-- ■I ___„_,
Thought of the Week:
While half the population is
trying to stamp out heart dis
ease, the other half is going
around saying "Drop Dead.''
*? r
PUBLISHED IN THE INTEREST OF THE MATANUSKA VALLEY
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Wednesday, April 3
12 Noon—Frontier Cafe
Guest Speaker
Earl Plourde, State Forester
VOLUME 15. NUMBER 27
PALMER. ALASKA. THURSDAY. MARCH 28. 1963
TEN PAGES
PRICE 15 CENTS
Busty North Winds
Bludgeon Local Area
<-*usty north winds that have
hludegoned the local area
since early last evening are re
ported the most severe experi
enced since the Alaska Agricul
tural Experiment Station began
continuous recording six years
ago.
According to the report
gathered from recordings of the
station’s anemometer, wind in
creased gradually from 5 to 7
p m. last evening, holding fair
■>' steady at a mean of 45 mph
through the night. Minimum
average was 35, maximum
mean about 55 with gusts over
.5 mph about every ten minu
tes. Some gusts seemed to ap
proach 90 mph (about 15 times
daring the night) although the
anemometer needle was off the
chart on these occasions.
Gradually decreasing since 6
a m. this morning, the mean
was 35 mph at 8 a.m., with
casts to 65 every ten minutes.
Weather reports indicate that
the high winds are general
over the Cook Inlet area. Con
: nuation of tnis condition was
predicted at least for the re
mainder of the day.
Although local insurance ag
ents observed that claims for
wind damage usually are not
I rought to the office until the
winds have ceased to be des
tructive, two reports from the
city of Palmer were made to
Pippel Insurance Agency this
:. orning on damage to roofs.
One was for Irwin Bentti resi
dence and the other for the
P* rkins building. Quite a num
ber of roofs of non-permanent
structures located on the Alas
ka State Fair grounds had
blown away before daybreak;
and other damage, particularly
to roofs and TV antenna, has
been noted in the city area.
Consultant
Finishes Audit
John Myhre, management
consultant with the National
Rural Electric Cooperative As
sociation. has finished the first
phase of a management audit
for the Matanuska Electric
Assn.
The audit, plus a wage and
salary study, is being partici
pated in jointly by the local
electric cooperative and the
Homer Electric Association.
Myhre, a native of Iowa,
holds a bachelor and master’s
degree in industrial economics
from Iowa State University at
Ames.
In addition to his work as a
management consultant for
NRECA Myhre will edit the
Management Quarterly, an
NRECA publication.
14-Mill Levy for Schools Set by Council
Four Borough Bills Cross
Over to the Other Side
|
Four borough bills have
crossed over to the other side
of the legislative hall in Juneau
as the first session of the Third
State Legislature goes into its
61st day today.
Passed by the House and
transmitted to the Senate were
the controversial CSHB90 as j
amended—originally Rep. John
Rader’s bill, I1B163 as amend
ed, and HB214 as amended.
The Senate passed and sent to
the House Senator Alfred
Owen's SB17 as amended.
As amended in the House,
CSHB90, still provides for the
mandatory incorporation of
certain boroughs, including the
local Seventh Election District,
by January 1, 1964. if they
1 have not been voluntarily in
: corporated into an organized
i borough by Oct. 1. 1963 The
amended version provides for
voters’ choice on incorporation
as first or second class borough.
It also follows the original bor
ough statute in giving the bor
ough assembly up to two years
after the borough’s incorpora
tion to integrate existing spec
ial service districts, such as the
Palmer Independent School
District, into the borough or
ganizational and operational
structure under borough as
sembly authority. Special fea
ture of this bill is the provision
for grants of land and money
to the organized borough to de
fray the cost of transition to
borough government “'and to
provide for development and
interim governmental opera
tions.” The organized borough
may select within five years of
incorporation ten percent of
WALTER WARD TO BE NEW
PALMER HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL
G. Ed Smith, president of
the school board of the Palmer
Independent School District,
today announced the ap
pointment of Walter Ward as
principal of the Palmer High
School to begin with the 1963
! 64 school year.
j The board met in special
meeting' Tuesday evening to
consider the applications re
ceived for the school principal
position being vacated by the
resignation of Keith Smith at
the close of the current school
year. The board unaninously
approved the appoinment of
Mr. Ward who is promoted
within the Palmer School Sys
tem. For the past five years,
1958-63, he has taught Voca
tional Agriculture in the high
school and has been a Com
munity College instructer.
Mr. Ward graduated from
high school in Lapwai, Idaho in
1946. He received his Bachelor
of Science degree with majors
in Agronomy and Agricultural
Education and a minor in Sci
ence from the University of
Idaho, located at Moscow, in
1954. Work for his Masters de
gree, earned from the State
College of Washington at Pull
man in 1962 included special
courses in Educational Mea
surement, Guidance. Public
Relations. School Administra
tion, Supervision and Agricul
tural Education.
In addition to his teaching
experience in Palmer, Mr.
Ward taught for five years at
Lapwai, Idaho where he was an
instructer in high school sub
jects and Vocational Agricul
ture Education. He is a Korean
War veteran with two years
service.
Ward and his wife, Joy, own
their own home, located on an
80-acre tract in the Lazy Moun
tain area. They have two chil
dren: a son, Walter, aged 8.
and a daughter named Keli.
aged 5.
ARA MINING
SUBCOMMITTEE
MEETS TONIGHT
The mining subcommittee of
the District 7 Area Redevelop
ment Committee will meet to
night, Thursday, March 28, at
7 p.m. in the Extension office.
At a meeting last week the sub
committee discussed coal and
copper development in the
area, according to James Fry,
chairman.
! the vacant, unappropriated, un
reserved state lands located
within its boundaries. The cash
i grant to the newly organized
borough is equal to §10 for each
voter in the last general elec
tion but no less than $25,000.
HB163 as amended limits to
GO days the time period follow
ing incorporation during which
; any person may challenge the
! legality of any borough’s for
mation.
HB214 as amended is a local
i government committee bill. It
| is particularly significant to
Big Borough” proponents.
Like the existing borough sta
I tute. it permits the borough as
I sembly to provide for the elec
| tior. of assemblymen represent
ing areas outside first cities
from designated section equal
to the total number of such as
semblymen on the borough as
sembly. But unlike this per
missive provision of the pres
ent statute which allows only
those eligible voters residing
within a designated section to
vote for their borough assem
bly representative, HB214 as
amended provides that all eli
gible borough voters residing
outside first class cities vote
for the candidate of their
:hoice from each designated
lection slate. This is in line
with the concept of borough
unity and the responsibility of
assemblymen to all the people
of the borough. The amended
| bill makes it mandatory that
! boroughs with total population
j of 40,000 or more have such
sectional division and repre
! sentation for the area outside
first class cities. For proposed
boroughs of such population
the Local Affairs Agency es
tablishes the sections for the el
ection of assemblymen no later
than 60 days before the initial
election of borough assembly
men.
Passed by the Senate and
sent to the House SB 17 as
amended postpones by one year
the present July 1, 1963 dead
line for special service districts
to be integrated into city or or
ganized borough governments,
to be annexed to or incorporat
ed as cities, or to be established
as service areas within the un
organized borough.
Rep. Reid Reports
On Progress off
Certain House Bills
In his telephoned report to
The Frontiersman late Tues
day, District 7 Representative
Eugene Reid reported that the
i pace of legislative action in the
House has speeded up substant
ially during the past week.
! and that friction has been ris
ing to t h e surface between
House and Senate with each
feeling that the other side is
sitting on its bills.
He commented on certain
bills, still unpassed, of inter
est to local people as- follows:
HB118, the contractors li
censing l ili: he's quite certain j
that it won’t come out of com- '
mittee.
CSHB10. the Standard Time j
bill is in the Senate where!
Reid believes that it is 'buried'
for the session.
CSHB90 as amended, Rader’s
| borough bill is in Senate Fi
nance committee, the Senate
Local Government committee
having approved it almost
: unanimously. Reid believes
that it will come out of Fi
nance, but telegrams to com
! mittee members would help.
The Matanuska Valley Fair
1 bill is filed in the House Rules
committee, where Reid hopes
i :t will stay—alive—until next
year when it would have a bet
ter chance of passage.
Reid believes the session will
go to 70 days since a supple
mentary legislature appropria
tion of $39,000. passed by both
houses, would be used up by
that time.
Palmer Seniors Present
"Panic on a Pullman"
Tomorrow Night
Undaunted by interference
from flu and teachers conven
tions Palmer High School’s
Senior class will have their
show on the road—the railroad
—as scheduled tomorrow night,
Friday, at 8 p.m. in the Central
School auditorium.
. “Panic on a Pullman" is the
three-act vehicle in which
members of cast will portray
certain actions of a group of
college students going from
Chicago to New York on a
Pullman car. An element of
mystery evolves as the train
speeds these students to their
destination.
1963 Properly Tax
Levy Same as '62
Despite Budget Rise
Following little more than
20 minutes discussion of' the
proposed 1963-04 Palmer Inde
pendent School District budget
presented by Supt. William D.
Zahradnicek, the Palmer City
Council approved unanimously
the budget and a 14 mill levy
on real and personal property
■ to raise the city’s share of the
; budget in the 1963 tax year.
By law the levy approved
by the city council automatic
ally becomes the levy for that
part of the Palmer Independ
ent School District located out
side the city.
According to the budget es
timate the city's share to be
raised by taxes amounted to
5107,000: the share of the
district outside the city,
! 5162,000.
i Zahradnicek observed that
the total budget is $71,000 high
er than last year. This increase
reflects increased enrollment
anticipated at 132 for next year,
automatic increases in teach
ers’ salaries and plans for six
i extra teachers to be added to
the staff. Although the total
budget is higher, he said, the
14-mill levy is the same as last
year because of the increase of
property assessment totals on
the city and district tax rolls,
(Valuation figures from the
tax office are estimates only
until after equalization, b u i
the tax assessor estimates :
total for city and district re a'
and personal property taxes a?
about 517 million based on
80 per cent of true value for
real property and 100 per cent
for personal. This is the esti
mated total on which the 1963
tax will be levied.
This would be about 5300.000
higher than last year on the
same 80 per cent basis. Accord
ing to the tax office. 100 per
cent of true value would
amount to about $19,700,000
although the state tax assessor
thinks that this figure should
be substantially higher to re
flect true value. These higher
valuation figures will be of
particular interest next year
when the state’s school foun
Drag Strip Proposed for City of Palmer
Opinion of some 30 visitors
to the city council meeting
Tuesday night regarding the
Palmer Airport drag strip pro
posal was heavily weighed on
the side of the proponents; only
three or four opposed it in a
standing count.
This topic of seeming major
interest was not on the regular
council meeting agenda. As
more and more chairs were
brought into the council cham
bers for an unprecedented
number of visitors it became
apparent that most of them
were awaiting developments
on this controversial subject.
The subject was first intro
duced in the agenda’s corres
pondence item when City
Manager Winston Gilchrist
read a letter in the form of a
report from the Tourism and
Recreation subcommittee of
the local Area Redevelopment
committee signed by P. Weis
enberger, secretary.
The report favored a drag
strip proposal to be located on
640 acres of state-owned land
on the Valley side of Knik riv
er bridge to be developed with
ARA funds as a private enter
prise planned by one Lee Nel
soh of Anchorage. The proposal
called for a 60-foot strip 4000
feet long plus a sports car tor
tuous track, bleachers, timing
tower plus other sport and
commercial features to be de
veloped over a five year period.
Planned total investment was
$180,000 with Nelson, the pri
vate developer, reported ready
with $80,000 cash in the propo
sed ARA application for the re
maining $100,000 as a loan. Nel
son had estimated that the
project would give employ
ment to 40 people in addition to
those needed for the construc
tion phase. It was noted that
if the local Palmer Airport
drag strip plan goes ahead, Mr.
Nelson will abandon his pro
ject; otherwise he will proceed
with the private development
as a proposed ARA project.
Mr. and Mrs. R. Reed of Wil
liwavv Lodge, Harold Loomis,
Julius Moore, Rose Palmquist,
Laura Barnes, Betty Mears and
P. Weisenberger of the Tour
ism and Recreation subcom
mittee approved the proposal
with the latter two adding that
the location would provide for
the least amount of public nui
sance, noise and annoynance.
Former Mayor Charles Logs
don touched off a heated and
sometimes emotional series of
opinions with some prepared
observations on the proposed
airport dragstrip gathered from
a meeting held last Sunday at
the high school in which the
idea of drag strip racing and its
benefits was presented by film
and remarks of local and An
chorage enthusiasts. Dr. Logs
don had gathered from the
presentation that the Palmer
Airport drag strip proposal
would encourage safe driving,
take dragsters off the high
ways* bring money into Pal
mer, train automotive engin
eers and provide an emotional
outlet for our young people.
He continued with a critical
analysis of each presumption
tantamount to an opposing
point of view. In concluding
remarks, Logsdon stated that
a drag strip should be encour
aged but that it should not be
encouraged to the detriment of
other sports the Valley can and
does offer.
“This includes not only fly
ing but hunting and fishing of
which flying is an integral
part”, he observed. “I am
thoroughly opposed to encour
aging dragging that might in
terfere with flying.”
In his list of other sports
that needed encouragement he
included a year-round swim
ming pool, the Independence
ski area, dude ranching, pack
trips, riding stables, outboard
racing in summer and stock car
and sports car racing on the
same lakes in winter.
“But let’s not pull all our ef
forts into one sport to the ex
clusion or even interference
with any other just because
some group tries to sell you on
the intellectual and social val
ues of a particular sport,” he
concluded.
This was the fulcrum that
lifted the airport drag strip
proponents to their feet in
sometimes angry denuncia
tions of Logsdon’s opposing
.points of vjiew.on the drag strip
benefits.
Police Chief Bencardino re
ported the Palmer Car Club
plans for grandstands 100 feet
away for 2,000 - 3,000 people, a
paved strip 60 feet wide. 4000
feet long on the east-west run
way with a control tower
mounted at the intersection
with the north-south runway.
This would be operated Sun
days and at other times for
special events. In response to
a question about personnel for
the tower and the signal means
to be used for approaching fly
ers, Bencardino observed that
this would have to be worked
out according to FAA specifi
cations; in Anchorage, FAA
had indivated that the whole
proposal would have to be re
viewed at the Washington, D C.
level.
Bencardino reported that
Senator E. L. Bartlett in An
chorage Saturday expressed
great enthusiasm for the pro
posal and promised to help all
he could in Washington.
The meeting at the high sch
ool Sunday. Bencardino said,
revealed the impact of the pro
posed project on business in
Palmer. Business was generally
favorable to the group of drag
ging enthusiasts who came
from Anchorage — they pre
sented no problems. (Mrs. How
ard Campbell later had com
plimentary testimony on the
behavior of these courteous and
considerate young people in
her restaurants as well as her
delight with the significant in
crease in business.)
In answers to questions, from
Rene Neilsen, local flying in
structor, Bencardino said that
the cars would be stopped
when a signal from the control
tower indicates any planes are
coming in on the north-south
runway. To another question he
estimated the weekly impact
of people into Palmer conser
vatively at 1500 for the 20
weeks of operation. To another,
that the runway would be torn
up a maximum of 45 days with
plans for readiness by July.
Mrs. Campbell observed that
objections on the basis of near
ness of residence, children,
noise and dust were selfish mo
tives for disapproving of the
Droject. “This town needs some
business,” she emphasized, with
vocal approval of many others.
Among local flyers who spoke
in favor of the airport drag
strip were Mason LaZelle and
Lee Hartley, the former observ
ing that most of the air traffic
during the pertinent time of
the year was on the north
south runway, anyway. Hart-'
ley even went so far as to say
that the airmen could patron
ize other smaller landing strips
during the few hours involved
each week for the good of
cause to Palmer.
Roscoe Taylor, denying last
week’s Frontiersman report
that he represented the Experi
ment Station or that he oppos
ed a drag strip, insisted that he
favored the idea although he
was skeptical of certain plans,
particularly the prospect of
volunteer help for the project
operation.
Ernst Brown and Pat Brouil
let of Anchorage, representing
the Anchorage Timing Associa
tion (drag strip racers), spoke
about the boundless opportun
ities connected with this fast
est growing new- sport attrac
tion and about the futile at- j
tempts of the Anchorage group
—in 20 years of searching—to'
find a feasible site for the de-!
velopment in the Anchorage;
area. Brouillet described the j
great success of a hastily plan-'
ned drag strip event at Tana
cross last Labor Day which
drew more people from as far
away as 300 miles than all the
other Labor Day events in the
South Central Distrist.
Mr. Ernst Brown, the finan
cial consultant for the Timing
Association, spoke at some
length on the rosy big business
aspects of drag strip racing,
comparing Palmer’s opportun
ities in this field with the Santa
Anita (horse) race track in
California, which town was
smaller than Palmer when it
began this development a rela
tively few years ago. Since
Brown will go into a develop
ed prospectus of what the air
port drag strip proposal would
mean to the Palmer area over a
period of years when he meets
with the council at!a special
meeting next Tuesday,
I elation plan is slated to go into
effect July 1, 1964.)
Other act.on by the council
Tuesday night included the
following: unanimous approval
of a motion to give the stove
and refrigerator, for which no
offers have been received, to
the school district on condition
the district moves them this
week: approved appointment of
Jack Maze. Bill Hermann and
the city manager to meet with
MEA officials regarding the
proposed purchase of a city
owned generator stored by
Matanu.ska Maid, Inc before a
j meeting with the latter's rep
resentatives April 9. listened
to the first reading of the bad
check ordinance, described by
City Attorney Burton Biss as
a “collection” ordinance, and
instructed the mayor to extend
ia written invitation to the
State Bowling Tournament to
.hold the 1964 tournament in
I Palmer. The latter followed the
reading of such a request from
! the local Women’s Bowling
League.
The council agreed to consi
j der the request of the Citizens
Park Committee, represented
by Edna Wehkmg, to place 3x5
foot rustic signs in the area to
direct visitors to the park,
j A report w'as read from the
i tax assessor’s office on tax
: : delinquency in the city. There
were 24 parcels on which 1962
taxes are still delinotient, 12
for 1961, three for 1960 and
one for 1959.
Action on Lloyd Severn’s m*
quest for a review of the side
walk assessment on his build
ing was delayed because the
city clerk was absent and the
figures were not available. No
action was taken on the appro
val of the city planning com
mission’s tentative approval of
the proposed Co-Op Subdivi
sion with certain changes ap
proved by the developers be
cause the plat of the proposed
subdivision was not there. The
first reading of the nuisance
ordinance was postponed be
cause of the lateness of the
hour. Also there was no action
on the Airport lease to the
airmen because the city attor
ney had not been given the
necessary legal documents
from the Airmen’s Assn, to
complete the lease agreement.
| The attorney also observed that
the city has not received title
to the airport from the state.
City Manager Gilchrist an
nounced in his report that the
call for bids has been made
for repair of the city loader,
that James Hurley will be at
the next council meeting with
supporting figures on the val
, ue of the ARRC sewer, and, fi
nally that the proposed Zon
ing Ordinance for the city of
Palmer together with the zon
ing map will be ready for
council action at the next
regular meeting April 9.
RYAN’S LYNES
By Jack Ryan
Our family owns a beautiful,
white, persian tom cat. The
kids love him. But, they don’t
know he's a wolf in domestica
ted animal’s clothing.
* * «
I meet him every morning
on the back porch, when I
j am going to work, and he is
coming home from work.
Man, does he ever have a
good job.
* * *
Last year, there were 46
white kittens born in our
neighborhood. I’ve got enough
troubles without trying to
make my cat pay alimony.
* * *
He’s very professional. Al
ter he eats, he likes to sleep
awhile, before he deals with
the particular psychosis that
is afflicting each, lady cat in
our neighborhood.