The Wrangell sentinel., 1956-05-25
THROUGH THE SENTINEL TELESCOPE
Tidelands


 the common question along the street as the Dreakwater and fill project in this community moves towarp completion.
 Not being a court of last resort, anu with positively no more juris- diction than sidewalk superin- tendent," We can pass along this incarnation. gleaned from the Bur eau of Land Management, an ag- ency u1 the United States govern ment which has most to do with tidelands. ,.
 me udelands, the Bureau ex- plains, are held in trust by the United States until such time as Ala -ka becomes a state and receives Gwnei ship and control of the tide lands, or until new legislation IS enacted making provision for other disposition or immediate transfer of title and jurisdiction. Tn the past it has been the policy of BLM to ls- sue reIocable special land use per mits to cover use of tidelands. This permit did not grant the permlttee security of tenure It is still poSsl- ble to file an application but the Bdreau assures no action will be taken on it, pending action on pro- posed legislation now before Con- gress relating to tidelands in All aska.
 Meanwhile, the Town of Wrangcll is filling the area off Front street under permit from the U. ;. Corps of Engineers which has no objection from the standpoint of interfering with navigable waters. When it's filled, and until Congress acts otherwise, it would appear that the reclaimed breakwater area Mtn continue to be held in trust by the U s. government. That's our curbstone opinion for the day, so let's get on to this fishing business.
 Who Buys a License!
 This question and sometimes ans wer department has a query on who has to buy a license on d com mercial fishing boat. With the aid of Senator Doris Barnes, copy of the l949 Session Laws of Alaska and our far-flung research depart ment, we've come up with the fol- lowing information.
 Chapter 66, SLA 1949, says:
 ror purposes of this act fisher man shall mean any person who fishes commercially for. takes or attempts to take salmon, halibut, bottom fish, crabs. clans or other fishery resources of Alaska. and shall include every individual a. board boats operated for fishing purposes who participates directly or indirectly in the taking of raw fishery products above mentioned whether such participation be on shares or as employee or other wise"
 There is consiGe ably more to the act which has been amended d couple of times over the years, but nowhere does it appear to permit any exemptions. Whether that "er- cry individual aboard" and for otherwise" covers Johnny, age }, whom Pop wants to take along ol board for d ride. we're not prepar- Cd to Say. but if it does, the forth coming 1857 Legislature could well spend q little of it's time writing a little common sense into the act.
 All for Glory. or Is It?
 Haven heard what the Repub- licans are going to do about it, but A | ly; Al- -i,,tr for public office, are all hoped up about their territorial convention ill Anchorage, come June, when they propose to nominate a couple of pseudo U. s. Senators and Re presentative under the ill-begotten Alaska-TennesSee plan.
 The search for proxies is in full swing and the slate of the proxy seekers reads Delegate Bartlett and former Gov. Ernest Gruening for Senators and any one of some II aspirants for Representative. If el- ected in October after nomination by the convention, these official; without portfolio. are supposed tC sit back in Washington and wait for statehood
 Understanding at the constiut- ional convention was to the effect that they wouldn't get paid.
 Our guess - that about the first bill to be introduced ill the legisla- tura converting in January will be to provide salary for Tennessee-plan Senators and the Representative pending the hope of statehood and their getting on the federal pay roll. Going pay for members ot Congress at the present time is S22,50O year. Not likely, the Ter ritory would pay less.
 L. w.