"He knows, as do many people who have haa
occasion to visit Palmer, there are several
factors that make such k selection, even if
desirable, impracticable. To enumerate a
few:. Palmer's businessmen and property ord
ers have refused to incorporate because of a
•fear that street, water, light and sewer in
stallations wbuld bring about costs that
would be too burdensome.
'(v/ell?)
"Palmer is a n:ce little country village.
But these necessities it does not have:
Streets and sidewalks5 hospitals" a lighting
system5 a water system5 and most of the other
facilities of a modern community.
0Veil I The Sunday Press editor obviously
ha-s not visited in Palmer .for man;- years, To
rebutt, cur streets ana sidewalks mav leave
much to be desired, but we can' t feel too bad
ly- about them, when we look: at cur neighbor
city of 20,POO inhabitants with its spring
rivers of mud and summer dust furr ows. Pal
mer is no netter and no -corse than any other
Alaskan city "Th respect to streets and side
walks. Sure, we need 'em. But did Juneau
have paved streets and sidewalks when it be^
caiTie territorial capitalV Does Jri.eau today1
have the streets and sidewalks that residents
of a capital city can point,to- wi ^h pride?
(So we have no hospital. Then -reive sure
ly been fooling many an occupant of those .20
beds in the institution served by the staff
of two local doctors and f:'ve fu7 It time nur
ses. Probably George Fennimorc ~ of Sheep
Mountain ana Mrs. Dan Cuddy of Anchar are, as
well as the numerous ether highway ano hunt^
ing accident victims who have bder brought to
Palmer could answer that statement" even bet
ter ’than T;,e. Palmer would like to have, and
Palmer-is going to have, a better ,hos pital.
In ^ the meantime we are not, ashamed "of the n
s 111 u t i o n w e h a v e ;
(And if those_aren't electric lights in
Palmer's homes
and businesses^ then the Mat
anuwuc Electric Association has been fooling
a- lot of people since January of 1 r-)-L2. Pahmer
had the first RhA cooperative organized in
Alaska._The Valley now has 56,1 consumers, of
eheetrlcity using 103q t'lO kilowatts mdnthly.
. ore consumers are petitioning to be added at
th:s time, and they will be added when the
.season makes line construction possible.
Xi'o water? Then we've been •m-a.k'hp ahborr
ible mistake in our drinking for tee past two
years. It's clear., cold and nleasant to the
taste,, and it runs readily from "ny -faucet,
f T- - f it's not water, v;e'll tak e this. In
passing- it might be mentioned -that ''there are
plans already dravrn for the construction of a
reservoir which will hold a half million -gal
lons in reserve, should it become- apparent
th^t ^e need a reserve.
_(We don't know the other facilities df -a
modern community that we lack, fie 'have -a- se
wer already constructed which is capable of
caring for a city of 4.1,000 >, populn tiou. V/e
have an airport that can accommodate DG~3s«
be have unparalleled outdoor recreation faci
lities the year round; hunting, fishing! hik
ing,lzoating and V-r •
rying in summe_,.nd
skiing,_skatinp,^
fishing and hikin'?. "in
winter,, We have
ies, dances, nth ;_en 1 c
events and all qcner
forms of recor, rn _ red
recreation. If chore
is some thirig. wa doH_t
hnve in Palmer~ rhen
we 1 ve_beerr* l~~Voo
busy to miss~'it~~
"Palmer, some day
may have a 11 cf these
things (continues the
J une ati v/r i ter) S ome
day it may become t.ne
capital of. the State
of Alaskao But the
Territory is just now
not confronted 17: h
erecting a building
to house the depart
ments and the home of
the future Stat e a Ics
problem, ana a most
pressing one, is to
provide-decent, .ade
quate office housing
for the necessary
personnel to carry on
the functions and the
duties imposed on
them by the Legisla
ture.’ .And that, can
not be done by horse
play."
•.(.There wasn't a
bit of horseplay in
i t. V.’e, a no on r leg
islators.. . vie re dead
serious» be expect
to be cnr] we me-an to
be,, the -future cari
tal of the state of
Alaska, The bill's ae
feat delayed us, but
we're not, stopped.
Palmer, located in the
garden srot of Alaska
'will be tht capital cf
Alaska , 7/e 111 see to
VICTOR JOHNSON
NAMES ASSESSOR
Victor Johnson,
Valley farmer, has
been appointed ass
essor for this area.,
Terms of the recent
ly-enacted property
tax .law require the
appointment of an
assessor for each lo
cality,. It will be
Mr. Johnson's respon
sibility to fix the
values of lands to be
taxed..under the new
law.