The Wrangell sentinel., 1945-09-28
THROUGH THE SENTINEL PERISCOPE


 Now with the war over disposal of property which Army declares as surplus is shaping up to be sizeable undertaking. Surplus is being handled through the Inter- for Department and preliminary steps in Alaska have been the es- tablishment of an office in An. ehorage with John Van Ginhoven, formerly of the REC. in charge of perfecting an organization to handle the work. Indications are there will be millions of dollars of surplus in the Territory. Pres ent program provides for keeping as much as possible in Alaska. Municipalities, various Territorial and Federal agencies in the Ter ritory have been asked to state their needs and ia is expected they will be given preference.
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 High school boys are going to get better break under the new ruling of the Selective Service this week. In the future boys who have reached high school before their 18th birthday will be per mitted to finish high school studies before being drafted, or before they reach age 20. If they haven't completed high school by the time they are 20 they will be subject to draft under Selective Service.
 Conferring in Washington. Gov Ernest Gruening has his brief case packed with matters on which he hoped to get favorable action for Alaska. Among these were establishment of a regionaI office of the Veterans Adminis- l. tration in Alaska; trying to work out plan for keeping the Haines cutoff open; attempting to get Alaska under the Federal High way act; hopeful of interesting the right people in more housing . for the Territory; encouraging better shipping for Alaska by pro noting the idea of better ships [ for the American lines and further suspension of the Jones Law until they get into operation, and urg- Ing upon Congress increased Fed eral appropriations for all agencies in the Territory. There were a lot of other things. Alaska's Ernest Gruening would be a very busy i man for the next few weeks in ! the national capital.
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 Oral arguments in the Pacific [ case in which Civil Aeronautics Board examiners have recommend l ed that Northwest Airlines be given a certificate to operate from New York and Chicago to the | Orient via Anchorage and which | is being protested so vigorously by . Seattle will be heard in Wash | ington October 29, according to i an announcement by CAB. Out l of that may come the final yer dict on whether Alaska gets a round-the-wo world airline or wheth- CT it remains on the Seattle shut | tie run.
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 With the war over and re- conversion No. 1 issue of the na. tion, speculation grows that OPA | is on its way out, probably along i with other war time agencies. ! OPA has life until the end of next June by act of Congress. What may happen then is causing lots of guessing. There seems to be weight to the thought that OPA may be merged into one Of the old-line departments such as h. terior or Commerce. Whatever it's fate it seems to be a certainty that the price controls on short goods will be kept on for some time to come. There's no cut down in Alaska OPA setup so far and none is expected before early next year.
 One of the most unique dinners in the history of Alaska was held the other evening in Juneau when Judge William A. Holzheimer, for mer Federal Jugde in the Second Division and later District Attor- ney in the First Division for 12l years, and William Franks, for more than 40 years a resident Of Douglas and Juneau, entertained old-timers over 65, the occasion being the 18th birthday of the two "Bills" More than 90 old timers, some of them over 80, filled the spacious Gold Room Of the Baranof hotel to wish happy birthday to their hosts. With old-timer Henry Roden leading the