Alaskan Legislators to be Asked to
Okeh Another Boost in Teachers’ Pay
(Editor’s Note: This is the
fourth story in a five-part series
on the major problems which
will confront the 1962 Legisla
ture when it meets in Juneau
Jan. 22.)
Bf Ward Sims
Associated Press Staff Writer
JUNEAU UP) — The Alaska Leg
islature. which granted teachers
a salary boost amounting to
$695,000 in state funds last year,
is going to be asked to okeh an
other increase.
The . Alaska Education Assn,
served notice to that effect last
foil when its annual delegate as
sembly met in Anchorage. It will
seek a base of $6,000.
Haze Bergeron, executive sec
retary of the Association, was
quoted as saying at the time that
inexperienced teachers • now re
’ ceive a base salary of $5,000 in
Alaska, which he described as
being $200 below the national
average.
Actually, the increase approved
by the 1961 Legislature provided
for a base pay of $4,750 for in
experienced teachers with three
years of college, $5,150 for in
experienced teachers with a bache
lor’s degree and $5,500 for inex
perienced teachers with a master’s
degree.
Additionally, these base salaries
apply only to teachers in the
Southeastern Senate District.
Teachers in other areas of the
state receive more — $400 in the
Southcentral District and $700 in
the Central and Northwest Dis
tricts and the Kodiak-Aleutian
portion of the Southcentral Dis
trict.
The statewide average for an
inexperienced teacher with three
years of education, then, would
be $5,117; for inexperienced
teachers with a bachelor’s degree,
$6,$17; and for inexperienced
teachers with a master’s degree,
Nino-Month Work Year y
The salaries, of course, are for
a nine-month work year.
Last weak, the National Edu
cation Assn., parent group of the
Alaska organization, released fig
ures showing Alaska’s teachers
are receiving an average salary
of $7,300 for the current school
year, tops in the nation.
During the 1901 session, the
subject of teachers’ salaries some
how became entwined with the
fight over employment security
and workmen’s compensation and
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SERVICE
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the teachers were very close, at
one point, to coming out without
a dime.
In obtaining any boost in salary
this year, the teachers will have
to contend with Republican de
mands that the Legislature ease
the tax load, at least insofar as
the $3.6 million in new taxes
adopted last session are concern
ed.
When the state received a whop
pingf $15 million in unexpected
bonus money at the (Dec. 19 oil
and gas lease sale, the hue and
cry immediately went up for a
tax cut.
One of the leaders in the chorus
was Wendell Kay, chairman of
the State Democratic Central
Committee. Kay deplored the tax
increase when it was approved a
year ago.
After the December oil and gas
lease sale, Kay and Gov. Egan
engaged in a bitter battle of words
for almost a month, over Egan’s
handling of state finances.
Bury the Hatchet
Last Wednesday night, the two
men apparently buried the hatchet
in an unheralded, late-hour meet
ing in Egan’s office.
At least, that was the outward
appearance the following day.
Republican members of the Leg
islature voted to a man against
the 1961 tax boosts and they are
sure to form a solid bloc for tax
relief this year.
If the Kay-Egan battle siphoned
off any of Egan’s power, if Kay
chooses to renew the argument,
the Republicans could find them
selves in the driver’s seat, as far
as a tax decrease is concerned. '
The $15 million, incidentally,
has given Egan one of his largest
headaches. Everyone wants to dip
into the petroleum goody bag. As
he confided to a visitor in his of
fice last week:
“There’s only $15 million there,
but I’ve already had 15 million
suggestions on how it should be
spent.”
I (Next: Capital and constitution
and ferries, the ingredients for a
sectional blowup.)
GIRL LOCKED IN FREEZER
18 IN SERIOUS CONDITION
BORGBR, Tex. «» — Sandra
Posey, 1®, spent the night in a
freezer room of a drive-in cafe
after a thief slammed the door
and fastened it. She was taken
to a hospital where her condition
Tuesday was pronounced serious.
Morning shift workers found
her shivering in the cold, her
shoes frozen to the floor.
Police said the thief took about
$30 from the cash register but
overlooked $49. The person turned
out all the lights except the night
light so the restaurant would ap
pear normal.
Behind-Scheduled
Builders at C21 Fair
Prodded to Speed Up Job
SEATTLE OR — Behind-sched
ule builders were prodded Tues
day to speed up several Seattle
World’s Fair projects. Exhibitors
also were urged to hurry with
their installations.
Clayton Young, site coordina
tor for the Fair, said completion
of the Washington State Coliseum
and its “World of Tomorrow”
theme structure were the most
critical job on the fairgrounds.
Deliveries of final aluminum
rbof panels for the Coliseum and
aluminum cubes for the “World
of Tomorrow” are behind sched
ule.
Young said other touch-and-go
projects are the city’s Opera
House, Exhibit-Banquet Hall and
Playhouse.
"inese just must done on time,
he said. “There are bookings in
both theaters for opening day
April 21."
The State World’s Fair Com
mission Monday authorized draft
of contracts to complete the
theme show. Radio Corp. of
America was named recently as
prime contractor, replacing Don
ald Deskey Associates Inc., New
York, and has been working un
der a letter of intent.
Bing Leaves Hospital
SANTA MONICA, Calif. W —
A wan but jolly Bing Crosby
left St. John’s Hospital yesterday
after a 16-day stay following a
kidney operation.
He joked with newsmen and
waved to fans as he came down
the stairs. A newsman asked:
“Are you going to the Pebble
Beach Golf Tournament?” '
“Going?” said Bing with mock
disbelief, “I’m going to win it.”
California’s Governorship
Race Tightens Up with
Exit of Goodwin Knight
SACRAMENTO, Calif. UPl —
Goodwin Knight’s exit from the
/1962 campaign tightened up Cali
fornia’s race for governor today.
Political leaders differed on the
evehtual effect, but most agreed
it enhanced Richard Nixon’s al
ready bright chances for the Re
publican nomination.
Knight, 65, announced yester
day he would not file for his old
job in the June 5 primary. He
was stricken last November by
infectious hepatitis. His doctor, he
said, advised against a strenuous
campaign.
rne decision toy tne coiorrui ex
governor removed the prospect of
a Republican slugfest between
Nixon and Knight, who had
pledged a “real gloves-off fight.’’
It installed a hard-charging
state assemblyman, Joseph Shell,
43, of Los Angeles, as Nixon’s
chief challenger on the Republi
can ticket.
Shell, an avowed conservative,
has been making evident headway
against Nixon’s early command
ing lead in polls. A wealthy oil
man, he has delivered at least 400
talks throughout'the state while
Nixon has been busy on a book
and other matters.
Knight, governor from 1953
through 1958, remained sclent on
whether he'll take sides in the
Republican primary.
Democrats probably were dis
i appointed by Knight’s action.
They had hoped that a serious
l cleavage in Republican ranks
I would help Gov. Edmund Brown
i in November.
Helicopters Play Key Role
In Recovering Astronauts
WASHINGTON WP)—Helicopters
play a key role in plans for re-*
covering astronaut John H. Glenn
Jr. and his Mercury capsule after
the proposed orbital flights around
the earth.
This time rescue teams aboard
the helicopter intend to jump into
the sea and attach a collar — like
a huge life preserver — to the
spacecraft as a safeguard against
loss of the capsule by sinking, as
in the case of astronaut Virgil I.
Grissom’s capsule.
The National Aeronautics and
Space Administration said, with
the next Mercury launch date
fast approaching, that the techni
ques for recovery will be much
the same as those employed last
year in the sub-orbital flights of
Alan Shepard Jr. and Grissom.
DOOLITTLE TO RETIRE
LOS ANGELES W — James H.
Doolittle, noting that he has
reached the normal retirement age
of 65, says he is stepping down
as chairman of the board of Space
Technology Laboratories.
Doolittle, who announced his
retirement Monday, said he will
continue as a consultant and will
remain as a director of both STL
and the parent firm, Thompson- \
Ramo-Wooldridge Inc.
Doolittle achieved fame in
World War II as the pilot who
led the first American bombing
raid on Tokyo.
The most fastidious sleeper in
history was probably King Louis
XSV of France. He had 413 beds
[in which to lay his weary head.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE HUOQET
JAPAN “BUYS AMERICAN” IN ALASKA
AND IN ALL THE 50 STATES
m~iployment Created By Trade With Japan,
Economic Survey Reports
nm iy srm if mats return «tut
WASHINGTON, a C. — Nearly 200,000
American workers owe their jobs to exports to
Japan, according ho a nationwide economic survey
just released by the U. S.-Japan Trade Council.
The survey, “Japan Buys American in All 00
States,” documents the income and employment
benefits of exports to Japan for each State.
It estimates that 190,810 American job* were
created by the $1.3 billion U. S.- export# to Japan
in 1960 mad that such employment hat increased
substantially with the riaa of U. S. sales to Japan
in 1961 to mops then $1.7 billion.
The leading State In tanas of Jobs-created-lur
Alabama (7,180). “*
The U. S., the study brought out, has exported
more to Japan over the last 6-year period than
to any other country except Canada. In I960,
export* of 61.8 billion and Import* of |1A billion
provided the U. S. with a surplus of $200 million.
This swelled to an estimated 8600 million in 1881
as U. 8. exports to Japan went over the $1.7
billion IsvtL *
Sven greater gams are expected during the
1960s. The Trade' Council stated that the U. &.
generated by Japan** current drive to doxfcfe its
eum Gross National Product by that date. “This
win mean, the Ooapefi noted, “snbstantial in
creases ia halm aai Jobs for every state in
the Union.*'