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Vol. 1, No. 4
Palmer, Alaska, September 27, 1947
Ten Cents
City Basketball Team
Planned For Palmer
Although organization of an'
athletic association which would
* sponsor all types of athletics in
Palmer failed to develop at last
Monday’s scheduled meeting,
plans were made for the organi
zation of a city basketball team.
Attendance at the recreation
meeting, which was held in the
Legion Clubrooms, was disap
pointingly small. Not more than
a dozen men were present.
However, Matt Perkins an
nounced his intention of spon
soring a town basketball team,
to be known as the Shamrocks,
during the coming winter sea
son. Art Stacey was elected man
ager and coach of the group and
preliminary plans for the selec
tion of a team were outlined.
It was decided that the Sham
rock’s squad would be limited to
•10 or 12 men, to be chosen in
court try-outs. Date for the ini
tial turnout has not been set, but
it is expected to be within the
next two weeks.
Details of that first practice
session will be announced later
h; Manager Stacey. At present,
a gymnasium schedule of prac
tice times' has not yet been
worked out.
Mr. Stacey said that compe
tition for the Shamrocks is ex
pected to come from Post teams,
“■ the Anchorage city league, visit
ing teams coming to Anchorage
to play, and from the local high
school squad.
No definite schedule will be
drawn, but games will be booked
whenever possible.
Mr. Stacey said that there still
may be an athletic association
organized here, if interest is ex
pressed. Such an association
would sponsor year-round ath
letics in the Valley.
It is also possible that a Mat
/nnuska Valley basketball league
will be organized a little later in
the season. Prospective entering
teams would include a church
team, the school team, a team
from Wasilla and one from the
mines.
West Side Garage
Will Open Soon
Although not officially open
for business for a week or two,
owners Earl Johnson and Phil
lip EricksOn have been doing
business at their new West Side
Station for the past week or so.
The partners explained that
there were so many requests for
work, that they have been doing
r some repair jobs at the station,
while continuing their construc
tion work on the building and
on the new home which they
are erecting at the rear of the
station.
When finished, the West Side
Station will offer complete garb
age service and all filling sta
tion needs.
Open Spud Market?
Persistent but unofficial re
ports yesterday stated that the
potato market had been thrown
open to Matanuska farmers for
individual crop sales. At press
time today, there was still neith
er official confirmation nor de
nial of the rumor.
Marvin Allyn, general man
ager of the Co-op said, “the Board
of Directors has made no state
ment on the matter yet.”
Introducing ...
Two new members of the staff
of the Valley Frontiersman are
Freddie Cook and Ronnie Mee
han, paper boys who deliver
the publication to Palmer homes
each Tuesday and Friday after
noon.
j In addition to their door-to
door delivery chores, Freddy and
Ronnie also will sell a Fron
tiersman to any interested read
er not on the subscription lists.
Self Government
To Be Tested
By Local Pupils
Students of Palmer school are
planning their first venture in
self-government this term, Su
perintendent Carl Snelling an
nounced recently.' The school
has been granted a charter from
the National Association of Stu
dent Councils, and groundwork
for the establishment of the
system has already been pre
pared.
Student body officers of last
term have been meeting with
Mr. Snelling since the opening
of school to organize the Coun
cil program for the coming year,
and to draft a constitution un
der which it will operate.
New officers of the first Stu
dent Council will be elected in
the near future, Superintendent
Snelling said.
"Since this is Palmer
school's first venture into op
eration under student govern
ment, we are watching the
program very closely," Mr.
Snelling stated. "The plan
either works well, or it
doesn't work at all. In three
of the four schools in which
I taught, a student govern
ment plan worked out. In the
fourth school, the office was
forced to resume control.
That could happen here, but
I don't believe it will. I think
that the Palmer school is well
suited to a Student Council
type of government."
Mr. Snelling outlined the ad
vantages of this type of control.
He said it was principally suc
cessful because it freed the in
dividual teacher from the ne
cessity of being a taskmaster
and watchdog and gave her time
to do a better job of instruction
and to remain on better terms
with her students.
It was explained that under a
Student Council government,
students make their own regula
tions and rules, in conformity
(Continued on page 8)
CONDITION UNCHANGED
Hospital attendants Thurs
day morning reported that
the condition of Earl Hecker,
local barber, was unchanged.
"His condition is not good,"
it was stated, "but is little
changed from what it has been
for the past two days.
Mr. Hecker attempted to
take his life last Monday
morning by slashing his wrists
with a razor and swallowing
formaldehyde.
Road Is Soft,
But Passable
A 150-foot soft spot in the
highway between Anchorage and
Palmer slowed up traffic Wed
nesday between the two cities.
However the road was never
closed because of the bad stretch.
According to Clyde King, fore
man of the Alaska Road Commis
sion here, a tractor-was station
ed at the head of the stretch to
tow stalled vehicles. The strip
of road is located several miles
below Chugiach Inti at a spot
where construction work has
been going on for the past few
weeks.
Robbers Try
Garage Theft
Two would-be robbers were
frightened away from the cash
drawers at Hartley Bros. Motor
Co. last Saturday evening.
According to reports of the
incident, the pair drove to the
station, and after trying the
door, shattered the window be
side the cash register. Noise of
the breaking glass aroused mem
bers of the family, and the rob
bers fled.
Two shots were fired at their
car, but the men were not ap
prehended.
DUCK STAMPS HERE
The Palmer duck stamp short
age has now been remedied, it
was announced yesterday by
Mrs. Ken Foster. The postoffice
has received a new supply and
is ready to resume its duck
stamp business.
STUDENTS FIX GYM;
SET OF RULES LISTED
ains
Gym Rules
In an effort to clear up the
current misunderstanding now
prevalent in the community with
regard to the school control of
the Palmer gymnasium this year,
Superintendent Carl Snelling
yesterday explained the purpose
behind the rules announced this
week.
“It is not our intention to deny
anyone the privilege of using the
gym,’’ the school head asserted.
“Our new ruling merely states
that any meetings, basketball
games or dances that are held
there must be student spon
sored, and permission to use the
building must be obtained from
the superintendent. No one has
been refused that right so far.”
Mr. Snelling further explained
that school control of the gym
nasium means that all functions
held there must be governed by
rules of the board of education
and by territorial regulations for
the use of school property.
Agreement forms which out
line rules for the use of the gym
are available for signature at the
school office. Clubs, athletic
groups and community organi
zations who wish to make use of
the gymnasium for scheduled
events this winter are asked to
call for a copy of the use agree
ment and to discuss their plans
for the building’s use with the
superintendent.
Wasilla Teacher Says—
THEY DID IT IN ’98,
I CAN DO IT IN ’47
w AaiLLA — Trunk it s cold
these brisk autumn mornings?
Mrs. Gladiolus Getzloff, upper
grade teacher in the Wasilla
school, might be inclined to agree
on that point. And no one should
know better than Mrs. Getzloff,
who is living in an unheated tent
on the homestead she recently
staked on Fishhook road along
the shores of Paradise Lake.
Mrs. Getzloff lives alone in her
tent on Paradise Lake and trav
els by bus to and from her class
room each day. She has only two
neighbors, former GI homestead
ers, along the length of the lake.
The Oregon-reared school
teacher occasionally grows faint
hearted as she ponders on the
months of sub-zero weather just
ahead. “I sometimes wonder, in
the morning just before I get up,
when I lie there and think of how
my clothes are going to be cold
and clammy to get into, if it’s
worth it. Then I look out the
tent opening and glimpse beauti
ful Paradise Lake lying there,
and I know it’s all worth while,”
she says.
Mrs. Getzloff’ original plans
did not include an Alaskan win
ter in a tent. She has a small
house under construction on the
homestead, which she had hoped
would be ready by winter. How
ever carpenters have been lured
away to construction jobs nearer
home, and have left Mrs. Getz
loff eyeing a hammer and nails
and her unfinished home with a
speculative look.
The unheated tent also was no
part of her plans, when it did
become evident that she would
need to call the canvas shelter
home for some time yet. The tent
does have a stove; but her one
experience with that stove has
convinced Mrs. Getzloff that
she’d rather remain a little chilly
and keep the shelter she has.
“I’ve lighted it just once so
far this fall,” she said. “That time
I set the tent on fire with it, and
ruined my one winter coat when
I used it to smother the flames.
It was the one heavy woolen
coat I had, and now there’s a
big hole through the back of it.”
However the Wasilla teacher
is undaunted by her experiences,
and is determined that she will
stay on her homestead and prove
her claim.
She says her pioneering in
stinct comes natural, for she is
the daughter of a pioneer news
paperman on the west coast. Her
father published the first news
paper printed in Caldwell, Idaho,
and then later went to Napa,
Calif., to publish one of the early
papers there.
From Napa he went to Port
land, Ore., where for 40 years he
was a member of the editorial
staff of the Oregonian.
• uoys and girls oi Palmer high
school today are busy with paint
brush and mop in a concerted
effort to tidy up the school gym
nasium and locker rooms, which
are being administered under
school control for the first time
this year.
Students already have sanded
job on the old softwood floor
| to the gymnasium floor. Still a
third coat is to go on, before the
job o nthe oid softwood floor
will be complete. Although stu
dents have worked willingly and
well, the gym floor, where all
local basketball games are play
ed, is still far from an excellent
playing surface.
School heads have expressed
the hope that a regulation hard
wood playing surface can be laid
in the school gym before another
basketball season rolls around.
In addition to the work in the
gym proper, which also has been
treated to a new coat of paint,
students are cleaning and paint
ing locker rooms and showers,
which were in a bad state of dis
repair at the beginning of the
school term this fall.
.Because ot destructive acts and
vandalism to the school premises
which have occurred in the past
when public dances are held in
the gymnasium, Superintendent
Carl Snelling has been forced to
inaugurate a new policy for use
of the gym this year.
The new policy of control, as
outlined by Mr. Snelling, in
cludes these points:
(a) All dances held in Ihe
school gymnasium this year
must be sludent-sponscred.
Outside groups may obtain
student sponsorship for their
dances and thus obtain admis
sion to the gym.
(b) All outside groups must
post a $50 bond prior to the
dance, to insure no drinking or
abuse of the school premises
during the dance. Any viola
tion. of any of these listed rules
will forever bar the rule-break
ing organization from further
use of the gym.
(c) All groups holding dances
in the gym this year must pay
for a special police guard to
be stationed in the gym during
the dance. This is to include
a policewoman.
(d) No one will be permitted
to leave dances in the gym and
re-enter the building later. Re
admission can be gained only
by purchase of another ticket.
(e) Smoking will be allowed
in the lobby between the gym
and the school plant and no
place else. This latter ruling
bars all smoking in locker
rooms and lavatories, as well
as in the gym proper.
(f) All dances are to be time
limited this year. Special oc
casion dances, for which per
mission must be obtained from
the school, may continue until
1 a. m. Other dances may not
extend beyond midnight.
“The boys and girls are
working hard to get their gym
in condition^” Mr. Snelling stat
el. “In return, we are doing ev
erything we can to protect it for
them so that they can have a
good place for their basketball
games and where they can con
duct their own dances. We make
these rules because we want to
assure their parents that student
entertainment in the school will
be conducted on a proper basis.”