SE NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
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x cai nu. 44
NOME, 'ALASKA, FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 1963
Per Copy 15£
Navy Pays Homage to 129 Men Lost
With Nuclear-Powered Sub Thresher
WASHINGTON {/Pi — The Navy
paid solemn homage today to the
129 men lost with the nuclear
powered submarine Thresher. At
the same time it pressed on with
its seemingly hopeless effort to un
ravel the mystery of America’s
greatest undersea disaster.
Symbol of the Navy’s sorrow
was a brief but poligant ceremony
at Portsmouth, N.H. The Thresher
started from Portsmouth on the
trial run that apparently ended
with the once-proud vessel a
crushed tomb for her men, smashed
by weight at the bottom of a mile
and a half of Atlantic water 220
miles off Boston.
On the Good Friday anniversary
of the death of Christ, civilian
workers stood at attention with
Navy men and Marines as the
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard flag
was raised to the top of its staff,
then solemnly lowered to half
staff.
It was the first public recogni
tion that all hope for the ship and
its complement was lost, carried
out within view of the homes
where the families of many of the
men waited out the last hours be
fore the Thresher was put on the
list of lost ships.
Seaman Felt It
Was His Last Trip
LOS ANGELES — “Honey, I
1__ M_1;__ A 1_A. A% • •
Meantime a Navy court of in
quiry, ordered as soon as the fate
of the Thresher became apparent,
resumed in Groton, Conn.
In the opening session of that
inquiry, the highlight of the testi
mony that the Thresher’s skipper,
Lt. Cmdr. John Harvey, considered
his ship completely seaworthy
when he took her out for trials
after overhaul.
“We will never know what went
on within the submarine,” said
Adm. George Anderson, Chief of
Naval Operations, after announc
ing sadly and reluctantly yester
day that the Navy had given up
the ship as lost.
Secretary of the Navy Fred Korth
acted to still “rumors and specula
tion” that any of the 129 may be
alive, trapped in the Thresher’s
hull more than 8,000 feet under
the Atlantic.
Korth said he had the “un
equivocal assurance of those in
a position to know that in waters
of this depth, there is absolutely
no possibility that there might be
survivors.”
In New London, Conn., the wid
ow of the Thresher’s skipper, Lt.
Cmdr. Harvey, spoke the gratitude
of the families of the men aboard
her husband’s ship for the prayers
and messages of concern.
Mrs. Harvey, mother of two
boys, 11 and 8, said “our men have
been lost performing the duty they
chose and their way of life, in the
service of their country, and dedi
—i.- ▲ _ __ _
Briton Proposes Drop
Usage of Bible in Court
LONDON UPl — A British police
official urged courts yesterday to
drop the procedure of swearing on
the Bible.
The official, who withheld his
name, wrote in the Police Review:
“In the modern world it seems un
necessary to bring God into the
courtroom, especially when more
and more people are in some doubt
as to who God is and where He
may be found.”
In taking oath on the Bible, a
court witness says: “I swear by
almighty God that the evidence I
shall give shall be the truth, the
whole truth and nothing but the
truth.” The police official said it
would be better if a witness gave
his testimony and then said “I
have told the truth.”
Pilgrims Trace
Christ’s Last Steps
In Holy Land
JERUSALEM Ut) — Reverent
pilgrims, many bowed beneath
heavy crosses, traced Christ’s last
faltering steps along Jerusalem’s
Street of Sorrows to Calvary today,
Good Friday.
For the Arab School whose
arches ring the site of Pontius
Pilate’s fortress, thousands of
Christians from many lands chant
ed and sang beneath the ancient
stone walls, echoing Christ’s words:
“My God, My God, why hast Thou
foresaken Me?”
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last trip, that you will be a wealthy
widow before the week is over.”
That’s what crewman George J.
Kiesecker, 38, told his wife before
he embarked on the last voyage
of the missing atomic submarine
Thresher, relatives said yesterday.
They also said the electronics tech
nician called the Thresher a
“coffin.”
Jacqueline Clover, his sister-in
law, said she talked by telephone
to his wife, Lily, in Exter, N.H.
“Lily told me that George had
a premonition this was to be the
Thresher’s last cruise,” Miss Clo
ver said. She added that Kiesecker
apparently referred to his gov
ernment life insurance when he
predicted his wife would become
a wealthy widow.
Andrea Keele, 20, of nearby
Torrance, said Kiesecker, her step
father, was dedicated to subma
rines.
“But he said the Thresher was
different. He tried to transfer off
it several times,” she added.
Miss Clover said of Kiesecker:
“He was afraid of nothing and
loved the sub service. He was on
the first Nautilus and the Sea
Dragon. ,
“But when he was transferred
to the Thresher he was afraid for
the first time in his life. He went
aboard when they commissioned
it.
“George told us it was in dry
dock most of the time, that it
wasn’t a good ship from the be
ginning, that there was always
trouble.”
The Navy has said the Thresher
had no structural defects when it
left Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
on Tuesday.
Midi to iv/ v/ui V/UJ VX"
tives of peace in a free world.”
The Navy, its flags ordered
flown at half mast until sunset
Monday, went on with the job of
trying to learn what happened to
the Thresher, which had been the
fastest and deepest diving member
of its fleet of nuclear submarines.
On the West Coast crewmen
were preparing the deep-diving
research craft Trieste for shipment
to the scene in an effort to learn
what really happened.
Bering Halibut Brings
Low Price of 23.5c Pound
KETCHIKAN UR — Three loads
of halibut brought a top price of
only 23.5 cents per pound today,
well below prices paid last season.
Fish processors said they were
wary of the impact of the Japan
ese on the U.S. market.
One boat pushed off for Seattle
hoping for a better price there.
Today’s was the* first halibut
sold here this season. It came
from the Bering Sea.
James Pinkerton, manager of <
Ketchikan Cold Storage Co., said
he would not buy Bering halibut
this year. He has been in Seattle
for several days and said he would
leave for Chicago tonight to start
a survey of the halibut market.
Pinkerton said last season’s hali
but carry-over was 12 million
pounds, compared with only 4
million for the previous season.
He said he did not expect high
halibut prices this year in view
of the heavy carry-over and the
fact that a large supply of Japan
ese fish will enter the American
market.
“SPARTACUS”
* KIRK DOUGLAS * JEAN SIMMONS * CHARLES LAUGHTON *
i un tne coddiea street and under
dark vaults they stopped at 14
stations of the Cross marking the
son of God’s stumbling journey to
death.
Prayers rose in a babble of ton
gues. There were Germans, Ital
ians, French, Americans — some
in gay Easter bonnets — Lebanese,
Filipino and Christian visitors
from more remote places. The
blue berets of United Nations
troops dotted the crowd.
At dawn church bells rang
across the hills of Jerusalem and
spring sunshine warmed the hal
lowed streets where Jesus walked
to the Cross.
Thousands crowded at sunrise
into the candle-lit Church of the
Holy Sepulcher, built 16 centuries
ago on the grounds where most
sects believe Christ died.
Pilgrims knelt on Good Friday
Eve beneath the Mount of Olives
where Christ underwent his final
agony outside the city’s towering
noon lit walls.
Christians from almost 100 sects
traced Christ’s steps in darkness i
and a biting wind from St. Savior’s j
Jonvent toward the Cenacle on Mt.
Zion, site of the Last Supper.
But they could not reach it. The
Eenaele is in the Israeli sector of
the divided city, across the barbed
wire of no man’s land. Here Arab
legionnaires and Israeli troops have
faced each other in an uneasy
truce for 14 years.
More than 10,000 people visited
the old city. Prayers rose from
tioly places.
WEATHER FORECAST
Fair and colder. Lowest temp
erature expected tonight -10, the
high tomorrow 10.
Senate Plugs Loopholes
In “B-Girl” Measure
JUNEAU — The Senate gave
its okeh yesterday to a measure
designed to plug loopholes in the
state’s B-Girl statute.
Before passing the B-Girl meas
ure, CSHB198, the Senate adopted
an amendment which would pro
hibit under-cover payments such
as rebates and shares to females
for soliciting drinks.
The bill itself would prohibit
any female person employed in
an establishment serving liquor
from soliciting a drink from a cus
tomer, whether it contained alcohol
or not.
The measure would permit
women to work as cocktail wait
resses in establishments where
meals are not served on a regular
basis.
The measure now goes back to
the House for concurrence in the
Senate amendment.
MV Taku Arrives
In Ketchikan Today
KETCHIKAN UO — The MV I
Taku, second of Alaska’s three
southeast ferries, arrived in Ket
chikan at 9:15 a.m. today and
was to go into regular service
later this afternoon.
Under command of Capt. Mait
land Merkley, the sleek sister ship
of the Malaspina, glided gracefully
up Tongass Narrows not long
after she stuck her blue nose intc
Alaska waters.
Capt. Merkley said the nine
hour delay in reaching Ketchikan
was due to engine trouble. Water,
got mixed with lubricating oil in
one of the ship’s two huge engines.
The vessel continued on one en
gine while water was being re
moved from the other and new
oil added.
Even so, Taku made the voyage
from Seattle at an average speed
of about 17 knots, said Merkley.
Joint Free Conference Committees to
Iron Out Differences in Two Budgets
JUNEAU UP! — The chairmen of
the Senate and House Free Con
ference Committees on the general
appropriations bill agreed today
to start ironing out Senate and
House differences in the big spend
ing bill this afternoon.
Sen. Howard Bradshaw and Rep.
Harold Strandberg said the House
and Senate groups planned to meet
separately at 1:30 p.m. and then
go into a joint session.
Bradshaw and Strandberg were
not in agreement, however, on how
long the joint session might run.
Bradshaw indicated he thought
the Free Conference Committee
might continue for as long as one
or two days.
“We have a real problem and I
don’t think it can be worked out
quickly,” Bradshaw said.
Strandberg, on the other hand,
said the joint meeting “will not
be a protracted session.
“We are either going to come to
a joint decision on the budget or
we are going to find out that we
can’t come to a decision.
“If we can’t we will dissolve
this Free Conference Committee
and the House will name a second
Free Conference Committee.”
Those serving with Bradshaw on
the Senate committee are Sens.
Harold Z. Hansen and John Cog
hill.
Serving with Strandberg on the
House committee are Reps. Walter
Kubley and Carl Lottsfeldt.
Facing the Senate-House Free
Conference Committee is a $2,
193,500 difference in state fund
expenditures between the appro
priation bills passed by the two
houses.
The Senate measure, actually
the bill drafted by the Joint Sen
ate - House Finance Committee,
calls for state fund expenditures
of $91,218,330.
The House bill, drafted by the
Republican majority on the lower
chamber’s Finance Committee,
proposes that $89,024,830 in state
funds be spent during the fiscal
year starting July 1.
Gov. Wm. Egan, in the budget he
submitted to the legislature on
Feb. 5, recommended that the fiscal
1964 expenditure of state funds
be $89,882,300.
UNDAY — MONDAY — TUESDAY — 6:45 & 10:30
★ AT REGULAR PRICES ★
he NOMERAMA THEATER
PETER USTANOV * LAURENCE OLIVIER *
Mgr. Crinklaw to
Attend Meeting on
Nome Power Needs
Howard Crinklaw, manager of
the Nome Light & Power Utilities,
leaves today for a conference in
Anchorage on Nome power needs.
He will be accompanied by Leon
ard Anseth, newly elected vice
president of the Utilities Board,
to Seattle where they will attend
the annual meeting of the North
west Power Assn.
Since the power plant was pur
chased in 1954 for $225,000 and
changed from a privately owned
plant to a public utility, the valu
ation of the plant has increased
to a valuation of $428,000 and has
been able to retire $65,000 of the
original bonds and the city has
an equity in the plant of $268,000.
In addition to this a 25 per cent
rate reduction has been in effect
since 1961.
It has been known by the Utili
ty Board for some time that ex
pansion would be needed soon
but the need came faster than an
ticipated, hence the urgency in
passing the bonding issue next
Tuesday at the special election,
at which voters should express
their support of the revenue bonds
which are to be paid for out of
the income of the utility and is
in no way a tax burden on the
people.
Before leaving Mr. Crinklaw ex
pressed regret that attendance at
the power meeting would necessi
tate his being out of town at the
I time of the election next Tuesday
I in this important step in progress
/ for Nome.
PALM BEACH, Fla. UP> — Pres
ident Kennedy today ordered all
flags flown at half-staff on all
U.S. government buildings and
vessels until sunset Monday as a
mark of respect for the 129 men
lost aboard the atomic submarine
Thresher.