Thought of the Week:
Experience is what you get
when you're looking for some
thing else.
THE FRONTIERSMAN
L A 2 A 1
3 0 X 2 0 3 1
JLUEAU A i
PUBLISHED IN THE INTEREST OF THE MATANUSKA VALLET
o
i e;ty 9
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U M
“SABIN SUNDAYS"
ORAL VACCINE CLINIC
PALMER SCHOOLS
Jan. 27 12 noon to 6 p.m.
vuluml 15. NUMBER 18
PALMER, ALASKA THURSDAY, JAN. 24. 1983
TEN PAGES
PRICE 15 CENTS
Farm Co-op Plans Reorganizational Changes
PARK COMMITTEE
TO SPONSOR DANCE
Palmer's community park
committee will sponsor an old
fashioned barn dance sometime
in February to raise funds for
Palmer’s Walker Street park,
according to committee chair
man Gerri Knettles.
Definite time and place will
be announced next week. Live
music will be featured, and
decorations are planned.
Latest totals received by
the Park Committee from
jars placed in various busi
nesses in the City follows:
Palmer Bar _$4,14
49 Club __ 3.41
Tropical Gardens _ 4.38
Frontier Cafe_16.99
Glass Bar_ 2.65
Matanuska Hotel _34.97
TOTAL _$66.43
The volunteer committee,
which includes, besides chair
man Knettles, Lois Kepler, Ed
na Weiking, Mark Davis, Fred
Smith, R. J. Miller, Ted Sch
midtke, and A. H. Mick, met
Tuesday, Jan. 22. to discuss
fund raising methods and spring
work plans. Rickie Pettit, re
presenting the Future Farmers
of America, was also present.
Walter Ward displayed sam
ple fire grates made by his
vocational agriculture class at
the Palmer high school from
structural steel donated by
Mark Davis.
It was reported that some
$2500 worth of labor has been
donated by the Evan Jones
Coal Company to the park, to
demonstrate the company’s ap
preciation of community sup
port in obtaining the year’s
military fuel contracts.
Oral Vaccine Clinics
Open This Sunday
“Sabin Oral Sundays,” a ser
ies of three clinics to adminis
ter oral polio vaccine, will open
this Sunday, Jan. 27. in the
I three Palmer schools. Central,
! Swanson, and the high school.
The hours will be from 12 noon
to 6 p.m. Succeeding clinics
will be March 10 and April 21.
Since the goal of the pro
gram is complete community
immunization, all members of
i every family in the area are
urged to avail themselves of the
vaccine. Each of the three dos
es gives a lasting protection
against one of the three types
of poliomyelitis.
The charge is $1 for all three
doses of the vaccine. If there
are more than six persons in a
family, including parents, they
may have the complete immun
ization series of three doses for
each member of the family for
a total of $6. Coupon books of
the series may be purchased for
$1 apiece at all area doctors’
offices, Bert's Drug, the Health
Center, the hospital desk, Kos
losky’s, Piggly Wiggly, the
Trading Post, D & A Grocery,
and Betty’s. Although books
will be available at the cLinic
locations, community residents
are asked to buy them in ad
vance if possible.
families whose names begin
with A through I are asked to
go to Swanson school for their
immunizations, J through R to
Central, and S through Z to
the high school cafeteria.
What Iodine-131
Means to Area
(Second in an educational aeriaa)
By A. H. Mick. Alaska Experiment Station
Alaska's farmers, business men and milk consumers must
now learn to live in a world containing more radioactive iodine
(and other radionuclides) than in their childhood days. But
Alaskans do not stand alone in coping with anxieties implicit in
these new circumstances.
While residents of Anchorage and Palmer were receiv
ing news clippings by the dozens after last year's November
Health, Education, and Welfare Department releases, we were
generally unaware that milk drinkers in such widely scatter
ed places as Kansas City, Salt Lake City, Des Moines, Wichita,
Minneapolis, Omaha, Laramie and Spokane were also buying
milk containing lots of radioactive iodine. Palmer made the
front pages in most of these cities because it is remote and
newsworthy on other scores—being in Alaska, being well
known because of the 1935 colonization, and possibly because
some enterprising press service reporter selected the town
momentarily at the top of the list.
The specific release on which one national news story
was based was issued by HEW in Washington on November
15. In turn this official release was based on a report prepar
ed on October 19, 1962, which summarized for the first
time the 12-month totals of average daily amounts of 1-131,
Strontium 89 and Strontium 90 in one liter of milk at each of
62 sampling "stations" scattered over the entire United States.
The calendar year included in this new tabulation ended on
September 29, 1962.
A uniform sampling procedure is employed at all these
places. Samples are sent to one of three laboratories for an
alysis-located at Las Vegas, Nevada, Montgomery, Alabama,
and Winchester, Massachusetts.
Milk radioactivity is expressed as micro-micro-curies (ab
breviated as mmc in this weekly newspaper which cannot af
ford the special Linotype gadget to print a Greek lower-case
"mu"). A curie is the amount of radioactivity produced by a
gram of radium. Palmer made the headlines because milk
samples collected in Anchorage during the year ending
September 29, 1962, contained the equivalent total of 39,660
mmc of radioactive iodine.
If the Greater Anchorage Health Department employee
who collects these samples had drunk a quart (technically,
he'd have to drink a liter or 1.05 quarts) of milk a day from
the same source during the whole year, he would have taken
into his body 39,660 mmc of 1-131. Those in the Valley who
struggle with GAHD's recent application of stricter dairy
farm sanitation might advocate this diet for their genial milk
sanitation inspector. Would he grow fat? Or die of a cancerous
thyroid? See next week's column.
Residents of Willow, Wasilla, j
Big Lake, Burma Road, and
Mahoneyville areas have been
asked to come to Palmer for
their immunizations.
Each clinic will be supervis
ed by one physician and several
nurses. Volunteers will handle
the routine recording work.
Even though you have had
the Salk shot, you are urged to
take the oral vaccine, which is
not only stronger and longer
lasting but of a different type,
local health authorities say. It
not only prevents serious com
pications of polio, but actual
ly prevents one’s becoming in
fected and being a carrier. In
a community well-immunized
with the Sabin vaccine, the
lack of a sufficient number of
susceptible persons will cause
the disappearance of all polio
virus, thus protecting even the
few unimmunized people, they
add. However, to achieve this
goal approximately 80 per cent
of the entire population must
receive vaccine, it was emphas
ized.
The local program is spon
sored by the staff of the Val
ley Presbyterian Hospital, the
Matanuska Valley Health
Council, the Valley Nurses' As
sociation, the Palmer Indepen
dent School District, the Pub
lic Health Department, and the
Polio Foundation.
HOLSTEIN-FRIESIAN HONOR ROLL
INCLUDES EXPERIMENT STATION COW
The Alaska Agricultural Ex-1
periment Station is a two-time!
winner over a period of six:
months, according to William
Sweetman of the station staff. ;
Alaska Beauty Royal Ormsby, i
a Holstein record breaking cow,
ge fbur years and nine months, i
made the Holstein - Friesian
Honor Roll for 1962. She has a
record of 19,060 pounds of milk
and 631 pounds of fat. She is a
member of the College Experi
ment Station herd.
The college station herd com
pares very well with good
herds in the lower 48 states.
Sweetman said. The lactation
average of all cows calving in
1961 and finishing their records
in 1962 was 13,223 pounds of
milk and 473 pounds of fat.
This is actual production for
Pioneer Dies In
Sleep Jan. 23
Carroll Clarence “Happy”
Henderson, 72, apparently died
in his sleep during the early
morning hours of Jan. 23.
A 15-year resident of Palm
er, he first came to Alaska in
1919 when he went to work for
Ketchikan Spruce Mills in
Ketchikan after being dischar
ged from the army in Wyo
ming. After three years there,
he went to the Fairbanks area
where he mined and pros
pected for many years.
Henderson, who worked for
MBA for several years, has
been retired since 1953. He
was a member of Pioneers of
Alaska, Igloo No. 31, Veterans
of WWI, Matanuska Valley
Barracks No. 1500, American
Legion Post 15, and the Loyal
Order of the Moose.
Born in Baldwin, Illinois,
on July 18, 1890, he was a mem
ber of a family of ten children
but had no idea of the where
abouts of surviving relatives.
Funeral arrangements, which
will be made through the Pal
mer Funeral Chapel, are pend
ing.
FAIRBANKS ELKS TO
FLY HERE SATURDAY
Fairbanks officers of the
Benevolent and Protective Or
ler of Elks, Lodge No. 1551, will
conduct the initiation of new
candidates into the Palmer
Elks Lodge on Saturday, Jan.
26.
The Fairbanks members
have chartered a plane which
will land at the Palmer air
port on Saturday, carrying 25
to 40 persons.
Initiation rites will begin at
7:30 p.m. in the Elks home, to
be followed at 9 p.m. with a
party for Elks members and
their wives.
305 days. The mature basis for
these records was 15,198 pounds
t p'-'k and 545 pounds of fat
for 19 cows.
Fifteen purebred Holsteins
in this herd averaged 14,672
pounds of milk and 523 pounds
of fat. The four crossbreeds
averaged 17,170 pounds of milk
and 627 pounds of fat. Sweet
man has been in charge of the
Experiment Station dairy pro-1
gram since February of 1948. .«■
Mothers to March
On January 30
Members of Beta Sigma Phi
sorority will knock on doors
and ring doorbells throughout
the Palmer area on Jan. 30 as
representatives of the Mothers'
March of Dimes.
Weather permitting, the wo
men's group will visit homes in
the rural areas during the day
and will ring city-dwellers'1
doorbells during the evening j
hours.
This is the fourth year that j
the sorority has handled the
Mother’s March.
Funds the Marching Mothers j
will collect from their neigh- ’
bors will go toward the new
goal of the March of Dimes
Foundation—solving the pro
blems of birth defects and arth
ritis.
3-DAY DAIRY
SESSION STARTS
NEXT WEEK
Review of dairy inspection
procedures and requirements!
and worthwhile ideas for im
provements in the Alaska milk
shed will be the aim of the
three-day Dairy Clinic which
will begin Wednesday, Jan. 30. '
James Wilson, chairman, of the
dairy clinic committee, an
j nounced this week. Sessions
| will continue on Thursday,
j Jan. 31 and Friday, Feb. 1.
Meetings will begin prompt- \
| ly at 10 a.m. and will conclude
j at approximately 3 p m.. Wil-,
i son said, with a free lunch be- j
j ing served at noon by the
J Grange ladies.
Wesley Eckert, newly ap- |
pointed general manager of the '
Kittitas County Dairy Associa
tion. Ellensburg, Washington,
and his field-man. Ralph Geisy,
will assist with the discussion
groups, Wilson said. Eckert has
been in charge of his associa
tion's quality control program
since his graduation from
Washington State College sev
eral years ago.
Also with the team of visit
ing experts will be Roger
Brown of the Washington
Farmers Association, who will
cover the subject of “Breeding
and Culling for Profit.”
Topics to be covered by Eck
ert and Geisy in the three-day
session will include “The Care
and Operation of Milking
Equipment.” “Milking Proce
dures for Quality Production,”
; and “Maintenance of Premis
es.”
I Dr. Duncan of the Greater
[ Anchorage Health Department
will discuss the problem of ra
dioactivity in milk, LeMar
Hobbs will talk about sewage
disposal, and Colonel Harris
will speak on the subject of
‘‘The Military Consumer.”
A series of excellent films
will also he shown, Wilson said.
The program is sponsored by
the State Vocational Educa
tion Program, the University of
Alaska, the dairy industry, and
allied businesses.
TEEN-AGE COLUMN
TO BE PUBLISHED
A new column makes its first
appearance this week on the
editorial page of the Frontiers
man. Written by Dan Halligan,
it’s called “Under 21” and is
designed to help teen-agers
wdth their problems.
The Frontiersman would be
interested in opinions, pro and
con, on the column, which will
run on a trial basis for a month.
Trading Post, Garage
To Be Eliminated
In a move to reorganize and
streamline the operation of
Matanuska Maid, Inc. a plan to
liquidate the inventories of the
grocery and dry goods depart
ments will he put into effect by
April 1. Stewart A. Durrant.
general manager, announced
this week.
Further reorganizational
plans include leasing or selirrrg
the garage and negotiating for
the sale of the garage inven
tory, the manager said.
“These departments have op
erated for the convenience of
the members for the past ten
years and have not been profi
table to the over-all coopera
tive." he stated. “In effect, we
have been in competition with
some of our best customers.”
The manager said that plans
for these changes have been
under discussion for t h e
past year, with an eye to build
ing a good, solid cooperative an
business to sell milk, seed, feed,
fertilizer, and vegetables, and
getting rid of less profitable
ventures.
The buildings now housing
he Trading Post departments
will be utilized for other oper
ations, Durrant stated. He ad
ded that sale of farm machin
ery may be added to the wdre'
house operation, where plans
are to increase facilities, . . . .
Questioned about plans for a
new creamery, the manager
said that plans are not yet com
plete, but that the processing
plant will be built where , it
will bring the dairyman the
most money for his milk.
“We are now in competition
with the West Coast dairy in
dustry, and in order to com
pete we need an automated
plant. The yearly saving to the
cooperative through automa
tion will be considerable," he
said.
He estimated that it will be
me to two years before the co
ip will build the new cream
ery. The present trend is to lo
cate processing plants close to
the population centers, he ad
ded.
The co-op is also negotiating
for the disposal of the staff
aouses and the Matanuska Val
ley Lodge, the manager said.
Groceries and dry goods were
first sold to the colonists thro
ugh the Alaska Rural Rehabil
.tation Corporation, with the
farm cooperative taking over
the retail facilities in 1940, ac
cording to Durrant.
He pointed out that as other
retail businesses developed, the
need for these services to the
co-op members grew less, and
1 that eliminating them will give
j'other businesses in town an ec
onomic boost He added that
the entire reorganizational plan
should improve the economic
picture for the Matanuska Val
ley.
Employees affected by t h e
change will be absorbed in oth
I er departments, he said.
_
Women Bowlers
Plan Tournament
Palmer Women Bowlers will
hold their annual city tourna
ment this weekend, Jan. 26 and
27, at the Palmer Bowling Cen
ter.
Bowling will begin Saturday
at 9 a m. and will continue un
til midnight, then play will re
sume at 9 a.m. Sunday, con
cluding about 11 p.m.
All team captains must draw
for lanes a half hour before
they are scheduled to bowl, and
all teams are required to bring
one scorekeeper.
Sponsors who have made the
tournament possible are listed
■in the Bowling News” on an in
side page.
Kerttula Accepts Post
At North Star Dairy
Jalmar Kerttula. former
state legislator and valley
farmer, has recently accepted
the post of manager of North
Star Dairy, Anchorage whole
sale distributing plant for dairy
products.
The position offers an op
portunity to promote and to
help the sale of Alaska pro
ducts, Kerttula said yesterday.
Under the area dairy indus
try pooling arrangement, some
Matanuska Maid milk is used
by North Star.
Kerttula lives with his wife,
Joyce, and daughters Beth, 7,
and Anna, 4, at their farm on
Matanuska Road. The family
has no plans to move to An
chorage at present, he said.
Airmen to Get Public Hearing;
Annexation to Be Discussed
A public hearing will be held 1
next Tuesday, Jan. 29, at
a special meeting of the Pal
mer City Council to acquaint
:ity residents with the details
af a formal proposal from the
Matanuska Valley Airmen,
which will ask that the city of
Palmer take over ownership of
the Palmer airport from the
state of Alaska. Also to be dis-1
ttussed at the meeting will be
:he possibility of annexation
ay the city of lands adjacent
to the airport. The hearing will
apen at 8 p.m.
The decision to hold the
nearing was made after a dis
:ussion at the Jan. 22 meeting
af the city council, in which
members of the council, Floyd
Spickerman and Dick Hamilton
af the airmen, and Glen Clarke,
"eal estate officer for the Al
aska State division of aviation,
took part.
The airmen, who had been
asked to make their formal
presentation at the Jan. 22
meeting, presented a tentative
proposal, saying they needed
nformation from the city on
A'hat would be expected of
hem before they could draw
ap a formal plan. Clarke warn
ed them that only a 30-dav
moratorium on lease fees had
peen granted by the state while
in attempt was being made to
A’ork out an agreement by the
:ity, and that if arrangements
ire not made within that time
he user fees will be enforced
at a one-third reduction).
The airmen’s move to ask
he city to take over the air
port has come as a result of the
itate’s new leasing arrange
ment, which provides for col
ection of user fees not only for
;pace on airport land but for
space used adjacent to the air
port for commercial purposes.
Airmen feel that the fees are
pxhorbitant and will drive
pusiness away from the airport.
The airmen’s proposal pro
vides that the city take over
ownership, and that the air
men's organization handle
maintenance and operatian of
the airport. Under the agree
ment signed by the state when
federal funds were granted for
improvements at the airport,
ownership can be turned over
to a municipality only. While
it would be possible for the j
airmen to lease the airport
from the state, as a pri
vate organization they could
not collect the 60 per cent re
turn on the three per cent fuel
tax per gallon collected on all
uel sold at the airport (amount
ing to about $700 per year).
This, however, can be collected
by a municipality.
Clar ke stated that he feels !
that the strongest link in the'
proposed agreement is that the
city can at any time revert!
ownership to the state; that per-1
haps the weakest link will be 1
the ability of the airmen, to
maintain the airport, but that
he feels the airmen are a re
sponible group who can admin
ister the necessary duties.
The airmen were asked to
discuss the possibility of an
nexation with owners of land
adjacent to the airport.
City manager Gilchrist recom
mended that the city attorney
draw up an ordinance for
council approval for the abate
ment of public nuisances on
private property.
The manager also stated that
the preliminary engineering re
port on the city sewer system
has not yet been completed by
Jack O'Malley, and that in or
der to be eligible for the fed
eral grant of matching funds
($120,000 with a possible addi
tional $80,000), it must be on
file soon. A motion was adopt
ed asking the manager to re
(Continued on Page 10)
MOOSE!
LEGION MEETING 8 ENROLLMENT
SATURDAY, JANUARY 26th - 7:30
Fish Fry & Dance to Follow
ALL MOOSE MEMBERS, WIVES & GUESTS