THE
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA
K «
MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
64th Year No. 28
NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 1963
Per Copy 15£
Kennedy Is Not Satisfied With
Soviet Troop Movement From Cuba
WASHINGTON (A*) — President
Kennedy said today “No,” he is
not satisfied with the rate of with
drawal of Soviet troops from Cuba.
Kennedy also left open a ques
tion of whether four American
fliers killed in the 1961 Bay of
Pigs invasion of Cuba were em
ployed by the U.S. government
or its Central Intelligence Agency.
He said ‘‘the men were serving |
their country” but dodged a direct
reply on grounds it would not be
helpful to the national interest to
go into details.
And Kennedy rejected any ap
plication of a blockade to shut off
the supply of oil to Cuba. He said
there should be no mistaking that
a blockade is an act of war, and
added:
“At this time, we do not be
lieve war in the Caribbean is to
the national advantage.”
On a key domestic matter —
taxes — the President said it is
his jugment that Congress will
put through a bill which will
lower taxes and also provide for
what he calls tax reforms. That,
he said, is what he wants.
But at a Presidential news con
ference, more questions focused
around Cuba than on any other
topic.
With respect to the Soviet troops
aspect of the troubled Cuban situa
tion, a three-part question was
fired at the President. He was
asked (1) whether he has any in
formation on how many troops
remain in Cuba, (2) whether he
is satisfied with the rate of with
drawal and (3) whether the Rus
sain promise to pull out troops
permitted verification. Replying to
all three parts together, Kennedy
said:
“The answer would be, really
no.”
As for the fliers killed at the
time of the 1961 invasion fiasco,
there has been widespread specu
lation that they were on the pay
roll of the CIA. The National
Broadcasting Co., in a report from
Washington by Martin Agronsky,
said last night the fliers definietly
were employed by CIA and their
widows each are receiving $225
from CIA funds every two weeks.
Kennedy was smiling slightly
when he walked into the State De
partment Auditorium for his ses
sion with newsmen—the first in
the morning in nearly a year. And
he got in on a wave of laughter
Honest Collegian
SEATTLE LP> — Mrs. John
Cushing went home to Sitka to
day with $6,500 in furs and
jewelry she never expected to see
again and renewed faith in hu
man honesty.
Mrs. Cushing lost a suitcase
containing a sable stole, diamond
bracelet, wrist watch and other
jewelry when it bounced out of
the trunk of her car between
Seattle and Tacoma last month.
Bruce Lee, a University of
Washington sophomore from Seat
tle, found the suitcase and a
label reading “Cushing, Sitka,
Alaska.” He sent a registered let
ter to Sitka and it eventually
found its way back to the Wash
ington Athletic Club in Seattle,
where the Cushings were staying.
Lee had turned the suitcase
over to police and the police re
turned it to Mrs. Cushing.
The Cushings said the honest
collegian would get a reward.
near the end when somebody
wanted to know how he evaluated
the changes in Russia since the
death of Joseph Stalin a decade
ago.
The President said it would
take a half hour of television time
to answer that. So he didn’t
To Republican clamor for bud
get cuts of $5 billion to $15 bil
lion, Kennedy said he wants to
know what the GOP intends to
cut and whose lives would be af
fected adversely. He said the ad
ministration did some cutting of
its own—$13 billion from requests
of the military services, but now
Republicans are making some
warlike speeches and “it doesn’t
seem that we should be cutting
our defense spending.”
Lehman Bros. Submit
Low Bids on Bond Issues
Totaling $7,500,000
JUNEAU Iff) — Lehman Bros,
of New York today submitted the
apparent low bids on each of four
state general obligation bond
issues totaling $7,500,000.
The bonds include a $2,700,000
issue for state school construction
and repairs, $2,650,000 for improve
ments at the University of Alas
ka, and $1,500,000 issue for trunk
airport construction and a $600,000
issue for the Nome Vocational
School.
The Nome bonds run for 15
years, the others for 20 years.
Lehman Bros., effective net in
terest bid on the school bonds was
3.3372; on the university bonds,
3.3383; on the trunk airport bonds,
3.3385; and on the Nome vocation
al school bonds, 3.1032.
The bids submitted by Lehman
Bros, did not include a net in
terest cost figure.
The State Bond Committee had
also been scheduled to open bids
on a $100,000 issue for the Kodiak
Aleutians vocational e d u c a tion
school, but the opening was can
celed.
Commerce Commissioner A. H.
Romick explained that the legis
lature has not yet approved legis
lation to implement authorization
of the bond issue, approved by the
voters last November.
The amount approved in last
November’s general election was
$2.2 million, but the state had
planned to issue only $100,000 of
that amount at this time.
Anchorage Gas Station
Attendant Fatally Shot
ANCHORAGE iff) — A gas sta
tion attendant was fatally shot last
night during an attempted holdup.
Police have identified the victim
as Specialist 5 Waldo V. Drennan,
38, stationed at Ft. Richardson. He
worked at the station part-time.
Drennan was found inside the
station by a customer who was
looking for someone to service his
car. The soldier was apparently
shot in the back. He was dead on
arrival at Providence Hospital.
Police are searching for the
killer.
Drennan was a member of the
Headquarters and Headquarters
Co., UJS. Army, Alaska, Aviation
Bn. He is a 13-year Army veteran.
He leaves a wife and three chil
dren, who reside in a local trailer
court.
Gov. Egan Names
Wm. Ferro to Fill
Vacant Senate Seat
JUNEAU — William Ferro,
a lifelong Alaskan and former
mayor of Skagway, was nomi
nated by Gov. Wm. Egan today
to fill the Senate seat left vacant
by the death of Sen. Elton Eng
strom.
Ferro, who was born in Doug
las and now operates a hotel and
restaurant in Skagway, is the
fourth person to be nominated by
Egan to bring the Senate up to
its full strength of 20 members.
The other three nominees, all
turned down by the four remain
ing senators in the upper cham
ber, as they are permitted to do
by law, were Albert White, Elton
Engstrom Jr., and Mrs. Wilma
Rhodes, all of Juneau.
The nomination of Ferro, a
veteran of World War II who was
wounded during the Allied inva
sion of Italy, was not acted upon
by the Republcan members of the
Senate before the upper chamber
j adjourned for the day.
CAB Still Opposes
Transfer of Fairbanks
Juneau Route to Wien
WASHINGTON — Alaska
civic interests and the airlines in
volved endorsed a transfer of the
Juneau-Fairbanks air route today.
In argument before the Civil
Aeronautics Board, the only op
position was voiced by the CAB
Bureau of Economic Regulation.
The bureau contended the trans
fer would mean a higher federal
subsidy without improvement of
service.
Pan American World Airways
proposes to transfer the Juneau
Fairbanks route to Wien Alaska
Airlines. Their attorneys argued
that the public would be better
served by a local carrier.
To become effective, the trans
fer agreement between the two
airlines needs approval by the
CAB and the President, because
the route includes a stop at White
horse, Yukon Territory, Canada.
“The public interest requires
that this transfer be approved,”
said Barry W. Jackson, Fairbanks
city attorney, who spoke for the
city, its Chamber of Commerce,
Juneau and the state.
26-Year-Old Ohio Woman
Watches Herself Giving
Birth to Quadruplets
LIMA, Ohio <#> — “I did it. I
got to see them born.”
That was the jubilant cry of
26-year-old Barbara Axe, who
Monday night gave birth to quad
ruplet daughters in St. Rita’s Hos
pital.
‘‘There’s nothing to it,” the
proud father, Phil Axe, added.
The birth of the four infants,
ranging in weight from 2 pounds
9 ounces to 4 pounds, 2Vfe
ounces came a week after she was
told that she could expect quad
ruplets. At that time doctors said
X-rays showed clearly that four
babies would be born.
It was Mrs. Axe’s wish to see
the births. “Being a nurse, I
would like to see them bom,”
she said last week. “I’m snoopy.”
She was given a local anesthetic
and watched the entire delivery,
doctors said. After the births, she
and her daughters were reported
doing fine. The daughters were
in incubators, they were born
about one month prematurely.
Four Grand Ole Opry
Personalties Die In
Light Plane Crash
CAMDEN, Tenn. UPi The
wreckage of a light plane with four
Grand Ole Opry personalities
aboard was found today about five
miles west of the Tennessee River
in west Tennessee.
Sheriff L. Fun’ said there were
no survivors.
Aboard were singers Patsy Cline,
Hawkshaw Hawkins and Cowboy
Copas and the pilot, Randy Hughes
who was Miss Cline’s manager and
a son-in-law of Copas.
The Grand Ole Opry is a radio
program broadcast by WSM,
Nashville, which has attracted and
developed top country and west
ern musicians for more than 35
years.
The single-engine plane was re
turning the recording artists to
Nashville after benefit perform
ances at Kansas City, Kan. It
stopped at Dyersburg, near Mem
phis, early last night to refuel.
Hughes telephoned his wife in
Nashville to say they would be
home soon. The plane never ar
rived.
Another Opry star, Billy Walker,
said at Nashville he intended to
return with Hughes but came by
commercial plane because the
Hughes plane would carry only
four.
Downed Polar Bear
Hunters Are Rescued
Two missing aircraft along wit!
their four occupants, lost on th<
ice somewhere between Pt. Hope
and Cape Lisburne, were located
this morning by aircraft out oi
Kotzebue. The first plane, with
pilot Ralph Marshall and Mrs.
Harold Paddock was located some
time before 11 aan.
Later the other plane, with pilot
W.T. Ellis and Mr. Paddock was
located some 30 miles away.
Mrs. Paddock was taken to the
hospital at Kotzebue where she is
reported in fair condition. Mar
shall is still out at the site of his
downed plane.
Marshall’s radio reportedly was
dead and he was very low on gas
when found. First reports from the
other plane indicated Ellis and
Paddock were all right.
Marshall is reported to have
taken off yesterday in an effort
to reach an altitude where main
land points would fix his position
by radar. At the time it was as
sumed that he was alone in the
plane but now it is presumed that
Mrs. Paddock was in the plane
with him.
House Passes
Pre-Registration
Of Voters Measure
JUNEAU t/Pl — A bill which
would require pre-registration of
all voters for statewide elections
in Alaska passed the House today
by a vote of 25-14.
It will be held in the House,
however, for at least another legis
ative day on a notice of recon
sideration given by Rep. John
Rader.
Rader and Mike Gravel both
changed their votes to the prevail
ing side in the final role call, so
as to be in a position to move
for reconsideration and bring the
bill before the chamber again.
The vote came after the House
had labored through the lunch
hour in beating back all but one
minor amendment of the bill.
And it w’ound up in a flare of
tempers when Rules Committee
chairman C. M. Binkley moved
to adjourn in an effort to cut off
Rader’s shouted notice of recon
sideration.
The bill was a State Affairs
Committee substitute for one sub
mitted by Gov. Wm. Egan which
would simply have required pre
registration in cities or organized
boroughs where 3,000 or more
votes had been cast in the 1962
general election.
“When this bill came down, it
was a registration bill just for
Anchorage and Fairbanks,” Rader
said.
i “I didn’t like having my district
; singled out for a program that
■ will chop about 20 per cent off of
the vote, and I considered it an
onerous dig at my district.
“I now view this substitute bill
as an onerous dig at all of the
outlying districts, calculated to cut
down on the vote throughout the
state and to thwart the will of the
people.”
In answer to statements made
earlier that the measure would
prevent fradulent voting, Rader
said that no one was proved to
have voted illegally in the last
election, and that certain physical
errors which were made in ballot
ing would not be changed by pre
registration.
“No one is particularly afraid
of fraud,” said Binkley.
“The only reason for this bill
is to protect the legal voters from
having their votes canceled out
by an illegal vote.
“This measure would give the
time necessary to check the voter
registrations, and make registra
tion requirements uniform through
out the state.”
AA Will Use Constellation and Convair
Planes On Anchorage - Nome Flights
Tomorrow Nomeites will be
watching the skies to see the Super
Constellation of Alaska Airlines
when it makes its proving run
to Nome. This plane is scheduled
to serve Nome twice a week on
a new schedule which will be
announced later this month with
a new Convair which will serve
on alternate days of the 5-day-a
week schedule.
The Constellation seats 32 pas
sengers and is designed for large
quantities of cargo. On March 17
it will be bringing in a full load
of cargo for the Northern Com
mercial Co. which has been an
nounced to be over 40,000 pounds
of food supplies as well as equip
ment for more needed refrigeration
room.
Station manager George Lienard
stated that the Convair will be
able to handle about 50 passengers
when it starts on the Nome run.
He also stated that February was
a busy month for Alaska Airlines
on the Nome run with 208 pas
sengers into Nome and 188 leav
ing and a total of 473 coming
through here.
Quantity of freight and mail
handled in February was also
higher than any time since Sep
tember with a total of 118,547
pounds brought in and 31,590
pounds shipped out.
Nomeites will be glad to learn
that Alaska Airlines has disposed
of their DC-4s and henceforth only
pressurized planes will be used to
serve this area.