The Wrangell sentinel., 1944-03-31
IPBIIR0U6lB TBIIB SENTINEL
 PlElRISG0PE


 umn We have been turning out few sketches. and will continue to do so until election, on the various, candidates who are seeking public office in the forthcoming elections. This week we've picked out a couple of Mayors, and incidentally, darn good ones. because both of them seek a seat in the Territorial House of Representatives.
 First. His Honor, the Mayor of the best town in Alaska:
 Fred c. Hanford, Democratic Candidate for a seat in the Terri torial House of Representatives, Is the Mayor of Wrangell, Alaska, the pioneer town in which he has lived since 1928.
 An Alaskan of 34 years standing. Mayor Hanford was horn in Grand Rapfds. Michigan in 1879. spending his boyhood there. Came the sinking of the Maine and the Spanish-Amer- ican war. young Hanford joined the Army in 1898. serving three years with the Fourth Infantry in the Philippines. Back home again after the war. the young ex-sOldier heed cd the call of the west and migrated to the Puget Sound country, where he spent three years mainly In the real estate business. Coming north n 1910. he settled in ketchlkan, making his home there for l5 years before coming to the town of which he is now chief executive.
 Among the top boosters for the Territory. convinced that its econ omfc possibilities have hardly been touched. Hanford is a strong sup porter of Statehood for Alaska and heads the Wrangell Statehood Club. While yisioning Statehood as the ultimate goal. he believes that Al askans should do something to help themselves. He sees great possibil- ities in intelligent development of the after-war tourist business; be- Iieyes plans should be made now so that Alaska will be in position to grasp the opportunities which he feels are sure to come with the ces- sation of hostilities He sees possi- bilities in the development of ply. wood plants and personally has in tercsted in one outside concern to the point vhere it is experimenting with Stikine River birch for that purpose. the results of which are highly gratifying.
 One of the things for which the Mayor has pleaded for years is the extension of the public health sery-i ice to trOllers.
 T believe the trOllers are en- titled to the same consideration given the workers on boats of over five tons, registered" he says. ''I believe the present regulations should be amended to include all fishing vessels regardless of tonnage or registration. and subsidize the now existing hospitals if necessary. .'
 Ardent supporter of public util- ities, Hanford is largely responsible for the municipal power plant Wran- gell now owns. He believes cheap power from public owned utilities can go a long way toward bringing additional industry to the Territory.
 In private life, the Mayor is con signment agent for the Union Oil Company in Wrangell Fraternally, he's the past District Deputy of the Elks lodge and has membership in half a dozen organizations in which he is invariably active Politically, he's a Democrat, the one who was chairman of the divisional conven- tion in Juneau last fall, and with 20 votes, was largely responsible for the blanks adopted by that party and subsequently, adopted in large part by the Territorial convention in Fairbanks
 If elected" says the Mayor who is chary about making campaign promises, 'I will continue to serve the people of my community and the Territory to the best of my ability"
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 Our other favorite Mayor this week is Frank Peratrovich of Kla- wosk, also a Democratic candidate for a seat in the House. Frank has been mayoring over Klawock way for years; probably has some sort of record for continuous service to Fis community Raised over on the West Coast, Mayor Peratrovich com pleted his schooling at Haskill In- stitute, home of the justly famed Haskell Indians, crack football team which Washington States Dick Hanley used to coach in the days when they were about as hot as they come.
 Came the last war and our man enlisted in the U. S. Navy, in which he served with distinction during the entire fracas and then some, steamboating around over most of the Atlantic ocean and the ports of