Legion Building bone*
fi£ dance in Gym on
Jan. 28.
VOL. THREE—NO. 19
Kalley · Illrontiergman J
PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF THE MATANUSKA VALLEY
PALMER, ALASKA,
THURSDAY. JANUARY 19. 1990
Holel vs. Elks al Gym
tonight. PHS vs. AHS
here on Saturday .
PRICE 19
ARR Finds Railbns
Too Costly, To Halt
Operation On Jan. 30
Ending an eight months experi
ment in rail transportation, ef
fective Jan. 30, rail bus service
between Palmer and Anchorage
will be discontinued, it was an
nounced this week by E. J. Kunz,
traffic manager of The Alaska
Railroad.
Railroad officials earlier had
been conducting a survey of rail
bus service with an eye toward
paring expenses on the too-costly
operation. Questioned about the
plans on Monday, Jan. 9, L. A.
Moore, assistant to the general
manager, said the Railroad man
agement still had no plans for
abandonment of the run.
At that time, Mr. Moore indi
cated he thought it might be pos
sible to change railbus schedules
somewhat, in order to avoid pay
ment of overtime to employes. He
blamed the overtime pay required
by the existing schedule as pri-:
marily responsible for a loss
which he said amounted to “eight
or nine hundred dollars a month."
However, later in that same
week, Kunz announced in Anch
orage newspapers that the run
would be abandoned at the end of
the month. The daily freight
schedule will be maintained.
In his letter of announcement
addressed to the Valley Frontiers
man, Mr. Kunz wrote:
“The Railroad very much re
grets the necessity of this action
as we feel the service was of con
siderable value to those few that
made use of it. However we have
found, after an eight month trial,
that the volume of traffic does
not justify further operation of
the railbus.”
New Officers To Preside
At Health Council Tonigt
New officers will be presiding
for the first time, when the Val
ley Health Council holds its reg
ular January meeting in the
Health Center tonight. Meeting
time has been shoved ahead to 7
p. m., to give members time to
attend to Health Council business
early in the evening, and then
dash on to other meetings called
to order at the more conventional
hour of 8 p. m.
Officers elected at the last
meeting include: Louise Kellogg,
president; Jennie Perkins, vice
president; Ann Demming, secre
tary-treasurer. (Mrs. Demming
had not, at press-time, accepted
her new position)
Miss Kellogg requests that all
delegates be present for tonighfs
meeting. A general reorganization
of the Health Council is planned,
together with a group discussion
of the Health Council’s role in
fhe community. ,
jLA—Mrs. Mary Dolis,
been visiting her daugh
- Cfciries Widner, left
fdr her home in De
RNS TO DETROIT
JACKSON STILL
SELLS MILK
Although Judge Anthony Di
mond has granted the injunction
asked by the Matanuska Valley
Farmers’ Co-Operating Associa
tion to restrain six member dairy
men from selling milk to Alaska
Dairy, Inc., papers have not yet
been served on the six and Alaska
Dairy apparently is still collecting
milk from the six Valley shippers.
James Wilson, general manager
of the MVFCA, said on Tuesday
that the six dairymen, Arthur
Holbrook, Leonard Moffitt, Ernest
Harrington, A. A. Rempel, Arvid
Johnson and Frank McAllister,
were delivering all milk produced
on their farms to the Co-Op.
“There's nothing new to print—
all six are now bringing their
milk to the Co-Op,” Mr. Wilson
asserted.
George Jackson, manager of the
Alaska Dairy, Inc., denied that
assertion on Wednesday. Ques
tioned as to his present source of
milk, Mr. Jackson stoutly maim
tained that he was still receiving
daily deliveries from “nine Val
ley shippers.” (Three dairymen
(Continued on page 8)
ARR engineers Ponder
Motorists1 Memory Span
To combat the belligerent atti
tude of motorists toward Alaska
Railroad trains at Eklutna cross
ing on the Palmer-Anchorage
Highway, present stop signs will
be moved farther back along the
road, L. A. Moore, public rela
tions head, said this week. How
ever the ARR engineering staff is
furrowing its collective brow over
the problem of how far back.
“We’re afraid if we get ’em a
little too far back,” Mr. Moore
commented, “the average motor
ist will forget he’s seen them be
fore he gets to the crossing.
We’re working it out very care
fully, in order to avoid that
problem, too.”
Tobacco Tax May Give
Palmer School $21,000 Year
The Palmer school district
stands to collect about $21,000 an
nually, if a recommendation for
distribution of the tobacco tax
money, made at a superintend
ent’s meeting in Juneau last week
is accepted by the territorial
board of education in May. The
superintendents formulated a plan
for distribution of the money, but
it must be accepted by the terri
torial board before it can be put
into practice.
The recommendation, approved
unanimously by the 22 superin
tendents in attendance at the
meeting, would. give an outright
grant of at least $3,000 to every
incorporated school in the terri
tory. r ...
The remainder of the money in
the fund would be divided on the
basis of average daily attendance
Bernard Kirk of REA
Is En Route To Alaska
As Herbert G. Bryan, Alaska
representative for the Rural Elec
trification Administration for al
most three years, was finishing
his desk work here preparatory
to leaving next week, announce
ment came from REA. headquar
ters that Bernard Kirk was en
route north. Mr. Kirk is with the
management division of REA- It
is not known whether he will be
permanently stationed in Alaska
or will be in the territory only for
periodic field trips.
Robert Gallup, of the power
planning division of REA also is
in Alaska now. Mr. Gallup met
with Chugiach Board in Anch
orage this week. His is merely a
field trip and he will be returning
to Washington, D. C. soon.
As he closed the records on
(Continued on page 8) i
figures and on the basis Of the
number of professional teachers
and workers on the school staff.
Such a division of funds would
mean that every school which im
proved its status would be receiv
ing a greater share of the tobac
co tax fund.
The tobacco tax has proved, an
unexpectedly good source of
school revenue. More than $290,
OQO has been collected in the first
six months, it has been effective
and the annual take is expected
to run as high as $500,000.
The tax money must bb used:
for building repair or for the-con
struction of new buildings. It need
hot be used in the current year,
but can be banked until the sum
is *. large enough to finance a
school’s planned construction.
Mining Class Has "
Overflow Enrollment
• Beards, adorning prospectors,
farmers, trappers and hunters,
were the most noticeable element
in the foreground when instruct
or Eugene Erickson opened Palm-:
er’s University Extension course
in mining last Monday evening.
Blondes were conspicuous by
their absence, although a careful
count of student noses revealed
that three of the feminine variety
were present at the Monday class.
Expecting, on the basis Of the
37 students pre-registered, .a class
of not more than 40, Mr. Etickson
was surrounded with an estimat
ed 80 prospective prospectors at
class-time
First highlight, in respect to
special speakers, is an early
the next 30 days,
tory of Palmer High School, for
(Continued on Page 8)
Matanuska Station Agronomist Names
Best Cereals for Planting Here
Recommendations for seed var
ieties of cereal crops for planting
this spring in the Matanuska Val
ley were included this week in a
report of recent tests of cereal
crops at the Matanuska Experi
ment Station. The recommenda
tions were listed in a release giv
en by S. C. Litzenberger, agrono
mist.
For grain crops, Mr. Litzen
berger suggests planting Olli Bar
ley, Gopher, Climax or Swedish
Select oats, and Chogot wheat.
For hay or silage crops, the agron
omist recommends Climax or
Swedish Select oats (with peas)
and Trapmar barley.
In addition to endorsing these
varieties, found by station tests
to be best suited for Valley con
ditions, Mr. Litzenberger’s re
lease stresses the following four
points:
(1) Use only clean seed which
has been tested for germination.
(2) Treat seed with New Im
proved Ceresan or Ceresan M.
(3) Thoroughly prepare the
seedbed.
(4) Plant early, on clean Land
preferably following a row
crop. If at all possible, cereal
crops should not follow cereals.
Concerning the cereal crop
tests made by the Matanuska Sta
tion', the rielease lists results ob
tained from eight different cereal
varieties grown in the five-year
period from 1945-1949 The pur
pose of the test was to learn the
pounds of total digestible nutri
ents (T.D.N.) produced per acre
for each variety
(A total digestible nutrient is
what puts the oomph into any
cow’s daily stint) t
Test results showed that Trap
mar barley was least efficient in
producing feed units per acre’(Di
li barley yielded 15 percent bet
ter than Trapmar.
Of the oat varieties , now
grown, none produced' more •
than Climax, a late-maturing
variety which produced 18 per
cent higher than Chogot wheat.
Of the varieties still in the ex
perimental tests, Edda barley and
Siberian Three oats appear to be
tops. Edda barley, for the four
years grown, has averaged nearly
(Continued on Page 8)
MEMBERS TAKE STEP
TO BRING ACTION
ON CITY QUESTION
“Who’s trying to incorporate
this town and who said we want
ed to incorporate it, is what I
want to know?” queried Chamber
of Commerce member Neal
Wright when president Clair
Stock asked for matters of new
business at yesterday’s meeting.
And although the following 40
minutes of discussion led to no
answer to Mr. Wright’s question
it did lead to a motion, by Jack
Maze, that a committee be appoint
ed to study city incorporation, and
that it bring a full report of that
study, complete with figures, to
the Feb. 15 meeting. A. V. Hagen
amended the motion to include a
study of a public utility district.
Chamber members unanimously
accepted both the motion and the
amendment.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
BULLETIN
A committee of 12 Chamber
of Commerce members, headed
by Chamber president Clair
Stock, will study municipal and
public utility district incorpora
tion. Committee members in
clude Jan Koslosky, Russell Fel
zien, Lee Hartley, Carl Meier,
‘ James Wilson, Everett Yohn.
James Hurley, Eugene Kirsch.
Bill Head, Betty Mears and
!; Mrs. Frank Brown. The com
mittee will hold a short organi
:• rational meeting tomorrow
night at 8 p. m. in the former
library room at the Rec HalL
>>■> »>-» > > >>»>-> > >>>>»->
Mr. Stock summed up the mat
ter of incorporation in a prelimi
nary remark, in which he said he
believed that the Chamber’s next
action ought to be the study, call
ed for in Mr. Maze’s motion, with
a later general meeting set to
make public the information gath
ered
Mr. Hagen derided studies made
by former Chamber committees,
saying that he was certain that
these studies “probably just skim
med the top of the matter, instead
of trying to get down to the bot
tom of it for some real facts.” He
criticized an estimated budget
worked out by a former Chamber
committee because it made no
provision for school support and
because its estimate of $1,000 from
license revenues was probably
eight times too small.
Mr. Maze and Mr. Hagen argu
ed the respective merits of a mu
nicipal and public utility district
(Continued on Page 8)
King Cove Steps Up
To Rank Of City
, Latest Alaskan city to feel tftr
heed of government is King Cove,
tiny hamlet located far out to
ward the Aleutian chain. Last
week King Cove completed its in
corporation as a city. “As such,"
one of its citizens wrote to Jes
sen’s Weekly, “we feel we have
a better claim to be capital of Al
aska than Palmer does, for Palm
er isn’t even incorporated yet.”'*