C.A.B* Answers Senator Percy
Ipalook’s Charges
(The following article is pub
ished, not in an effort to dis
ced it anyone, but merely as a
neans of presenting to the peo
>le another side to a niuch-pub
ici/.ed controversy.)
Dear Sir:
You no doubt are aware of
inci familiar with the charges
nado in the territorial senate
>y Senator Percy lpalook, charg
ing the C.A.B. with responsi
jility for the deaths from
whooping cough, of 14 b«.»P*co
n the village of Wainwright.
I would like to give you the
complete story on Senator Ipa
look's charges and I think it
would be a fine idea if you
could give this story publicity
in the Record. As far as 1 can
determine Ipalook's remarks are
based entirely upon an article
which appeared in Eugene Join
er s Mukluk Telegraph on Au
gust 31, 1050. The text of the
article is attached as Appendix
A. Mr. Joiner holds no authority
whatever uom «. itiier the Board
or the C.A.A. and is now a
respondent in the Boards for
mal enforcement investigation,
Docket No. 4010. I am unable
to understand why Mr. J outer
does not become a Pilot-Owner.
Most of his flying is done be
tween Kotzebue and Little Dio
mede Island, a route which is
served by no other carrier. For
some unknown reason, however.
iui. joiner preiers io participate
in a long drawn out enforcement
proceeding, possibly with the
knowledge that at the conclu
sion of that proceeding he will
then be able to become a Pilot
Owner. In addition to being a
pilot Joiner is also editor and
publisher of the Mukluk Tele
graph which frequently features
the Board in spurious news ar
ticles and rabid editorials.
'liie Board had some difficulty
in prevailing upon Mr. Joiner
to attend his enforcement in
vestigation and found it neces
sary to obtain a Court subpoena.
The hearing was held in Kotze
bue during the week of August
7, 1950. According to Joiner’s
article in the Mukluk Telegraph
it was presumably during this
week when he was held under
Court subpoena that he was
unable to fly medical aid to the
village of Wainwright. You will
note, however, that the Alaska
Native Services records indi
cate that the alleged epidemic
actually occurred during the
month of July 1950. I was in
Kotzebue the entire week and
heard nothing concerning an
epidemic. A number of qualified
pilots also attended the hearing
and presumably had nothing
else to do. Any one of them
would have been able to have
flown to Wainwright upon prop
er request. The names of those
pilots were A. R. Ferguson,
L. W. Peterson, Nelson Walker,
Bill Levy and Jack Whaley. As
I recall there were several other
pilots in the community with
whose names I am not familiar.
As far as I can determine no
other newspaper than the Muk
luk Telegraph reported the al
leged whooping cough epidemic,
but I believe' Joiner’s article
was reprinted in a weekly news
paper which is published in
Seattle.
Senator ipalooks r e m arks
were published in the Anchor
age Daily News; a copy of the
article is attached in Appendix
B. The following day I sent a
telegram to Hugh Wade, the
new chief of the Alaska Native
Service at Juneau, and request
ed an official statement from
him concerning the alleged epi
demic and Senator Ipalook’s
remarks. The texts of my in
quiry and his reply of March
25 arc attached as Appendix C.
Col. P. R. Arnold, command
ing officr r of the Tenth Air Res
cue Squadron, which has pri
mary responsibility for render
ing emergency aid throughout
Alaska, reviewed his official
records and informed me that
his organization had never been
contacted in connection with the
alleged epidemic.
The Civil Air Patrol also has
as one of its primary missions
me nmcuon ot providing relief
in times of disaster. The letter
from the Civil Air Patrol which
is reproduced in Appendix D
indicates that none of the Al
askan Squadrons were ever re
quested to fly medical aid to
Wainwright at any time.
Inquiries made through
C.A.A. Channels indicate that
none of the airlines pilots or
pilot-o vners at Kotzebue, Nome,
Fairbanks or Barrow wa re ever
requested to fly medical aid to
Wr imvright. Ail of these pilots
seem to be aware that the pro
vis.jus of Section 401C") of the
Act permit any air carrier to
operate during an emergency
without regard to C.A.B. regu
lations.
You will note that the direct
quote of Senator Ipaiook's re
marks in Appendix A seems to
imply that Nome-Wainwright
are a pair of points prohibited
to pilot-owner operations, in
view of his statement that ac
cording to the dictates of the
C.A.B. only a scheduled air car
rier is permitted to fly that
route. Our records show that
Nome-Wainwright and Kotze
bue-Wainwright have never been
prohibited to pilot-owner oper
ations.
In view of the above it would
appear that Mr. Joiner's initial
news article and Senator Ipa
iook's recent remarks are mere
ly figments of their imagina
d
Alaska Railroad
Winter Train Service
NOW IN EFFECT
Seward - Anchorage
TUESDAY - SATURDAY
Lv. Seward . 8:30 A.M.
Ar. Anchorage 1:00 P.M.
MONDAY ■ FRIDAY
Lv. Anchorage ....1:30 P.M.
Ar. Seward .6:00 P.M.
A Boat Train is arranged on Thursday in accordance
with the arrival of the passenger vessel.
Service Daily except Sunday from Anchorage to
Jonesville and Whittier.
For Information Phone Seward Agent
MAIN 153
tions. Hugh Wade, Col. Arnold
and Capt. Stone have all author
ized me to release their com
ments for direct quote in news
paper articles. . . .
Robert O. Kinsey
Director, Alaska Office
Civil Aeronautics Board
(Appendixes A, B, C and D
referred to in Mr. Kinsey’s
letter are as follows:)
Appendix A
Story in August 31 issue of
Mukluk Telegraph as follows:
Head: 14 Babies Murdered
Sub-head: Civil Aeronautics
Board Prevents Bush Pilot Fly
ing Serum to Stricken Area. All
Babies in Wainwright Die in
Whooping Cough Epidemic.
Text of story: “The small vil
lage of Wainwright on the north
coast of Alaska, is in mourning
over the death of all the babies
in their village, as a result of
a whooping cough epidemic.
“The first case was reported
to the nearest medical center
of Kotzebue 400 miles to the
south, where the public health
nurse is stationed. The nurse
was unable to obtain transpor
tation on the scheduled airline
to the area due to their airplane
being out of operation, and a
local bush pilot who usually
flew her on such emergency
trips was being held lor investi
gation by the Civil Aeronautics
Board for having flown passen
gers parallel to the local sched
uled airline. When the nurse
finally reached the stricken area
the epidemic had spread along
the entire north coast of Alaska.
“The entire blame for this
tragedy is placed on the gn atly
detested Civil Aeronautics
Board and feeling is running
high.
‘‘The editor of the Mukluk
Telegraph, interviewing mem
bers of one of the stricken fam
ilies was told: ‘It's always been
this way. We very seldom get
an airplane in here until the
so-called scheduled airline gets
so far behind on its mail con
tract that it hires one of the
outlawed bush pilots to fly it
in for them.
“It seems the airline is always
having engine trouble, or the
pilot just doesn't want to fly
or something. They seem to get
so much money from the mail
contracts they don’t have to
work.
“It's certainly too bad these
innocent kids had to die just
because that bunch in the CAB
is trying to get control of the
transportation. Maybe it is true
that they are a bunch of com
munist agents trying to make
us disgusted with the United
States. We can t understand it,
but they certainly are responsi
ble for the murder of these
kids, just as much as if they
had come up here and strangled
them.’’
Appendix B
Quoted from Anchorage Daily
News of March 22, 1951. Arti
cle date-lined Juneau, Mar. 22
(l/.P.) By: Peter J. Hayes.
Heading: Senator Says CAB
‘Murdered’ 14 Eskimo Tots at
Wain weight
Text: ‘‘An Alaskan senator
charged the Civil Aeronautics
Board today with responsibility
for the deaths last winter of 14
babies in the village of Wain
wright above the Arctic Circle.
‘‘in a wire to Chan Gurney,
member of the CAB, Sen. Percy
Ipalook, R., Kotzebue, said the
babies would not have died of
whooping cough if serum had
been flown from Nome to Wain
wright in time.
“ ‘But according to the dic
tates of the CAB. only a sched
uled air carrier is permitted to
fly that route, Ipalook said, ‘so
all the babies in the village
died.’
“ ‘From one end of Alaska
to the other we are most un
happy with the abuses of the
CAB.’
“Sen. Ipalook, a Presbyterian
minister and the first full-blood
(Turn to Page 6)
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