Library Benefit Auc
tion sponsored by Ki
wanis Club at Palmer
Gym on Aug. 12.
Kalley Mrontiergman
PUBLISHED IN THE-INTERESTS OF THE MATANUSKA VALLEY
Municipal incorpora*
lion hearing in district
court at 2:00 p.m. on
Sept. 22.
♦VOL. 3. NO. 48
PALMER. ALASKA. FRIDAY. AUGUST 11. 1950
PRICE 10c
INCORPORATION HEARING SET
Payment in Advance
Is Now Required
By Valley Hospital
Effective immediately, all pa
tients seeking treatment at the
Valley . Hospital must deposit a
week’s room rent in advance or
be refused treatment, Jack New
comb, head of the Valley Hospi
tal Association, announced today.
Patients remaining for longer
than a week will be required to
pay weekly.
This new policy was decided
upon at a hospital board meeting
last Wednesday, called to discuss
the precarious finances of the
Valley institution.
“This new policy may seem to
be hard-hearted,” Mr. Newcomb
said. “However, it is necessary
because so many Valley residents
have neglected to pay their hos
pital bills in the past.”
It was pointed out that this
policy is supposed to have been
i$ force at the Valley Hospital
for some time, but the staff has
been lenient toward patients who
have been unable to pay at the
time of their admittance.
Some patients thus excused do
pay later, Mr. Newcomb said, but
(Continued on Back Page)
The belle of Cackleberrv Farm
slops for a quick one at the end
of a hard day's work.—(Photo by
Palmer Studio.)
All Bids Rejected
For School Annex
Only two firms submitted bids
on the proposed annex to be con
structed at- Palmer School this
summer. Both bids were reject
ed, at Wednesday evening’s spe
cial session of the school board,
because they were too high.
George Bachner of Anchorage
was low with a bid of $69,592.
Loyer & Casler, a local firm, sub
mitted a bid of $71,992.97.
The school board had hoped to
build the annex, which will be a
frame structure housing three
classrooms, at a cost of between
$40,000 and $50,000. There will
be no basement beneath the pro
posed addition, and no heating
plant will be installed there.
School board members ex
pressed surprise at th£ high fig
ure in both bids. Last week, bids
for the construction of a school
at Chugiak, to include three class
rooms, an apartment, plumbing
fixtures and a well, were con
siderably lower. Low bidder on
that construction was Loyer &
Casler with a bid of $43,000. No
award has been made yet.
Cost of building materials has
risen markedly in the past two or
three weeks, which accounts for
the high figure for the Palmer
School, it was felt.
School board members decided
to enter into negotiations with
Mr. Bachner in an attempt to
whittle his figure down to meet
the school’s construction budget.
They also will discuss their prob
lem with Sandvik & Roark and
Loyer & Casler, both local con
tracting firms.
LUTHERAN MOVIE ON
COMMUNISM TO BE
SHOWN NEXT WED.
A full-length moving picture,
“The Sickle or the Cross,” will
be shown at St. John’s Luther
an ..Church ..next ..Wednesday
evening at eight o’clock, Rev.
Joseph Frenz announced today.
“This film is a dynamic, con
vincing, timely motion picture
of Christianity and commun
ism in conflict,” Reverend
Frenz explained. “You will
never again see this conflict
shown so vividly. You will
never understand the cunning
and restlessness of Christian
ity’s greatest enemy until you
see ‘The Sickle or the Cross’.”
It's Everywhere A Chick On Cackleberry Farm
There are chickens in the roo1
cellar, chickens in the hay loft
chickens in the garage and chick
ens in the back yard on the Albe
Brooks Cackleberry Farm in the
Matanuska Valley. And Mr
Brooks wouldn’t mind a bit if he
had to move a flock or two intc
his home, for chickens are Mr
Brooks’ business. And a ver>
profitable business it’s growing tc
be, now, with eggs retailing a1
$1.10 a dozen and the Brooks
Cacklebird fryers selling at $1.1C
a pound.
The 80-acre farm today is sup
porting a flock of 2,600 birds ol
all ages and stages of growth and
i the Brooks family looks forward
to the day when there’ll be many
times that number there.
' Already the farm has grown, in
! the year Mr. Brooks has been de
veloping it, to the largest poultry
business in this part of Alaska.
1 The farmer looks forward to the
' day when he can grow all of his
own feed, install his own hatch
eries and begin shipping Cackle
birds over all the highways and
airways of Alaska.
Right now, most of the poultry
feed on the farm is purchased
But the day is coming, thinks
farmer Brooks, when he’ll be
able to do his own feed-growing,
as w’eir as feed-mixing, which he
does now. If a sturdy barley can
be developed for growth in the
Matanuska Valley, he’s got the ,
problem licked. Fish waste prod- j
ucts can be purchased for con- ,
version into fish meal, and shell
is readily available.
At present, the specialty on the
Cackleberry Farm is Cacklebirds,
a Cornish Cross fryer. The poul
tryman is developing the birds
for year-round production. They
range in size from tiny week-old
chicks to two-pound broilers that
I
Lillian Loberg, the brown-eyed Llonde candidate for queen of
the Maianuska Valley Fair sponsored by Northland Pioneer Grange,
is the first crown candidate to qualify. Lillian sold 300 tickets this
week, thus definitely placing herself in line for the royal robes
next Sept. 2. All contestants must have a credit of 300 tickets
before judges will consider them for queen honors.—(Photo by
Palmer Studios.)
50 WASILLA LOTS
TO BE AUCTIONED
ON OCTOBER 6
WASILLA—Fifty unowned lots
in the townsite of Wasilla will be
sold at public auction on Oct. 6
a representative of the Bureau of
Land Management announced
here this week. The aucuon wm i
be held in Community Hall at
10 a.m.
Lots included in the sale are
properties that either have been
unsold or have been forfeited.
A plat of the Wasilla townsite,
posted at the Wasilla Postoffice,
identifies the lots to be sold. A
notice of sale conditions also ap
pears on the Postoffice bulletin
board.
WILL BE HELD
SEPTEMBER 22
IN ANCHORAGE
After a series of annoying de
lays, Palmer’s petition for the in
corporation of a city was filed ir*
Third District Court at Anchor
age last Tuesday. There were 11$
signatures on the petition. Al
though district judge Anthony
Dimond is vacationing at present.,
he signed the papers fixing the
required hearing. That hearing
will be held in District Court at
Anchorage on Sept. 22, at two p.m_
At this hearing, Judge Dimond
will listen to the opinions ex
pressed by Palmer residents con
cerning the proposed incorpora
tion. Anyone favoring or oppos
ing the plan will be given an
opportunity to express his views..
If Judge Dimond finds that
facts brought out at the hearing
indicate there is a strong faction*
of Palmer-ites who favor the plan,
he will call for a special election
to determine the issue. The elec
tion date will be fixed by Judge
Dimond.
At this election, Palmer voters
also will indicate their choice for
officers of the city council, should!
their ballots create the eityr of
Palmer.
Last Tuesday’s action culmi
nates a long series of studies ora
possible incorporation here. Lat
est study was undertaken in Feb*
ruary of this year, when Presi
dent Clair Stock of the VaDey
Chamber of Commerce appointed
a committee of 12 to study both;
municipal and public utility dis
trict incorporation.
Members of the committee of
12 included, in addition to Mr.
Stock:
Jan Kosloskv. Russell Felzien,
Lee Hartley. Carl Meier, James
Wilson, Everett Yohn. James
Hurley, Eugene Kirsch. Bill
Head, Betty Mears and Mrs
Frank Brown.
Committees delved into com
parative costs of city governme*’
in various Alaskan cities, ? **
studied possible means of reven •
open to the city of Palmer. Tbey
outlined minimum personnel re
quirements for Palmer and event
conducted an informal census.
At the conclusion of their study*
in a report made in late Febru
ary, they reported that an annuaF
revenue of at least $46,000 would
be possible for Palmer. They
learned, according to the report
(Continued on Back Page)
are ready for the knives of the
killing room.
The farm is killing 125 broilers
and 30 hens weekly, and Mr_
Brooks says they’re not up to full
production yet, but will approach]
it in a week or two.
Day-old chicks are flown to the*
farm from the Outside hatchery _
When they arrive here in the Val
ley, they travel upstairs to the*
loft of the Brooks barn and settle
down to a short babyhood in a'
light-globe-heated brooder.
Baby chick birthdays can be1
reckoned by the light globes
(Continued on Back Page)