Thought of the Week.
Most people mistake
authoritative talk
for intelligence
VALUME 16, NUMBER 6
THE FRONTIERSMAN
PUBLISHED IN THE INTEREST OF THE MATANUSKA VALLEY
PALMER. ALASKA, THURSDAY, OCT. 31, 1963 SIXTEEN PAGES
FIREMEN'S BALL
MOOSE HALL
NOV. 2 9 P.M.
PRICE 15 CENTS
Plans to Move Experiment Station Revealed
D and A Super Opening
Is Tomorrow, Saturday
REPUCES FORMER
D & A GROCERY
ON VALLEY ST.
Tomorrow and Saturday will
mark the grand opening of the
D & A Super, Palmer’s newest
supermarket owned by Darrell
and Ann Frank.
1 he handsome new structure
is located on the north side of
the Glenn highway, at the Val
ley St. intersection. It replaces
the D & A Grocery on Valley
St . a popular Palmer shopping
center lor the past four years.
Trank said this week that
20ft.000 pounds of fresh grocer
ies have arrived for the grand
opening. Visitors to the store
on Friday and Saturday will be
.served Primrose sweet rolls
from the Sunrise bakery. Hills
Bros, coffee, Matanuska Maid
ice cream, and cookies. There
will be balloons and pop for
the youngsters, and orchids for
the ladies.
Haire Construction Co. of Pal
mer was general contractor for
the new building. Taylor Paint
ing Co. of Palmer was painting
contractor, and electrical in
stallations were made by
Dodge Electric Co. Other local
contractors who supplied ser
vices for the building were
Mac's Plumbing and Heating
and Valley Concrete.
Further work was done by
Glass, Sash & Door Supply. Inc.
of Anchorage, a company spe
cializing in store front con
struction. Shelving was sup
plied by Commercial Sales.
Inc., of Anchorage, and Alaska
Refrigeration, Inc., another An
chorage firm, installed the Ty
ler food display cases, the
walk-in coolers, and refrigera
tion equipment.
The well-lighted, attractive
interior of the D & A Super is
set off by walls finished in pas
tel shades, western hemlock
ceiling beams, and vinyl tile
floors.
Employees who will assist
Mr. and Mrs. Frank in the new
store are Lynn Sandvik, Randy
Frank, and Emil Waldel.
A specialty of the D & A
Super will be the custom meats j
department, where store pat-1
rons will have their meats cut
to their specifications. Meats
will not be pre - packaged.
Frank said.
The 8,000 square feet of floor
space in the new building will
supply plenty of storage space,
the owner pointed out.
BUTTE PRECINCT
DEMOCRATS TO CAUCUS
Democrats of the Butte area
are reminded of the Democratic
caucus called tor Saturday.
Nov. 2, at the Butte community
hall at 8 p.m.
A permanent chairman and
secretary will be elected at the
meeting, and delegates to the j
Southcentral Democratic con
vention will be chosen.
DARRELL FRANK, left, Mrs. Frank and Jackie
Groh spend a final day in the D & A Gro
cery, but anticipate the grand opening of
the D & A Super tomorrow. The big new
store will give the four-year-old Palmer
business an opportunity to expand, as the
building, located on the north side of the
Glenn highway, occupies 8,000 square
feet of floor space.
Wesco Awarded
Sewer Contract;
Work Starts Soon
The City of Palmer yester
day accepted the bid of Wesco
Construction Co. of Anchorage
in the amount of $329,120 for
construction of the interceptor
sewer system and the sewage
lagoon for the city.
The bid was approved earlier
this week by the Public Health
Service office in San FrancisOo,
which has granted matching
funds for the project in the
amount of 50 per cent.
Consulting engineers Ralph
Stefano and Paul Stutzman are
continuing to negotiate for Ac
celerated Public Works fund
grants for the collector sewer
portion of the system.
HOLDSWORTH, McCLELLAND TO SPEAK
AT SCS CONFERENCE HERE NEXT WEEK
SCS personnel and persons
| allied with Ihe Alaskan agri
cultural industry will meet at
the Grange hall in Palmer on
Thursday and Friday, Nov. 7
and 8. for an all-Alaska conser
vation conference. W.B. Oliver.
U. S. soil conservationist for
Alaska, and Sigmund H. Re- \
stad, director of the Alaska di- \
vision of agriculture, announ
ced this week.
Sessions will begin each day
at 9 a.m. and will continue un
til 5 p.m. on Thursday and
12:30 p.m. on Friday.
Phil Holdsworth, commis- ]
sioner of natural resources,
will speak to the group at 1
p.m. on Thursday, and R. Don
Christman, bureau of land
management, will discuss co
operation between BLM and
soil conservation subdistricts at
1:45 p.m.
At 2:45 on Thursday after
noon. Dr. Allan Mick, director
of the Alaska Experiment Sta
tion, will lead a discussion on
research and soil conservation.
At 3:30 p.m., W. B. Oliver
will discuss plant materials.
Highlight of the Friday mor
ning session will be an address
by Robert McClelland, program
advisor for western areas of
the National Association of
Soil Conservation Districts,
from 9 to 11 a m.
Restad will moderate a dis
cussion of subdistrict goals and
will summarize the conference
from 11:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Thursday morning sessions j
will be devoted to district re
ports
LINE DISTURBANCE
CAUSES MONDAY
POWER OUTAGE
j The entire Matanuska Vallej
i area was darkened at 5:15 p.m
! Monday when disturbances on
the MEA power lines caused a
breaker at Reed substation to
lock out.
Power was restored briefly
at 6:15 p.m., with local resi
dents barely having time to
blow out their candles before
total darkness again descended
on the Valley. The lights came
back on for good in all areas
except several Krrik Road fam
ilies. and the Goose Bay Nike
site at about 6:45 p.m.
Mason LaZelle. MEA mana
ger, explained that the Valley
is being served on MEA's al
ternate line out of Reed sub
station while the Bureau of
Reclamation replaces a trans
mission line structure which is
being undercut by t h e Mata
nuska River. When the Monday
afternoon outage occurred, it
was impossible to locate t h e
cause immediately because the
MEA telephones were swamp
ed with incoming calls, and
the power failure had cut off
radio transmission.
As soon as t h e Bureau ol
Reclamation was contacted and
the troubie spotted, MEA
crews switched to the line out
of Palmer substation. Shortly
(Continued on Page 5)
_ -
ANNUAL BAZAAR
TO BE NOV. 9
j Traditional for some year
j has been the St. Michael’
i Catholic Church bazaar a n
1 carnival, which will take plac
this year at the Palmer Moos
hall on Saturday, Nov. 9. be
| ginning at 7 p.m. and contin
j uing through midnight.
Raffle tickets are now oi
| sale for several attractive
I prizes—an automatic dishwash
: er, a set of car tires, a hind
; quarter of beef, and a swive
rocker. The drawing ’ ill be
at midnight on Nov. 9, at the
close of the bazaar actiivties
A donation of SI is asked lor
each ticket.
A door prize will be award
ed every hour throughout the
evening.
Hot dogs, hamburgers, pop
and coffee wili be served at the
food booth. Baked goods, no
tions and gifts will be on sale,
and there will be a fish pond
to amuse the youngsters.
Alaska's Favorite Game will
be played throughout the eve
ning. with the St. Michael’s
men's club in charge. A1 Metz
is general chairman of the
bazaar, and members of the
Altar society are handling the
arrangements for the booths.
Blame It On The Druids—
They Started Halloween
vention win ut: uiuscw.
ST. BARTHOLOMEW
EPISCOPAL CHURCH WOMEN'S
ANNUAL
ROAST BEEF APPLE PIE DINNER
ELKS HALL - NOVEMBER 7
5:00 to 7:00 p.m.
Adults $2.25 Students under 14 $1 Children under 4 Free
Masked and costumed junior-.
sized bandits will scurry from
doorbell to doorbell tonight.
, demanding payoffs in the iorm j
of “tricks or treats,” while their j
i elders bewail the passing of the j
good old days, when no out- |
house in town was safe from
roving wrecking crews, also |
junior-grade.
Halloween customs, though,
date much farther back than
the nostalgic “good old days”
remembered by the outhouse
pushing crowd.
Their beginnings can be
found in the customs of the
Druids, those shadowy and
legendary people who lived on
the isle of Britain long before
recorded history.
The Druids celebrated their
autumn festival at this time
of year, “World Book Encyclo
pedia" says, with feasting on
the foods grown during the j
summer. The modern custom of
decorating with pumpkins, au
tumn leaves, and corn stalks,
stems from the Druid autumn
festival.
The Druids also believed
that, on Halloween, ghosts,
spirits, fairies, witches and
elves came out to harm people.
They built large bonfires to
frighten the evil ones away,
and huddled about them telling
of their encounters with ghosts.
The early church in Europe
named November 1 as All
Saints’ festival, or the day for
honoring all saints. The old
pagan customs and the Christ
ian festival were combined into
the holiday which people cele
brate today as Halloween.
Several parties for young
people have been organized to
celebrate Halloween in Pal
mer. and two church groups of
young people will “trick or
treat” for others, not so for
tunate as our youngsters today.
The United Protestant Church
youth group will ask for dona
tions to UNICEF, the United
Nations organization to assist
needy children in other coun
tries; and the Pathfinder group
of the local Seventh-Day Ad
ventist Church will ask for do
nations of food for Thanksgiv
ing baskets to be distributed in
our own area.
Stoke your fires, lay in your
supplies of loot for the demand
ers of treats, and let’s hope no
descendants of those ancient
Druid spooks choose your win
dows as targets for soaping.
Stuff’s hard to get off, isn’t it?
Board of Regents
Request Transfer
Plans are in the making to
transfer the Agricultural Ex- 1
periment Station to the Uni- '
versity of Alaska, according to 1
a news release given to An- <
chorage and Fairbanks papers 1
late last week. 1
Although the release says ;
that "the University of Alaska ‘
Board of Regents by unanimous •
action, has requested transfer ‘
of certain functions of the U.S
Department of Agriculture to! 1
the University." words which j
could be interpreted in a num-1
her of ways, the article is head- j ■
lined, "Transfer of Agricultural
Experiment Station to Univer-|'
sity of Alaska."
The official resolution (which ! )
| would give more local control 1
! over research and development j
of agriculture in the state, the j
| article states) was passed by |
the board at its fall meeting r
this month. It will be presented ! 1
i to the Legislature for appropri-1
; ate action and then taken to i
• Congress for final action.
! 'The proposed realignment!
of federal and state responsibil-1
; ities is expected to aid in fur
ther developing the agricul-j
j tural resources of the state," ;
1 the official release said.
; The board is requesting i
“transfer of ownership of gov
j ernment properties located at
the Agriculture Experiment
i Station at Palmer to the Uni-j
! versity. and changes in the co- i
operative agreement between!
, i the University and the Depart-1
j! ! ment of Agriculture which will
j , place important phases of the
I agricultural research and ex
periment program carried out
" I in the state under more direct j
I supervision of the University.”
President William Ransom
i Wood stated that this action
> | would bring the operation of
the Agricultural Experimental
Station in Alaska in line with
; similar undertakings in the
other 49 states.
I The proposed changes in the
joint agreement under which
the Department of Agriculture
and the University cooperative
ly operate the Experiment Sta
tion will not lessen support by
the government of agriculture 1
research activities in the state, 1
nor will they require added ex- <
penditures by the state for the
program as it is operated at its j
present level. Wood said. 1
The Experiment Station pay
roll (not mentioned in the re- 1
lease) amounts to nearly a halt t
I million dollars. School officials t
here estimate that loss of the *
; station's facilities to the Valley 1
would mean the loss of $11,000
in federal impact payments to [ c
the Palmer Independent School ‘
District. ■ 1
i
Preliminary plans for the
ransfer of functions which
vill give more “local control"
vere begun at last year's Board
if Regents meeting when the
Kiard met with Dr. Marion
’arker, chief of the corps re
earch division of the USDA's
igricultural research service,
ind Dr D. V. Lumsden and J
1. Starkey of the USDA
The new agreement would
nodify the joint program insti
uted by an act of Congress in
949, the university release
fated. Under this program the
Jniversity and the Department
if Agriculture cooperatively
iperate the Agricultural Ex
periment Station in Alaska,
rhe proposed action to realign
he functions of the Depart -
nent of Agriculture will enable
he University to have com
plete jurisdiction over the Ex
perimental Station and its fa
■ilities.
Besides the Palmer station,
he University operates an ex
perimental farm in the Tanana
i/alley near College, and an ex
perimental farm at Petersburg.
FIREMEN'S BALL
IS SATURDAY
Masquerade or “come as you
are," the annual Palmer Fire
men's Ball will be held this
Saturday. Nov. 2, in the Pal
mer Moose hall, with the
crowd gathering at 9 p.m.
Music for the popular bene
fit event will be provided by
the Fort Richardson Cavaliers.
A grand prize will go to the
best-costumed couple, and the
party w’ill be further enliven
ed by the award of a door
prize, donated by the Moose
Lodge.
Mary King has donated one
of her own jewelry creations,
an Alaskan jade and gold nug
get pendant and earring set,
which will be auctioned off to
he highest bidder. Proceeds of
he auction, as well as those of
he ball, will be donated to the
i^almer ambulance fund.
Tickets, which are $2.50, cou
ple or stag, may be purchased
rom Palmer firemen or at the
loor.
1RMY ASKS FOR
VILDWOOD BIDS
Sealed bids are asked for a
iroject at Wildwood Army Sta
lon, Alaska, for the construc
ion of a concrete addition to a
uilding. The approximate val
e of the work is $100,000.
Bids will he opened publicly
n or about Nov. 19 by the U S.
irmy Engineer District, Alas
a.
PROCLAMATION
WHEREAS, art is older than science; art creates, science
discovers; man communicates by art, and has done so long
before a spoken language developed; and
WHEREAS, most of our present day knowledge came
to us in fragments of historic art fragments often the sole
survivors of lost and extinct cities and peoples; and
WHEREAS, art is a great inheritance and a great
legacy to posterity; and
WHEREAS, the American Artists Professional League,
in 1931, established the observance of the first week in
November as American Art Week:
NOW, THEREFORE, 1, WILLIAM A. EGAN, as Governor
of Alaska, hereby endorse this observance of more than
thirty years standing, and proclaim the week of November
1 to 7 as
AMERICAN ART WEEK IN ALASKA
and urge all Alaskans to take this opportunity to learn the
aims and objectives of art and its role in our culture and
civilization.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand
and caused the Seal of Alaska to be affixed, this twenty
eighth day of October in the year of Our Lord nineteen
hundred and sixty-three.
WILLIAM A. EGAN
Governor
ATTEST: /s/ Hugh J. Wade,
Secretary of State
Fireman's Ball “ZT’
Live Music
9 P.M. TILL ? ? ?
REFRESHMENTS
COSTUMES
OPTIONAL