Vol. 1, No. 62
Palmer, Alaska, May 5, 1948
Ten Cents
Pire Levels
Dormitory
At Cather’s
Fire which raged so swiftly
tffere was no time to sound an
alarm totally destroyed a new
dormitory at the Cather chil
dren’s home last week. The
structure was still not quite
completed, although occupied by
eight children, when it burned.
Apparently an overheated oil
stove caused the blaze, although
Ray Cather of the home said he
was somewhat uncertain as to
the exact cause. He had lighted
the stove to warm the room at
about 8 o’clock last Wednesday
evening. He turned the flame
low and left the dormitory.
At 8:30, Mr. Cather returned
to check the dormitory before
sending the children to bed.
As he opened the door to a
concrete tunnel, which con
nected the dormitory with the
main house, Mr. Cather said
a long tongue of flame leaped
out. It charred electric wires
and the rafters of the adjoin
ing garage, in which storage
tanks held the home's supply
of fuel.
The door was forced shut
again, and with the aid of gar
den hoses and a small pressure
pump, Mr. Cather attemted to
Sight the fire. He said flames
rose so hotly, however, that
steam burns hampered his ef
forts, and he at length gave up
all hope of saving either dor
mitory or the house. He aban
doned the hoses and began to
carry valuables from the main
house.
However 14-year-old Bert
Cather picked up the hose and
began to play a stream of water
on the corner of the main house,
already beginning to char in the
flames. He fought determinedly,
soaking himself with the water
to withstand the heat of the fire
He succeeded in holding the fire
(Continued on Back Page)
Ray Calher, standing hailess in the rear of the above photo
points to the debris left by last week's fire in the Cather dormitory.
Mr. Cather's son Burl and Rex Monoghan study the fire-twisted
remnants of steel cot frames, all that remained of the two-story
annex to the home. Heat was so intense that the oonrele foundation
was crumbled and cannot be used for erection of a new building.
(Photo by Palmer Photographic Center)
I
Superintendent
Goes To Kodiak
Carl Snelling, superintendent
of Palmer school, last week an
nounced his acceptance of the po
sition of superintendent at a
school to be established at the
Naval Operations Base at Kodi
ak. This school is to be a new
one, operated at the Navy base
for the first time next term.
Mr. Snelling had earlier this
year announced his resignation
from the local superintendent’s
position. No one has yet been
named to replace him.
Local Folk Capture
Voters’ Fancy
The Valley strongly upheld its*
own last week, when the voters
af Palmer precinct cast decisive
votes for local and former local
residents. Last Tuesday’s pri
mary vote was unusually light,
however, for only 275 voters cast
a ballot.
In Valley voting, former resi
dent Harry DeLand led Frank
Boyle in the race for Democratic
nomination for territorial audi
tor. Mr. DeLand has since con
1 ceded the nomination to Mr.
Boyle.
For highway engineer, Donald
MacDonald II, who surveyed and
planned many Valley roads in
the middle 1930's, forged strong
ly ahead of Frank Metcalf,
Democratic incumbent. How
ever later returns make it ap
parent that Mr. Metcalf will lead
when all votes are counted.
For territorial senator. Valley
resident Walter E. Huntley and
his running mate, Steve Mc
Cutcheon and Mr. Huntley ap
pear assured of nomination.
However the race for a seat
in the house of representatives
is still wide open, and probably
>
will not be decided for some time
yet. The top seven candidates in
Valley voting, in the order of
their ranking were: M. D. Snod
grass and Stanley McCutcheon,
Republican and Democrat who
tied in the voting with 157 each,
Heinie Snider, Joseph Loyer,
D. T. McMahon, Clarence Keat
ing and E. G. Bailey.
Mr. Loyer and Mr. McMahon
appear definitely defeated as
Democratic nominees, but the
position of the other candidates
remains uncertain.
Only three ballots were dis
qualified at the Tuesday elec
tion. One disgruntled voter
turned in a blank ballot upon
which he had scribbled “Favor a
third party only.”
Election judges reported that
many ballots were incomplete,
when voters failed to indicate a
full choice of candidates for all
offices.
Judges who served at the pri
mary election were Victor
Falk, Sr., Mrs. Harold Stephan
and Mrs. Irvin Newvtlle.
Tisn’t Legal,
So Don’t Do It
Postoffice employes are
sure it’s spring now, for that
positive postal signpost of
spring, the chain letter, has
been popping up in the mail
chute pretty regularly of late.
However, contrary to most
signs of spring, this particu
lar one is frowned upon by
Uncle Sam. Yes sir, those
harmless little tokens which
you send to five friends, with
instructions for them to do
likewise, are agin’ the law. It’s
all tied up with lotteries,
which also are verboten.
Anyway postmistress Be
atrice Huntley wants the an
onymous chainsters to know
that some of their anonymity
has slipped, and that further
more, they’re committing a
Federal offense punishable by
law when they beguile a warm
spring evening with their
chain correspondence.
Petition Asks
Improved Road
To Palmer Port
A petition was being circulated
among Valley residents this
week which seeks the improve
ment of the road leading to the
Palmer airport. This road, along
which several Valley families
have located their homes, is now
so deeply rutted and so soft that
it impassable to all vehicles ex
cept jeeps and trucks.
Several loads of gravel were
dumped on the upper stretch of
the road last week, but the peti
tion seeks to have it permanent
ly corrected, so that all Valley
residents will have year-round
access to the airport. It is point
ed out that Palmer’s airport
sometimes is utilized in the case
of medical emergencies,
1
C of C To Hear
ARR Official
L. A. Moore, public relations
officer of The Alaska Railroad,
will be the guest speaker at
Wednesday’s Chamber of Com
merce luncheon, it was an
nounced today by program chair
man W. L. Zeile. He is expected
to discuss plans for a new rail
bus service for the Valley, soon
to be scheduled for daily Palmer
Anchorage runs.
Railroad officials visiting Pal
mer last week indicated that the
service can begin almost immedi
ately, for double-end railbuses,
equipped to carry both passen
gers and freight, were said to be
available for use now. It may
even be possible to plan for two
round-trips daily, if these trips'
can be worked out within the
eight-hour working day of crew
men, it was said.
The railbus will be headquar
tered in Palmer and trips will be
routed from here. Schedules still
are indefinite, but Mr. Moore is
expected to outline tentative pro
posals at Wednesday’s meeting.
Contest Entry
Deadline Is Set
Valley residents have only un
til May 20 to enter their farm
home in the home beautification
contest being sponsored by
Northland Pioneer Grange, Mrs.
L. C. Stock of the contest com
mittee announced today. Entry
blanks must be returned to Mrs.
Roy Brock. Grange secretary, by
that date in order to be eligible
for a prize.
Each entrant in the contest
must take a picture of his home
as it appears now before the
clean-up campaign is begun.
Then a second picture must be
made at the close of the contest
next Aug. 25. Prize winners will
be picked on the basis of these
before and after pictures.
Points which will be consid
ered in judging contest entrants
will include these factors, ac
cording to Mrs. Stock:
Lawns, roads, flowers, fence
rows, shrubs, trees, walks, drive
ways, building painting, shutters
and general clean-up of the farm
yards, both front and back.
Further information concern
ing this contest may be secured
from Parker Lester at the Exten
(Continued on Back Page)
Co-op Board
Is Sustained
By Membership
Messrs. Pat Hemmer, Oscar
Kertulla, Roy Brock, Harold
Stephan. A. R. Carson and Carl
Rasmussen of the Co-op’s board
of directors were “doing busi
ness as usual” this week, after
being upheld at a scheduled re
call meeting last week. Mr. Hem
mer was sustained by a 40-31
vote of members present at the
meeting, while the other five
members were retained by a
narrow 37-36 vote.
Board members attended the
Thursday meeting, but refrained
from voting, protesting that it
had been illegally scheduled and
therefore could not be consid
ered official. Because of this
stand, no minutes or records
were available for use at the
meeting.
Henry Bauer was named chair
man by common consent and
conducted all business of the
evening. Mr. Hemmer refused
to preside because of his stand
on the legality of the meeting.
No business was discussed
other than the recall, although
lawyers for both groups sparred
repeatedly with members and
with each other over points of
law involved.
The question was raised
whether 27 dairymen who had
signed a petition earlier this
year asking for release from Co
op membership were still a part
of the organization. Since their
petition had never been acted
upon by the board, the dairy
men contended they were bona
fide members. Their stand on
this matter was not further chal
lenged.
Harold Thuma called upon a
spokesman for the group bring
ing the petition to outline plans
for the future of the Co-op,
should the recall prevail. Jack
Cope, speaking for the petition
ers, said they hoped to put into
effect recommendations of last
year’s board, which called for
the sale of certain Co-op owned
units and for the splitting of
the organization into three sepa
rate cooperatives.
Mr. Thuma then suggested that
the recall matter be brought to
arbitration before a disinterest
ed party, since he felt the “mem
“ (Continued on back page)
BOND DRIVE ENDS
WITH FRIDAY BANQUET
The bond drive of the Valley
Hospital Associat ion will end on *
Friday, May 7, it was announced
today by bond drive chairman
W. C. Mau. Mr. Mau stated that
the drive was “progressing slow
ly” toward its $50,000 goal. That
sum has been fixed as the
amount needed with which to
begin construction of a new hos
pital building.
Friday's drive end will be
marked by a banquet to be held
in the basement of St. John’s
Lutheran church under the spon
sorship of the Valley Chamber
of Commerce.
All bond captains, thr>ir hus
bands and wives, and all board
>
members and wives will be in
vited guests at the banquet.
Three members of the Lutheran’s
Ladies Aid and three members
from the Ladies Aid of the Unit
ed Protestant church have been
selected to plan and serve the
banquet.
Victor Rivers, Anchorage en
gineer and engineer in charge
of plans for the new hospital,
will be the guest speaker of the
evening.
During the evening chairman
Mau plans to present a complete
tabulation of all funds received
from each captain during the
drive, as well as a final account
ing of drive proceeds.
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