THE
NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
64th Year No. 58
NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 1963
Per Copy 15*
COOPER GIVEN CO-AHEAD FOR
AT LEAST 17 ORBITS OF EARTH
CAPE CANAVERAL (JV-Astro
naut Gordon Cooper was given the
go ahead late today for at least
17 orbits of the earth. The deci
sion came during Cooper’s seventh
orbit.
A Space spokesman said:
“We have verified the textbook
perfection of the flight. All on
board systems are OK. Most im
portant, pilot Cooper is OK.’’
Cooper is aiming toward 22 or
bits. There’ll be a decision on
whether to carry on for the full
route after 17. After completing
six, Cooper set a new record for
time in space for an American.
Walter Schirra made the previous
longest U.S. fligit of six orbits
last October.
Cooper, 36, an Air Force major,
rocketed into space aboard a pow
erful Atlas booster which blazed
away from Cape Canaveral at 8:04
a.m. EST (2:04 a.m. Nome time)
with a roar and a flash of flames.
Five minutes later the lV^-ton
space craft had settled into its
planned orbital path more than 100
miles above the earth.
Cooper took the control stick to
rotate his capsule 180 degrees so
that he was riding upright and
backward, with the craft’s blunt
heat shield pushing a path through
space.
As he turned the capsule around
Cooper told Walter Schirra at Cape
Canaveral he could see his spent
Atlas booster following behind him
very closely, also in orbit.
His orbit ranged from 100 to 160
miles above the earth.
The Faith 7 capsule reached a
peak speed of 17,546 miles an hour
and circled the globe once every
88.45 minutes.
The flight, conducted in the full
glare of publicity in contrast with
the secrecy of the Soviet Union’s
manned space flights, was hailed
by people around the world.
Among millions of earthbound
people around the globe, there
seemed to be greater enthusiasm
for the American manned space
flight than at any time since John
Glenn soared aloft as the first or
biting American on Feb. 2, 1962.
This probably was because the
two orbit flights in between were
relatively short—M. Scott Carpen
ter’s three orbits and six orbits by
Walter Schirra—in contrast with
the 64 and 48 orbit missions made
bv Soviet cosmonauts Andrian
Gov. Egan Urges
Alaskans to Participate
In Armed Forces Day
JUNEAU M — Gov. Wm. Egan
urged Alaskans today to take part
in Armed Forces Day programs
scheduled at military bases
throughout the state Saturday.
“Armed Forces Day is an op
portunity for all of us to pay tri
bute to the men and women who
wear our nation’s uniform,” Egan
said, “Americans who serve to
protect our liberty and freedom.
“We are proud of the members
of Armed Forces stationed in
Alaska, and to U.S. Coast Guard
personnel and our own Alaska Na
tional Guard and Air Guard per
sonnel, for their dedication to
cause and for the manner in which
they have accepted and are per
forming their important mission.
“And we deeply appreciate the
spirit of cooperation and friend
ship that exists between the
civilian and military communities
throughout our state.”
Nikolayev and Pavel Popovich.
Some three hours after the blast
off, the U.S. Relay 1 Communica
tion Satellite beamed pictures of
the launching to western Europe
where it was presumed that mil
lions of persons viewed the film.
It included the first shots of an
American space pilot in action in
space. A television camera aboard
Faith 7 sent live photos of the
astronaut during the boost phase
to monitors at Cape Canaveral.
As Faith 7 whirled through the
heavens, Cooper frequently made
satisfactory reports about his per
sonal condition and the systems in
the spacecraft.
If the flight goes the* full route,
it will last 34 hours 19 minutes and
end with a landing southeast of
Midway Island about 6:23 a.m. EST
tomorrow (12:23 p.m. Nome time).
As on all previous American
manned orbit flights, the city of
Perth, Australia, turned on all its
lights as a greeting. Cooper said
he saw the lights clearly from his
vantage point about 160 miles in
space.
Mercury Control Center at Cape
Canaveral reported the voyage is
going so well that comparing fig
ures and times on the planning
charts with the actual flight fig
ures was “almost like following a
textbook.”
Primary goal of the marathon
mission is to gather medical data
to determine man’s ability to per
form during prolonged exposure to
weightlessness.
Several scientific experiments
are on the timetable, some aimed
at devising techniques for Project
Gemini, the man-in-space program
beyond Mercury.
Would Reduce Tax Payments
WASHINGTON <#> — By voice
vote, the Senate approved yester
day legislation to reduce employ
ers’ 1963 payroll tax payments
under the temporary extended
Unemployment Compensation Act.
The bill would reduce from .4
per cent to .25 per rent the pay
roll tax rate under the law en
acted in 1961 to provide extended
benefits for jobless persons.
The measure now returns to the
House for further action.
Reminds Military Officers
To Stay Out of Politics
WASHINGTON (# — With ton
gue in cheek, President Kennedy
reminded 79 foreign military offi
cers of the warning that military
men should stay out of politics.
“But I must say,” he added,
“that politics brought me from
being an obscure lieutenant in the
Navy to Commander in Chief in
14 years.”
He also had some serious words
for the officers, from 50 coun
tries, who just completed a course
in the Army’s Command and Gen
eral Staff School at Ft. Leaven
worth, Kan.
GATE CRASHER . . .
WASHINGTON UP> — A young
man raced past uniformed guards
at the front gate of the White
House this afternoon and ran 15
to 20 yards inside the grounds be
fore he was overtaken.
The man was placed in a Metro
politan Police patrol wagon and
taken to an undisclosed location.
The White House refused to say
anything about the incident bu1
according to one report the intru
der carried a pair of scissors.
White Shoppers
Boycott Birmingham’s
Business Districts
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. W>» — An
economic vise squeezed this racial
ly troubled city tighter today as
white shoppers stayed away from
the downtown business district in
increasing numbers.
A department store executive
said there are rumors of a white
boycott in protest of a bi-racial
agreement which includes gradual
desegregation of public facilities
in the downtown area and better
employment opportunities for Ne
groes.
The executive, who declined to
be identified, said his store —
one of the city’s largest — had
noticed a serious decline in busi
ness since rioting last weekend.
But he said it was difficult to say
whether the decline was caused
by boycotting or the general con
ditions of the time.
Meanwhile, Negroes appeared to
be shopping in the downtown area
in greater numbers than since they
began a boycott of downtown mer
chants last spring.
The department store spokes
man said a white boycott on top
of the Negro boycott would be
tragic to the city’s business out
look.
In Montgomery, attorneys for
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and
10 other Negro ministers argued
that a state anti-demonstration in
junction was excessive, vague and
unconstitutional.
The integration leaders arc
scheduled to begin five-day jail
sentences in Birmingham tomor
row for refusing to obey the in
junction granted April 10. The Ne
groes were arrested April 12
while leading a Good Friday pro
test march.
A Negro leader said earlier that
Gov. George Wallace is trying to
undermine the bi-racial agreement
on Birmingham’s racial problems
by keeping state troopers in the
city.
While the Rev. Fred Shuttles
worth was calling on Wallace last
night to remove the highway pa
trolmen, Wallace again was calling
on President Kennedy to with
draw special federal troops he sent
into Alabama.
Wallace replied to Shuttles
worth, one of the top leaders in
the desegregation campaign, that
the state troopers would remain in
Birmingham as long as he thinks
they are needed to help maintain
law and order.
The White House announced no
reply to Wallace’s latest telegram
protesting the federal troops, but
the President has shown no in
clination to recall the soldiers in
previous exchanges with the Ala
bama governor.
Travel Agents Due
Here Over Weekend
Nome gets into practice for a
busy tourist season this weekend
when 32 travel agents from Chi
cago, the mid-US. and the Rocky
Mountain chapters of the American
Society of Travel Agents pass
through here on a May tour, guid
ed by Frank Whaley of Wien Air
lines.
Pearse Walsh, station manager
for Wiens, announced that Willie
Brown will again be local tour
guide for the company and that
seven-day service will start on
May 20.
This will be followed by twice
a day service next month when
the Top of the World flights tc
Barrow are resumed.
Alaska Airlines Files
$999,900 Damage Suit
JUNEAU UP) — A $999,900 dam
age suit has been filed by Alaska
Airlines, Inc., against Northwest
Airlines as a result of a 1961 plane
crash at Shemya which claimed
six lives.
The suit was filed in U.S. Dis
trict Court at Juneau. In addition
to the $999,900 in damages, Alaska
Airlines asks attorney and court
cost and interest on the amount
sought.
Alaska Airlines claims Northwest
failed to construct, equip, operate,
manage, control, repair and main
tain the Shemya Airfield properly.
Alaska was using the field under
contract with Northwest.
On July 21, 1961, an Alaska Air
lines DC-6 under charter to the
Military Air Transport Service
crashed 30 yards short of the
Shemya Airfield while making a
ground-controlled approach land
ing.
AM six men aboard the craft,
enroute from Travis Air Force
Base, Calif., to Tokyo, were killed.
CONVENTIONOTES
Honest to goodness real live
Lions will be in Nome on May 29,
30, 31 and June 1. They will be
in every business place, many of
the homes will open their doors
for them—and every available ex
tra bed will, no doubt, have a
Lion sleeping in, or on it.
The latest reports given in ex
cess of 350 people (Lions) frorr
the 49th District expected for th<
four-day convention.
What a wonderful thing this wil
I be for the City of Nome. Money
will be spent that every business
house can use. New friends will
be made between visitors and resi
dents alike; all Lions and Nomeites
are noted for their friendliness.
Children and grownups alike
will long remember the Memorial
Day Parade that the Lions will
march in—there will be a Kiltie
Band from the Yukon Territory,
a military band from Anchorage,
also it is anticipated that every
local organization will participate.
Guided tours have been arranged
for, gold panning contests set up,
a tent city will go up on the
beach. Already reservations have
been received from Lions who wish
to live in and re-live the gold
rush days of Nome’s second tent
city.
Dog teams you expect to see on
the streets of Nome, but Lions bv
the hundreds (this we’ve got to
see) they’ll come a roarin’.
WEATHER OUTLOOK
Mostly cloudy with light snow
flurries. Low tonight 27, high to
morrow 34. In the last 24 hours:
High of 34, low of 24. Max. wind
16 mph from the north. Sunrise
at 2:34 a.m., sunset at 9:15 p.m.
Temps, a year ago today: High
of 35, low of 23. Extremes on this
date since 1907: High of 61 in 1960,
low of 15 in 1932.
THEME SONG WANTED
FOR MIDNIGHT SUN FESTIVAL
Special award will be given to
the person who submits a song
selected for the theme song of the
1963 Festival.
Name of Song
Name of Sponsor
Turn in this slip or mail to
Johnnie Reardon or leave it at j
the Nugget Office. j
Termination of
Cost-of-Living
Is Before Congress
WASHINGTON UP — The Civil
Service Commission proposed yes
terday elimination over a 6-year
period the cost-of-living allow
ances paid federal employes in
Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and
the Virgin Islands.
Cut-backs in the tax-free allow
ances, which run up to 25 per cent
in Alaska, would be compensated
for by salary increases allowed
under the Federal Salary Reform
Act of 1962.
That law provides for salaries
of federal civil employes to be
comparable with average private
enterprise pay levels.
Termination of the cost of
living allowances was outlined in
a bill sent to Congress by the
commission. The gradual “phase
out” of the allowances would be
gin with the first pay period after
Jan. 1, 1964.
The average private enterprise
salaries would be determined in
periodic surveys of the Bureau of
Labor Statistics.
John Macy Jr., chairman of the
commission, said that, in areas
where increased base rates are not
warranted, “the allowances can be
terminated through a series of
small reductions, so that, with very
few exceptions, no employe will
receive less gross compensation
than he is now getting.
; The proposed bill would allow
higher salary rates in Alaska, when
[ I warranted, than are set by the
I 1962 Salary Reform Act.
Senators Angered at
U.S. Backdown on Trans
Atlantic Fare Increase
WASHINGTON (itt — Senators
angered by the U.S backdown on
a fare increase on trans-Atlantic
air routes called government offi
cials today for a public airing of
the international dispute.
In advance of an afternoon hear
ing of the Senate Commerce Com
mittee, chairman Warren Magnu
son, protested this country had
capitulated without a fight.
He estimated a 5 per cent in
crease in round-trip economy class
fares will cost Americans travel
ing to Europe about $15 million a
year.
What does it mean to the indi
vidual pasesnger? He will be pay
ing an extra $27 for his New York
London economy tourist round-trip
ticket, according to State Depart
ment officials. His fare will go up
from $486 to $513.
The increase voted last fall by
the International Air Transport
Assn, actually is a reduction in
the discount allowed for return
tickets — 5 per cent instead of 10
per cent.
The change went into effect
Saturday in Europe, but until yes
terday the Civil Aeronautics Board
had refused to permit American
airlines to adopt the higher fares.
It announced then through an
exchange of letters between CAB
chairman Alan Boyd and Secretary
of State Dean Rusk that it was
yielding to diplomatic pressure.
WATER AND SEWER STUDY
A contract has been awarded
for engineering studies in regard
to a sewer and water facilities
program at the village of Angoon,
the Anchorage Daily Times re
ported.
The engineering study contract
is for $8,200, the Times said.