A TALE OF THREE HESSIAN ‘BEARS’
• . . OR THREE BLIND RADARS
FAIRBANKS (iP> — Unidentified
jet planes have been heard making
low flying passes over Nome last
week. But the Alaska Air Com
mand has denied any aircraft —
VS. or foreign — in that area
either Monday or Tuesday nights
when Nome citizens reported sev
eral low flying jet aircraft passed
over that Bering Sea city.
Speculation in Nome is that the
planes were Soviet. Air Force of
ficials said, “our radars were in
operation at that time, and they
have the capability of picking up
aircraft in that area.
“No aircraft were seen by our
radars, and this headquarters
(AACi has no evidence whatso
sever of these alleged penetrations
of U.S. airspace. No aircraft were
seen.”
Nome Mayor Donald Hoover
notes that during Monday night’s
Council meeting, between 9:30
10:30 p.m. the entire council, plus
others heard a jet plane make a
low pass over the city.
“The meeting was being held in
the City Hall, and quite a few
people heard the plane,” Hoover
said. The weather was clear at the
time.
City attorney Thomas Balone
also said he heard the plane, or
planes. He added that on Tuesday
night, about 11 pm. he was read
ing in bed when several more jet
planes passed over Nome. “I
jumped up and ran to the window,
but didn’t see anything,” he said.
Balone said he was not sure how
many planes passed over Monday
night, but he said, “there definite
ly was more than one on Tuesday.”
Nome is about 150 miles east
of the Siberian coast. The nearest
U.S. jet airfield is located at Ga
lena, about 250 miles inland and
to the east of Nome.
Both Hoover and Balone Sat
urday said, “we seldom hear any
jet planes here, not even those be
longing to the United States, and
we are concerned with what we
heard.
“If the Air Force says there
were no planes in this area, then
their radars are not effective, or
somebody is not telling the truth.”
Nome is about 300 miles north
of Etolin Strait between Nuni
vak Island and the Alaska coast
line, where Russian planes were
identified March 15. The U.S. has
since protested the overflight by
' the Soviets.
However, because the Alaska
coastline curves eastward the So
viet coastline drops off to the
west from East Cape on the Bering
Straits, Nome is much closer to
the big Soviet airfields in Siberia.
s>Polar Bear Guide Bob Curlis
Sees Russian Bomber March 21
A polar bear guide, Bob Curtis,
reported Saturday that he spotted
what he believes to be a four
engine Russian bomber flying over
Alaskan territory northwest of
Nome on March 21.
“The plane, which in silhouette
resembled a four-engine Russian
Bear, jet plane, came out of a bad
weather front to the west of Teller,
made 180 degree turn about two
miles north of the village and dis
appeared into the weather again.”
Curtis told the Fairbanks Daily
News-Miner.
He noted that the craft was
about 15,000 feet up, and he could
not see any markings. “But I have
been in the airplane business a
long time, and have followed
'planes, and I believe that plane
was a Soviet ‘Bear’,” he said.
Curtis, a well known hunting
guide throughout Alaska, has been
operating out of Teller since Feb.
15.
He said the plane he spotted was
the second sighted in Teller that
day. “A plane, also resembling a
Russian craft, made a similar pass
over the village about 9 a.m. that
day. I saw the four-engine jet
about noon,” he said.
Teller is west of Nome, located
on Port Clarence, arm of the Ber
ing Sea. A giant navigation aid
tower (Loran) built by the U.S.
Coast Guard, is located in the Port
Clarence area.
Curtis told the News-Miner that
the plane he spotted was also seen
by George Kitchen, a guide who
flies for him.
Many of the Eskimos in the vil
lage also saw the plane, as well
as the one that flew over earlier,
he said.
Curtis also noted that he was
circled by a twin-engine Russian
plane over international waters on
Feb. 22.
“I was flying a polar bear hunt
ter over the Bering Straits at the
time. The plane just circled my
plane and then left,” he said.
Curtis said that he was west of
the International Dateline, but
outside Russia’s claimed 12-mile
limit at the time.
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Sen. Pearse Walsh Agrees
With Mayor and Residents
In Juneau, Sen. Pearse Walsh
agreed with the mayor and resi
dents of Nome that there have
been occasions when unidentified
aircraft have penerated Western
Alaska.
“Most of these have not been
visible to the eye as they have
been flying over during late eve
ning hours,” Walsh said.
“However, I did have informa
tion from a well known hunter
and guide flying out of the Teller
area on a polar bear hunt who
said he watched a Russian jet make
a low pass over the Teller area.
“From his description, it would
fit the category of a Bear-type jet, j
a type that has been flying over !
the Atlantic area. The Bear is a
large four-engine jet, similar to
our B-47.
“I note that the military will
deny these sightings and report- |
ings of Russian aircraft in the !
northwestern area because I am
sure they have been well instruct
ed by the Pentagon to keep a tight
clamp on confirming any such re
portings.
“This seems to be the trend in
Washington, D.C., to keep these
items from the people. It is my
opinion the reason for doing this
is the lack of defense in North
west Alaska.
“The military is conspicuous by
its absence. Under the amended
Statehood Act of 1959, the area
north of Porcupine-Yukon-Kuskok
wim Rivers was withdrawn for
defense.
“Yet we who live in the north
west ai’ea are without defense, and
the back door of America is wide
open.
“The military uses the trade
name for its communications sites
of ‘White Alice’.
“I say it is so fouled up and so
obsolete, that it should be called
‘forever amber’.”
j Would Outlaw Coin
Operated Gambling
Machines In Alaska
JUNEAU (J3)—The House Rules
Committee today introduced legis
lation which would make it il
legal to operate a coin-operated i
gambling device in the State of
Alaska.
Persons who violate the pro
posed law would be subject to
imprisonment for up to two years
and a fine of up to $1,000, or both.
The bill, HB299, would require
police to seize any coin-operated
gambling device and hold it sub
ject to the order of the magistrate’s
court or superior court having jur
isdiction.
The court, upon finding that a
seized machine was a gambling
machine, would be required to
order its destruction.
Introduction of the House bill
came after Chairman W. O. Smith
D-Ketchikan, of the Senate State
Affairs Committee told the upper
chamber a bill it approved last
Thursday would permit the trans
portation of new pinball machines
into Alaska.
Soups are now a $500-million
annual industry in America.
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Multiple Punch Grafting
Is a Hairy Experience
LOS ANGELES — If you’re
shiny on top but still a litle bushy
around the sides, multiple punch
grafting may be just the sort of
hairy experience you’re looking
for.
Dr. Samuel Ayres III says multi
ple punch grafting is a techinque
for transplanting hair from the
sides or back of the head to areas
where the crops have failed. A
New York University specialist ori
ginated the method and Ayres
modified it.
Ayres, a skin specialist and
clinical professor of dermatology
at the University of Southern Cali
fornia Medical School, said tiny
holes are punched in the bald
areas, then hair poilicles are taken
from elsewhere on the head, soak
ed in a saline solution, and planted
in the holes. Each graft is a
little more than eighth of an inch
in diameter and 12 to 15 hairs,
he said. Ayres says it takes about
three months for the transplanted
hair to grow to normal length.
Cuban Anti-Castro
Vessel Captured by
British and Americans
MIAMI — The Cuban anti
communist Army announced to
day one of its boats, headed for
Cuba with guns and ammunition,
was captured last night in Bahama
waters by British and American
craft.
Another boat escaped and con
tinued on toward Cuba, and “if it
is taken it will have to be taken
by force,” the announcement said.
The captured boat was under
command of Evelio DuQue, one of
the top anti - Castro fighters in
! Cuba’s Escambray Mountains. He
j was taken along with 14 othei
Cubans, cannon and machine guns
The announcement said an Am
erican destroyer, another Americai
vessel, a British vessel and air
craft took part in the capture.
DuQue had left Cuba to pick up
1 a supply of guns and ammunition
and was returning when he was
captured, the report said.
Senate Committee Recommends
Passage of Borough Bill
JUNEAU — The majority of
members of the Senate Finance
Committee today recommended
passage of a major borough bill
which provides for mandatory in
corporation of major population
areas into boroughs by next Octo
ber and provides transitional
grants to all boroughs in cash and
lands.
How many calories do you need
a day? One rule of thumb: 20
times your desirable weight. That
is, if your doctor says your ideal
weight should be 150 pounds, your
diet in calories should be 20 times
that—or 3,000.
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jU.S. Takes Steps
To Stop Hit-and
Run Raids on Cuba
WASHINGTON UP — The Kcn
1 nedy administration announced
Saturday its intention “to take
| every step necessary” to make sure
anti-Castro hit-and-run raids “are
not launched, manned or equipped
from US. territory.”
j The steps will include intensi
i fied Coast Guard and Customs
operations in the Florida area, offi
cials said, plus stepped up in
vestigation by the FBI and Immi
gration Service.
Investigations now underway
may lead to some prosecutions for
violation of the Neutrality Act,
they said.
Coast Guard ships and aircraft
also will increase surveillance of
U.S. coastal areas to prevent raid
ers from slipping out, the officials
added, pointing out the Coast
Guard has authority to stop and
search small craft to see if they
are adhering to safety require
ments.
The State and Justice Depart
ment made the announcement amid
concern that free lance forays such
as the recent assaults on Russian
ships in Cuban harbors could set
the spark to an already danger
ous situation in the Caribbean.
U.S. authorities said the effect
of such attacks may well be to
increase Soviet military vigilance
in Cuba and make it more diffi
cult for the Russians to withdraw
I their troops.
A State-Justice Department an
nouncement said that preliminary
evidence from U.S. investigations
into two raids by Cuban refugee
groups on Russian vessels March
18 and 26 indicates the attacks
were not launched from U.S. ter
. ritory.
! U. S. neutrality law prohibits
. such attacks from being staged
from American soil, under penalty
of up to three years imprisonment
and $3,000 fine.
“We intend to take every step
necessary to insure that such raids
are not launched, manned, or
equipped from U.S. territory,” the
announcement said.
“The sympathy of this govem
and of the Anaerican people is
with those Cubans who hope to
see their country freed from Com
munist control.
“We understand that these raids
reflect the deep frustration of men
who want to get back to their
homeland, to a Cuba that is inde
pendent.
“But this understanding does not
mean that we are prepared to see
our own laws violated with impu
nity, or to tolerate activities which
might provoke armed reprisals, the
brunt of which would be borne
by the armed forces of the United
States.”
He Won't Be Back . . .
ROCKLAND, Maine UP> — A
respondent charged with intoxi
cation solemnly promised he would
not see the judge again.
“I bet you will,” said Judge
Christy Adams of Municipal Court.
“The last time you told me that
you were back the very next
week.”
“But aren’t you leaving us next
Monday?” the man inquired.
He was right. Adams’ term ex
pires then, and he isn’t being re
appointed.
NOME
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