Reporters— i
Notebook j|
Well Child Conference will be
gin at the Health Center, Valley
Presbyterian Hospital on Wed
nesday afternoon, July 13. The
conferences have not been held
the past fjgw weeks during va
cation time of the public health
nurse.
Mrs. Roy Darnall, mother of
Mrs. James Harrison of Palmer,
is visiting her daughter and
family. Mrs. Darnall makes her“
home in Los Angeles and is on
her second visit to Alaska.
Miss Kathryn Keeler of Wash
ington D. C. will arrive in Pal
mer July 2 for a visit with her
sister, Mrs. William Benyish. Al
so visiting Mrs. Benyish during
the month of July will be Miss
Marion Bosler and friends of
Norristown, Penna.
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Puhl,
original colonists, left Palmer to
day enroute by car to Merrill,
Wisconsin where they plan to
make their future home. The
Puhls came to the valley in 1935;
farmed for the next ten years
and since 1950 have been man
agers of the Co-Op Dorm. They
plan a visit with their son, Lloyd,
before settling in Merrill.
June Roripaugh of Temecula,
and Kathleen Dee McLaughlin of
Los Angeles, nieces of Mrs. Rex
Kibbe of Wasilla, are visiting at
the Kibbe home during their
summer vacations. The girls
made the trip by plane.
Eight area persons have been
approved for a visit to the 10th
Air Control Divisional Center on
July 10. They are Cy Brewer,
John Gore, James Hurley, Ed
Smith, Dick Jones, Everett Ad
ams, Ray Lancaster and Dick
Demming, all members of the
Civil Defense program in the
Vfrrciie* i-amiei uisuia.
Visitors at the June 28 meeting
of the Matanuska Telephone As
sociation included Fred Hahn,
Chugiak fire chief, and Ted Ball,
president of the Chugiak Fire As
sociation, both active workers in
helping promote the MTA in its
drive for membership.
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Jones
and three children returned to
Palmer this week following a 10
day vacation trip to Kenai, Kas
ilof and Soldotna. While in Kenai
they visited the John L. Sulli
vans who are now living there.
Members of the Matanuska Ski
club will hold a meeting on Tues
day evening, July 7, at the
Joseph Gallant home. All inter
ested persons are invited to at
tend.
Randy Kai Lacher is the
youngest depositor of the Ma
tanuska Valley Bank. When but
five minutes old a bank account
was opened in her name by her
great-grandfather, Louis R.
Lacher of Naturita, Colorado.
Miss Lacher, daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. Robert Lacher of Palmer,
was born at Valley Presbyterian
Hospital on June 24.
Rev. James P. Snead returned
to Palmer on Saturday of this
week following several weeks
vacation in the States. During his
trip he spent much of the time
visiting with his family in Ore
gon.
Volunteer fire fighters were
called to the Palmer Fountain
and Cafe this week for a chimney
fire. Some damage to the roof
and chimney were reported as a
result of the fire.
Visitors at the Department of
Agriculture office this week are
pleasantly surprised at the new
color decor—work of the depart
ments personnel. Sunshine yel
low, russet beige. Sheffield grey
and a wall of raspberry red blend
skillfully together in the modern
trend toward color in the busi
ness world.
Mr. and Mrs. Ben Angly and
two children of Fargo, N. D. are
visiting the Virgil Eckert family.
Mrs. An fly and Mr. Eckert are
sister and brother. Mr. Eckert,
manager of the Co-Op Ware
house is enjoying his annual va
cation and this week the two
families are visiting in Valdez
and Fairbanks areas.
George Crowthers, Department
of Agriculture, and John Ham
ann, poultry specialist, will spend
Friday in Fairbanks conferring
with poultry men in that area.
Accompanied by Commissioner
of Agriculture James Wilson, the
men spent Wednesday and
Thursday of this week visiting
poultry and sellers in the Anch
orage area.
Larry Curry, son of Mr. and
Mrs. Bertren Curry of Palmer,,
AGP Program Will
Emphasize Erosion
Control in Valley
Funds for the 1956 Agricul
tural Conservation Program
CACP) remain the same as the
$27,000 allotted for this year, Al
aska Chairman Philip R. John
son said this week.
Distribution of the money was
decided upon during the annual
meeting held on the University
of Alaska campus. The Matan
uska Valley-Anchorage area,
known as Palmer country, will
receive $11,500; Fairbanks coun
ty, $9,000, and Homer country,
$6,500.
The 1956 program will emphas
ize control or prevention of
wind erosion in the Matanuska
Valley. Farmers will be encour
aged to plant more acreage of
permanent grass. The coming
year’s ACP wrill be opened for
applications about Sept. 1. Coun
ty and state committee members
work closely with the Extension
Service and Soil Conservation
Service in their efforts to solve
Alaska’s soil conservation prob
lems.
The two-day session was the
first annual conference to in
clude chairman of county Agri
cultural Stabilization and Con
servation (ASC) committee,
Johnson said. In attendance
were state committeemen John
Newcomb of Palmer and Vern
Mutch of Homer and county
chairmen Ernest C. Gilbert of
Fairbanks, A. R. Carson of Pal
mer and Cecil Wyant of Homer.
Also in attendance were Dr.
Allan H. Mick, Extension Service
director; T. E. Hampton, area su
pervisor of the Farmers” Home
Administration, and Cliff Marcus,
soil technician of the Soil Con
servation Service.
Church of Christ
Plans 3*Day Rally
The Church of Christ in North,
Palmer will hold a three day'
rally wth Evangelist David Vau
ghn of Thorp, Washington bring
ing the sermon message. Services
will begin at 7:45 each evening
on July 4, 5, and 6. Special
musical numbers will be featur
ed each evening. Everyone is cor
dially invited to attend the ser
vices.
Completes School
A two week’s vacation Bible
school will be completed at the
program and an exhibit of work
books and many handcraft ob
Church of Christ Friday evening,
July 1 at 8 p.m. An interesting
jects completed at the school
will be displayed. The public is
invited to enjoy the program and
encourage the youth of the com
munity.
is home for the summer vacation.
He is a student at Santa Monica
City College, Santa Monica, Calif.
Oliver Brewer, student at the
University of Alaska, is spend
ing his summer vacation work
ing at Kodiak.
Margaret Swayze of Palmer re
cently made a trip through the
the Ausable Chasm in New York
while on vacation.
Judy Ann Seitz of Palmer, a
winner in the Circus Coloring
Contest, will be among 20 win
ners who will march in the cir
cus parade in Anchorage on.
Saturday.
Mrs. Norman Holte of Duluth,
Minn, was visiting in Palmer
over the weekend. Mrs. Holte
was here for the wedding of her
son, John Brown, to Barbara
Kindgren.
Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Granger
of Dayville, Alaska, visited in
Palmer this week on their return
from a vacation in the Kenai
area.
Mrs. Cornell Zimmerman of
Memphis, Tenn. is spending a
summer vacation in Palmer with
her daughter Harriet! Bell. Mrs.
Zimmerman and Mrs. Bell plan
a tour of the territory in July.
Approximately 350 persons at
tended the summer picnic party
held by the Matanuska Valley
Fanners Cooperating Association
at Barry’s Finger Lake Resort
last Saturday. During the party
Harold Thuma won a deep-fat
fryej*; Tom Kucera a table model
radio, and Virgil Eckert a fitted
picnic basket. Baseball and horse
shoe pitching rounded out the en
tertainment which followed a
sumptous buffet picnic dinner.
Jack Flint, creamery manager,
was chairman of the event, as
sisted by committee members
Harold Stephan, Irene Benson
and Clair Stock.
I
MTA—
(Continued from page 1)
building to office space in the
Sevems building, next door to
the space occupied by the switch
board.
An important change to sub
scribers will be in the placement
of toll calls and placing telegram
messages by phone, Patridge
stated.
“In the past toll lines came to
the ACS switchboard which
meant that ACS operators inter
cepted all in and out toll calls
from and to Palmer. With our
new agreement with ACS, the
toll telephone lines will be re
moved aild* ponnected 'flo the
MTA switchboard.” This means
the subscriber’s lines are no
longer policed by Palmer ACS in
tercept operators. “Therefore, he
pointed out, “it will be necessary
for each subscriber to police his
own phone. He must know who
is using the phone for long dis
tance calls and be prepared to be
responsible for all toll calls made
from his phone.” Any long dis
tance call placed from his phone
will be the responsibility of the
subscriber. “This is normal state
side procedure”, Patridge point
ed out.
The telegram service agree
ment has been set up whereby
subscribers will be able to
place telegrams by calling the
telephone operator and stating
they wish to place a telegram.
The operator will plug in a di
rect line to the Palmer ACS of
fice. This will be possible ONLY
during the business hours of the
Palmer ACS office which are
from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on week
days and from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on
Sundays and holidays. Before or
after these hours a telegram may
be placed through the Anchor
age circuit for the costs of a min
imum Anchorage toll (70 cents
plus tax) Charges for the tele
gram will appear on the sub
scribers next billing.
Edwin B. Olmested, REA field
representative, accompanied by
( his wife, will arrive in Palmer
' July 4 and will spend approxi
mately a month in the valley
area, working with the Matan
uska Telephone Association in
setting up operation procedures
and an accounting system.
City subscribers not already
MTA members will be required
within 30 days to pay the $10
membership fee and will be fur
ther obligated to pay the $40
equity cost before the installa
tion of the new system if they
| wish to continue to receive MTA
telephone service, it was announ
ced.
Patridge said this week that
rehabilitation of the present sys
tem and the outside plant will
be limited to funds permitted by
REA. Sub-station sites at Chugi
ak, Wasilla, Sutton and a main
office site in Palmer, have been
selected, he said. Construction of
these buildings will be started
this summer, along with the stak
ing of pole lines and the place
ment of orders for inside plant
equipment. “We anticipate that
the • system will be fully com
pleted within 15 months”, he ad
ded.
When completed subscribers
will be able to call anywhere in
the system without paying a toll
charge.
Limited space does not permit
a full report on the story of the
present Matanuska Telephone
Association’s formation. Resi
dents of the valley who have
been here a few years will recall
original attempts made in the
past to obtain a modern and ef
ficient telephone system for the
entire area. The Northland Pion
eer Grange No. 1 at least twice
made concerted efforts to a get
a system in the valley. Their at
tempts at one time were shelv
ed when Maynard Sands devel
oped a system in the Palmer area.
The present telephone system,
sold to MTA on Tuesday night, j
was started by Sands who was
unable to cope with operational
costs and in March of 1952 the
City of Palmer purchased the j
telephone system from the U. S.1
government when it was an
nounced that a forclosure on
Sands was necessary. The city
fared no better, financially, than
Sapds, for from September 30,
1952 to March 31, 1955 the City
of Palmer operated the telephone
system at a $24,681.64 loss! Dur
ing the past three months the
loss on the system will probably
amount to an additional $2,000.
The purchase price of the Sand s
system of $7,500 was brought up
to around $9,500 by the purchase
of necessary telephones. When
figures on the city’s system are |
finalized it is believed they will
show that the system, operated
for 38 months, ran an average
loss of nearly $1,000 a month.
However, residents of the area
would have been without the
services of a telephons system
had not the city made the pur
chase at the time of the foreclos
ure.
Even the MTA, in spite of hav
ing had their loan application ap
proved, ran into a stumbling
block that nearly cost a year’s
delay of the new system’s con
struction. On May 13 of this year
the association received word
from the Washington REA office
that “ . . . due to the fact that
much of the construction season
in the valley is pas-t, the engin
eering section has made the de
cision to postpone the construc
tion of the new dial system until
the spring of 1956”. Upon receipt
of this startling news, members
of the board of directors immed
iately enlisted the aid of Del. E.
L. Bartlett. Through his efforts,
REA was convinced that the con
struction period was not well
past in this section of Alaska in
thhe month of May, but rather at
its beginning. A letter was re
ceived May 31 from Bartlett that
the decision of the RTA section
of REA had been reversed and
that plans for construction would
continue in order to accomplish
as much construction this year
as possible.
Funds with which to purchase
the City of Palmer telephone sys
tem were received on June 24,
followed by the purchase on
June 28. At one minute past mid
night tonight, the Matanuska
Telephone Association, Inc. will
be in the telephone business.
ANNOUNCES
ENGAGEMENT
Mrs. Emmy Havemeister of
Palmer has announced the en
gagement of her daughter, Annie
Loraine to Virgil Allen Meehan,
son of Mrs. Viola Meehan, also
of Palmer. The wedding will take
place Saturday evening, July 16
at the Church of God in Palmer.
ALWAYS BRING RESULTS
FRONTIERSMAN CLASSIFIEDS
Local Couple Return
Front 13,000-Mile Trip
Mr. and Mrs. Gene Kirsch have
returned to Palmer following an
extensive Stateside trip. While in
the eastern part of the country
they attended the May 28 ordina
ation of Mr. Kirsch’s son, Eugene
Kirsch, to the priesthood of the
Roman Catholic Church. The
Rev. Kirsch will be stationed in
Baltimore, Md., at St. Anthony’s
Catholic Church. He offered his
first mass on May 30, following
which he was honored at a
breakfast and a reception in
Baltimore.
The Kirsches also visited rela
tives in Norfolk, Va., and at
tended the 25th anniversary of
the Rev. Paul J. Giegerich, staff
chaplain of the Alaska Air Com
mand, stationed in Anchorage,
but honored at a celebration held
in Maryland. They visited Mrs.
Kirsch’s sister and brother in,
New York, toured through Can
ada, visiting at Banff, Lake
Louise and Jasper. Their entire
trip covered over 13,000 miles
from the west coast, where they
visited Wilmer Kirsch, former Al
aska resident who now lives in
Wenatchee, Washington, and
friends in San Francisco and Los
Angeles, to the east coast and
back to Alaska.
YOUTH RALLY PLANNED
FOR JULY 2 IN PALMER
A youth rally will be held at
the Baptist Church in Palmer on
Saturday, July 2, by the Chugach
Baptist Association, beginning at
7:30 p.m.
The association consists of 10
Anchorage area Baptist churches,
as well as Baptist churches of
Palmer, Seward and Valdez. Re
presentatives from the many
churches are expected to attend.
The program will consist of a
singspiration, led by Dick Gibson.
The Rev. Ed Evans will give the
testimony and devotions will be
offered by Walter Miller. Special
music for the occasion has been
arranged by Lowell Krise.
Refreshments, a movie and a
IN AND OUT
AT THE VALLEY
PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL
Patients registered in and out
at the Valley Presbyterian Hos
pital this week included Mrs^
Wesley Venne, Mrs. Daniel E.
Sullivan of Was ilia, Mrs. Ber
nard E. Bouwens, Mrs. Louis
Lacher, Mrs. Raymond Bula,.
Paul LePors, of Wasilla, and
children Wayne Schwieder and
Thomas Wayne Bouwens.
Still hospitalized are Mrs. Har
ley Toomey and Mrs. Earl Mc
Bride.
Discharged from the hospital
this past week were Mrs. David
Smith of Wasilla, Mrs. Russell
Oberg, Mrs. Frank Cornelius and;
Philip Withey.
100 Attend Picnic
And Pack Meeting
' Cub Scouts and their families,
totaling about 100 persons, at
tended the June pack meeting
held at the George Allen resi
dence on the Saxton farm, Wed
nesday of this week. The theme
of the month was enjoyed, not
only by the Cubs, but by their
parents. Each den had build a
“Cubmobile” as their theme par
ticipation and races were held
on the hill at the farm. Follow
ing the races each boy was giv
en an opportunity to ride in one
of the “vehicles”. By one point,
the Cubs trimmed their dads in
a father-son baseball game that
ended with the score of 26-25.
Cubs will now begin to work
on the July theme, “Know Your
America”. All committee men
and den mothers are requested to
meet in the library at Central
School on Tuesday evening, July
5. Important planning will be
done for a proposed train trip
for the Cubs. The meeting is
slated for 8 p.m. and all com
mittee men and den mothers are
urged to attend.
period of fellowship will follow
the program.
Slock up now! We will be
Closed July 4th
)
Z,J
iii i
SILVER-DALE
No. 2/2 tin
HUNT'S
CHILE SAUCE
ll'/2 oz. jar
TOMATOES
4 ^SI-00 ^ forWC
HAPPYVALE
CREAM STYLE
CORN
No. 303 tin
7 for $1.00
KRAFT — MINATURE
MARSHMALLOWS
IO/2 oz. Bag
27c
REAL GOLD
ORANGE BASE
6 f.r $1.00
11
Ktl
<1
THIS WEEK IN OUR PRODUCE DEPARTMENT WE
HAVE 59 ITEMS OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLES
PALMER’S LARGEST PRODUCE DEPARTMENT
Pork Spare Rib's
lb.
45c
Pure Ground Beef
3 lbs.
99c
WIENERS
lb.
Thursday Friday -- Saturday •• Sunday