Vol. 1, No. 52
Palmer, Alaska, March 27, 1948
mrnim
Ten Cents
Vegetable Men
Will Organize
Next Monday
The first steps toward the
formal organization of a vege
tate and potato growers’ assoc
iation will be taken next Monday
evening, when the group is
called together to hear the rec
ommendations of its by-laws
committee. That meeting will be
gin at 8 o'clock in the Grange
hall.
A general meeting was called
some time ago, at which a com
mittee was named to draw up ar
ticles of incorporation and by
laws for the group. That commit
tee, which included Glen Woods,
Virgil Eckert. Ray Rebarchek,
Mr. Ross, Mads Johansen, Irvin
Newville and Martin Olsen of
Wasilla, has been meeting almost
daily to draft rules for the mem
bership.
It is the work of this commit
tee which will be presented to
the membership on Monday.
At this meeting, the manner
of executing contracts with the
Army also will be considered. All
vegetable growers interested in
supplying produce to fill Army
contracts have been invited to
attend the meeting.
group, said 100 cards of invita
tion had been mailed, and that
very effort was being made to
_ jsch all interested growers. If
any grower has been overlooked
on the mailing list, Mr. Woods
urged that he attend the meeting
in any case. It is imperative that
group action be taken immediate
ly if farmers are to be organized
in time to begin filling Army
contracts.
Wasilla Church Announces
Planned Easier Services
WASILLA — Easter services
have been planned to cover the
morning hours of Easter Sunday
in the Wasilla church, it was an
nounced this week by Rev. Vic-,
tor Alfsen.
Mr. Alfsen plans his Sunday
services on the following sched
ule:
8 a.m.—Sunrise service at
the church.
8:30 a.m.—Easter egg hunt
for the children.
9:00 a.m.—Breakfast at the
church for those attending the
services.
10:30 am. — Easter church
Cervices, with children of the
Sunday School participating in
an Easter play.
Homemakers Will
Buy A Bond
Members of the Butte Home
maker’s club, which met at the
h«me of Mrs. Diana McKechnie
last week, voted to back the hos
pital’s bond drive in the Valley
by raising funds for the club
purchase of a hospital bond.
The club members plan a com
bination food sale and rummage
sale for April 10. The food sale
will begin in the Trading Post at
10 a.m., while the rummage sale
gets under way in the Rec hall
at the same hour.
mThere will be a planning meet
ing of the Butte Homemakers on
April 8, to work out details of
sale duties. That meeting will be
held at the home of Mrs. I. M.
Sandvik.
Lester Heads Fair Association
Parker Lester was named pres
ident of the Matanuska Valley
Fair Association, at the group’s
organizational meeting last Tues
day evening. M. D. Snodgrass
was named vice-president, and
Paul Martin was elected secre
tary.
Jan Koslosky will be acting
treasurer until such time as the
financial work of the fair be
comes heavy enough to warrant
the employment of a full-time
bookkeeper. As the season nears
fair time, it is planned to employ
personnel to take care of both
bookkeeping and secretarial
duties.
First plans for the fall fair
were made at the Tuesday
meeting when M. D. Snod
Chamber Gets
Into High Gear
The heads of eight standing
committees were named, two
large ‘Welcome to Palmer’ signs
were ordered, and a board vac
ancy was filled by the unani
mous appointment of Carl Meiers
at last Wednesday evening’s reg
ular meeting of the Chamber of
Commerce board of directors.
cnamoer president jsck maze
named these committee heads to
serve for the remainder of the
year:
Airport—Dr. F. R. Sims; hous
ing—ivi. D. Snodgrass; member
snip—Carl Meiers; industry—W.
C. Mau; public relations—Don
Irwin; publicity—W. L. Zeile;
agriculture—Alva Brooks; trans
portation and communication—
Clyde King.
Two appointments are tempor
arily vacant. J\o committee chair
man was appointed for either
the legislative or the veterans’
committee.
In an effort to speed business
matters at regular Qhamber
meetings, it was decided that
hereatier all committee reports
will be heard at directors’ meet
ings rather than at the regular
luncheon meeting. Most Cham
ber business will be conducted
at the directors’ meetings, it was
decided. However it was empha
sized that all regular members
of the Chamber of Commerce are
invited to attend any directors’
meeting and to participate in dis
cussions there, although they
may not vote.
In further effort to enliven the
regular luncheon meetings, it
was decided to name a program
chairman lor each quarter of
the year. It will be the responsi
bility of that chairman to secure
a guest speaker for each regular
meeting. Mr. Zeile was appointed
as program chairman for the
coming meetings.
In reference to the signs, it
was decided to order two signs,
each 6x4 feet in size, to be let
tered in diamond beading for
luminosity after dark. These
signs will be located on the hill
side near the Virgil Eckert place
and on the Swanson property
across from the Ed Christensen
home.
In addition, two smaller signs
will be ordered which will point
the visitor toward Palmer’s busi
ness center.
Mr. Meiers was elected to re
place Matt Perkins, who submit
ted his resignation as a Chamber
(Continued on back page)
grass, Don Irwin and Mads
Johannsen were named io a
committee to revise the prem- i
ium list. This committee was
instructed to study the prem
ium list carefully and will
make a full report, to be pre
sented to stockholders in mim
eographed form, before the
premium book is printed.
Jan Koslosky was appointed to
investigate all higher bracket
automobiles, to determine if one
will be available as a prize dur
ing fair week.
It was decided to advertise in
several territorial papers to se
cure the services of a manager
for this year’s fair. Those adver
tisements are to appear immedi
ately, and it is hoped that the
Red Cross Drive
Already Nets $150
With the Valley’s Red Cross
drive just beginning to roll into
high gear, chairman Mrs. Harry,
Ryan announced this week that i
Girl Scouts, who are canvassing
the Valley, already have collect
ed nearly $150.
Scouts are experiencing some
transportation difficulties, and
many rural areas have nol yei |
| been contacted. However they
| expect to reach every family in
the Valley before the drive offi
cially ends on March 31.
Valley residents who wish to
contribute, and who have not
been reached by a solicitor, may
leave their donation with Mrs.
Ryan in the office of Palmer
Cold Storage.
fair manager may be named in
the near future.
Members of ihe committee
appointed to revise the by-laws
of the association, reported that
they still were awaiting sample
copies of by-laws from fair as
sociations in the states. The
committee hopes to model the
Malanuska regulations accord
ing to by-laws now in use by
state-side groups.
It was announced that a gen
eral membership meeting will
be called some time in April to
acquaint stockholders with the
progress of plans and to present
ideas for future development.
The next meeting of the fair’s
board of directors will be held
on April 6
No Damage
In Cabin Fire
A fire, believed to have started
when children tossed matches
into an oil barrel, called both of
the Valley’s firetrucks to a de
serted cabin near the Dave Rush
home just at noon last Tuesday.
The blaze was quickly extin
guished by the Co-op firetruck
with negligible damage to the
cabin. One wall was slightly
charred.
The most spectacular phase of
the fire was the loud explosion
which touched off the oil drum
as it ignited. Residents of North
Palmer reported hearing the
blast.
i EX-WISCONSIN ARTIST
PAINTS ALASKA NOW
1
At last Miss Mietzi Bleck, Pal
mer schoolteacher, has found
new inspiration for her work as
an artist. Miss Bleck, who used
to be a resident of northern Wis
consin, once thought that in order
to paint, she needed Wisconsin
scenes for her theme. As the re
sult, she hasn’t done much paint
ing since the war years, when
she left Wisconsin for Navy serv
ice and then for a new home in
Alaska.
However the artist-school
teacher has spent the past two
years in absorbing Alaskan at
mosphere, particularly in the
Matanuska Valley, and she now
has plans to “paint this Valley
from one end to the other,” she
says.
As a beginning on her Mata
nuska painting project, Miss
Bleck recently submitted three
watercolors to the national jury
show of the Washington Water
color Club. She has just been in
formed that one of the three has
been selected for exhibition in
the Washington, D.C., show.
This exhibition will be Miss
Bleck’s first return to art com
petition since the war years. She
says her entry, wh ch is entitled
“Alaska, The First Year,” is a
■ very stormy watercoioi snowing j
one of those pretty bad ‘first
years’.”
Although her works have been
absent from art galleries in re
cent years, Miss Bleck is no new
comer to artistic competition. In
the late nineteen-thirties she was
entering pictures and winning |
prizes in a number of competi-1
tive events for artists.
She won first prize in the Mil
waukee Art Institute show in
1938 with her watercolor, “Log
Docks, Mercer.” This prize is
considered the outstanding award
in the annual Wisconsin show for
painters and sculptors.
In addition, she has exhibited
and won honorable mention at
the University of Wisconsin’s an
nual Wisconsin Salon of Art. Her
paintings have been on display
at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in
Washington, D.C., at a national
WPA art exhibition, and at a
number of studio exhibitions and
one-artist shows in Wisconsin
museums and galleries.
Miss Bleck is skilled in hand
craft, having once written a book
of poetry for which she designed
the woodcuts to illustrate her
verses. That book was her job
completely, for she even set the
type and did the bindery work on
the 50 copies she produced.
The Palmer schoolteacher took
her art training with Robert von
Neuman, now at the Chicago Art
Institute, with Howard Thomas
of the University of Georgia and
with Elsa Ulbrecht of Milwaukee
State Teachers’ College. She also
put in an eight months’ appren
ticeship on a Federal Art Project,
where she worked on linoleum
and wood blocks of Wisconsin
scenes.
Although she’s temporarily
taking time out from a full-time
job as artist, to drill the three R’s
into Palmer’s sixth graders,
(Continued on Back Page;
Hospital
Bond Pledges
Are Okayed
There must be a plan formu
lated whereby small monthly
pledges can be applied toward
the purchase of a hospital bond,
and there must be a consistent,
well-planned and methodical
sales campaign for those hospital
bonds, members of Valley clubs
and organizations told the execu
tive board of the Valley Hospital
Association at last Tuesday’s
meeting.
Board members agreed that
they, too, felt it necessary to ac
cept pledges for bond purchases,
and they discussed the best man
ner of handling the bookkeeping
involved, it was decided that the
Matanuska Valley Bank would
be asKed to act as a collection
agency for pledge payments.
Jack Maze, name head, said
the malier would, be handled
wunoui cnarge io me nospuai
association, it enough Vaiiey
residems are interested in
making monthly pledge pay
ments rather man a lump sum
payment, there would oe no
interest collected on the term
payments.
wiih regard to the sales cam
paign, mere- was some difference
ot opinion as to how that cam
paign might best be conducted,
ivtosi ot those present at the
meeting agreed that some ele
ment of competition probably
would help push the drive.
W. L. Zeile ottered the use o£
his church basement tor a ban
quet tor bond canvassers and
members ot the hospital board,
at the conclusion ot the drive. He
said he would ask members ot
the Ladies Aid ot both the Luth
eran and United Protestant
churches to prepare the banquet
food for a nominal cost.
inere was some suggesnon
of prizes, as an inducement to
bond seners, but most of the
group was not in favor of this
plan.
It was further suggested that
if organizations would plan in
dividual drives to further the
building program, it would not
take too long to increase the
L-ii i i 1 /-J I v* /-<• ^1. n/T_~
^ UV.ll
gested that a plan might be
adopted, whereby all members
of a group would agree to bring
a cement building block to each
meeting of the organization,
until construction starts.
Board chairman Walter Hunt
ley appointed a special drive
committee, asking that they or
ganize and make specific plans
for a thorough and intensive
sales campaign. The need for a
substantial bank balance im
mediately was pointed out, for
the hospital committee is an
xious to begin construction as
soon as frost leaves the ground.
Tho bond drive committee
named by Mr. Huntley in
cluded Mrs. Clyde King. Sr.,
I. M. Sandvik, Mrs. Neil Miller
and W. C. Mau.
Girl Scouts To Help
in Grange Contest
In an effort to do their part
toward helping in the Grange’s
contest project of Valley clean
up and beautification, members
of the Intermediate Girl Scout
troop are considering plans for
beautification of the Palmer
school grounds.