OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
64th Year No. 34
NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 1963
Per Copy 15C
Stormy Atlantic
Claims Stalwart
Barkentine Bear
NEW YORK — The stalwart
old sailing ship Bear, veteran of
Adm. Richard Byrd’s Antarctic
explorations and a rescue of hun
dreds of whaling men off Alaska,
sank last night in stormy seas she
so long defied.
The three-master went down
260 miles east of Boston while
under tow from Halifax, Nova
Scotia, to Philadelphia to become
a combined restaurant and com
mercial museum.
Two men aboard the 198-foot
vessel made it safely in a liferaft
to the tow boat.
The Coast Guard said the tug
reported that the Bear, a Barken
tine, sank after her foremast broke
off. A Barkentine is square-rigged
on the foremast with fore-and
aft rigging on her other masts.
The Bear was built in 1874 in
Greenock, Scotland, as a seal fish
ing vessel. The United States gov
ernment bought her in 1884 and as
signed her to the Revenue Cutter
Service, later the Coast Guard.
For 40 years, she sailed out of
Oakland, Calif., making 45 voy
ages to the Arctic.
Her most notable feat came dur
ing the winter of 1897-98. An early
freeze trapped whaling men off
the Yukon and left them in danger
of starvation.
The Bear, with a wooden hull sc
tough she could serve as an ice
breaker, approached as near as
possible to the men. Then the crew,
using dogsleds and driving rein
deer, reached the trapped whalers.
On her stormy last voyage, it
became apparent that age had
taken its toll and that her days
were numbered.
He square-rigged foremast trail
ing over the side, listing to star
board and down at the bow, the
Bear had struggled through the
night.
Showing the same sturdiness
that won the admiration of Adm.
Richard Byrd 30 years ago, the
90-year-old Bear took the worst
the raging Atlantic could give.
The saga of the Bear’s latest
battle began yesterday morning
when she broke loose from a tow
line. She was on her way to Phil
adelphia, to be preserved as an
historic relic.
Flu Hits Nome School
Due to the several kinds of
colds and flu circulating in town,
33 per cent of the high school and
junior high are out of school,
and over 20 per cent of the grade
school is missing, stated Victor
Charles, Superintendent of Schools.
Dr. Robert Fenstermacher, pub
lic health officer, stated that these
colds last three to four days and
are most dangerous to the very
young and the very old, as well
as those persons who have had
chest problems.
It was considered closing the
school, but the decision was
against this due to the fact that
everyone had been exposed and
the students were better off in
school than in other places where
they might go.
WEATHER OUTLOOK
Cloudy with snow and blowing
snow. Gusty SE winds 25-35 mph,
Low tonight 20, high tomorrow 27.
In the last 24 hours: High of 20,
low of 2. Max. wind 31 mph from
SE. Sunrise at 6:03 a.m., sunset
at 6:17 p.m. Temps, a year age
today: High of 19, low -2.
Canned Tuna Figured
In Food Poisoning Cases
NEW YORK UPl — The A & P
Food Store chain ordered all
A & P canned tuna in its 4,400
stores withdrawn from sale today
in the wake of reports of suspect
ed food poisoning, fatal in two
cases in Detroit.
A company spokesman said that
although the suspected tuna was
from a California packer, it was
clearing its shelves of all A & P
tuna as a precaution.
County health officials in De
troit also warned housewives to
turn in any 6Vfe cans bering the lid
markings “WY3Y2” and “118X.”
Health officials in Detroit said
the two victims died of Type “E”
botulism, which they called a rare
poisoning. The victims were be
lieved to be the first in the United
States from this type.
Type “E” botulism originates in
fish products and attacks the ner
vous system, authorities said.
The suspect container was part
of a small shipment packed under
the A & P label by a West Coast
packer.
Eugene Roguszka
Resigns Aviation Post
JUNEAU —Eugene Roguszka,
Director of Engineering and Con
struction for the State Division of
Aviation, submitted his resigna
tion today, effective March 31.
Roguszka has been chief of en
gineers and construction for the
division since 1957. He originally
jointed Alaska’s aviation program
as an employe with the old Terri
torial Department of Aeronautics.
Roguszka, who makes his head
quarters in Anchorage, gave no
reasons for his resignation, in a
letter handed to Public Works
Commissioner Richard Downing
this morning, other than “personal
reasons.”
Downing said no successor to
Roguszka was under consideration
at the present time.
—
Rep. Blodgett Calls
It “A Healthy Move”
ANCHORAGE UP> — The resig
nation of Eugene Roguszka from
the Division of Aviation post was
hailed today by Rep. Robert Blod
gett, “as a healthy move” in the
interest of the people of Alaska.
Blodgett made the statement to the
capital correspondent of the An
chorage Daily Times.
Blodgett said the Northwest
Alaska legislators’ move to give
the division the status of a de
partment was “basically aimed in
this direction.”
“I supported the appointment
in the first year of statehood,”
Blodgett said. “Within a year, I
became aware that it was not a
satisfactory appointment and be
gan to have reservations. By an
other year, I began to pressure
for a change as did Sen. John
Coghill.
“The Ice Bloc supported the
bush airfield bonding program
wholeheartedly, the federal aid to
airport program statewide and the
international airports, but the
aviation program has not func
tioned as it should,” Blodgett said.
“Air field maintenance has been
so severely neglected that the state
is now faced with the necessity of
reconstructing many air fields
throughout the state. This would
not have been necessary with
proper maintenance,” Blodgett con
cluded.
Medic Claims FDA
Permitted Sale of
Hazardous Drugs
WASHINGTON W — A medical
officer of the Food and Drug Ad
ministration said today the agency
permitted the sale of new drugs
“imminently hazardous to the
public health” by over-ruling ex
pert medical opinion.
The testimony came from Dr.
John Nestor, an expert in the
FDA new drug division, at a Sen
ate subcommittee hearing into
safety procedures for drug market
ing.
Sen. Ernest Gruening, himself
a medical doctor, told Nestor that
if even part of his testimony is
correct, “it is a shocking indict
ment of the Food and Drug Ad
ministration.”
“Any doubt about a drug must
be resolved in favor of the user,
not the producer,” Gruening de
clared.
Sen. Hubert Humphrey, the
subcommittee chairman, called
Nestor’s story “shocking and most
distressing” and said FDA officials
will be called on for explanations.
Nestor, a pediatrician whose job
is to evaluate new drug applica
tions, said medical opinions which
challenged past FDA policies or
commitments to the pharmaceuti
cal industry, encountered “indif
ference, disapproval, or even
hostility, frequently so when they
dealt with drugs for pediatric use.”
Sen. Ernest Gruening
Proposes Massive Attack
Against Unemployment
WASHINGTON iM—Sen. Ernest
Gruening proposed yesterday a
massive attack on unemployment
by boosting accelerated Public
Works program spending from
$900 million to $2.6 billion in the
term ending next June 30.
Gruening, who contends the gov
ernment should “do as much for
the folks at home as for those
abroad,” proposed the same amount
approved for foreign economic aid
for one year, that is, $2,645,000,000.
He noted unemployment in the
United States reached 6.1 per cent
of the civilian labor force last
month, the highest since Novem
ber 1961.
“This continued chronic unem
ployment cannot be permitted to
endure,” he said. “The time has
come for a massive effort to make
taxpayers out of these tax con
sumers. They seek work.”
His bill to raise the approved
level of Public Works spending
is co-sponsored by Sens. E. L.
Bartlett, Estes Kefauver and Mau
rine Neuberger.
Mrs. Eleanor Osborn
Presented Service Award
Monday afternoon in the offices
of the Bureau of Indian Affairs,
Mrs. Eleanor Osborn was present
ed with a commemorative service
award and citation medallion as
well as a life-time pass to all na
tional parks.
The presentation was made by
Stephen Smith, Area Director of
BIA, honoring the late John Os
born, Alaskan pioneer, who was
with the BIA in several capacities
for many years and who passed
away last summer. At the time of
his death, he was plant manager
for BIA with Nome as his head
quarters.
Mrs. Osborn and her son
Johnny make their home here as
Mrs. Osborn is with the Depart
ment of Public Health.
U.S.-Soviets Agree
To Joint Weather
Satellite Program
ROME (/P> — The United States
and the Soviet Union agreed today
to a joint weather satellite pro
gram. Representatives of both na
tions said they hoped the accord
eventually will lead to American
Soviet cooperation in interplanet
ary exploration.
Teams of U.S. and Soviet sci
entists have been meeting in Rome
during the past 10 days to work
out details of an accord for co
ordinated satellite launchings.
The chief negotators are Hugh
Dryden of the U.S. National Aero
nautics and Space Administration
and Anatoly Blagonravov of the
Soviet Academy of Science.
They announced at a joint news
conference that each nation will
keep a satellite in orbit on a more
or less permanent basis for the
collection of weather data. The
nations will exchange the infor
mation via a special 24-hour com
munications network. It also will
be made public.
Rryden and Blagonravov alsc
announced agreement on the
launching of the U.E. Echo 2 satel
lite for joint communications tests
Great Britain will participat<
in the tests.
Merrill Weir Resigns
As Director of ESC
JUNEAU UP> — The resignation
of Merrill Weir, Director of Alas
ka’s Employment Security pro
gram since June 19, 1956, was an
nounced today by Labor Commis
sioner Gil Johnson.
Weir’s resignation becomes ef
fective March 31.
Johnson said Weir, who has been
with the state’s jobless program
since 1947 when he joined the old
unemployment Compensation Com
mission as an interviewer in the
Fairbanks employment office, has
accepted a federal position.
Weir will become Manpower
advisor to the Iranian govern
ment in Tehran, with U.S. State
Department’s Agency for Inter
national Development.
Johnson said no successor had
been picked.
base from which Russia seeks to
extend its empire to the shore of
this country.”
Kennedy was winding up a
three-day visit to Costa Rica in
which, in conference with the
presidents of six middle American
nations.
Although advocates of drastic
action against Fidel Castro lost
out, the Latin presidents generally
seemed satisfied and joined Ken
nedy in a seven-nation “decla
ration of Central America” which
expressed confidence that the
Castro regime will fall soon.
Anchorage Mother of
Five Dies in Auto Mishap
ANCHORAGE UP) — An Anchor
age mother of five young children
died in a violent collision of two
cars at a downtown intersection
early today, in which four other
persons were injured.
SAFE LANDING
HALESINBORG, Sweden UP> —
Two Swedish Air Force jet train
ers touched accidentally yesterday
in a bizarre piggy-back collision
only 100 feet above the ground.
Then both landed safely.
Witnesses said the planes, Brit
ish-built De Havilland Vampires,
came in for landings at the same
time and at such an angle with
only three feet between them for
more than a minute before they
touched.
The lower plane made a perfect
landing, but the other skidded off
the runway, and smashed its nose.
Each plane carried a teacher and
a trainee, with the teacher at the
controls.
SMOOTH SAILING
John Kakarak reports from
Teller that Francis Kakarak has
been using nature’s highway this
winter in addition to Highway 97.
He left Highway 97 and traveled
to Tuksuk via the Kuzirtin, across
the Imuruk Basin to Canyon Creek
where the Kakarak reindeer herd
camp is located.
He could have made it to Teller
with a Jeep, except for portions
of the Tuksuk Channel where there
were cracks. As it was he covered
about 50 miles or within 19 miles
of Teller.
City police said they found
Christine Smith, 34, pinned the
wreckage of her car and apparent
ly dead when they came on the
scene.
Her husband, William L. Smith,
36, driver of the car, was lying
in the street. He was taken to
Providence Hospital for treat
ment.
All three other occupants of the
other car were injured but only
one, Richard Sprinkle, 23, was ad
mitted to the hospital. The driver,
Harry Dunlop, 21, and another
passenger, Dennis Dunnigan, 20,
were treated for c”ts and released.
Fire Razes Downtown
District of Terre Haute
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. U* — Fire
swept through the Terre Haute
business district today, destroying
10 stores, injuring three firemen
and causing an estimated several
million dollars property damage.
Five buildings were destroyed
and others were damaged in a
seven-hour blaze whipped by 30
mile an hour winds.
U.S. Hwy. 40 and other down
town streets were closed by piles
of brick from fire-shattered walls.
The fire started in a bowling
alley in the basement of a four
story building that formerly
housed the Deming Hotel.
Kennedy Hails
“New Deal” for
Latin Americas
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica iK! —
President Kennedy hailed his
Alliance for Progress today as
Latin America’s New Deal and
said he hoped some day its rights
can be extended to the Cubans.
Kennedy told students on the
University of Costa Rica campus
that “what Franklin Roosevelt
said to the people of the United
States I can say now here to you:
This generation of Americans —
your generation of Americans —
has a rendezvous with destiny.”
He told the students their task
is to build a society based on four
basic rights. He listed these as
the right of each nation to govern
itself, the right of each individual
to political and religious liberty,
the right to social justice and the
right of every nation to pursue
a course of rapid economic pro
gress.
“We desire for the Cuban people
the same four principles which
guide our Alliance for Progress
elsewhere in the hemisphere,” he
said.
^ “What we cannot accept in Cuba
? is the yielding up of sovereignty
to the Soviet Union and trans
formation of that island into a