The Seward Polaris

TEMPER COMES HIGH AT JUNEAU

From Ed. of The Frontiersman

Senate Bill 48, the measure which would have financed the construction of Seldovia's airport, died in committee before the legislature adjourned, as you read last week.

Accounts of the last-minute work on the bill reported that three separate times a committee was appointed to draft a compromise measure which would include enabling legislation necessary before cities in the territory can make use of Federal funds.

But because "tempers were short in the closing hours of the legislative session" as one reporter put it, no agreement was reached and Seldovia, as well as Anchorage, Dillingham, Palmer and Seward, to name only a few of the Alaskan cities which hoped to build an airport with Federal money, are the losers.

The "short tempers" of members of the legislature cheated the territory of an estimated ten to fifteen million dollars in airport improvements for this year alone, as well as the additional business and commerce brought into the territory by the developed fields, which would have meant a large financial boost for Alaska, both now and in the years ahead.

When the tempers of do-nothing legislature, such as the one which met in Juneau this year, can rob the territory of millions of dollars, it would seem a good idea to select candidates with a little less expensive character traits when election time rolls around again.

In fact, it would be a mighty good idea for every Seldovian to keep a little mental file tabbed airport, and inside that file to list the names of Barnett, McCutcheon, Snider, Gill, Egan, Huntley, Pollard, Engebreth, Coffey, Rivers and Brownell for future reference. It ought to help us place our marks in the proper boxes when that next election comes off.