The Daily Alaska empire., 1951-10-25
Coast Guard
 Hearing Is Ended Here

He lOTIldl COaSt GuaTu hearings on the re-classification of waters in Southeast Alaska was concluded 1 Wednesday afternoon in the Senate Chambers. The testimony delivered at the hearing will be reviewed by the Commandant of the Coast Guard in Washington, D.. C., and Admiral Joseph Greenspun, com mandant of the l7th Coast Guard District, said no action can be taken here.
 First witness at the afternoon ses- sion was Earl Dinner, represent ing the Petersburg Chamber of Commerce, Deep Sea Fishing Co.,, Deep Sea Fishermen's Union, Fish, ing Vessel Owners Association and the Petersburg schools.
 Dinner corroborated the testi- mony of Juneau Chamber of Con- merce witnesses as to the safety of waters of Southeast Alaska He con- sidered them as safe Tor safer" than waters of Puget Sound, said that his fishing boats operated the year round. and that it was always possible to get into protected wat CTS when a storm came up. Maritime Attorney Heard William T. Beeks, maritime law yer from Seattle, spoke on behalf of the Alaska Canned Salmon In- dustry. Beeks, who said that his proposal was in no way controvers- ial. presented a Southeast Alaska chart with the area outlined that should be classified as inland wat CTS.
 His proposal, which aimed to clarify the question as to whether International rules or inland rules should be applied to waters in Southeast Alaska, was that the Commandant of the Coast Guard promulgate regulations specifically declaring all of the waters of south east Alaska from Cape Fox to Cape Spencev to ihe inlard waters. I 
 Boatmen Testify
 Similar testimony was given ct the afternoon session by LIGwsg Baggen, Don Gallagher. Robert 7. Coughlin, and Jack Burford. All men who are owners and operators of vessels testified that they did not consider the waters of Southeast Alaska to be hazardous, and that although none had found the Coast Guard regulations burdensome they believed that the waters should be re-classified as inland waters rather than limited coastal waters.
 Coughlin said that he would like to have the monopoly for supplying also wanted to know why the water cost $2.50 for dozen pint cans. He also wanted to know why tn water had to come from Boston and ques- tioned why the regulations stated that canned water should be kept in the lifeboat where during the winter it would freeze and burst the cans.
 On lifehoat equipment, Steve Homer alleged that the boats were so cluttered with necessary equip ment that there was no room for passengers. Referring to the resu- lation, Attorney Fred Eastaugh de- clared that there are 29 separate items needed for lifeboats under limited coastal regulations and Il pieces required for inland waters. Lifeboat Again
 Jerry Mckinley, who formerly operated the NV Beachcomber as a freighter, related that when the boat was originally inspected in Seattle he had equipped 1t with life raft. The following year, he was told that the raft was obsolete and to comply with regulations he pur- chased a canvas covered square floating block with ropes attached on each side. In case of disaster, the men were supposed to cling to the ropes of the floating block until rescued. He said that the block would have been useless as no man lives much longer than IS minutes when dunked into the icy waters in this district. The straw that broke the camel's back" is the way Mo- Kinley termed the next regulation issued the following year. This time he was required to purchase life boat costing 1000 FOB. on the East Coast. He said that at this point he decided to withdraw from public freighting business. l At the conclusion of the meeting, Comdr. Paul Savonis of the Wash ington headquarters stated that the transcript would be reviewed by the Commandant. He reminded the wit nesses that re-classification of the waters would not alter the basic safety rules.
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