Vol. 1, No. 19
Palmer, Alaska, November 19, 1947
Ten Cents
Three New Areas Petition MEA For Power
Chest Drive
To Be Planned
Wednesday
The first general planning
meeting of the Valley Commun
ity Chest committee will be held
next Wednesday evening, it was
announced today by chairman
Les Ray. The committee will
meet in the Extension Office at
8 o’clock.
Mr. Ray has appointed as his
committee members Clayton Es
slinger, Jan Koslosky, Carl Ras
mussen, Matt Perkins, Jack Maze
and W. C. Mau. One additional
member will be named, he said.
Wednesday’s meeting will
plan the entire campaign in de
tail, A campaign date and goal
will be fixed that evening, and
member units which will benefit
by the Chest drive will be deter
mined.
Mr. Ray said it was his hope
to be able to conclude the drive
by early December. He empha
sized that the success of the cam
paign, the first for Matanuska
Valley, will depend upon the
wholehearted cooperation of all
Valley residents.
“We’ll need the help of every
single person in the Valley if
we’re going to put this thing
over,” he declared. “We have
only a limited time in which to
plan, but we have a number of
things in mind to highlight the
drive.’’
A detailed announcement of
the manner in which the drive
will be conducted will be made at
the conclusion of Wednesday’s
meeting.
Freight Claims
To Be Clarified
Valley headache remedies will
hit a new sales low here after
this week. The reason — two
Alaska Railroad troubleshooters,
Bill Mulcahy, railroad auditor
and a representative from the
traffic department, are coming
Wednesday to tell Valley mer
chants all about railroad freight
claims and bills of lading.
♦The men wil larrive on the
noon train, and will be guests of
honor at Wednesday’s Chamber
of Commerce meeting.
Immediately after the Cham
ber luncheon, the pair will take
over the American Legion club
rooms, where they’ll hold a class
ijetween the hours of 2 and 4
o’clock for interested Valley
merchants.
The Railroad representatives
expect to give detailed instruc
tions on how to make a freight
claim and on the proper making
out of bills of lading. Following
the instruction period, there will
be a question and answer period
to cover any points still not clear.
aA11 Valley merchants and busi
nessmen who regularly receive
and send freight shipments by
way of the Railroad are urged
to be present at this meeting.
Railroad officials say that pay
ment on freight claims will be
greatly speeded, once merchants
understand the proper method
of presenting such claims.
Pumper Motor Dead,
Fire Drill Cancelled
Sunday's planned fire equip
ment drill at the Railroad sta
tion failed to materialize, when
volunteers who reported were
unable to start the motor of the
pumper unit. The unit was
wheeled to storage space in
King’s garage, where mechanics
are checking it to trace the
trouble.
A1 Hagen, chairman of the
Valley Volunteer Fireman’s As
sociation, said no further drills
would be scheduled until ex
pected new equipment arrives in
the Valley.
Eight men were on hand at 1
o’clock for the scheduled drill
session. All of the men present
at last week’s scheduled public
meeting reported for the Sun
day drill.
The firetruck promised the
Valley by officials of The Alas
ka Railroad has arrived in Anch
orage. It is now in the Railroad
shops, undergoing a final check
up before delivery to Palmer.
The vehicle is expected to ar
rive here sometime late this
week, according to Mr. Hagen.
Meanwhile plans are being
formulated to purchase addition
al fire fighting equipment from
Army surplus. It is possible that
a second truck may be pur
chased, but definite announce
ment cannot be made at this
time.
The new fire siren to be in
stalled at the Valley Telephone
Exchange, still is not in oper
ation. A small motor is being
connected to the siren. When it
is installed, it will give the Val
ley an immediate fire alarm
system which will function on a
24-hour basis. Under the pres
ent system, it is difficult to re
port a fire after working hours.
P-TA To Hear
Study Report
The first public airing of the
results of an incorporation study
will be heard at next Tuesday’s
meeting of the Parent-Teacher’s
Association. That meeting is to
be held in the school cafeteria
at 8 o’clock.
At that time, a committee of
three made up of Mrs. Victor
Johnson, Harry Wiminer and
(Continued on page 8)
Storm Guilty of
Reckless Driving;
Keith Sentenced
Jack H. Storm, 26, was found
not guilty of manslaughter, but
guilty of reckless driving in a
decision brought by a third dis
trict court jury in Anchorage last
Thursday night.
Storm had been accused by the
government as the driver of a
Buick sedan which collided with
a car driven by Peter Bystri
near Four Corners last July. As
(Continued on page 8)
Ronnie’s Down,
But Not Out
Ronnie Meehan, Frontiers
man carrier on the downtown
paper route, will be missing
on his familiar calls for a
week or two. Ronnie was
downed by an ailing appendix
last Thursday, and will be
hospitalized for a little while
yet. His brother, Virgil, is
pinch-hitting until Ronnie re
turns to the route.
Five Valley Kids
Take A Chance
Although only five Palmer
boys and girls reported for in
struction Saturday in the Fron
tiersman subscription contest,
those five were knocking at Val
ley doors just seconds after they
got their final briefing.
At an % early hour Monday
morning, only one contestant
had reported with his first con
test points. That entrant was
Virgil Meehan, who collected
660 points in two hours Satur
day.
Virgil's entry does not violate
the Frontiersman rule which
bars paper employes from the
contest. Virgil is subbing for
his brother Ronnie on a paper
route, while Ronnie recuperates
fi om an appendix operation.
The other four entrants in the
subscription cohtest include:
Leola DeLand, Joan Gragseth,
Barbara Hecker and Richard
Geiwitz.
Contest rules were relaxed to
allow other teenagers opportun
ity to register until 5 o’clock
Monday evening.
^L/u?KAN WINTER SCENE—Travelers along the Palmer-Anchorage highway are treated
to this magnificent scene as Old Man Winter wields nature's paint brush to the Chugach
mountains which form a snow-capped backdr op for the Knik river and the Knik river bridge.
14-Mile Area
At Chugiak
Needs Lights
The Valley communities of
Chugiak, Sutton and Jonesville
soon may be receiving electrical
power through the facilities of
the Matanuska Electrical Associa
tion, Inc., it was announced this
week by W. C. Mau, MEA head
here.
Mr Mau and H. G. Bryan,
Alaskan representative of the
Rural Electrification Adminis
tration went to Chugiak last Fri
day night to confer with commun
ity residents concerning their
electrical needs.
They met with members of
the Chugiak Community club to
discuss the electrical problem of
the area. At that meeting a peti
tion was presented requesting
electricity for 24 families living
in the area between Mile 13 and
the Knik bridge.
The present plan of the group
is to join with MEA rather than
to form a separate REA co-op.
The Chugiak area would be sup
plied with power from the MEA
sub-station at Eklutna, which at
present has an unused capacity
large enough to supply the new
area. MEA’s power is purchased
from the city of Anchorage,
which owns the Eklutna power
site.
Following Friday’s presenta
tion of the petition requesting
union with MEA, the manage
m e n t of that organization
must now conduct a survey to
determine if the addition of the
Chugiak area is economically
feasible, Mr. Mau explained.
If the survey report is favor
able, MEA will request an addi
tional loan from REA, which is
the government agency set up to
loan funds to power co-opera
tives. Once REA approval is
granted and the additional fund
made available, work on the line
extension can be started.
The project extension will cost
about $30,000 to complete, Mr.
Mau estimated. Service to Eagle
River will mean construction of
at least 14 miles of line.
Although it is impossible to
set a time estimate for comple
tion of the planned work, MEA
hopes to be supplying power to
both Chugiak and the Jonesville
area by next fall. Much of the
material needed in the work is
still difficult to obtain.
In addition to the Chugiak pe
tition, MEA has also been re
quested to extend its power pro
gram to Sutton and Jonesville.
There are 13 families at Sutton
petitioning for service, exclusive
of additional families living at
the mining camp of Jonesville.
Electrical service has been ex
tended to most farm homes in
the Valley, according to Mr. Mau.
However there are still isolated
farms without power. These units
will be hooked in to MEA lines
just as rapidly as materials be
come available for line extension.
In preparation for its expand
ed service, MEA is now taking
steps to procure generating
equipment. The new equip
ment is expected to take care of
all Valley needs for the next sev
eral years, while long-term needs
are being studied and planned
for.