Valdez News
VOL. 1. NO. 14
FRIDAY. JUNE 16. 1950
VALDEZ. ALASKA.
PRICE 10c
Council Prohibits Fireworks For 4th Celebration
Trailer Park Is
One of Two Recent
New Businesses Here
The Glacier Park Trailer Camp
is now open for business in Val
dez, it was announced this week
by Miss Helen Long. Miss Long
and Bill Hunt are members of
the company which owns the
trailer camp.
The camp is located in west
Valdez, about five blocks from the
ceiiter of the city. The camp area
includes six lots. It can accom
modate 30 trailers at present,
Miss Long said.
A well and toilet facilities are
located on the lot. Later the own
ers except to have complete san
itary facilities and a community
utility room, for the convenience
of trailer residents. Additional
clearing also is planned, so that
the camp may be enlarged in the
future.
Miss Long asks that anyone
seeking more specific information
about the Glacier Park Trailer
Camp get in touch with her at
Merrill Mercantile Co.
MEL SPEARS OPENS
NEW BARBER SHOP
Mel Spears of Valdez this week
announced the opening of his
new barber shop in the Chris
Peterson cabin. Mr. Spears is a
specialist in hair cutting, for both
men and women.
The barber has had 25 years
of experience. He has been in
Alaska for the past 10 years, and
owned barber shops in Fairbanks
and Anchorage before coming to
Valdez.
Mr. Spears said that as soon as
remodelling work is finished at
the Golden North Annex, he will
move his shop to a new location
•/here. ,
CONVENTION-BOUND
MINISTERS VISIT HERE
Rev. and Mrs. Richard J. Teeter
were hosts to several visiting
ministers of the Assembly of God
faith, when the Aleutian was last
in port. The ministers all were en
route to Anchorage for the all
Alaska Assembly of God conven
tion, to be held from June 13
through June 20. Reverend Teeter
also is attending the convention.
Ministers who visited in Val
dez included:
* Rev. and Mrs. Fred Vogler and
Rev. and Mrs. Gayle Lewis of
Springfield, Mo., headquarters of
the Assembly of God denomina
tion; Rev. Homer F. Rugwell of
Everett, Wash., former pastor of
the Valdez Chapel and Rev. Wes
ley Hanson, pastor of the Ketch
ikan church.
Reverends Vogler and Lewis
are national assistant superin
tendents of the Assembly of God
faith. Reverend Vogler also heads
the home missions department.
Sandvigen Breaks Collar Bone
A. J. “Sandy” Sandvigen suf
y fered a broken left collar bone
in a fall last Saturday night. He
was hospitalized for five days
after the accident, and is still a
frequent caller at Valdez Com
munity Hospital, for adjustments.
Bakery Installs
Electric Ovens
New electric ovens have been
installed in the Suttich Bakery,
owner Jack Suttich announced
this week. The oil ovens recent
ly were partially destroyed, when
a fire broke out in the walls near
the bakery’s chimney. Deterior
ated insulation between the ovens
and the walls was thought to have
caused the fire.
Although firemen were prompt
in answei’ing the alarm, Mr. Sut
tich estimated his loss at nearly
$1,000. A part of the damage
was due to water spoilage of flour
and sugar supplies stored in the
bakery. ,
POPULAR PIANIST IS
NOW AT CLUB VALDEZ
Miss Betty Lu Banks, pianist
and pipe organist, currently is
entertaining guests at the Club
Valdez. Miss Banks is playing the
piano there nightly, and those
who already have enjoyed her
playing say she is “very good.”
Miss Banks comes to Valdez'
from Cordova, where she has
just concluded a six weeks’ en
gagement at Bill’s Place. Prior to
that she played at Sunset Manor
in Ketchikan for two months.
Miss Banks’ earlier experience
includes an engagement as pipe
organist at the Orpheum Theatre
in Denver, Colo., and at several
night spots in Reno and Las
Vegas, Nev.
The entertainer, who calls Port
land, Ore., home, says she likes
Alaska. She expects to be in Val
dez for the remainder of the sum
mer.
Just before leaving Cordova,
Miss Banks had her first ride on
a fishing boat, where she first saw
a salmon caught.
GLACIER GIRLS PICNIC.
HOLD A BAKE SALE;
PLAN ANOTHER ONE
The Glacier Club Girls, led by
Miss Mable Anderson, went on a
picnic outing last week. The girls
took their lunch, and hiked to
Valdez Glacier. They ate on the
banks of one of the glacial
streams along the way.
The Glacier Girls held a bake
sale in Valdez last Saturday, and
netted $17 for the club treasury.
The sale was such a decided suc
cess, the girls are planning to
hold another in the very near
future. They ask that Valdez res
idents watch the columns of the
paper and the downtown notice
boards for further information as
to date and place.
Merrill-Selb Wedding Performed
In Seattle on M$y 25
Their Valdez friends recently
received word of the marriage of
Ralph Merrill and Alice Selb in
Seattle, Wash. The wedding took
place on May 25. The Merrills
honeymooned in Victoria, B. C.
They are at present visiting
friends in Oregon.
.Chet Banks, former partner of
Jim Haynes in a trucking busi
ness, died in Seattle recently. He
succumbed to a heart attack.
'We'ne. JdecjxU VaMe^-ottA., A/ocu...
We had a new idea this week that ought to develop
into a time-saver for our Valdez correspondent, Mrs.
Helene Thatcher. And it's an idea that's going to
make us feel more a part of Valdez, too, even though
we must print your paper over here in Palmer.
This week, we asked for a postoffice box at the
Valdez postoffice. At this writing, we can't even tell
you the number, but we are glad to be able to say hat
a letter or postcard addressed to Editor, Valdez News,
will reach us here in Palmer each week.
We'd like to have you Valdez folks feel free to drop
us a note at any time you have a bit of news that Mrs.
Thatcher may not have been able to pick up. She's
many times handicapped by having to return so often,
to get a story that she's interested in. If you know you
can't have that story ready for her, but you are drop
ping by the postoffice later that day, why not just jot
it down in a note and mail it to the Valdez News? Mrs.
Thatcher will check the postbox each week, just before
dispatching her weekjy envelope, and will drop all mail
received into that envelope, so that it will meet the
deadline for that week's copy.
Then, too, there are often small bits ot information
that are newsworthy, which never get to a newspaper
reporter. We all have established centers of informa
tion, on which we call weekly, to pick up news. How
ever it does happen that not all news filters through
to those centers. So, if you are expecting a visit from
your mother-in-law, or have some other newsworthy
item, we'd appreciate it if you'd pen it in a note and
drop it in the postoffice.
There is a word about news that we'd like to pass
on, while we're writing this. We who are reporters al
ways try to tell a story as it appears to the onlooker.
We aren't good reporters, if our story appears to favor
one or the other of the parties in any incident. We
must be fair and unbiased. Often that forces us to
print news stories about events with which we are not
in sympathy, but that we must do if we are to be good
reporters.
It's our deepest responsibility to tell you what hap
pened, how it happened, and why, no matter what the
story is. Often we've been placed in the embarrassing
position of having to write a headline news story about
an event which is so far from right, to our way of think
ing, that we'd like to bury it with a two-line mention
somewhere. But we can't do that and be a good re
porter. We've an obligation to give you the story, and
then you can form an opinion.
In our editorial columns we have the right to say
what we think about an issue, and we do that in the
Valley Frontiersman whenever we think an opinion or
a stand is called for. But just as far as is humanly pos
sible, our news columns tell you everything that hap
pened, in the way that it happened. We strive for true,
accurate accounts above everything else. Sometimes
we make mistakes. Sometimes mistakes occur, when
we ask someone else what happened, and they err in
telling their story.
But however we err, Mrs. Thatcher and I are al
ways working for the most accurate, the most unbiased
news story we can give you. That's our job—to give
you the facts as we know them.
'JUST FIRECRACKERS
TO BE ALLOWED
FOR HOLIDAY
At the request of a mothers’
delegation, the Valdez city coun
cil last week passed a resolution
regulating the sale of firecrackers
in Valdez for the coming holiday.
The resolution provides that no
firecracker longer than an inch
and a half shall be sold. The use
of all other fireworks is prohib
ited.
The measure was requested for
the protection of small children,
the mothers’ committee said.
At the Monday meeting, prop
erty owners asked that street lo
cations be determined as soon as
possible, in the new building
areas developing in Valdez.
Streets must be located before
lots can be surveyed, it was point
ed out. A council member was
appointed to take care of this
problem immediately, so that the
summer’s building program will
not be delayed.
The council gave contractor
George Date, who is constructing
the small boat harbor, approval
to sink 30 piling at 10 foot inter
vals in the harbor area. The pur
chase of 4.000 feet of lumber, to
be used to construct the bulk
head for the small boat harbor,
also was approved.
While in the lumber-ordering
mood, the council authorized the
purchase of an additional 5,000
feet of lumber, to be used in the
repair of Valdez sidewalks. The
lumber is to be purchased from
the Goat Creek Lumber Co., at
Palmer,
A1 Carlin requested council ap
! proval of a building permit to
! construct an addition to his pres
j ent three-room house. O. G. Wal
hood asked permission to move
two house trailers into Valdez.
He explained that he already
had prior consent of the owner
of the lot, on which the trailers
were to be parked.
Both requests were grant"’.
However Mr. Walhood was in
formed that the council would re -
quest the removal of his trailers
should they prove to be a nuis
ance in Valdez.
TEACHER'S BROTHER
VISITS IN VALDEZ
Roger Anderson, brother of
Miss Mable Anderson, Valdez
school teacher, is visiting his sis
ter at present. Roger is a recent
high school graduate of Eau
Claire, Wise., and his trip to
Alaska is a graduation present
from his sister.
Roger plans to work for Babler
Brothers at Glen Allen this sum
mer. He has tentative plans fox
college in the fall, possibly at the
University of Alaska at Fair
banks.
Seattle Man Conducts Services
During Rev. Richard Teeter’s
absence from the Valdez Chapel
on Sunday, June 18, when he will
be at the Alaskan convention of
the Assembly of God at Anchor
age, Mr. and Mi's. James File of
Seattle, Wash., will be in charge
of the services. Mr. File has been
a student of the Northwest Bible
Seminary for the past year.