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Housing Problems Plague Valdez City Council
VALDEZ CENSUS
ALSO TO START
ABOUT APRIL I
The official census for • Valdez
and the surrounding area will be
gin on April 1, as it does in the
Matanuska Valley, James Brov-'n,
assistant territorial supervisor, an
nounced this week. Mr. Brown
said he planned to visit Valdez
later this month, to make prejith,-;
inary plans for the population
count.
Meanwhile, the Anchorage di
visional office of the Bureau of
the Census is seeding Six erturpef
ators |or the ValdezrCopper Ceri'
ter area. Application blanks for
the position of enumerator may
me secured from the Valdez post -
nistress, or from the Anchorage
:ensus office, at Post Office Box
.043 in Anchorage.
Mr. Brown urges that anyone
nterested in the position of enu
nerator forward an application at
>nce. Applicants must be between
he ages of 25 and 45 and must be
ligh school graduates, or of equal
ducational experience. Good
•hysical condition and good char
cter are absolute musts for cen
us workers.
Retired government employes,
erritdrial employes, law enforce
ment officers, retired military of
icers, tax collectors and assessors
may not be census enumerators.
The job will pay either at an
ourly rate of $1.50 an hour or on
piece-work scale of 12c per per
on, 15c per infant, 10c per dwell
ng unit and 50c per farm. Enu
merators using their own auto
mobile for transportation will be
llowed mileage.
Mr. Brown said he expected to
>e able to announce, by next
veek, the time of his arrival in
/aldez and the length of his stay
here. However, he is hoping to
eceive applications for the posi
ion of enumerator prior to his >
risit in the city.
HLLICUM CLUB
ro BE REVIVED.
)R HAM PLANS
A revival of the Tillicum Club,
nactive since before the war, is
ilanned here, it was learned this
/eek. Dr. Kenneth Ham is spon
oring the project, which he hopes
/ill provide recreation for many I
raldez residents. J
T^|o ping-pong tables and a
huffleboard game already have
een contributed. Club hours and
ctivities will be announced in
he near future, Dr. Ham said.
hospital Plans Are
iubmitted Again
Plans for a new Valdez Com
lunity Hospital still are pending,
)r. Kenneth Ham said this week,
’he first set of plans submitted
/as rejected, but the board is
.ow consideiing a new draft re
en|ly completed by architect
Victor Rivers.
It is hoped that construction on
he new hospital can begin this
ear, but no definite schedule of
v'ork has been set up. c
VALDEZ SCHOOL FIVE
STILL TO MEET
| CORDOVA ON COURT !
The long - delayed basketball
igame between. Valdez High
! School and Cordo.va still is in the
offing, Superintendent Harold
French said this week. Mr.
French said the Valdes five would
rn^ke .the .trip (q Cordova, al
though he had no definite playing
date scheduled yet.
The Valdez squad had planned
td 'make the trip earlier, but was
'forced fb ask for 'a * postponement
jof* the game When' high winds
Unadejt impossible to. reach Cor-i
! dova, either by air or by water, v
| Ladies Were Guests
At Friday Lodge Meeting
• Last Friday evening was the
monthly ladies’ night of the
Eagles Lodge. Following the reg
ular business meeting, ladies
joined the Eagles for an evening
of dancing, entertainment and re
freshments.
The Eagles Lodge meets regu
larly each Friday evening at 8
o’clock in Eagles Hall. Ladies’
nights are scheduled once each
month.
STITH RETURNS MONDAY
C. G. Stith returned from a
business trip to Fairbanks and
Anchorage early this week. I
EAGLES PUN
PUBLIC DANCE
ON MARCH 18
There’ll be greenery in the air,
greenery in the food and drink
and green draperies hanging from
the walls, when the Eagles Lodge I
presents its St. Patrick’s Day 1
dance at Eagles Hall next Satur
day evening. Dancing is sched
uled to start at 11 p.m. that eve
ning.
Something new and different to
see in the way of decorations, and
something new and different to
hear in the way of dance music
is planned by the Eagle commit- ;
tee, Dean Jennings said today.
In addition to the St. Patrick’s
decor of shamrocks, clay pipes I
and tall hats, Mr. Jennings is hop- ■
ing for some out-of-town music to
add an extra fillip to the occasion.
Schaefer’s Orchestra of Palmer,
lad by Charles Schaefer, has been
invited to provide the music for
the dance. The orchestra ii^cludes
a bass, saxophone-clarinet player
and drums. No definite word of
acceptance had been received
from Mr. Schaefer at press-time.
The St. Patrick’s dance will be
open to all, Mr. Jennings said.
Admission will be one dollar a
couple.
Assisting Mr. Jennings on the
dance committee are Howard
Bowen, Bill Fish and Basil Fer
rier.
Hermans Are Dinner Hosts
To Thatcher Family
Mr. and Mrs. Jack Thatcher and
family were the Sunday dinner <
guests of Mr: and' Mrs. Larry >
Herman, and daughter, Rowena, ;
n March 5.
i
tJl&Uo- Val&eq,
This is the first issue of the Valley Frontiersman
to carry the page of Valdez news that we promised
you, when we talked with you last weekend. As first
attempts always are, this is somewhat less finished
than we expect it to be later. However we promisee
your Valeted-ne'wsv and we rushed-this into print- to
show you what we had.in mind. We expect to do a
better job, as the mechanics of transportation, smooth
' We're hoping, .that you will look upon .this
as ydur nevyspa|)eri; We want to have in it the type of
news you wiITenjoy reading). We also* Want to-.®nake
this page of service to you—we hope to use it to keep
you informed, not only of the future fun and activities
open to yoU;’ but to make known to-you some of the
prospects ahead for Valdez.
We hope to use this page to let you know what
your council and school board are planning, what you
can expect in the way of new business and industry
for Valdez, and how plans are shaping up for your
new community hospital. In short, we hope to make
Df this page not only an interesting news sheet, but a
sage that can be of help to Valdez in its progress for
ward.
We will make mistakes, we know. There will be
imes when we will unknowingly make misstatements,
through misunderstanding will confuse a news story,
Dr through error will misspell names or misprint dates,
t happens to the best of newspapers, and it certainly
nappens to the Valley Frontiersman. We don't mean
rhat we'll go out of our way to be inaccurate, but we
<.now already that there will be times when we are
vrong.
We always stand ready to correct an error on our
Dart, or to do anything possible to clear up confusion
:aused by a news story in which facts are not clearly
stated. We invite your cooperation. We want you to
et us know when we're wrong. We also stand ready
to print your letters, if you wish to rise in objection to
something we say. We do ask, however, that you sign
1-hose letters. We'll print anything, which isn't libelous,
f it comes to our hands signed. We will never, under
Dny circumstances, use anonymous letters.
As you know, Mrs. Jack Thatcher has been
named your Valdez correspondent. She will gather
^our news, solicit your subscriptions and pick up your
advertising. She will welcome your assistance in the
■natter of news. If you know of a coming event, social
terns, or any bit of news that will be of interest tc
four neighbors, tell Mrs. Thatcher about it.
In conclusion, we'd like to express our apprecia
ion for the reception we received in Valdez. We were
nighty thankful for the interest you showed in having
i page of your own in the Valley Frontiersman. We
ook forward to a closer unity between Palmer and
/aldez, and we hope that the Valley Frontiersman can 1
jrow into a useful and interesting community news
aaper for both towns. We're going to do all we can to i
nake-ft that. 5
1
1
DR. SIMS HERE THIS WEEK
Dr. F. R. Sims left Palmer this
veekend for Valdez, where he
vill spend the next week or two
»ttending to the ailing molars ol
/aldez residents.
Thatchers Entertain 1
Owen Johnsons
Mr. and Mrs. Owen Johnson
were guests of Mr. and Mrs. Jack 1
Thatcher on March 4. The John
sons and Thatchers spent an en
l joyable evening at cards
Valdez School Needs
Added Rooms, Town
Needs More Houses
Housing — for future Valdez
xhool children and for future
Valdez residents—was the two
headed problem which occupied
mp§t jf. the time :$f the y^dez
city council at last Monday’s ses
siqn, .. r ^
School superintendent Harold
French, speaking for board chair
man Leo- Sowafdj -told the council
that conservative estimates put
Valdez school enrollment at 135
pupils 'next term. "*The figure
couUi...reach 150, he said. The
school already is overcrowded
with the present enrollment of
just over a hundred students, and
cannot possibly accommodate the
anticipated increase, Mr. French
stated.
Planned improvements for the
school include the construction
of two classrooms, to be located
in a wing added to the present
plant, extension of two high
school classrooms, construction
of bleachers in the present
gymnasium, and installation of
a second furnace. Mr. French
said he had no idea of the total
cost of the improvements, but
he was sure that money frozen
in territorial funds, plus Valdez'
share of the tobacco tax, would
be available to finance build
ing costs this summer.
The superintendent asked the
council to approve the appropria
tion of a fund to take care of an
architect's preliminary plans for
:he improvement. He estimated
that the cost of this first set of
ciinunary plans would not ex
ceed $500. The council unani
mously approved the action.
Wiia me school’s housing prob
lem temporarily disposed of, the
council turned to a discussion of
the need for public housing in
Valdez. George Gilson, presiding
as acting mayor in the absence of
Mayor Guy Stith, said that ail
attempts to interest the Alaska
Housing Authority in the Valdez
problem had been unavailing.
After much discussion, the
councilmen finally voted to
wire Juneau housing represent
atives. with a second copy of
the wire directed to Governor
Ernest Gruening. that the city
of Valdez would bear all trans
portation costs, if a housing
representative could be per
suaded to visit and make a sur
vey of the housing condition
here. Representative William
Egan also was to be asked to do
everything possible to awake
nterest in the Valdez housing
>roblem.
It was also agreed upon to get
n touch with several private con
duction companies and with a
jeneral representative of con
ractors with reference to the
lousing problem.
The meeting adjourned follow
ng an informal discussion of Val
lez police powers which ranged
from plans for a possible youth
:urfew to measures for the con
trol of drunkenness.