The Kenai Peninsula
HISTORICAL MUSEUM & LIBRARY
BOX 205
JUNEAU IMSM
THIRD YEAR
MARCH 1, 1963
PRICE 10 CENTS
NUMBER l_’l
Kenai’s Volunteer Fire Department took advantage of a tireless Sunday recently to install a long-over
due ceiling in the Fire Hall. The Firemen’s Ball last fall provided funds to purchase materials. The work
itself was done by 25 volunteer firemen, assisted by the professional “know-how” of four local carpen
ters, William Crust well, Ralph Pederson, Herman Liendgren and Elmer Knudsen, who generously do
nated their labor to the civic cause. Pictured here is the work party in the finishing stages of the pro
ject.
Girl Scout Assoc.
Holds Election
Officers of the Girl Scout
Neighborhood Assoc, were re
elected Monday at a meeting held
in the Officers’ Club at Wildwood
Station. Mrs. Carl E. Zehrung
will continue as chairman for the
1963-04 year and Mrs. James L.
Evenson will continue as secre
tary-treasurer.
Plans were completed for the
Girl Scouts - Brownies annual
cookie sale to be conducted
through March. Mrs. Russell Bag
ley and Mrs. Haskell Melton were
named chairmen for the Soldotna
area, Mrs. Zehrung for the Kenai
area and Mrs. Elridge Fosberg
for Wildwood Station.
Hostesses at the meeting were
Mrs. Hoffman, Mrs. J. V. Yore
and Mrs. Fosberg.
IS HOME AGAIN
SOLDOTNA — Virgil Dahler
recently returned from Minnesota
and Wisconsin. He was called
Outside on Dec. 17 by the serious
illness of his mother, Mrs. K. K.
Dahler. She is much improved
now although she is still in the
hospital at Spring Grove, Minn.
Dahler, a construction worker,
came to Alaska from Minnesota
in l<).‘59 and began homesteading
in 1947 on his place at Mile 92
Sterling Highway.
The Weather
Feb. 21
Feb. 22
Feb. 23
Feb. 24
Feb. 25
Feb. 26
Feb. 27
Feb. 28
Feb. 21
Feb. 22
Feb. 23
Feb. 24
Feb. 25
Feb. ^
F
Max. Min.
KENAI
35 27
39
39
47
42
39
41
35
29
27
34
24
28
26
18
SOLDOTNA
31 7
36 19
39 22
No Reading
36 22
'2 25
Preeip.
None
.29
.08
T race
Trace
Trace
None
None
None
None
.36
Taken
Trace
None
None
' ■■v-e
Weekend Highlights
Include ‘Bunion Derby'
Ladies of the Elks in Kenai are
sponsoring and will participate in
a “Bunion Derby” as a special
feature of the many events plan
ned for this weekend. The 10
mile hike will be a sort of pre
lude or training session for a pos
sible 50-mile jaunt later on.
The 50-mile craze has been
sweeping the nation by storm
since President Kennedy revived
this phase of a fitness training
program recommended for the
Marine Corps by former Presi
dent Theodore Roosevelt. Nearly
500 persons participated in a 50
mile hike from Palmer to Anch
orage recently with Dick Kopsack.
well known dog musher from the
Big Lake area, emerging as win
ner and setting an unofficial new
record for the 50-mile distance.
The Ladies of the Elks need to
condition themselves before un
dertaking anything that strenous,
it was explained. The shorter
walk is just a sampling.
The Bunion Derby is to get un
derway at 10:30 a.m. Sunday
Soldotna Heart
Chairman Named
Mrs. Lyle D. Johnson has been
appointed chairman of the Heart
Fund drive in the Soldotna area
with Mrs. Charles C. Foster as
her co-chairman.
A Heart Fund benefit tourna
ment got underway Monday at
the Sky Bowl and will continue
throughout the week with all
leagues participating. Coin con
tainers also have been placed in
business establishments for con
vience of donors in making con
tributions to the fund.
NEW MANAGERS
KENAI — 1116 Western Corral
Cafe is now operating under new
management. Geno and Mickie
Guerra took over operations on
Feh. 4 from Charles “Red" and
” T>^av1ey.
with the starting point being- at
Parkers in Ridgeway and the fin
ish line at the Elks Club building
in Kenai. A prize of a “complete
wardrobe’’ is to be awarded the
winner by Kenai Elks Club mem
bers.
“The whole thing started off
as a joke, but is snowballing
fast,” one of the women said.
They were “sort of dared” by the
Elks and even yet are uncertain
of just what that “complete ward
robe” might consist.
Charlie Archer, Kenai fire chief
lias promised to follow along be
hind in an ambulance ready to
(Continued on Page '■>)
Sweepstakes
Tickets
Still Good
Sweepstakes tickets for the Al
aska State Championship Sled
Doe: Races, cancelled because of
unseasonably warm weather and
lack of snow, should be retained
by the purchasers, the Dog Race
Committee has announced.
These sweepstakes tickets will
he keyed to the Fairbanks Dog
Races with the drawing to take
place on Sunday, March 10. in
front of the Cheechako News
building on the Kenai Spur Road.
It is due to the fact that the
dog races at Fairbanks are on
March 9-10 that the races be
tween Kenai and Soldotna could
not be delayed in hopeful antici
pation of another snowfall.
Those selling- tickets are asked
to deposit the stubs at the Ghee
chako News by noon Sunday, pri
or to the start of the first race on
the concluding day of the Fair
banks event.
Sweepstakes winnings will be
based upon the placings of the
first 15 mushers to complete the
course.
Dog Race Cancellation
Won't Check Rig Weekend
Plans for Kenai-Soldotna
Chinook winds, rain and unseasonably warm weather this pas’;
weekend ruined the trail and brought about cancellation of the Alaska
State Championship Sled Dog Races scheduled to have been run this
Saturday and Sunday between Kenai and Soldotna. A total of 2'\ top~
notch mushers had planned to enter, including Dr. Roland Lombard,
now Rendezvous champion.
Kart races, to have been sponsored by the Soldotna Kart Club on.
the same two days, were likewise cancelled after the proposed true’;
was found flooded by water from melting snow and ice. A total of
racers had been confirmed for the event.
The two-town area, however, has not called a halt to the many
other activities planned for this weekend and visitors as well as local,
residents are being guaranteed two days of special entertainnv i .
Seward School
Seward Public School was one
of four Alaska Schools certified
in February for federal aid to ed
ucation payments under Public
Law 874, a program which pro
vides funds for operation and
maintenance of schools in feder
ally impacted areas.
Seward is to receive $3,112 of
the total appropriation of $43,
478. The three other schools to
benefit under the same grant are
those at Palmer (.$12,437), Hoo
nah ($23,726) and Wrangell
($4,203).
Demos to Meet
A general meeting of the Sol
dotna Democratic Precinct has
been called by the recently elected
president, Robert Schmidt, and
will be held in the Soldotna Com
munity Hall at 7 p.m. next Tues
day, March 5.
Funds
The dog races, with a subscrd -
•ed $2,50(1 purse, were to hav*
beep run in two heats of 15-mih->
each on alternate days betwee
the two towns and were to havu
been accompanied by a big -we*.: -
stakes event.
Buyers of sweepstakes tickets
are urged to hold them as ar
rangements have been made fop
them to be paid off on the firs;
15 mushers placing in the North.
American Championship Dog
Races to be run soon at Fair
banks. Ticket stubs are to be
turned in at the Cheechako News
prior to the Fairbanks races.
BIG WEEKEND PLANNED
Regardless of the cancellation
of the dog races and the kart
racing events, a big weekend
looms for the twin cities of Soi
dotna and Kenai as other events
will go ahead as scheduled, plus
the addition of another attrac
tion—the “Bunion Derby” insti
gated by the Kenai Ladies of tha
Elks and in which the Kenai Boy
Scouts and other interested per
sons will join.
The 10-mile hike, originating
(Continued on Page '))
'i
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