Teachers and Nurses Reception
United Protestant Church
Sunday, September 13
Sunday, September 13—8:00 p.m.
Public Invited
The Frontiersman
PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF THE MATANUSKA VALLEY
TRY A FRONTIERSMAN
CLASSIFIED AD for that
item you may have for tala.
! rent or lease.
VOLUME 6. NO. 51
PALMER. ALASKA. THURSDAY, SEPT. 10. 1953
PRICE TEN CENTS
FAIR BREAKS ALL ATTENDANCE RECORDS
CHflS. W. WILSON
TO HEAD NEW
PLATTING BOARD
Members of the Palmer School
District Platting Board held an
organizational meeting in the of
fice of the tax assessor Friday
evening, August 28 and in accor
dance with Territorial law, the
new board elected a fifth mem
ber, Don Irwin.
The board consists of Charles
W. Wilson and Ralph Moore, ap
pointees of the city of Palmer;
Richard Demming and the tax
assesor (William Head), appoint
ed by the Palmer school board
and Don Irwin, member at large.
Wilson, who is chairman of the
City Planning Commission was
elected chariman of the Platting
Board while the tax assessor was
appointed clerk of the board.
Uniform regulations to govern
the procedures of the board will
be drawn up by an appointed
committee.
To Approve subdivisions
The primary function of the
Platting Board is to pass on the
soundness of all subdivisions out
side city limits and within the
Palmer Independent School dis
trict as well as to coordinate these
with city plats.
The new Territorial law ef
fective July 1, 1953 makes it un
lawful to subdivide, record and
sell any real property within the
school district without first filing
a plat of the subdivided property
with the platting board. This new
law legalizes all recorded sub
divisions as of record on June
30, 1953.
It will take some time for the
new board to become familiar
with all provisions and develop
uniform regulations, they said this
week. However, two determina
tions to meet immediate problems
were made by the board during
their first meeting. These include
a requirement that subdivision
plats being submitted to the
board must be in six copies, two
of which will be returned to the
owner after action by the board.
Subdivisions that do not provide
adequate streets or roads to all
units of the subdivision will not
be approved, they announced.
Copies of this new subdivision
law are limited but may be
studied at the Ctiy Clerk’s office
or the tax assessor’s office, both
of which are located in the Neal
Wright building. It is proposed
that as soon as possible, addi
tional copies of this law be made
available to owners of subdivi
sion property.
CITY CANDIDATES
MAY FILE SEPT. 16
Candidates for the four city
offices to be filled at the Octo
ber 6 are reminded that next
Wednesday, September 16 is
the opening date for filing
nomination papers with the
City Clerk. These papers must
be signed by 25 qualified elec
tors of the city.
Offices to be filled are those
of a mayor, two year term;
two councilmen, two year
term ad one councilman for a
two year term to fill a vac
ancy in a three year term.
<•««■<««< < < <-<-«<< < < <■<-<-«
Expect to Complete
Testing On Water
Lines by Next Week
Weather permitting, all main
line pipe in the “new Palmer water
system will be laid and tested by
next Tuesday, Ray Mathews,
APW inspector said this week.
However, he added, this will not
include that section near the Ma
tanuska Hotel where additional
blasting will be necessary.
Services on the lines in the
south Palmer area must still be
installed. The speed that those
go in at will be entirely depend
ant upon the weather, he said.
The clorine solution is now in
all lines that have been laid,
Mathews reported. Approximate
ly 11,500 feet of the new system
will be cut in very soon he said.
This section is in the North Pal
mer area, whex-e construction
first started.
MANY COLONISTS
RETURN FOR REUNION
Over 400 descendants of origin
al Matanuska Valley Colonists at
tended the first reunion of the
colonists held September 6 at
the Matanuska Valley Fair. They
were representatives of 69 fami
lies who registered at the replica
of one of the early tent homes
occupied by the colonists upon
their arrival in the Valley in
1935.
As each person registered they
were asked to vote for the couple
whom they felt had done the
most for the success of coloniza
tion. Mr. and Mrs. Pat Hemmer
were the first choice of the group
and were awarded the $100 cash
award given by the Alaska Rural
Rehabilitation Corporation. They
also later walked away with the
prize for the oldest couple pre
sent. Their combined ages totaled
126 years, 11 months and six
days.
Mr. and Mrs. Chris Anderson
won the prize for having the
youngest baby; Mr. and Mrs.
Wayne Bouwens and Mr. and
Mrs. Bob Mielke were runners
up with their babies.
Mr. and Mrs. Bill Bouwens
won the prize for the largest
family present with 40 direct
descendants.
Rev. Bert Bingle, original pas
tor with the colonist group, was
present from Fairbanks and gave
the invocation. A telegram from
Rev. Merrill Salzman, first Ca
tholic priest with the group, was
read expressing his blessings and
regret at not being able to attend
the Colony Day celebration.
Don L Irwin, first manager of
the ^RRC in the early colony
days addressed The group with
fond memories of the "old days>“.
Anton Anderson, colony engineer
was present from Anchorage as
well as Harold Thuma of Pal
mer,, first superintendent of
schools. Mrs. Neil Miller of An
chorage attended the celebration
and displayed complete minutes
of the colony meetings.
The headquarters tent was a
popular spot for fair-goers, with
over one thousand persons re
gistering as visitors.
Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Riet.'n
of Nome were credited with
having traveled the greatest dis
tance
Betty L. Blunck
Named Queen of
1953 Valley Fair
Betty L. Blunck, pretty, blonde
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Hen
ning Blunck of Palmer was
crowned Queen of the 1953 Mata
nuska Valley Fair at the Coro
nation Ball held eptember 5.
Following the presentation of
queen candidates to the several
hundred persons who packed the
school gymnasium, Mrs. Betty
Hill of Fairbanks and one of the
three queen contest judges, an
nounced the selection of Miss
Bluck as Valley Queen. While
cheering continued, the royal
purple robe was placed on her
shoulders and she was escorted
to the throne where Alba Brooks,
fail board president, placed the
jeweled velvet crown upon her
head. The Queen offered her
thanks to her sponsors, the Ma
tanuska Valley Farmers Co-Oper
ating association and all her sup
porters, closing with her com
mand that the dancing should
begin.
The selection of Queen Betty
was a difficult task for the jud
ges, who were, in addition to
Mrs. Hill, Captain James J. Fe
gan of Fort Richardson and Bill
Stewart of radio station KENI.
Each candidate was beautifully
gowned in evening formal wear
—each had outstanding points—
all had worked hard during the
contest. Although the total points
earned by each candidate were
not disclosed, the judges told the
winning candidate that her popu
larity among the other candidates
had helped her win the title of
Queen. Ticket sales were very
high this year and accounted for
points, along with the judges and
candidates selections, for the fin
al selection.
Guests of honor at the Corna
tion Ball were Miss Ann Koonz,
Queen of the Tanana Valley, her
princess, Miss Connie Miller and
their chaperone, Mrs. Betty Hill,
all of Fairbanks. They were in
troduced to the audience from
the beautifully decorated stage
and later joined in the dancing.
Prize Winners
Late in the afternoon of the
last day of the Fair Queen Betty
drew the following names for the
19 prizes offered by the Fair As
sociation this year: Sergeant Ben
Ripple, gold poke; Lyle A. Clif
to, deep freezer; Stanley McCut
cheon, living room suite; Ray
Roberts, automatic dryer; Fritz
Miller, rotary tiller; Steve Dyer,
300 magnum rifle; Don Devlin,
35mm camera1 John Rudick, $75
(Continued on page 8)
BUTTE HOME ROBBED
DURING VALLEY FAIR
Burglary of approximately $1,
000 of personal property from his
home was reported to Territorial
1 Police by Lee A. Abel of the
Butte on September 7.
Abel, who had been working
as an extra on the City Police
department during the Valley
!Fair, returned home around mid
| night and discovered the loss.
'Among items taken were clothes,
leather suit case, electric clock,
portable radio, new 30-06 rifle,
145 cal. Frontier Colt pistol, elec
tric sander, electric drill, and
mechanics tools.
Territorial Police are investi
gating.
FAIR WEATHER
DRAWS CROWD of
11,505 PERSONS
Thousands of persons from all
over Alaska and visiors from as
far away as England set an all
time high attendance record at
the 13th annual Matanuska Val
ley Fair on September 5, 6 and 7.
Slight rains Saturday, followed
by ideal “Fair” weather brought
the record crowds to Palmer to
view the largest number of dis
plays ever exhibited.
High attendance was experien
ced on Sunday when 6,509 per
sons paid admission fees and
visited the many exhibits, shows
and concessions. Saturday's at
tendace of 1,126 and Sunday's
3,870 made a total of 11.505 per
sons visiting the fair. This figure
came close to double that of the
1952 Fair when 6,400 persons paid
admission and the four-day 1951
Fair when 6,661 persons attended.
Visitors at the popular flower
show had an opportunity to see
a large variety of cut flowers and
plants of all types, including a
six-foot ivy. Mrs. M. D. Snod
grass, hostess at the flower show
greeted visitors from all points
of the Territory, from every state
in the Union and from such
far-away places as Washington.
D. C., Republic of Panama, Ha
waii, Chili, Calgary, Vancouver,
Cambridge, England, Scotland,
South Africa, Brazil and New
burg, Germany.
A series of on-lhe-spot broad
casts by KENI reporters describ
ed activities through out Satur
day and Sunday, including the of
ficial opening of the Fair when
Miss Ann Koonz, queen of the
1953 Tanana Valley Fair from
Fairbanks cut the ribbon at the
entrance gale; interviews with
various Fair officials. Mayor Al
fred V. Hagen, queen candidates
and the 1953 Matanuska Valley
Fair queen. Miss Betty Blunck.
Bill Stewart, Walt Welch, Jack
j Dunhaver and A1 Bramsiedt re
presented the broadcasting com
pany.
Record attendance at the Coro
! nation Ball when Miss Blunck
was selected to reign over the
1953 Valley Fair packed the Pal
mer High School gymnasium al
; most to the point of standing
room-only on Saturday night.
Combined efforts of Fort
Richardson U. S. Army units and
the Air Force under the direction
of Captain James J. Fegan con
tributed to the success of the
Fair in many ways. One of the
largest Army displays ever pre
sented at a Territorial Fair drew
thousands of visitors and helped
(Continued on page 8)
> PLASTIC BAG BLAMED
; FOR COSTLY FIRE
Information received this
!; week from Mrs. Herman Hue
bch disclosed that the fire that
j; did approximately $3,000 dam
ages to the Huebch home last
! week was caused when a plas
! tic garment bag caught fire.
;j Mrs. Huebch volunteered the
!’ information with the hope that
' it would serve as caution to
; others who use these plastic
; bags. They are inflammable
; and burn with rapidity, she
\ said.
Miss Betty L. Blunck, Queen of the 1953 Matanuska Valley Fair
Photo by Ray Adams
(We regret that the engraving of Miss Blunck in her Queen’s
robe and crown did not arrive in time for publication.)
City Water
Rates Established
Following a one-meeting vaca
tion, city council members Tues
day night held a long and busy
meeting at which time water
rates were established and the
installation of meters for all water
users authorized.
A water-rate study was pre
sented by Councilman William
Zahranicek which pointed to the
need of water control through
the use of meters. The city now
has 200 % inch meters on hand
for home users. These will be
installed as soon as possible.
Water users, commercial and do
mestic, will be required to in
stall the meters at their own ex
pense, with the installation to
pass city inspection. Meters will
be furnished by the city and re
main city property.
A fee of $2.00 will be charged
for testing meters at the consum
ers request if the meter is
found to be in good working con
dition. Should the meter be
faulty, repairs will be made at
the expense of the city, by the
city and no testing charge made.
Until meters are installed, a
flat rate will be charged for all
city water consumers, starting
with the % inch connection, $10
per month; one inch connection,
$1 per month; one and one half
inch connection, $22 per month
and two inch connection, $30 per
month. Property owners will in
stall meters within 30 days after
their arrival. Failure to do so will
mean discontinued service.
The rates accepted at the Tues
day night meeting will in all
probability be surveyed at a later
date and adjustments made when
and if found necessary, it was
announced.
The following rate table was
accepted by members of the coun
cil and will go into effect as soon
as meters are installed. These
rates are for metered water only.
(See Table of New City
Water Rates on Page 5)
P-TA TO HOLD FIRST
MEETING SEPTEMBER 22
The first regular Palmer
Parents-Teachers Association
meeting this fall will not be
held the third Tuesday of the
month. Rather, it has been
postpoed until September 22,
members annouced this week.
The program for that meeting
will be announced next week
by Clare Kopperud, program
chairman.
Hospital Administrator
Leaves Without Notice
Board members of the Valley
Hospital association announced
this week that Keneth Paul hos
pital administrator, has left the
Valley and the hospital without
previous notice of his intentions
to the board.
Until a new administrator or
business manager can be found,
Jack Newcomb, board member
will be acting manager, they said-.
Construction at the hospital has
now reached the point where it
will soon be possible to start in
side finishing work. Carpenters
are completing the installation of
windows and as soon as the build
ing is completely closed in, the
heating system will be started
and finishing work will com
mence. The contractor is far ad
vanced on his construction and it
has been speculated that the new
hospital may be completed early
next year. Equipment shipments
are expected to start in Novem
ber.
PREMIUM LIST
NOT YET COMPLETE
A complete list of premium
award winners will appear in
next week’s issue of The Front
iersman. Because of the unusual
ly large number of exhibits this
year records have not yet been
completed.
DANCING
EVERY OTHER
SATURDAY
Wasilla Community Hall
SATURDAY, SEPTEMDER 12
SCHAEFER’S OROHESTRA
$1.50 per couple-Ladies Free
9:30 P.M.-1:30 A.M.
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