OLDEST NEW
PER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED I
63rd Year
No. 153
noml, m.aska, \\ i:dn: sdav. dlclmhlr 2r>, 1902
Liberated Captives
Await Joyful
Exodus Tonight
MIAMI, Fla. (/Pt — One thou
sand Cubans—relatives of the Baj
of Pigs invasion captives releasee
just before Christmas — await £
joyful exodus tonight from the
Communist ruled land of south
Florida.
In another surprising develop
ment, hundreds of Russians whe
had been stationed in Cuba left
for home Tuesday night on a Soviet
passenger liner.
The Russians — men, women
and children boarded the vessel
during the day, arriving in lone
truck and bus convoys. There had
been no announcement by Cuban
officials of plans to move any
large number of Russians off the
island.
The steamer African Pilot, which
made the ransom run Saturday, is
scheduled to arrive about 7 a.m.
Thursday at Port Everglades, 25
miles north of Miami. It will land
parents, brthers and sisters, wives
and children who had stayed in
Cuba to be near their imprisoned
loved ones.
*■ * X ciii runciiLtm udigu picUlt
left Miami International Airport
at 7:30 a.m. for Havana with Red
Cross nurses and emergency sup
plies for use aboard the African
Pilot on the trip to Florida.
The travelers are not likely tc
come aboard overburdened with
material goods. Associated Press
newsman Joe McGowan Jr., pool
representative for U.S. new agen
cies, said in Havana a Cuban of
ficial told the Prisoner Families
Committee that those leaving
could take only the clothes they
wore.
The official said that any
family leaving Cuba will forfeit
all its possessions, but if one im
mediate family remains, this would
not be the case.
James Donovan, New York at
torney who acted as chief nego
tiator for the prisoners’ release, got
a hero’s welcome when he returned
from Havana with the last plane
load of liberated captives.
Tired but beaming, Donovan
said Castro had promised to dis
cuss an early release of Americans
he has imprisoned for anti-Castro
activities. There are 23, serving
sentences up to 30 years.
The Swiss Embassy, which
handles United States affairs in
Cuba since a 1960 break in dip
lomatic relations, is working
toward obtaining freedom for the
Americans and a Swiss informant
indicated that arrangements had
not hit any snags.
The ransom voyage to Cuba, with
an $11 million down payment in
freight, drugs and baby food, and
the return trip will write finis to
the African Pilot’s 20-year log of
ocean service which is slated to go
into “bothball” storage status be
cause of its age.
600 Persons Sick from Poisoning
ORAN, Algeria (Jt — Six hun
dred persons in a refugee camp
near Oran fell ill Tuesday, ap
parently from food poisoning. An
inquiry was opened to find the
cause of the sickness. The refugees
are Algerians made homeless by
the independence war.
Gov. Egan Proclaims January
March of Dimes Month
JUNEAU — Gov. Wm. Egan
today proclaimed the month of
January as “25th anniversary
March of Dimes Month” in Alaska.
'Three Fatalities Mar
Xmas Holiday in Alaska
Three fatalities marred the
Christmas holiday weekend in the
49th State. Two of the victims
were children.
Little Timothy Buchanan, 27
month-old son of Mr. and Mrs.
James Buchanan drowned Christ
mas day. The youngster wandered
away from his parents’ home at
the Lawson Creek. His body was
recovered from Gastineau Channel.
On Christmas Eve, Melody Boo
gaard, 7, daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Leroy Boogaard, died in her burn
ing west Petersburg home while her
parents were away.
Firemen said the oldest of the
four Boogaard children, Jess, t),
used some kind of combustible
liquid to keep the fire going in
the stove and there was an ex
plosion. He snatched up a year-old
i sister and led a brother, Carl, 6,
j out by the hand, but Melody was
trapped on the other side of the
! flames.
Mrs. Boogaard was rowing a
! sk:ff across the bay to pick up her
husband in Petersburg when the
fire erupted.
Tine third victim was Jon Ste
venson, 28, of Seward, who was
k 'led Sunday in a logging acci
dent near Seward.
He fell from a tree after a heavy
slip-blade dropped on him, sever
ing his safety belt.
Midwest Shivers
In Zero Weather
A wave of intense cold spread
across the Midwest today, driving
temperatures to record depths.
The mercury plunged to zero
or below in at least 15 states across
the north from the western moun
tains to the Great Lakes region.
Milwaukee’s -14 shattered an 83
year record for the date. The -22
posted in Madison, Wis., was the
lowest in 78 years. Green Bay,
Wis., had -19 and a new mark.
The zero belt reached as far
south as Oklahoma.
In Atlanta, Ga., dense fog cur
tailed air traffic, stranding hun
dreds of Cnristmas travelers.
Fog and low clouds were re
ported in most of the southeast
section of the country. Utility poles
and lines snapped because of ac
cumulation of ice in some parts
of Atlanta and northeastward.
Snow covered much of west
Texas and the Texas Panhandle
on Christmas.
In Tennessee, it was the first
white Christmas in Memphis since
1913 and the first in Nashville
since 1935.
Snow covered most of Kentucy.
There was a blanket of white
across much of Kansas, Missouri,
Iowa, Colorado, Wyoming and most!
of Wisconsin.
Baltimore’s three incies of snow j
was the first Christmas snowfall
to measure more than a trace in
the Maryland metropolis since
1909.
THE WEATHER TODAY
* Our definition of lousy may
not co-incide with yours but —
*Right now the weather is lousy.
The outlook is for more fog to
night but for some clearing to
morrow. Lowest temperature ex
pected tonight 0 to -5. The high
tomorrow 5 to 10 above.
In the last 24 hours—Highest
temp. 17, lowestt -6; Max. Sunrise
at 10:14 a.m., Sunset at 2:01 p.m.
A year ago today: high temp.
-26, lowest -37. in -961.
Holiday Fatalities
Claim <120 Lives
Traffic killed at least 632
Americans during the four-day
Christmas weekend when 820
deaths were counted from accidents
of all kinds.
Fires caused 105 deaths and 83
persons died in accidents other
than those in the traffic and fire
categories. Many fatal fires oc
curred in severe cold weather and
were attributed to overtaxed heat
ing systems or unorthodox heat
ing measures.
Auto fatalities, far more numer
ous than for a usual non-holiday
weekend span of 102 hours, were
fewer than safety experts estimated
in advance of the weekend.
The National Safety Council,
which had estimated the traffic
death toll at 650 to 750, said be
lated reports may boost the final
figure close to 650. The count cover
ed a period of 102 hours, from 6
p.m. local time last Friday to
midnight Christmas.
There was a sharp rise in the
traffic death rate on Christmas,
due largely to the heavier travel,
the homeward rush of millions and
hazardous driving conditions in
many sections of the country. At
least 160 persons were killed in
traffic accidents in the last 24
hours of the long holiday.
Traffic 632
Fires 105
Miscellaneous 83
Total 820
Japan Asked io Stop Exporting
Steel Oil Pipes to Soviet Union
TOKYO UP — The United States
and its NATO allies have asked
Japan to stop exporting steel pipes
to the Soviet Union for use in
Russia’s oil industry, Kyodo news
service reported today.
Quoting government sources,
Kyodo said the Japanese govern
ment was asked to cooperate with
a decision by the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization to stop ex
porting oil pipes to the Soviet
Union.
Repsonsible government officials
declined comment.
Bad Weather Hampers
Search for Missing
Anchorage Pilot
ANCHORAGE UP — Bad weather
is hampering the aerial search for
missing Anchorage flyer Stuart G.
Ramstad.
Ramstad who has not been heard
from since Friday on a flight into
the Two Lakes-Telequana area
where he was shuttling materials
for a construction project under
way by his father’s firm, the Ram
stad Construction Co. of Anchor
age.
Ramstad was flying a single
engine plane on skiis and was said
to be very familiar with ihe area.
Hope was held by Civil Air Pa
trol officials that he had landed
somewhere to wait out the weather.
The Anchorage CAP summoned
all pilots and observers to Merrill
Field to begin the search at day
break today. However, only two
planes have managed to leave here
because of fog, snow and low
minimums.
A CAP spokesman said two
more planes were to join the
5oarch effort from the Ketiai
Squadron of the CAP. And the
U S. Weather Bureau here issued j
a favorable report, saying fair j
weather should be here later this i
afternoon.
Maritime Commission Sets
Cp Field Office in Seattle
SEATTLE UPi — The- Federal
Maritime Commission has estab
lished a northwest field office in
Room 121 of the Federal Office
Bldg, here to give more direct
attention to its regulatory fune- !
tions in this area, particularly ;
over shipping between the Pacific '
Northwest and Alaska.
The Seattle office is headed by
Owen Durkin, a field auditor and
representative of the commission.
The Maritime Administration has •
an area office here, headed by j
Capt. Elmer Thorne, but the Mari- i
time Commission has not been re
presented directly in this area since '
it was set up as an independent
agency in the congressional re
organization program of 1960.
Brinks Armored Truck
Robbed of $100,000
DES PLAINES, 111. UP) — Ilam- ;
pored by snow and cold at the
scene, police pushed their search
for clues today in the Christmas i
Eve hijacking of a Brink’s armored
1 truck containing upwards of an
estimated $100,000.
Footprints and tire tracks were
studied by local ancl federal au
thorities before snow on Tuesday
blotted out other traces around the
truck, which was abandoned with
its handcuffed and blindfolded
driver in a vacant lot.
Other clues were provided by
a chauffeur cap and a toy police
badge. They were left behind by
three pistol-wielding, hooded rob
bers who forced their way into
the parked truck, overpowered the
driver, drove to the vacant lot
and transferred the collections from
35 firms to a waiting car.
EXERCISE TIMBER LINE
FT. LEWIS, Wn. — Ele
ments of the 4th Infantry Di
vision will participate in a mid
February exercise in an undevelop
ed Alaskan area stretching 265
miles south of the Saleha River
Flats the Army announced yester
day.
The cold weather maneuver,
dubbed Exercise Timber Line, will
involve about 8,000 men from
Canadian Army units, Alaskan
US. military forces and other
U.S. units.
Soviets Accuse U.S.
Of Spying Again
MOSCOW UP> — The Soviet
Union again today accused the!
U.S. Embassy in Moscow of espi- 1
onage and demanded it stop the J
alleged spying. U.S. Ambassador
Fov D. Kohler promptly rejected
the charge as unfounded
Kohler in turn accused the Rus
sians of carrying on an anti-Amer
ican campaign in the press and on
television.
The new Russian complaint was '
an outgrowth of accusations in the
Soviet press earlier this month
against five U.S. Iv 1 a-— officials, j
Soviet newspapers linked the 1
five with Oleg IYnkov-ky, IT a :
Soviet scientific official who is
being held for trial on charges of
spying for the United States, and
Greville Wynne, a British bus:-’
nessman who was arrested in ’
Hungary in November and now i
awaiting trial in Moscow, also for,
espionage.
It was President Teddy Roose
velt who observed. “I think there
is only one quality worse than I
hardness of heart and that is soft- I
ness of head.” *
II S\Hra<*<‘s
Columbus' \ ova<fr‘
» c*
NASSAU. Bahamas .-?• - Nina
II. a close copy of the smallest of
Christopher Columbus’ ships,
reached San Salvador Bland Tues
day night 97 days after sailing
from Strain in an effort to retrace
the vnya-te of discovery.
r.ue anna II sailed from Palos,
Spain, with a nine-man crew on
Sept 19, hoping to reach land
at San Salvador at the eastern
fringe of the Bahamas on CM. 12,
the place and date that Columbus
made his famous landfall in 1492.
Columbus’ three ships, pe Santa
Maria, Pinta and Nina, sailed from
Snain on Aug. 2. 1492. with 129
men and made the voyage in 70
days.
Aboard the Nina II were the
captain. Carlos Etayo, 42. a retired
Spanish naval lieutenant who long
dreamed of the venture and fi
nanced the building of the ship;
Robert Marx, 28, a Pittsburgh
horn underwater explorer; Michael
Viales. Frenchman, and six other
Spaniards.
The' ship, a 40-foot caravel built
of oak from plans of the Nina in
the Columbus Museum in Spain,
carried no radio, engine or other
| modern equipment. Its crew lived
on food such as the 1492 crew
had—lentils, honey, rice, beans
and biscuits—and depended on 15th
Century navigation instruments.
| Kennedy Gets Off to
| A Slow Start on Post
j Christmas Conferences
! PALM REACH. Fla. U* — Presi
dent Kennedy, off to a slow start
today on a post-Christmas round
of confrences, summoned Secretary
of Defense Robert McNamara and
the Joint Chiefs of Staff for a
meeting Thursday. Kennedy had
planned to discuss tax policy dur
ing the morning with a delegation
headed by Secty. of the Treasury
Douglas Dillon. This was put off
because fog delayed a flight of con
ferees from Washington.
Because of the unexpected hitch
the first work on the agenda was
a luncheon cruise with Senate De
mocratic leader Mike Mansfield of
Montana aboard the presidential
yacht, Honey Fitz. The President
and Mansfield wanted to discuss
the outlook for pushing administra
tion programs through the 1963
Congress.
In announcing the conference
with top military leaders, White
House press secretary Pierre Sal
inger said the talks would involve
a year-end review of the military
situation as well as a final look at
the military budget.
McNamara and the Joint Chiefs
will be accompanied here by De
putv Secretary of Defense Roswell
Cilpatric.
Inconvenient Allergy . , .
NASHVILLE. Tcnn. ? - No
body could have a more incon
venient allergy at Chri drnas time
than Wilbur H : r. His wife says
Christmas trees brin : on a hay
fever reaction.
Jehova's Witnesses Sentenced
MOSCOW W — Soviet .Azeris
who distributed lit* ratlin ■ from the
Jehova’s Witnesses Center in
Brooklyn, N.Y., have been sen
tenced to prison, the newspaper
True! reported today.
The literature was denounced as
political, and not religious. Trud,
said Jehova’s Witnesses refuse to
fight against war propaganda, and
refuse to serve in the Soviet army.