The Wrangell sentinel., 1952-08-08
THROUGH THE SENTINEL PERISCOPE
Note to Taxpayers
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Town of Wraugell and also a letter from City Councilman William l.. Eastaugh in connection with the seawau Both. We feel. are timely and worth the close scrutiny of ey- cry taxpayer in the community. With further public programs be ing considered for the community. it is well to know the towns fin aueiaI situation. Particularly in view Of the loss of revenue as a re- suit of the disastrous fire of Maleh 21-22.
 Is the Empire Smuggling Up?
 Some year or so ago, the Dtily Alaska Empire in Juneau was making quite a thing about Gov. Ernest Gruening wishing and pre- dieting better things for Gov. Earl Warren of California. Warren being a Republican. Ernest was hooted a little by Empire for try ing to get on the Warren band wagon (which. incidentally. got stuck in the mud in Chicago.0 The Governor. being an Opp0rtunist who jumped from his self-acclaim- ed Republican party utilization to take a job with the late FDR- was vulnerable and the Empire knew it. But now he goes back to the Chicago Democratic convention. asI a proxy delegate and holds the All aska delegate in line to vote for Senator Estes Kefauver. Result: the Empire comes out with a three column lead story, with head to match. Demos Nominated Strong Candidate. says Gruening,' an ob-I servation which most any moron could have made - although prob ably it wouldn't have rated such spread as the Empire gave Ernest. Or. maybe the Empire is getting as ambidextrous as Ernest - beating the Governors drum on page onel and shooting barbs on the editor ial page.
 It's a little bit musing when onel recalls that it was the then Inter- for Secretary Harold Ickes who de- manded the resignation of the lateI Coy. John Troy. who owned theI Empire, and that it was Ernest Gruening who came up to Alaska as his successor, with FDR's bless ing. and who with the usual Gar land Fund approach. claimed he didn't know a thing about it.
 Ho. Hum. as Sid Charles says. maybe with the California earth quake and flying saucers seen over Washington. the Empire was hard up for a lead story that day or maybe somebody just muffed an Empire policy. At any rate, we can imagine Ernest telling the boyz back in Washington how he won a three-column headline in the anti Gruening Empire - and not over look showing it to the Stevenson high command.
 It's the Fishing Urge
 With that fishing urge in our blood, we felt a little capricious the other evening when We attend ed the City Council meeting where OPS Chief Fred G. Hanford was selling the merits of the seawall. Incompetent, as usual. and with brotherly feeling for our fellow man, we were moved to ask Price King Fred. in a lull moment, if ltI was correct that the Governor was trying to keep the seawan project alive with the idea of giving a lit-l tie credit to Delegate Bob Bartlett so that he might gather up few extra votes in the October election on grounds that he was in there pitching for Wrangell. It was pure ly an innocuous query. aimed at nothing in particular except con- versation. To say that Fred expos tulated at your reporter is mild way of saying it. At any rate. from. his remarks, we got the idea that Fred thinks it isn't so.
 Oh well. if Fred can get the votes for Bartlett and at the same time keep the town involved in seawall deal he will have delivered his quota After all, everybody knows, including Bartlett, that he needs the votes quite a few more than he had in the primary elee- tion.
 It's the Third Division
 It begins to look as if the man who wins the Third Division wins the next Delegate seat in Congress. E. L. "You-Can't-Audit-Me" Bart lett, the present Delegate, checked in with the Governors office in Juneau last weekend and headed for Anchorage. Report was that the Delegate was going to spend the next six weeks in the Third Di- vision. trying to beat down the support of his opponent Robert c. Bob" Reeve of Aanehorage. Prim- ary election revealed that Reeve, 25 years and more a bush pilot in Alaska. is little weak in his home division. Bartlett. with the Gruening support. is going to work