurt us much. But Palmer is a
very tiny town right now, which needs to grow a great deal before
its shoulders will be broad enough to carry the weight ol “insane
asylum.”
Have you fried our new
BEACON FLOOR WAX?
High Luster Long Wearing Water Resistant
No Rubbing Dries with a Gloss
We are now the dealers for
ELECTROLUX VACUUM SWEEPERS
ELECTROLUX
complete with attachments, now sells for $75
(Formerly S87.50)
Grasser's Hardware
AND SPORTING GOODS
the Valley home of DUTCH BOY PAINT
Bollouns To Leave
For Outside
Stanley Balloun, general su
perintendent of the Matanuska
experiment farm, will leave the
Valley soon to go to Ames, Iowa
for advanced study, it was an
nounced this week. Mr. Balloun,
who is also in charge of the
poultry work at the station, will
be accompanied by his family.
The station superintendent
leaves the Valley under an ex
tended leave of absence, rather
than a resignation, and is ex
pected to return here. No re
placement has yet been named
for the position he is leaving.
Potted Plants
Cut Flowers
MATANUSKA
VALLEY GARDENS
M. D. SNODGRASS
Real Estate
Dairy and Vegetable Farms
City Lots — Acreage
Richard E. Demming
Registered Land Surveyor
Box 675 — Palmer, Alaska
Ryan Sues Hortons
To Recover Loan
Harry Ryan of Palmer Cold
Storage last week filed suit In
district court at Anchorage
against Ralph and Alice Horton.
Mr. Ryan’s suit lays claim to the
Horton property at the corner of
Valley Street and the Wasilla
road. Mr. Ryan seeks the land in
payment of an $1,800 promissory
note signed by Horton in March
of 1948.
The property in question was
attached by the Alaska Credit
Bureau of Anchorage on Janu
ary 31 of this year, and then was
claimed by Alice Horton on Feb.
25. The Ryan suit contends that
the land was quit-claimed to
Mrs. Horton with intent to de
fraud creditors.
The suit asks that the deed to
Alice Horton be set aside and the
property be utilized until the
debt is fulfilled.
Plastic Gadgets Galore!
Cutlery Trays, Egg Storage
Trays, Candy Dishes, Re
frigerator Dishes, Bowl Sets,
Plates, Creamers and Sugars
CLARA'S VARIETY
GREEN'S FLYING SERVICE
STUDENT INSTRUCTION, GI TRAINING
CHARTER AND SCENIC FLIGHTS — PASSENGER RIDES
TWO- AND FOUR-PLACE PLANES AVAILABLE
Phone 67_ Palmer Airport
We make 'em any size you want in our shop!
Severns Cabinet Shop
Steaks, Salads, Sandwiches
• WE SPECIALIZE IN EVERYTHING •
Tasty Chicken Dinners Every Weekend
Open All Night Saturday—7 a. m. to 1 a. m. Weekdays
BAR-B-Q
Steve Cutuk, Prop.
It's the Ron-Da-Voo Cafe