Valley frontiersman
VOLUME THREE
PALMER. ALASKA. JANUARY 5. 1950
NUMBER 17
Ev Yohn Injured In Holiday Accident
Young Tom Lepak
Is First 1950 Baby
For The Valley
Thomas James Lepak, weight
seven pounds, eight ounces, is the
Mr. New Year of the Matanuska
Valley. He was born to Mr. and
Mrs. Thomas Lepak at the Valley
Hospital at 6:50 p. m. on Nev,‘
Year’s Day. Tie is welcomed into
the Lepak home by a teen-age
sister, Gloria, student of Palmer
High School.
Thomas’ father, Tom S. Jr., is
an employe of the Co-Op Garage
His mother owns and operates the
Pearl White Laundry.
When young Tom finds it time
to switch from cribs a.t the Valley
Hospital to the Lepak home, he’ll
be greeted with a host of gifts
from Valley merchants and well
wishers. The list, at press-time,
included:
A ride home in a taxi and a
savings bond from Palmer Auto
motive Service and Al’s Taxi, a
bank account at the Matanuska
Valley Bank, a gift of his choice
at Variety Vogues, a blanket from
Koslosky’s, a silver drinking cup
from Palmer Photo Art, a baby
book from the Valley Frontiers
man, a baby set that includes all
the required infant cosmetics
from the Valley Settler, a dozen
necessary items of baby lingerie
from the Trading Post, birth an
nouncements from the Andhorage
Shopping Guide, a portrait from
Adams Photo and half a case of
milk from Palmer Cold Storage.
SHERMAN NAMED
TO AG POST
Clyde G. Sherman, who has
been acting as part-time assist
ant to G. W. Gasser, territorial
commissioner of agriculture, last
week was appointed by Gov. Ern
est Gruening to replace Mr. Gas
ser. Mr. Gasser’s retirement be
came effective as of Jan. 1, this
year.
Mr. Sherman is a former agri
cultural instructor at the Univer
sity of Alaska. During the past
yea he has been working with
the Extension Service on a half
time basis, in addition to his
duties in the office of the com
missioner of agriculture.
The commissioner’s office will
continue to be located in Fair
banks.
Two Valley men, Neil Miller
and Eugene Kirsch, were among
the several candidates for the po
sition.
WASILLA—Mr. and Mrs. R. L.
Gamwell and family have moved
from Wasilla to Anchorage, where
Mr. Gamwell is employed by the
Alaska Road Commission.
Daniels—fa A NEW Den
With the first of every new year, there come many
changes to many businesses. It is a time of reckoning,
of balancing, of announcing promotions, or the institu
tion of new policies. It is the time when books are clos
ed on the past 365 days, and all eyes are focussed on
the new plans, expected to make a business establish
ment of greater service to its customers and patrons in
the year that stretches aheapl.
January 1, 1950 brought that kind of change to the
Valley Frontiersman. As of that date, the paper became
a part of the Anchorage Shopping Guide, Inc. Here
after it will be published by that organization.
To our readers, that change will be apparent only
in the new and improved Valley Frontiersman, which
will continue to reach you on Thursday of each week.
In this first week of changeover, it was not possible to
put into effect plans for an enlarged Frontiersman.
However, beginning next Thursday, your Valley Fron
tiersman will add a column in width and two inches in
depth to each page, to again become a standard tabloid
in size.
Other than this increased space to be made avail
able for more Valley news and features, and possibly a
return to some comics, the reader will find little that
is new in this Valley Frontiersman of 1950. There is
no plan, at this time, for any increased cost to you, nor
to our advertisers. Paid-up subscribers will continue
to find their newspaper in their postboxes late Thurs
day afternoon, just as they always have during our past
three years of publication.
Your reporter-editor is to continue in the same po
sition. The present policy of the Frontiersman, which
always has been expressed in the thought of "what's
best for the Valley is what we'll be working to get for
the Valley," always will be the policy of your Valley
newspaper. It will remain a Valley paper printed with
the sole purpose of pleasing Valley readers.
In short, so far as the changeover is concerned, it
simply means that the owners of the Anchorage Shop
ping Guide are going to have to do all of the Frontiers
man worrying hereafter, and we, you readers and I, are
going to have all of the fun of doing a newspaper. That
worrying part is not anything your editor is sorry to lose.
So, you'll find your editor at the Shopping Guide of
fice hereafter, during working hours. Before and after
those hours, you may reach her by either phoning or
calling at Apartment Six in the Ward Building. Sub
scription and advertising bills, made payable to the Val
ley Frontiersman, may be taken to the Guide office.
And in order that we may close our books on 1949 as
soon as possible, we would appreciate prompt payment
on all due accounts.
So much for the present plans for the Valley Fron
tiersman. We honestly can't say that we make the
change without any regrets. However, we do know that
it's going to mean a bigger and better paper in 1950,
and we could have no better wish for the new year for
pur customers than that.
GROCER’S TRUCK
PLUNGES OFF ROAD
NEW YEAR’S DAY
Bailey Hill claimed its third
victim in less than a week when
Everett Yohn, driving the panel
delivery truck of his Valley Groc
ery, plunged off the road there
early New Year’s morning. Mr.
Yohn was reported to be in
“serious condition” by Dr. C. C.
Bailey on Tuesday morning. The
injured man has since returned
to consciousness and is improv
ing.
Dr. Bailey said Yohn’s injuries
included severe contusions and
lacerations of the face and scalp,
a serious injury to the left eye,
and serious frostbite of both
feet. The man was wearing
glasses at the time his vehicle
plunged off the road, at almost
the same spot where Kenneth
Meier and Alvin Brager over
turned the wrecker of West Side
Service last week. Mr. Yohn’s
shoes were lost in the violent im
pact, but he was not thrown out
of the truck.
Details of the accident still
were not clear today. Mr. Yohn
recovered consciousness late
Tuesday afternoon, but had no
clear recollection of what hap
pened. He remembers only that
he drove into a terrific gust of
wind as his vehicle topped the
hill and began to descend.
The injured man is believed to
have lain inside his truck for sev
eral hours. He is reported to
have left Alpine Inn about 6
o’clock in the morning, and wit
nesses say they passed him near
the scene of the accident at about
6:20. The truck was not discov
ered lying in the field to the right
of the road until 10 o’clock that
morning.
Ray Cather, of the Cather Chil
dren’s Home first discovered the
accident. Clyde King, Sr., fore
man for the Alaska Road Com
(Continued on Page 7)
New Cab Company Is
Now In Business Here
Don Maxwell and Rex Hardage
this week announced the launch
ing of still another cab service for
Palmer and the Matanuska Val
ley. Operating under the firm
name of D and R Cab Co., the
pair are driving a ’49 Hudson on
a round-the-clock basis
The new cab company is divid
ing the base of operations be
tween the Matanuska Hotel and
the Palmer Bar.
Mr. Hardage is better known
to Valley residents in a basket
ball suit than he is under a cab
driver’s cap. He is a member of
the Matanuska Hotel basketball
five, and has been recently em
ployed at the Co-Op Warehouse.