ARC Hears—
(Continued from page 4)
quently throughotu the meeting,
that he must account for all mon
ies spent. Attorneys Clifford Groh
and John Rader, of Anchorage
law firm of Harlieb, Groh, and
Rader, were present and read
sections of law to ARC officials
pertaining to maintaining roads
V. Louise Kellogg’s testimony
was based on the need to estab
lish the fact that the roads in
question are public roads, and to
refute the statement made by
Ghriglione to Del. E. L. Bartlett
that the roads in question consist
of private driveways. For refer
ence material to substantiate the
history of these roads Miss Kel
logg referred to Report on the
Matanuska Valley Colony, writ
ten by Kirk H. Stone following
exhaustive research. “To make a
stable development a country
needs a sound agriculture All of
these 13 roads which you propose
to abandon serve producing
farms. At a conservative estimate
of $10,000 a farm these 13 farms
gross $130,000 a year • . • there
are many roads in the valley built
on public or private land which
are not now included in the ARC
program of maintenance and re
pair • . . perhaps the time has
come to consider an improved
and extended road program for
the entire valley which would
make our transportation situa
tion more realistic and service
able . • . I, for one, would be
•very happy to hear you make
some constructive suggestions,
Mr. Ghglione, and to work with
you toward a bigger and better
program—short of buying myself
a $30,000 rotary snow plow”.
.Eugene Reed pointed out that
Griffith road leading to his pro
perty has been maintained to his
knowledge the past nine years
and is used by the school bus.
His business, of a commercial
‘ type farming, requires the public
to be able to reach his property.
He pointed out that in the past
14 months he has paid out $10,
000 in salaries . . . that he handles’
produce for four and five farm
ers He estimated the total assess
ed valuation of the farms invol
ved in the road question would
run to one quarter million dol
lars—that abandonment of these
roads would tend to lessen taxes
derived from the property. He
stated, that in his estimation
Griffith road is a public road.
John Hornung, long-time val
ley resident, said he could not
purchase equipment to maintain
Walden road should ARC decide
to abandon it, as did, all farmers
questioned.
Emil La Walters stated he knew
ARC built the roads . • . in fact,
he said, the ARC requested farm
ers to move their fences back
from the road so they could bet
ter dear the snow- These roads
have a definite value to the de
velopment of the Matanuska Val
ley area, he said.
Roland Grover said he bought
his -farm in 1951 with the under
standing that a public road, kept
up by the ARC, went to the farm.
“We have been, and still are, com
Comrnissian to keep this road
pletely dependent upon the Road
dear for us ... we feel that as
well as being put to a great dis
advantage if our road were not
maintained by the road commis
sion the value of our farm would
also be lessened a great deal”.
A1 Brooks pointed out that the
road known as Brooks road has
requited or received very little
maintenance. “Compared to what
we pay in, in taxes, the very
small amount it costs to maintain
>this road is very little”, he said.
“What other benefit do we get
from our federal taxes?” he ques
tioned- Testimony brought out
at that time showed that the
■sewer outfall system is reached
by the same road.
John Church, Sr- told ARC of
ficials he has been a valley resi
dent 20 years. “The ARC has
maintained the road . • . land was
taken out of my property when
I bought it for a road ”
Jesse L. Allmon’s testimony on
Collier road brought out the need
for continued maintenace for de
velopment of farms. “We plan to
go into Grade A dairy farming
as soon as posisble,” Mrs. Allmon
stated. “This road has been main
tained by the ARC and we took
into account when we bought the
place . . . we feel this road, as
well as all others in the valley
should be improved and fully
maintained by the ARC, which is
the agency set up by the govern
ment for this, purpose, and for
which we pay taxes”.
Jim Wilson, commissioner of
agriculture pointed out that many
of these so-called stub-roads are
destined in time to become artery
roads, as farming develops
LeRoy Hamann said there are
many reasons why this abandon
ment will create hardships on the
valley and to all farms affected.
‘‘Some of the farms are Grade A
milk producers and must have
roads to get milk to market • . .
other farms are preparing to en
ter the Grade A field • . • others
raise crops that must get to mar
ket . . . children must get to sch
ool . . . closed roads in the winter
might cost lives . . • some of these
roads can be extended to open
more valley land”.
George Small said as far as the
roads in question being private
are concerned “I’ve used them
and lots of others. I think they
are public. It will set the val
ley back if these roads are aban
doned . . . forget it,” he suggest
ed, “and build us some more”
Jack Newcomb, representing
the M- V. F- C. A., pointed out the
roads were constructed prior to
erection of homes, thus forcing
building sites to be in their pres
ent location. Abandonment now
creates real hardship to present
owners. He pointed out that the
Co-Op, Standard and Union Ool
and various trucking firms face
a loss in business because of in
ability to gain entry to the farms
in pursuit of normal business.
“Since no alternative has been of
fered by the ABC to their pro
posed plan, it must be assumed
that the present stub road system
is the only satisfactory one. j
Therefore abandonment is not in
the pubilc interest”
Charles Wilson, territorial con
servationist, pointed out that
there are 49,000 acres of suitable
land for agriculture cultivation
. . . less than 20,000 is now de
veloped. “It looks like a poor
time to start retrenching”, he
said
Speaking as Mayor of the City
of iPalmer Wilson pointed out
that Palmer is the only city in
Alaska almost entirely depend
ant upon agriculture for its ex
istance. Any burden on the farm
er—weather or bureaucrats—be
cause a concern of the city of Pal
mer. People in busines of this
nature (farming) must be scatter
ed as these farms are- He pointed
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out that if the cost of mainten
ance of these roads runs around
$1,000 a year—it might well cost
each and every farmer tnat much
to take care of the roads them
selves. “As I see it”, he said “you
wonder if you can legally aban
don these roads—our point of
view is can you morally refuse
them
Others testifying at the hear
ing which lasted until midnight
included John Nash, Lazy Moun
tain farmer, John Shaw who re
lated his personal expensese in
maintaining a road to his pro
perty, T. A. Moyer, Grange mas
ter, Robert Partridge, Matanus
ka Telephone Association man
ager, C. A. Brewer, Matanuska
Electric Association manager, and
Stewart Durrant, Co-Op general
manager- The latter stated that
power line — one family may
make primary use of the road,
but it benefits an entire commun
ity Ghiglione stated that the
ARC has no specific law defining
a private road or public road and
again repeated, as he did fre
the valley people feel abandon
ment of these roads is a defin
ite step backward. “I have been
in agriculture 20 years,” he said,
“and have never seen an effort
to put a damper on the develop
ment of agriculture like this”.
In addition to Ghiglione, other
ARC offciials present were: M. C.
Zimmerman, district engineer,
L. A• Hatchet, assistant district
engineer, and Earl Hall, all from
Anchorage office of ARC, and
Oliver Onkka, local maintenance
man. Also present was Irvin
Reed, territorial commissioner of
roads from Juneau
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