Confiscation of Japanese Fishing
Boats Is V oted Top Story of the Year
By ward Sims
Associated Press Staff Writer
The tension in the state’s ex
ecutive offices in Juneau the night
of last April 14 was almost un
bearable.
Gov. Wm. Egan sat at his desk,
eyeing the silent telephone and
worrying the nub end of an in
expensive pen, as he is prone
to do.
Other top state officials in the.
room did their best to act calm,
although stiffly — and, it seems
in retrospect, almost apprehen
sively — aware of the significance
of the events about to occur.
Shortlv before midnight, Egan’s
vigil ended when the phone rang,
a shrill clattering in a still room.
After hanging up, Egan an
nounced calmly that state agents
had boarded a Japanese catcher
boat, the Ohtori Maru No. 5, off
Uganik Bay, in Shelikof Strait,
and had taken possession of the
boat.
Before the weekend was over,
state agents boarded and seized
another Jap catcher boat and
boarded the 172-ton herring fleet
mothership Banshu Maru and ar
rested its captain.
It was a story which dominated
front pages and newscasts in Alas
ka for days and which received
prominent display throughout the
United States and Japan.
Because of its impact and con
tinuing interest, the story was
voted Thursday by the newsmen
of Alaska as the top state story
of the year.
The story is not yet complete.
Various charges against the cap
tains of the two catcher boats,
which were subsequently released,
and the skipper of the Banshu
Maru are still pending in Third
District Superior Court.
The three Japanese are charged,
variously, with fishing for herring
in state waters without a state
gear license, with violation of Alas
ka’s territorial waters and with
fishing commercially without hav
ing obtained a state license.
Two Other Fish Stories
Two other stories involving
foreign fishermen received high
priority among state newsmen for
the Alaska Story of the Year.
A Russian trawler invasion of
American king crab fishing waters
off Kodiak Island, with a result
ant heavy loss of American gear,
was designated the No. 4 story of
the year.
And the International North
Pacific Fisheries Commission’s rec
ommendation that Japanese fisher
men be permited to enter the rich
eastern Bering Sea halibut grounds
was rated No. 8.
Capital Relocation Was No. 2
The No. 2 story was the long,
bitter capital relocation fight, which
culminated Nov. 6 in voter re
jection of an initiative to move
the capital from Juneau to West
ern Alaska.
The skillful ditching of a North
west Orient Airlines DC-7C in the
sea just off Sitka Oct. 22, with no
loss of life among the 102 pas
scngers aboard, was rated the No.
| 3 story of the year.
I The Nf). 5 story was the months
long election campaign and the
re-election of Egan, US. Sen.
Ernest Gruening and US. Rep.
Ralph Rivers, as well as the 20
20 split of Republicans and De
mocrats in the State House of
Representatives
Fast moving developments in the
state’s growing oil industry, in
cluding the spectacular blowout in
Cook Inlet which might indicate
; another major field discovery, was
| given the No. 6 nod.
| Placed No. 7 was the many
| sided highways controversy which
j dominated a major portion of leg
j islative interest at the start of the
I year. Included was the firing of
Highways Division Director Thur
man D. Sherard, creation of a
new Department of Highways, ap- I
i pointment of Donald A. McKinnon
I as Commissioner of Highways and
| the long highways investigation
i conducted by a special Senate com
mittee.
The six-day ordeal of the six
man crew of the Alaska Roust
about, cast adrift on the Gulf of
Alaska after the 117-foot convert- j
ed landing craft capsized and sank
Sept. 27, was voted the No. 9
story.
In the 10th spot was the story
of the raging blizzard which
caught a 12-man Army group on a
cross-country exercise in the
Chugach foothills May 14. Three of
the men died in the howling
storm. j
RICK NELSON WILL WED
HOLLYWOOD UP) — Rick Nelson
will marry pretty blonde Kristin
Harmon, 18, the daughter of for
mer football star Tom Harmon
and actress Elyse Knox.
The Harmons announced the en
gagement at a family party Christ- j
mas Eve. They said the wedding
will be in the spring. Harmon, now
a sportscaster, was a star halfback i
with the University of Michigan ;
and also played with the profes- J
sional Los Angeles Rams.
Nelson, 22, is one of the stars in
his family’s television comedy ser
ies, “The Adventures of Ozzie and
Harriet.”
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— BRANCHES IN KOTZEBUE and BARROW —
Stuart Ramstad,
Mi!ot, Survives
Five Zero Da vs
"T^TroT?'^^ (JJ. . r>v dninc
everything right, a young Anchor
age it lot managed t<: survive five
d'’vs in 7!to weather in the Lake
Clark area after jumping from his
hu-nine plane.
Stuart G. Ramstad, 22, was
found Wednesday by a search
plane .after walking 15 miles from
an abandoned trapper’s cabin.
An experienced pilot who has
participated in dozens of Civil Air
Patrol search missions, Ramstad
was transporting gas in the Two
Lakes-Telequann area, some 14f
miloy west of Anchorage last Fri
day when his ski-equipped single
engine plane burst into flames.
Bringing the plane to the ground
from an altitude of 3,500 feet, Ram
stad started throwing out the g- -
cans while the craft was s-ill
moving.
“Then one fgas cam blew u > and
I just bailed out the door," re
called Ramstad, who had also man
aged to throw his fire damaged
but still usable shotgun from the
plane. The plane was still movin;;
and skidded another 300 feet before
it exploded.
“The wings fell off. It just laid
down and died,” Ramstad said
showing a sense of humor in re
lating his story. “That’s okay
I was standing there to watch.”
Ramstad knew his location
Little Mulchatna Lake where he
plans to build a cabin. He walkec
to an abandoned trapper's cabir
which had only two walls standing
He tore the walls down with hi:
bare hands to keep the fire goinj
for almost six days.
Although the pilot had beei
singed by the fire, his injuries di<
not bother him. He had bee
dressed for the weather with
dowmfilled jacket and white car
vas mukluks for which he had 1
make soles from a gas can. Tb
original mukluks were burne
while he was escaping from th
plane.
For food, Ramstad ate caribo
moss which he claims is “prett.
good stuff,” although not too nour
ishing. He claims, too, that it take
a “healthy looking pile” to satisf;
the appetite.
Although Ramstad saw fou
caribou, they were not in range o
his shotgun. He also saw a duel
but missed it despite three shots
Wood for one night remainec
when Ramstad early Wednesday
decided to walk to the Lake Clark
cabin of pilot “Babe” Alsworth
“Six days and nobody comes
around. You kind of wonder,” he
said in explaining his decision tc
move on.
Ramstad knew that Tex Dolfelt,
a trapper at Two Lakes knew ex
actly where he was going last Fri
day when he took off with his
first load of gas for Little Mul
chatna Lake. And Dolfelt remem
bered for he was flying with Jack
Culhane Wednesday when thej
spotted Ramstad shortly before
noon, only a few hours after the
CAP search had gotten undei
way. A total of 14 planes were
looking for Ramstad at the time.
Returned to Anchorage looking
like a “chimney sweep” with his
soot - covered clothing, Ramstac
surprised many by his condition
His return was celebrated Wednes
day night with a belated Christ
mas celebration with his wife ane
year-old son.
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Gov. Wm. Egan Asks
State of Texas To
Extradite Browder
JUNEAU OF — Gov. Wm. Egan
said Thursday ho has asked the
State of Texas to extradite Thomas
S. Browder to face trial in Alaska
on charges of violation of the anti
fraud provisions of the State Se
curities Act.
Browder, formerly of Anchor
age, was arrested last week in
Houston, Tex., on an Alaska war
rant. Also arrested were his wife
and Donald Smith, also formerly
of Anchorage.
Smith was arrested on charges
similar to those filed against
Browder. Mrs. Browder was ar
rested on a fugitive warrant.
The extradition request trans
mitted bv Egan covered only
Browder, but the Attorney Gen
eral’s Office indicated the extra
dition of Mrs. Browder and Smith
would also be sought, as soon as
the necessary papers could be pre
pared.
The charges against Browder
and Smith were filed as the out
growth of an investigation started
in 1961 by the Attorney General’s
Office and the State Department
of Commerce.
On Sept. 6. 1962, the state
initiated court action to close down
Browder-led corporations, including
the American Bankers Mortgage
and Loan Assn, and the Preferred
American Hospital and Life Bene
fit Society.
The corporations were subse
quently put into receivership.
After their arrest by Texas
Rangers last Thursday, Browder
and his wife were freed on $20,000
I bond each. Smith was released
I after posting bond of $10,000.
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Three Russian Fishing
Shins Sighted off Cordova
.JUNEAU W Deputy Commis
sioner Ed Marvich of the Depart
ment of Fish and Game disclosed
Thursday that three Russian fish
ing vessels were sighted Nov. If.
only 15 miles offshore in the Gulf
of Alaska south of Cordova.
Marvich said that to his know
ledge it was the most easterly
penetration to date of Russian
fishing vessels.
The three Soviet ships were firs'!
spotted by a power barge. Later
Bob Anderson, Fish and Gam*
protection agent at Cordova, sight
ed the Russian ships from the air
Marvich said Anderson r^porteo
that one of the Soviet vessels ap
peared to he a freezership or a
fleet tender of some 450 to 50f
feet in length.
Anderson estimated the length
of the second vessel at .175 to 42f
feet and the third at 120 feet. He
said he thought pernaps they wen
ships in whaling activit.es.
There have been no subsequent,
sightings of Russian ships in the
area reported to the Fish and
Game Dept., Marvich said.
COMMEMORATIVE STAMP
WILL HONOR MRS. FDR
PALM BEACH, Fla. —
Elenaor Roosevelt, who often was
referred to as the First Lady of
the World, will be honored bv a
U.S. commemorative stamp, the
White House announced Thursday
Mrs. Roosevelt, the widow of
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
I died last month at the age of 78.
| The design and denomination of
the stamp have not yet been de
j cided. It will be issued on Oct. 11,
| 1963—the 79th anniversary of Mrs
I Roosevelt’s birth.
I BABY BORN DRUNK . . .
j TORONTO UPt — The Canadian
| Medical Assn. Journal reports a
f case of a baby born drunk to a
i 27-year-old Yukon mother who was
j in an alcoholic stupor.
) The 4-pound 15-ounce infant’s
j breath was alcoholic and for 24
I hours the child was jerky, jumpy
and had delerium tremens symp
toms, the article said. Living with
foster parents now. the baby is
reported normal.
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