Kenai Garden Club Will Enter
Community Beautification Contest
A decision that the Kenai Gar
den Club will enter the communi
ty beautification contest being
sponsored by the Richfield Oil
Co. was made when the group
met on Jan. 2 at the home of
Mrs. John Warren on Homesite
Loop Road.
By entering the contest, the
club will receive a tree of its
WITH YOUR LOCAL
INSURANCE AGENT
LEO T. OBERTS
Phone 283-7591
Oberts llldg.
Box 458 Kenai, Alaska
choice for planting. Information
as to which beautification pro
ject will be chosen by the club
must be submitted to Richfield
Oil Co. by April 1.
Also at the meeting, the club
voted to contact the Kenai City
Council and the City Planning
Commission regarding the estab
lishment of litter cans in various
areas of the city in an endeavor
to keep the streets free of papers
and other rubbish and to promote
a sense of pride and neatness in
the citizens. The Garden Club is
willing to supply the litter cans
if the City will agree to collect
and empty them at regular inter
vals.
Guest speaker for the evening
was Mrs. W. R. Struble, who gave
a book report on “Driftwood,”
written by Mary E. Thompson.
Lamps, planters and other objects
made from driftwood were dis
played. One display featured
sprigs of pussy willows picked
that very day in Mrs. Henry
Knackstedt’s yard.
It was also decided that the
club will put out mimeographed
sheets this summer in the Kenai
Tourist Center directing visitors
to the various gardens in the vi
cinity.
Seeds for spring planting wrill
be discussed at the next meeting
announced for 7:30 p.m. on Feb.
6 at the home of Mrs. Tom
Hayes. •
Ed Meyer’s Ridgeway Feed Co.
KENAI SPUR ROAD
f Complete Line of
» Feeds and Hay
BOX 21
SOLDOTNA
PHONE
283-7665
phone
March of Dimes Scientists Find
Armadillo Helpful in Twin Study
An oddball research animal that looks like a cross L
between an anteater and an armored tank is causing d.
scientists to wonder if “identical” human twins are so
identical after all. jfj
The nine-banded armadillo, which is a native of
Texas and points south, has several child-bearing char- ||
acteristics that are similar to those of humans.
For this reason, Dr. Kurt
Benirschke and colleagues at
Dartmouth Medical College,
Hanover, N. It., arc using ar
madillos for studies of preg
nancy and birth defects under
a National Foundation-March
of Dimes research grant.
It takes about, the same
length of time—nine months—
for baby armadillos or baby
humans to develop in the
womb. And in both species, the
placentas are structurally sim
ilar.
But a quirk, of nature has
made this odd mammal even
more useful for medical re
search. It always has a litter
of four. The four baby arma
dillos come from the same egg
and are therefore always of
the same sex.
What has this to do with
human twins?
For years, scientists have be
lieved that identical twins—
those who develop through di
vision of the same egg—are
exactly alike down.to the very
last gene. They've assumed that
it was this genetic similarity
that permits successful trans
plants of skin or of organs
between identical twins.
If this theory were wholly
correct, it should be easy to
exchange skin grafts between
identical young of the same
armadillo litter since they ail
came from a single egg.
But Dr. Benirschke and his,
associates, Dr. Alastairc H.
Imre and Dr. John Anderson,
have found that such -grafts
often fail to ‘‘ia- . ”
This parade:: has led them
to suspect that tne answer to
gr^ft tolerance cannot be
found solely -in genetic make
up. The March of Dimes re
searchers think the key may
lie, at least in part, in the re
lationship of the embryo to
the placenta — the material
which nourishes the unborn
infant.
Each armadillo quadruplet
has its own isolated segment
of placenta. This means that
each gels a slightly different
supply of nutrients, hormones
Dr. Kurt Benirschke, March of Dimes grantee at Dartmouth Medical
College, Hanover, N. H., studies the strange-looking armadillo.
and biood elements. While 1
Mich differences are minute, |
they may be just enough to!
individualize each animal’s de- |
velopment so he won’t accept1
; grafts and transplants from j
: his own litter mate.
Hu:i;an twins, on the other
hand, sometimes share a com
mon placenta—-each getting ex-!
actly the same nutrients for
: development. Thus they be- ,
1 come favorable candidates for
any necessary organ exchange
; or skin graft in later life.
; If graft acceptance in twins
j is related to their sharing—or
not sharing — the same pla
centa, some other puzzles of
pregnancy may also be a little
1 closer to solution,
i Why, for examplg^ doesn't
: a pregnant animal ‘^reject” its
own embryo, which is actually
1 a ‘To'-eign” substance made up
j of ceils quite different from
1 her own?
I Or does she, in some in
stances? Couid such a reaction
lead to spontaneous abortion
or a defect in the offspring?
Or could it be that the ex
change of substances through
the placenta permits the moth
er to “accept” the embryo?
Does this exchange also
make it possible for some
mothers and children to toler
ate each other's skin or organ
grafts later in life?
These are questions which
have stumped scientists for
many years. The answers,
though still to come, may
! throw a bright new light on
many problems of pregnancy,
, the causes of certain birth de
fects, and the success or failure
of organ transplants.
And it may be one of the
nature’s more incredible crea
tures — dasvpus novemcinctus
(known familiarly as Mrs.
Armadillo) — who will help
; turn the switch on this lamp
! of knowledge.
Alaska Truckers Reported To Be
Winning in Battle For Survival
The Alaska trucker is fighting
a hard battle — and slowly win
ning it — for survival in Alaska
—the most difficult state in the
nation for a trucker to operate,
was comment recently of Ralph
Sanders, managing director of
Alaska Carriers Association. The
Association is the central organ
ization of the majority of inde
pendently owned for-hire truckers
of Alaska.
These truckers have not long
been under the regulation of the
Interstate Commerce Commission
and the Alaska Public Service
Commission and have just com
pleted two years of intense ef
fort to develop the most exact
ingly fair and just charges for
their services, Sanders said. They
have made great progress, even
though at great expense, he con
tinued, and are now in the pro
cess of forming a Shippers Ad
visory Board so that additional
refinement of their rates, charges
and governing rules can be arriv
KENAI BUSINESS SERVICES, Inc.
We are now located in our new office building
on Overland Way back of Kenai Power Plant
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ed at. Representatives of major
businesses will serve on this
Board and contribute their “know
how” to this permanent, contin
uing effort.
The Alaska trucking companies
realize that they must also have
a most effective safety program
and have marked progress in up
dating the safe condition of their
vehicles, according to Sanders,
and have made improvements in
their already fine service pro
grams in order that their ship
pers and potential shippers could
be assured, always, of receiving
the best service conceivable when
they have goods to move from or
to points in Alaska.
It is hoped, Sanders said, that
many of these Alaska-owned
trucking companies will he able
soon to offer their shipping pub
lic through rates from Seattle
and other points in the other
states — thus extending and en
larging their level of service to
the people of Alaska. They are
now accumulating data and ne
gotiating with connecting water
carriers. Passage by Congress of
Public Law 87 595 made such pub
lication possible and will enable
them to publish these through
rates and will permit carriers now
having such joint through rates
to continue to legally offer them
to the shipping public, Sanders
commented.
Trucking companies in Alaska
rank as one of the state’s largest
employers and purchase very
large amounts of goods and ser
vices locally, and, according to
Sanders, rthe industry nationally
employs more than 7'i> million
people.
Read the News classifieds for
profit—use them for results.
Price-Support
Deadline Nears,
Farmers Advised
Jan. 31, 1963, is the deadline
for price-support loans and pur
chase agreements on a number
of crops harvested in 1962, Dar
rell L. Baird, Chairman, Agricul
tural Stabilization and Conserva
tion County Committee, has an
nounced. The crops include barley
and oats.
Baird listed the following gen
eral provisions of loans and pur
chase agreements on the 1963
crop of commodities:
Price support is made avail
able through farm storage loans,
warehouse storage loans, and pur
chase agreements. The price sup
port program is available to an
individual, partnership, corpora
tion, trust, etc.
Disbursement of loans is mad*
to producers by financial institu
tions or by ASCS County Offices
by sight drafts drawn on Com
modity Credit Corporation.
Loans mature on demand, but
not later than April 30, 1963 in
the State of Alaska.
The basic support rate for loans
and settlement purposes for farm
stored and warehouse-stored bar
ley and oats is $1.80 and $1.2(1
per bushel respectively.
The Chairman reminded grow
ers that good storage, which must
first be approved by the ASG
County Committee, is a requisite
for obtaining a price'support loan
on any farm-stored crop. While
the farmer himself is responsible
for storing a crop covered by a
purchase agreement, the condition
and quality of crop will be a de
termining factor in the amount
of the support he. receives should
he decide to deliver his crop un
der the support program at the
end of the season.