SECOND READING
SALES TAX
ORDINANCE
JULY 26
Hallen IHrnntieeran
PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF THE MATANUSKA VALLEY
U PAGES
TODAY
VOL. 4. NUMBER 45
PALMER. ALASKA, FRIDAY. JULY 20. 1951
PRICE. 10c
Tuesday Slaying Shocks City
i
Announce Appointment i
Of New MEA Manager!
Mr. C. A. Brewer, newly ap
pointed manager of the Mata
nuska Electric Assn., will arrive
in Palmer in three weeks, it was
learned by Mrs. Justine Parks in
a telephone conversation with
him at Deer Park. Washington,
residence Tuesday night.
He plans to drive over the high
way with his family and a trailer,
♦ in which they will live until suit
able housing is located here.
According to Mrs. Parks, presi
dent of the MEA board, in her
statement early this week, Mr.
Brewer received the opproval of
REA in Washington as manager
of MEA for a probationary six
month period.
“He was the first unanimous
choice of the MEA board,” Mrs.
Parks added, “and he will have
our complete confidence. We feel
that he will be a valuable addi
tion to the Valley.”
Mrs. Parks recently returned
from a month’s vacation Outside
during which time she interview
ed applicants for the position in
Washington and in San Francis
co, California. She said there had
been 60 applicants for the position.
Has REA Experience
Mr. Brewer has had REA co
operative experience, and he has
also had experience in the man
agement of public utilities.
“We feel that Mr. Brewer is
the answer to our need here in
the Valley,” Mrs. Parks contin
ued. “He has had construction
experience, managerial experi
♦ ence, and has worked with REA.”
He and Mrs. Brewer have been
leaders in civic affairs at Deer
Park, according to information
received by the board. Mrs. Brew
er was mentioned as leader in a
local church choir, and both were
reported active in P-TA work
there, They have three children:
a boy 16, a girl 6, and a younger
boy of three years.
Mr. Brewer will fill the posi
tion left vacant upon Mrs. Ruth
Pierson’s resignation at the an
nual meeting held last spring.
Mrs. Pierson has continued on as
acting manager until a new one
could be found.
New Board Member
At the MEA meeting held last
Tuesday night William Head was
selected to take the place left
vacant by George Small on the
(Continued on Page 11)
at last —
THE MAGAZINE ALASKA
Newsstand sales of the long
awaited Magazine Alaska begar
this week.
Copies for local subscribers art
already in the mail.
The summer issue, which is de
voted to the Matanuska Valley
numbered only 7,500 copies.
Copies are going fast.
Get those souvenir copies foi
Stateside friends before the sup
ply is exhausted.
City Water System
Tapping Wasilla Creek
Okayed by Council
Increase of Palmer’s population
from 1,000 to 2,000 within the next
five years and to 5,000 within 30
years was considered in the plans
for a city water system presented
by representatives of Thomas B.
Bourne Associates to the city
council last night.
Meeting in special session, the
common council considered three
plans submitted by Bourne Asso
ciates for a community water sys
tem. The plans resulted from pre
liminary surveys conducted by
the company’s engineers this
spring.
Present to explain details of
plans were engineers Irene E.
Ryan; her husband, Pat Ryan;
and Robert W. Strong, now
Bourne’s resident engineer at the
Anchorage International Airport.
The three plans considered were
different only in the water source.
The proposed Matanuska River
source was rejected because of
the expensive pumping system
required. The Moose Creek source
(Continued on Page 4)
Note Found At Scene
Of Crime Suggests
Warner Suicide Intent
Papers found at the home of
Theodore Glenn, when a more
thorough search was made Wed
nesday, contained interesting rev
elations about David Warner who
was charged Tuesday with the
slaying of Mrs. Minnie Barnes.
Inside an ordinary tablet was a
full page in Warner’s very beau
tiful handwriting. A date at the
top, 7-16-51, had been lined out
and the date 7-10-51 was written
above in a different shade of blue
ink.
The first paragraph was a will,
which started out “I, David Warn
er, being of as sound a mind as I
can possess;—”. In the will, every
thing was left to a daughter, Di
ana, whose last known Seattle
address was written in.
The last line of the paragraph
ended with a cryptic “by her own
father in the year “2-6-49”, which
might possibly refer to the time
when he last saw her. Other pa
pers showed that Warner’s wife,
Bernice, had obtained a divorce
from him in Seattle in October of
1949.
The following paragraph was
written in a different shade of
ink than the will:
“I know I’ve done wrong in the
sight of ‘God’ by taking the ‘life’
of another. There will be but one
: answer. And may God have mercy
upon her soul; and upon mine.
• Amen.”
, And then a postscript: “Upon
her’s first because she went to
meet her maker without her own
• consent. And last may ‘God‘ have
mercy upon me, a sinner, all my
life.”
Warner Awaits Grand Jury Hearing
On 1 st degree Murder Charge
No motive for the slaying which shocked Palmer Tuesday morn
ing had been definitely determined late last night when Acting U. S.
Marshal Irwin Metcalf left Palmer after completing preliminary in
vestigations.
Questioning of several local townspeople together with further
information from Ted Glenn had filled in some of the holes in testi
mony at the court hearing and coroner’s inquest Tuesday.
Papers belonging to David Warner, accused of the murder of
Mrs. Minnie Barnes, supplied many interesting insights into the
man's personality, described by Metcalf as being definitely psychi
atric.
According to Metcalf, who with the Highway Patrol is carrying
on the murder investigations in the absence of Deputy Marshal Bou
wens who left Tuesday on a duty trip to the states, Warner will
remain under arrest at the Federal jail in Anchorage. He will be
bound over to the grand jury in September to determine whether
the charge is backed by sufficient evidence to warrant a trial by
petit jury. There is a chance that Warner may waive his right to
the grand jury hearing, admitting the charge is reasonable and will
ing to take his chances with the trial jury. In that case, his case might
come up for trial in a few weeks, Metcalf said.
Meanwhile information regarding the murder remained substan
tially the same as that revealed in the court hearing and coroner’s
inquest held Tuesday in the U. S. Commissioner’s office here in
Palmer.
Mrs. Minnie Barnes, 57, was found dead ai the home of Theodore
“Ted" Glenn, 2 and a half miles south of Palmer where she had been
living for the past few months.
She was found by Deputy Marshal Bill Bouwens upon investiga
tion of a complaint by Glenn that Mrs. Barnes had been killed by
David O. Warner.
Warner was arraigned in U. S.
Commissioner’s Court here in
Palmer shortly before 10 a. m.
Tuesday after served with a war
rant by Deputy Marshal Bouwens
charging him with the felony of
first degree murder.
Upon the advice of U. S. Com
missioner Dorothy Saxton that
anything he said would be used
against him the prisoner refused
to make a statement regarding the
killing. He said he was born
December 28, 1912 in Nebraska
City, Nebraska.
Dressed in newish blue jeans
which were wet above the knees,
Warner remained silent and with
out expression throughout the
hearing.
It was brought out in the ques
tioning of Ted Glenn that Warner
and Glenn had been in Palmer
Monday night. We’d been drink
ing”, he said. Some time during
the night, they were passing a
(Continued on Page 4)
WEIRD "NIGHT ON THE TOWN"
WAS PRELUDE TO TRAGIC SLAYING
Events of the wee morning
hours which preceded the tragic
death shooting of Mrs. Minnie
Barnes Tuesday were not shroud- '
ed by darkness in this sub-arctic i
city. The rising sun was hidden
only by a layer of clouds when
Ted Glenn and Dave Warner ;
emerged from the Palmer Bar
where they had been having a
few drinks.
Piecing together accounts of
Glenn, E. W. “Shorty” Moellen
dorf, A1 Beattie, and U. S. Com
missioner Dorothy Saxton, the
following story takes on an ap
proximation of form.
A1 Beattie was on duty in the
Palmer Bar when Glenn and
Warner were in the bar between
2:30 and 3:00 a.m. Moellendorf
was there, too, but with another
party. About 3:00 or 3:30, Glenn
and Warner left the bar and
walked down the street past the
Valley Barber Shop, owned by
Moellendorf.
Warner said he heard a noise
inside, and started kicking the
door in.
Glenn left him there and went
;o find “Shorty.”
About 3:30 or 4:00 a.m., accord
ng to Beattie, the telephone op
erator called him at the bar ask
ng if Moellendorf was there. She
said Glenn had told her that
Warner had kicked the barber
shop door in, and had entered.
Everyone dashed up to the
street from the bar, and Beattie
said he saw Warner sneaking out
)f the barber shop and running
iown the street until he turned
left at the corner.
Beattie went over to the tele
phone office to have the operator
call Deputy Marshal Bill Bou
wens, but she couldn’t do it be
cause he had no phone. Ted Glenn
was there then and returned to
the bar about 10 minutes after
Beattie.
Returning to the bar, Beattie
met Warner coming up the stairs
toward the street. Apparently he
had run down the back alley and
returned to the bar for some
thing. Moellendorf, who had ex
amined his shop in the meantime,
cornered Warner when he reached
(Continued on page 11)
3 Hear CounciTs
First Reading Of
Sales Tax Ordinance
At last night’s special meeting
of the city council, called espe
cially for the purpose, Ordinance
Number 1 providing for a two
per cent tax on sales and services
was reported out of committee by
Councilmen Hagen, Brown, and
Mick. Three interested Palmerites
were present at the reading.
The draft of the ordinance was
accepted by the council with mi
nor changes following its first
public reading. Drafts of Ordi
nance 1 will be posted publicly
early next week.
2nd Reading July 26
The second public reading will
take place Thursday evening.
July 26, at Severns’ Cabinet Shop,
and will be followed by publica
tion of the ordinance in next
week’s Frontiersman.
Present with constructive sug
gestions at the first reading were
Mrs. Betty Mears, Jack Maze, and
John L. Sullivan.
Major points of discussion fo
cused on exceptions, exemptions,
and a feasible maximum limita
tion. After much deliberation, it
was decided that taxation on a
maximum of $500 for any single
sale was advisable.
The tax is to be collected
monthly with appropriate penal
ties for non-compliance or delin
quency. It is planned that the tax
will become effective September
1, 1951.
New Extension Head
Takes Over Here As
Parker Lester Resigns
Parker Lester, District Agricul
tural Agent for the University of
Alaska Extension Service in the
Matanuska Valley turned over his
duties to his successor Monday
morning as his July 15 resigna
tion went into effect.
The new district agent, whose
territory covers the Anchorage
and Chugiak areas as well as the
Valley, is Richard Blue, a young
man who was the University of
Alaska’s outstanding graduating
senior in the Class of 1950. Mr.
Blue has been the District Agri
tural Agent for the Kenai Penin
sula since March of this year,
when that area was separated
from the district which had form
erly included both the Matanuska
Valley and Kenai areas. Before
that time, he had been an instruc
tor on the Veterans’ Training Pro
gram in Homer.
According to Lynn Hollist, Di
rector of the Extension Service
program in Alaska and Assistant
for Agriculture to President Ter
ris Moore at the University, Blue
was the recipient of the coveted
Brumbaugh award, given each
year to the outstanding senior
(Continued on Page 4)