22 NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
64th Year No. 111
NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1963
Per Copy 15t
BLODGETT RAPS STATE HIWAY
ENGINEERS ON ROAD COSTS
J^EP. R. R. BLODGETT SPOKE to the Chamber of Commerce
Monday on the Nome-Teller road conditions. He advised the
Chamber that the road is costing over Si00,000 a mile to construct
and that we are not getting the road that we should. "We have had
a poor project engineer, and the District Engineer has failed to
implement change orders needed to correct design faults,” Blodgett
protested. He advised that the portion built by the Central Con
struction Company is warping due to poor specifications.
Blodgett asserted that the State accepted the job on July 15th
and have yet to do any maintenance on this section — in spite of
the fact that rain fell on the road for some 20 days in the month
of August.
"Poor design has affected the road to a degree where we now
should replace 25 per cent of the culverts,” noted the State Repre
sentative. Blodgett went on to protest the Alcan Pacific Company
project in which the road is sinking before construction is finished.
His single objection in all cases was the inadequacy of specifications
and design along with state personnel charged with supervision of
the program. "There are two severe cuts in permafrost,” asserted
Blodgett in regard to the portion to be let on Sept. 19th. He then
took the stand that the Chamber should act now to prevent the bid
from being let until the road is redesigned so as to not disturb the
permafrost.
"This is the weakness in their engineering plans and design,”
remarked Blodgett. "Even if it halts the completion of the road
and delays it for another year, we should insist that the permafrost
not be disturbed.” He went on to state that we, in this area, could
well lose our highway program unless the State gets busy and main
tains these new roads, rather than letting them deteriorate imme
diately after construction.
New Beta Sig Chapter
Sets Program
The newly formed advanced
chapter of Beta Sigma Phi soror
ity, Xi Kappa, held its first meet
ing, conducted by its charter offi
ers. Ruth McLean is president,
Mary Honsberger vice-president,
Barbara Martin recording secre
tary, Beverly Blanning correspon
ding secretary, Betty Gustafson
treasurer, Beverly Morgan exten
sion officer.
Social and service plans for the
coming year were discussed with !
the first ativities to be in charge i
of Mildred Harwood, ways and
means committee chairman.
The members received program
books from Betty Gustafson, to j
advise each member of her hostess I
and study assignments for the Ex
emplar chapter’s first year. Bever
ly Blanning presented the first cul
tural program in the outline furn
ished by the Beta Sigma Phi in
ternational office “In Word and
Deed and Thought.” Her topic was
“Conversation.”
CLARENCE IRRIGOO, Gambel
resident and correspondent for the
Nome Nugget, passed through
Nome Monday and left on Tuesday
for Wasilla. Mr. Irrigoo is to at
tend a Presbyterian Church meet
ing in Wasilla from Tuesday
through Friday. He plans to return
to Nome on Saturday.
School Enrollment
Reaches 704
School enrollment reached 704
students the third week of school
compared to 643 registering the
first day, Sept. 3d.
At present. 444 pupils are en
rolled in the first six grades of the
Elementary School, 130 are in at
tendance in the Junior High School
and 130 High School students have
enrolled. The average enrollment
for the 17 Elementary School
teachers is over 26 with the small
est class at 20 pupils and the larg
est at present at 31. In the Junior
High, the teacher pupil load av
erages 32M> and in High School,
14V^. The smallest High School
class numbers 5 and the largest in
High School is 33. ,
It is expected that the Science
Building may be in use within
two weeks.
CITY LEAGUE BASKETBALL
MANAGERS TO MEET TONIGHT
The first meeting of Managers
of the Nome City League Basket
ball team is being called for 7
pjn. tonight in the High School
gymnasium.
On the agenda for discussion are:
practice times, review of the 1
league constitution, organization,
and game arrangements. All teams :
are asked to have managers or rep- (
resentatives present. High School
Coach, Ray Tinjum, will preside at i
the first meeting. i
Anchorage Turns
Thumbs Down In
Borough Ballot
ANCHORAGE (/P — The pro
posed Captain Cook Borough,
scheduled as a new level of gov
ernment in a 21,000 square-mile
area of southcentral Alaska, was
resoundingly rejected Tuesday by
a margin of about three-to-one.
About 5,000 votes were cast in
the election, and the proposal to
incorporate the widespread area
into a borough failed to carry in
any one of the 63 precincts.
The proposed borough would
have encompassed both the An
chorage area and the Matanuska
Valley, plus virtually all of the
Election District 7 and District
8 areas — and in some cases be
yond the election district boun
daries.
The areas now face incorpora
tion under terms of the manda
tory Borough Act of 1963, which
will mean separate smaller bor
oughs — and another election
sometime after Oct. 1.
Maurice Kelliher, District Magis
trate, flew to Kotzebue yesterday
to confer with Fletcher Gregg, Kot
zebue deputy magistrate.
Blumenstein Boat Beaches
The Lomen tugs BOZO and LU
CILLE were called upon Tuesday
morning to rescue a boat that had
gone ashore on the sea wall in
front of the Bering Sea Hotel. Ber
nard Blumenstein stated that some
one threw the lines off his LCM
sometime after midnight Monday
and that it was seen drifting down
the Snake River from the Lomen
wharf about 4:15 Tuesday morn
ing. It drifted on out, then East
erly, and back onto the sea wall.
He reported that there was not
much damage, and that police are
investigating.
HOVEL OWNERS NOTE
Fire Chief Bob Oliver is inter
ested in contacting persons own
ing buildings which are no longer
in use or are a fire hazard. A
building will be selected by the
Fire Department as a live fire de
partment drill. This will, accord
ing to Chief Oliver, be an excel
lent opportunity for fire fighting
practice as well as eliminating one
more eye sore.
WEATHER REPORT
Partly cloudy today, tonight and
tomorrow. Slightly cooler tonight,
otherwise little change in tem
perature.
Nome Chamber Hears Reports on
Fairbanks Highway, Historic Projects
Guests at the regular Monday
noon luncheon were Rep. R. R.
“Bob” Blodgett of Teller, George
Bayer, U S Marshall from An
chorage, and David Blackburn,
Superintendent of Alaska Meth
odism.
A nominating committee was
named to meet prior to the next
Chamber meeting and present new
candidates for coming Chamber
posts. Those on the committee are
Emily Boucher, Chairwoman, Jim
O'Sullivan, George Lienard and
Virgil Vochoska.
The Chamber welcomed back
Don Hoover, who has recently
completed a banking course in
Seattle. Maurice Kelliher, Magis
trate, spoke on progress of the
group working on the salvage of
aarlv day mining equipment. He
stated that the first of the items
is in place with the installation of
a little work engine in the fenced
aff area adjacent to the State
Police office. He advised that the
steam engine at Solomon is too
aeavy for the ferry, and that A1
Doyle has promised to bring it in
after freeze up. He is also checking
an the steam shovel at Black Point.
Kelliher went on to read the first
daina recorded at Nome. This was
.ho “Discovery” claim which was
;taked on Sept. 22, 1898 on Anvil
Jreek. The book, now fading and
nvaluably historic, noted the birth
af the Cape Nome Precinct in re
ading book No. 1.
;
Mr. Victor Charles, Supt. of
Schools, reported on his recent
trip to Whitehorse, Canada, on be
half of the Northwestern Alaska
Chamber of Commerce. He at
tended the International Confer
ence on Paving the Alaska High
way. He stated that he went in
company of the Fairbanks group
via a chartered bus furnished by
Alaska Highway Tours.
The group left Fairbanks last
Tuesday and arrived in White
horse on Wednesday, following a
14-hour drive during which they
spent one night at a lodge enroute. 1
Mr. Charles’ mission was to look 1
out for our interests in the com- ;
pletion of the Nome-Fairbanks <
road. With this in mind he entered *
in discussions with several inter- I
ested parties including Mr. McKin
non, State Highway Commissioner.
McKinnon advised him, stated
Charles, that the road is a $100,
000,000 project and that the budget
each year is only a fourth of that,
but that it is in their plan for
study nevertheless. He further ad
cised Charles that the road could
anly be built on the basis of our
isolation rather than on a traffic
i
£
e
t
s
s
need.
Mr. Charles read the final reso
lution passed at this conference
md concluded that attendance of
i local representative was a good
move on our part, as we must con
:inuallv draw attention to our
need for the road.
Egan Thinks
Canadians Favor
Haines Open Road
JUNEAU Ufi — Gov. William A.
Egan said today a team of Cana
dian officials assessing the need
and desirability of maintaining the
Haines cutoff on a year-round basis
appears to be “sympathetic" to the
project.
Egan spent the entire day Mon
day inspecting the route with the
Canadian federal officials and then
attended joint conferences with the
inspection team and Commissioner
Gordon Cameron of Yukon Terri
tory at Whitehorse yesterday.
‘.While I can’t speak for the Ca
nadian representatives," Egan
said, “it seemed to me that the
attitude of these men, who will
have to report back to their gov
ernment, was very sympathetic to
the proposal, both as it would ben
efit Alaska and Canada.
“It was obvious, even to a lay
man, while driving over the cut
off, that the problem of snow re
moval would not be nearly as dif
ficult as that on such routes as the
Richardson Highway out of Val
dez or the Seward-Anchorage
highway.
“I don’t know what their recom
mendations might be, but I did
get the feeling yesterday that they
were very understanding of our
need for winter maintenance, in
fact, much more so than when 1
first talked with them.”
The Haines cutoff, only road
link between the Southeast Marine
Highway system and the Alaska
Highway, now is closed during the
winter months, because of a lack
of maintenance on a section of the
highway lying in Canada.
AREA ENGINEER INSPECTS
TELLER ROAD WORK
Mr. L. E. Hough, Area Engineer
for the Bureau of Public Roads,
)ut of Fairbanks, is in Nome con
ducting inspection of the Nome
reller road construction. He will
nspect the Bluestone to Tissuk
portion, which is at this time par
ially completed, and has made the
inal inspection on the Penny Riv
>r to Sinuk River portion. He is
>eing accompanied by Mr. Hyde.
District Highway Engineer at
Jome.
CORRECTION
In the Friday issue of the Nug
et — Letter to the Editor by Rob
rt C. Packard, DMD—We printed
aat painting of teeth with fluoride
olution would be at cost. This
hould have read at NO cost.
» 7 he Harpoon «
Just when we're ready to
turn the water on—every
body gets out of the pool.