rrNew5 of ^Americas Last Frontier’
VUL12 NO 39
KODIAK, ALASKA NOVEMBER 29,1952
PRICE 10 CENTS
Another Plane Crash
Increases Death Toll
C-S4 Burns One Mile
From Destination
Tacoma (A1)—A four engine
military transport inbound
from Alaska crashed in fog a
mile short of its destination
early yesterday morning kill
ing 36 of 39 persons aboard.
The passenger list of ser
vicemen and dependents in
cluded seven women and nine
children. The only survivors,
all taken to Tacoma hospitals
are two airmen and an eight
year old boy. Two of the
women killed were in the mili
tary service. Several of the
children were babies.
The big C-54 was preparing
to land at McChord Air Force
Base. Captain Jack Easley,
McChord public relations of
ficer said early reports in
dicate the plane struck a tree
while coming in through heavy
fog for a Ground Control Ap
proach landing.
Bodies of the victims were
scattered 200 feet from the
wreckage. At least two witnes
ses said the plane was afire as j
it “whooshed” down to the
tree flanked field. The plane
left Fairbanks Thursday morn
ing, stopped at Elmendorf Air
Base and then flew nonstop to j
Tacoma. I
Meanwhile, search planes of
the Navy, Coast Guard and
Air Force continued their
search for a C-124 Glebemas
ter with 52 persons aboard
which disappeared Nov. 22. It
was on a flight from Seattle to
Anchorage.
A C-119 Flying Boxcar on
an Anchorage to Kodiak flight
with 20 aboard has not been
found.
City To Receive
New Ambulance
The City of Kodiak may
soon receive a new ambulance,
a grift from Katami Post 7056,
Veterans of Foreign Wars.
George Sonntag, former
commander of the local post,
told the city council Tuesday
night of the VFW’s plan to
purchase the ambulance and
give it to the city.
Sonntag had several photo
graphs of new 1953 ambulances
which he showed the council.
“The city has no ambulapce
and we at the VFW feel that
such a service should be pro
vided. We will purchase the
ambulance and turn it over to
the city, Sonntag said.
Moe Kimes is presently the
commaner of the local post.
Sonntag said the membership
of the club approved the plan
at the last regular meeting.
By Associated Press
An air and sea search for a
giant C-124 Globemaster with
52 men aboard continued late
this week despite fog and rain. I
The big plane disappeared
in the area between Middleton
Island and Elmendorf Field
the night of Nov. 22. The
Globemaster was on a flight
from Tacoma, Washington to
Elmendorf Field.
Search planes from Kodiak
Naval Station and Elmendorf
were assigned specific areas
for the search. Three Coast
Guard surface ships joined in
scanning the stormy waters of
the Alaska Gulf.
The big four-engine plane
last reported in while over
Middleton Island which is ap
proximately 150 miles from
Elmendorf.
Meanwhile, no trace of the!
missing C-119, flying boxcar, (
which disappeared on an |
Anchorage to Kodiak flight I
during exercise Warm wind j
has been found. I
On the day following thej
disappearance of the Globe
master a faint radio signal
was a possible elue ip case but
search officials did pot put
much confidence in it.
The official list released by
Washington, D.C. gave 25 Air
Force passengers, a crew of
11, one Navy commander and
eight Army men.
Carnival Nets
Over $1000
The benefit held for the Ko
diak ■ Basketball squad was
successful and netted $422.44,
Howard Carpenter, Kodiak
Public School athletic director,
said Wednesday.
The benefit was held in con
junction with the School Car
nival a week ago at the school
building.
Three prizes were awarded
during the evening. A plat
form rocker, donated by
Rhoades Furniture Store, a
Deena floor lamp by 0. Kraft
& Son and a cofiee maker by
Donnelley and Acheson.
Some lucky person should
contact Carpenter to receive
the floor lamp. The other two
prizes were given away the
night of the carnival.
Carpenter said the funds
| raised for the basketball team
■ will be used to pay for food
j when the Bears attend the
|tournamen in Anchorage this
. coming year.
! “We wish to thank everyone
j who contributed to our fund,”
1 Carpenter said.
Union Bank
Re-Opens Tuesday
Anchorage — The Union
Bank of Anchorage opened for
business at noon Tuesday
under the new management of
Dan Cuddy, president of the
First National Bank, it was
announced by the Third Dis
trict Court.
Judge Anthony J. Dimond
declared that Cuddy had
bought 51% of the stock in the
instution whose doors were
closed Nov. 20, by order of the
Territorial Banking Board.
The sale of the bank was ef
fective Monday. Andrew Hass
man, president, and Stanley
McCutcheon, secretary and
director have resigned as of
ficials of the Union Bank, it
was announced.
Earlier, McCutcheon had
threatened to sue Neil Moore,
Territorial Auditor and mem
ber of the banking board and
Senator Marcus Jensen, as a
result of the bank closure.
Judge Dimond’s decision
was announced following a
closed-to-the-public meeting
among officials of the Union
Bank, the First National Bank,
the Territorial Banking Board,
temporary receiver George
Jones, the court and their res- j
pective attorneys. I
Joe Kerrigan, secretary of
the United Fishermen of
Alaska, flew to Anchorage, to
check regarding a reported
$50,000 account the local union
has in the Union Bank.
“Under this solution,”
Judge Dimond said referring
to the plan whereby Cuddy as
sumes the presidency of the
management of the Union
Bank, “it seems the depositors
will lose nothing.”
The Union. Bank was closed
Nov. 20, following the indict
ment of McCutcheon and
Hassman by the grand jury.
Bombing Raid Fails
To Materialize
Kodiak was scheduled to be
‘bombed’ Wednesday but rain,
fog, and poor flying weather
kept the enemy from carrying
out his mission.
George Sonntag, Civil De
fense Director for Kodiak,
called a special meeting of
auxiliary firemen and police
men Tuesday night to brief
the defense representatiyes
on air raid procedure.
It was reported that planes,
they were not identified as to
| which brandh of service they
! would be from’ would drop
'pamphlets on Kodiak. Resi
dents are requested to take
• shelter and remain quiet dur
] ing the alert. Tha signal of an
| air raid will be given on the
Continued on page 4
Crab Processing Stops
At Floating Cannery
ASI Terminates
Union Contracts
Seattle (A*) -The Alaska Sal
mon Industry, Inc; beat the
unions to the punch this year
by mailing out notices of con
tract termination Wednesday
and asking for a cut in the
wage scales to ‘ ‘save the in
dustry”.
It is about this time of year
that the unions usually termi
nate existing contracts, as pro
vided by their wage agree
ment.
Deadline for the notices is
December 1, Halferty Can-,
neries, Inc; not a member of
the ASI, has written two
letters to the local fishermen’s|
union regarding the salmon j
situation for the coming sea-1
son. (See story page 2)
’ I
Bruns tad Resigns
Territorial Post
Karl Brunstad has resigned
as a member of the Territorial
Fisheries Board. The effective
date of his resignation has
been left to Governor Gruen
ings decision, although Brun
stad said he preferred it to be
immediate.
Brunstad has been a member
of the TFB for several years.
An .‘appointment to the board
is subject to confirmation by
the Territorial Legislature.
In resigning Brunstad said
he considered it ‘ ‘an honor and
a pleasure to serve as a mem
ber.” However, he said he felt
that a representative from the
‘‘northern area,” the Terri
torial waters north and west
of the Alaskan Peninsula,
should be named to represent
the fishermen from that area.
The complete text of Brun.
stad’s letter of resignation
will be published in next
weeks MIRROR.
Grafs To Live
In Seattle
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Graf
(Chuck and Virginia), former
Kodiakians, plan to settle in
Seattle late in January.
Graf will be discharged
from the Coast Guard at that
time. He was formerly sta
tioned here for several years.
The Grafs left Kodiak in
May, and since then have been
at the Coast Guard Air Sta
tion at Traverse City Mich.
The regular monthly Rotary
Assembly was held at the
home of Marshall Crutcher,
club member and director,
Tuesday evening.
canning and craD processing
operations at the Island Sea
foods cannery have been shut
down because of a dispute
over crab prices.
Fishermen have been re
ceiving $1.25 for crabs deli
vered to the cannery. Pete De
veau, cannery superintendent,
says the cannery cannot con
tinue to pay that amount be.
cause of labor costs, mainte
nance and the fact that a co
operative outfit is selling crab
for $24 on the Seattle market.
Deveau has been selling crab
at Seattle for $31.
Deveau said that crab that
sells for $24 is the same crab
he is offering for sale. How
ever, he added, that outfit
pays only 85 cents for the
average crab which weighs 7*
pounds.
Operations will be suspended
till spring when outside boats
will fish for us and we will
move the cannery out of this
area where it can be oper
ated,” Deveau declared yester
day.
He said his payroll, when
the cannery operates, runs a
round $400 a day for labor and
that he buys around 1,200
crabs at $1.25 each. “Here is
another industry strangled by
lack of understanding by the
fishermen,” Deveau said. He
added that a. lot of fellows
complaining about the propos
ed lowering of local crab prices
do not fish for crab.
The U.S. Fish and WildSfe
Service released figures this
week on the crab taken around
Kodiak Island from Jan. 1,
1952 to Nov. 23, 1952. The
total is 47,583 received by all
crab canneries.
One crab boat operator made
over $2,500 in six weeks and
his crew made over $1,000,
Deveau said.
Frank Pagano Returns
From States
Frank Pagano, son of Mrs>
Margaret Heitman. returned
to Kodiak Monday by plane
after spending several months
in the states with his brother
Edward.
The two Pagano brothers
travelled to the middle west to>
visit relatives and friends, Ed -
ward, graduate of San Fran
cisco State College in Sara
Franisco is now taking a post
graduate course.
Kodiak Public Sehoofl
students were given a holiday
over Thanksgiving. Sehool
was dismissed Wednesday
afternoon and convened agai*
Monday morning.