■WARD WATER COMPANY OFFERS TO SELL FOR
er months of negotiation,
Petrovich, speaking for
Jean Thorne, owner of the
rd Water Company, made
j1 offer to sell the entire
installation to the city
e sum of $80,000. Although
“for has not been submitted
in writing, it was promised for
this week, and amounts to an
option for 30 to 60 days.
The Company offered the sale
on terms. Until the written a
greement is in the hands of the
city clerk, nothing is too d f
inite about the exact terms to
be offered. It was understood,
however, by all present that the
company asked no c,o.;n pay
ment, but only enough month.y
payment t-o satisfy a mortgage
standing against the firm, ap
parently not more than $500 per
month. Mr. P:trovich specific
ally stated that unedr this plan,
Mrs. Thorne would require no
payment of interest. Possession
of the facility could be trans
ferred in two weeks after agree
ment on the contract.
The original sale price quoted
by Mrs. Thorne earlier in the
year was $200,000. Both city
council and the company agreed
upon the employment of an ac
credited engineer to make a
survey of the facility, each a
greeing to comply with the rec
ommendations of his report.
Felix Toner, engineer from
Juneau, made the survey and
with the aid of a firm of con
sulting engineers in Seattle ar
(Turn to Page 4)
WARD
he Gateway City of Interior Alaska Since 190}.
Srtiiird’s A HAV eather Port is Alaska'i Greatest Asset.
THE ONLY NEWSPAPER IN THE WORLD THAT GIVES A HOOT ABOUT SEWARD, ALASKA
E
III, No. 16
<EWAi D. ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, AUG. 3, 1951
Price 10 cents
sds Hedge At UN Demands For
uarantee Of Neutrality In Korea
iet Plan Would
:e Recognition
led China
SCOW (AP) — Moscow's
today published fully the
nge of statements between
nited States and the Soviet
expr. ssing friendship be
the two peoples. Now Mos
an be expected to press its
sal for a Fh e-Power peace
and to interpret its rejec
oy the U. s. as turning
of the whole idea ox
ship.
Moscow proposal calls
jact among britain, France,
. S. S. R., tne United Stabs
Communist China. For a
time the Soviet Union has
plumping fur this as a
; of lessening international
n. The United States cioes
recognize the Communist
nrnent of the Peoples Ke
: of China.
: press and radio of the
S. R. now have given ai
the entire Soviet popma
)i 200,ouJ.Uuu an opponu
o become acquaintvvit.i
xchange of messages—Q>
tent Human s ieiter com
ing a Congressional Reso
oi Friendship iur the So
)eoples and (2) the reply
kolai M. Shvernik, presi
)f the Supreme Soviet, the
S. R.’s legislature The texts
broadcast and were given
display in the newspapers.
:stia, the Soviet govern
newspaper, ran an edit
Dn the exchange, comment
lat forces of “international
on” now were striving to
ise peoples with lies to de
them.”
ire never was much ex
ion that the United States
i accept the idea of a peace
vhich included the Commu
Ihinese.
BEAVER AUDITING
BOOKS
>lic accountant, O. M. Bea
auditing the books of the
)f Seward again this year,
also assisting the council
awng up the budget for
1952.
:ording to the audit, the
operated entirely in the
again this year, with an
>ended balance of $17,
L in the general fund at
nd of the year, June 30,
view of the audit, there
be made public upon it’s
ission to the council in a
two weeks.
Mahon Has
Smu!t Hope Of
Averting War
WASHINGTON lAF) — A
Congressional military expert
told the House today “there is
only a minimum hope'’ tha; the
United States can avert all-out
war that might lust ten y.ars.
Opening debate on a $dt>.0U0,
000 Ouo military appropr.ation
bill. Rep. Mahon (D-Texp cau
tioned against “complacency ’
and sounded this warning:
“In my judgment, tnere is
only a minimum hope that our
difficulties with Russia cun and
will be resolved short ox war.
Trends from cold to hot war,
from little wars to big wars, do
not have a tendency to reverse
themselves short of an ai.-oat
explosion.”
Mahon is head of an Appropri
ations Subcommittee in'c o.
military budgets. As sue:, n. is
a recognized spokesman on uni -
tary matters. His subcomrhit. e
conducted weeks ox closed otar
ings before acting on tne pen i
ing bill. During that time it
quizzed top Defense Depart me;
leaders, both military and civil
“It is true,” he said, that the
United States becomes strong .r
“with every passing day,” bui
the same probably is true oi
Russia.
“Who is so foolish,” he asked,
“as to assunu that the Commu
nists are standing still?”
Mahon in an earlier interview
estimated that the Korean cam
paign cost the United Statss $5,
000,000,000 during its first year
—up to last June 30—and pre
dicted that it would cost almost
that much more up to next June
30 unless conditions change.
PANTS DISCARDED AS CLUE
TO LOST PLANE
JUNEAU (AP) — A pair cl
pants recovered along the Alas
ka coast were virtually discard
ed today as a possible clue to
a missing Korea airlift plane.
Mrs. Fred Wetche of Juneau
said last night she is sure they
were the pants of her husband,
who was lost off Yakobi Rock
in the Cape Spencer region last
fall. She told U. S. Commission
er Gordon Gray she recognized
the laundry mark, as published
in the Juneau newspaper.
Gray described to her a mend
ed pocket and she said it cor
responded to mending she did.
The family lived at the fish
ing village of Pelican at the
time Wetche and a 17-year-old
son were hunting by boat when
they were lost.
TOKYO (A?) — Red radios
ri.mu.ned silent tonight on the
United Nations demand tor
iresh guarantees of neutrality
at the site oi Korean armistice
talks.
Allied negotiators returned to
Kor.t. dur*ng trie day, reauy to
lesume cease-lire tains ii and
when Communist commanders
pKcige the Kaesong neutral zone
v/iL be Kept inviolable.
Bcii neither the Penping nor
Pi o.rgyung radios men Coned to
night the new d.mand oi Gen.
Mattnew 3 Ridgway, UN corn
man c.er, i.rst broddCi.it at 1:J(J
р. m. 'Iuesday (8.30 p. rn. ;\lon
с. ay PDTy
Instead—32 hours later—the
Chinese Red radio at PAping
featured a report the Red com
manders were waiting for Ridg
way s r.piy to a Communist
pat
morning.
The Peiping broadcast said
the letter entrusted to an An., ri
can l.diso.'. oi .cer co.itainvd a
surances from North Korean
Gen K.m 11 Sung and G n. Peng
Teh-Kaat that the Kaesong neu
txai.ty pledge would be o iserwd.
This apparently was tne Red
message which Ridgway ac
K OvViCCiged xucaday n r.is de
mand for a ne v Red pledge
th £ y would really keep their
word.
The monitoring agency in To
kyo said the Red radio broad
cast the story in English, Chin
ese and Japanese. It was i;a
tur:d as a top news item said
to have been written by a Red
correspondent at Kaesong.
Vice Adm. C. Turner Joy led
the four American delegates
back to the United Nations ad
vance headquarters from top
secr.t conferences with the U.
N. Commander in Tokyo on his
arrival in Korea, Joy said:
“I have no idea when the talks
will be resumed.”
Th? U. N. commander broke
off talks after a company of
armed Reds marched through
the neutral zone. Top Red com
manders said it was an accident.
PUBLIC WELFARE
OFFICE HOURS
Mrs. Pauline Owens announc
ed today that office hours for
the Office of Public Welfare in
the Ray Building will be after
noons of Monday, Wednesday
and Friday, and mornings only
on Tuesday, Thursday and Sat
urday.
Th. se hours will be in effect
for the next two weeks, or dur
ing the absence of Mrs. Hafe
meister, Public Welfare Agent.
ATEC Offers Lowell
Greek Pipeline For
City Use
Solo rights and ownership of
the Lowell Cre. k hydro pipe
line, including all pipes, intake,
water rights and an easement
through the company prop.rty
were offered the city Monday
night by Mr. Starr. He offered
the entir: property as a tax
settlement.
The pipe line crosses the
Brownell Homtstead land re
cently purchased V ^ the city,
but a 50 year easement now
owned by the tel:phone com
pany docs not expire until Nov.
10, 1955.
Statements by Fred Kielehes
ki, fir. chief, and Jack Jordan,
manager of Seward Electric
System, recommended the trans
action. Mr. Kielcheski stated
that with the present water:
shortage, he Lowell Creek line
would make a tremendous dif
ference in fighting fire. Mr.
Jordan said that if it had not
been for this ppeline and the
water from the ATEC plant last
Sunday, the City power plant
would have been a total loss,
when the ordinary water system
failed suddenly to provide wat r
for the cooling system at the
plant ATEC turned their water
into city lines at that time.
Previous owners of lie pipe
line have an acculation of ap
proximately $5000 in delinquent
p rsonal property tax..This in
debtedness is acknowledged by
the present telephone corpora
tion. and th pipe line if offered
in abrogation of the debt.
Much of the line was relaid
during the past two years. New
pipe was installed and part of
it was buried in protection from
snow sides in the canyon. Aver
age pressure n the line is 120
pounds, which, local engineers
claim would provide much of
the town with water during
domestic line.
MCGRATH URGES PROBE OF
DEFENSE PLANT FIRES
OLYMPIA (AP) — Through
investigation of “numerous” ex
plosions and fires at defense
plants has been urged by the
U. S. Attorney General in a
warning against the danger of
enemy sabotage.
Howard McGrath told the Na
tional Association of Attorneys
General yesterday:
“When an enemy is ready to
strike, he probably will have
enough agents throughout your
various states to be a grave
danger.”
McGrath called upon local
law enforcement officials to
probe all accidents that slow
down the nation’s defense effort
to see if subversive activities
are involved.
Telephone Company
Asks People to
‘'Have Patience"
Douglas Sherman Starr, vice
president and general manager
of the Alaska Telephone Cor
poration asked the city council
and people of Seward to “have
patience"’ with the company in
the installation of better service
in the city. Mr. Starr met with
the council Monday night at
which time some spirited dis
cussion ensued concerning the
raise in rates and the advisa
bility of terminating the fran
chise given the company by pub
lic election December 16, 1 Jo().
According to section 5 of the
ordinance (which was published
in full in the Seaport Record.
•Dec. 1, 1950) the company was
required to file a letter oi ac
ceptance within 30 days to make
the contract binding. Council
man Kirkpatrick charged that
the company hacl not complied
with the technicality and that,
therefore, the franchise was
void. Mr. Starr requested the
council to accept a belated letter
of acceptance, on the grounds
that full rights and ownership
of the faei re not tr<
ferred to the present owners by
Mrs. Knight, former owner, un
till 5 weeks ago. ■
Upon advice of Edward Ar
nell, city attorne y. on the
grounds that the city would
have better control of the rate
structure under a franchise a
preemem, me council accepted
Mr. Starr's lett r and the con
tract became binding. The two
councilmen voting “no” were
Kirkoatrick and Myers.
“We are installing new lines as
rapidly as possible.” Starr stat
ed. “Rates have been raised only
on those lines which have been
comoletd.” Mrs. Kirkpatrick
charged that the service has not
shown any noticeable improve
ment over the old set-up, and
Starr insisted that the training
of new operators, and the nec
essary change in telephone num
bers with the change of lines
is causing some confusion, but
that, if the people will only
have patience a little longer,
the situation will be cleared up
witbm possibly two weeks, or
shortly after .
A Seward listing will be pre
pared. according to the manager,
as soon as the change-over is
definitely established. No perm
anent individual Seward direc
tory s contemplated by the com
pany, however. Instead, a single
directory comprising the whole
of Alaska, including systems not
now owned an operated by this
company is bemcr contemplated.
Most communities have agreed
to the proiect, Mr. Starr said,
except Anchorage.
Automatic Fire Alarms
Starr stated that an engineer
will be in town sometime this
month to plan the entire system
for the automatic fire alarm
system if the city desires one.