Daily Sitka Sentinel from Sitka, Alaska • Page 5

Ne wVECO Plan for ns ANCHORAGE (AP) Art Aiassa Public Offices Commission decision Wednesday has sidetracked an effort by VECO Inc. to reinstitute an employee payroll deduction program to finance the election campaigns of friendly, politicians. The watchdog commission assented to an advisory opinion by its staff that VECO would have to comply with state laws and regulations governing political groups, The decision would limit VECO contributions to $1,000 a year for each candidate it supports Bill Allen, VECO board chairman, said he did not know how the company will respond. The firm operates oil field services primarily on the North Slope and the Kenai Peninsula. In the past two years, it has assumed a front-line position in industry efforts to block imposition of additional taxes on oil.

Jn 1983, VECO used money raised through employee payroll deductions to make about employee con-' tributions to selected Republican state Senate candidates. Though state law requires disclosure of contributors of more than $100, the VECO donations were not identified by the.candidates as coming from the company because they were made as individual $100 checks written on a VECO account, with each employee's name on the stub. When the commission in 1984 learned of the fund-raising operation, it began an investigation, halted the program and eventually fined the $70,000 for operating an unregistered political groap and making contributions in excess of $1,000. VECO has appealed the case to superior court. Lance Gidcumb, an Anchorage attorney representing VECO before the commission, said the new plan was significantly different from the original plan.

Under the new plan, employees would be clearly told from the outset they did not have to contribute. Also unlike the original program, the candidates tapped by VECO management would be asked to pay their own way to Pnidhoe Bay to meet with -before the workers were asked to sign on with the program. In the past, VECO pa'id the airfare. Gidcumb said the new plan would not create a political group under state law. sal ANCHORAGE (AP) An expansion plan tying a television network's news bureaus to advertising guarantees is drawing mixed reviews from city officials and rival the Alaska Television Network, owner of stations Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau, in recent months approached the chambers of commerce in Kenai, Soldptna, Seward and Wasilia with the following proposition: If local businesses in each community agreed to buy $50,000 worth of advertising, annually for three years, the network would establish a news bureau in that community.

In return, the chamber of commerce in each town would receive in free air time annually to promote the community on the network. Seward, Kenai and Soldotna jumped at the opportunity, but Wisilla balked saying it'felt like news coverage was being, held for ransom. Competing television stations agreed, saying the look like news coverage wasforsale. 7- "There's kind of a selfish reason for doing this," said Bob network's executive vice president for marketing. "We'll get more news for the network." TTi'e arrangement will allow creation of in growing com; munities- not yet large enough to otherwise support them, he said.

It said it also will give the network a jump on Holiday Mailing Tips fromSitka's Post Office: Parcel Post, 4th Class: 1. Mail by November 28 after Nov. 28 we suggest Priority Mail only. 2. Print addresses clearly 3.

Insure packages for actual values only! 4. Play it safe and put return mailing addresses inside packages as well as outside. .5. Package properly. Use strapping tape instead of masking tape which is not acceptable.

6. Southbound mail leaves Sitka each Saturday and Christmas Letters: Mall no later than December 18. After December 18 check out Express Mail. 'NOTE: Only Express Mail is delivered on Christmas Day. DONTBE DISAPPOINTEDI MAILEARLY! the competition.

Harry Drew, executive director of the Seward Chamber of Commerce, called the plan "an excellent opportunity for us to reach but to the whole state." He said local businesses already have promised to buy worth of advertising. "We're going to spend more than that on advertising anyway," Drew said. Channeling the advertising to the network in exchange, for a matching "grant" of free advertising will enable the chamber to better promote local industry and tourism, he said. "By being able to deal with the news bureau on a local level, we'll be getting more personal treatment," Drew plained. "We'll be dealing with people we can call up and have coffee with an hour later." The Wasilia Chamber of however, overwhelmingly rejected the President Dorothy Winter said she felt.

the network was "holding the chamber for' "People are being told that only if you provided guaranteed advertising could' you get news coverage in Wasilia," Winter said. "I felt that was wrong. If we are newsworthy, they will find us." Underwood-said there are no. plans now for a Was ilia bureau. "I am disappointed because I think "the Mat-Su "Valley area loses, arid I think KIMO-TV loses also," he said.

"If I did it in our company, the people in the newsroom would ask, 'Where is the credibility for our newsroom if you put a pricetag on said Ron president of Northern, Television, owner of KTVA Channel Ml in "You can't tie news coverage to income guarantees," Moore said. "It's not my place to criticize the mistakes of other news said John Larson, news director for KTUU Channel 2 in Rich Vandiver, assignment editor for the network and KIMO Channel 13 in Anchorage, said the $50,000 advertising guarantee would not affect the news judgment of reporters and editors. "It gives us the revenue to be able to be able to put people down there, frankly, but in no sense of the word are they buying the he said. Underwood said the network had explained carefully "that there is no crossing over that line between sales and news." "We're offering nothing except a news team based in that particular town, to be of bettzr service to that town," Underwood said. Dad Convicted Of Killing Son CLAYTON, Mo.

(AP) A doctor convicted of killing his son to collect almost $150,000 in insurance benefits faces sentencing Jan. 6 after the jury that found him guilty recommended he be executed in Missouri's gas chamber. Dr. John D. Cavaness, 60 was convicted Tuesday of first-degree murder in the December 1984 shooting death of his son, 22.

The St. Louis County Circuit. Court jury deliberated three hours Wednesday on the sentence. Death sentences are; automatically appealed to the Missouri Supreme Court. Cavaness, of 111., could have been sentenced to life-in; prison without parole.

"I feel justice has been served," said Marian Green, who remarried after divorcing Cavaness in 1984. "There's never been any doubt in my mind that he killed Sean." Witnesses, testified that Cavaness bought policy on Sean's life and was heavily in debt. BUY, SELL, TRADE IN THESBmNEL'S CUSSIFIEDS! Some Cancer Patients Won't Need Radiation? By MALCOLM RITTER AP Science Writer NEW YORK (AP) A breast cancer researcher who found that breast- sparing surgery plus radiation is as effective as breast removal in some cases says he hopes further studies can identify patients who don't need the radiation treatments. "If we can detect those patients that need it and don't need it, we'll be that much farther ahead," said Dr. Bernard Fisher, professor of surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Fisher said research on "lum- pectomies," which are removals of a tumor plus surrounding healthy tissue, found that about 70 percent of women who did not get foilowup radiation treatments were free of recurrence in the breast for five years. The figure rose to about 92 percent with radiation, so for now, "everybody should get radiation, "he said. Researchers still have to find out what r. separates women who don't need radiation from those who do, he said- Fisher spoke in an interview Wednesday before he was named as a winner of a $15,000 jUbert Lasker medical research award. second award are Drs.

Michael Brown and Joseph Goldstein, who shared a Nobel Prize last month 'for their work on how the body handles cholesterol. Columnist Ann Landers and an official of the American Cancer Society are to receive Lasker public service- awards. Fisher has "done more than any other single individual to formulate the concepts that underlie the treatment of cancer of the said Dr. Michael DeBakey of the Baylor College' of Medicine in Houston, chairman of the the jury that chose medical award winners. Fisher said his work overturned the idea that cancer cells spread from a tumor in an orderly fashion, being blocked at the lymph nodes.

Instead, cells spread through the bloodstream and the lymph system from the beginning of the tumo'r, he said. That means that body-wide therapy like chemotherapy is a better approach to going after cancer cells that have than is extensive surgery, such as removal of breast, lymph nodes and underlying muscle in radical he said. Cholesterol research by Brcwn and Goldstein, of the University of Texas Health Science Center in Dallas, new approaches to the treatment of atherosclerosis," a disease in which excess blood cholesterol clogs arteries and sets the stage for heart attacks or strokes, said Alice Fordyce, chairman of the foundation's medical research awards program. They found that surfaces of bodiiy cells contain structures called receptors that remove cholesterol from the bloodstream for use by the cell. The award for Landers is "for 30 years of tireless commitment to improve the physical and emotional health of the American people, and for her unique ability to relate to individuals on every intellectual, economic and social level," the Lasker citation says.

The other public service award will go to Lane Adams, chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society for 25 years. Under his leadership, the society has become a "great model for voluntary organizations worldwide," the award citation says. The awards, which mark the 40th year of the Lasker awards program, will be presented Friday in New York. Sitka Sentinel, Sitka, Alaska, November 21, IKS, Pae 5 Man Digs Way Out Day After Avalanche DURANGO, Colo. (AP) A 31-year- old gold miner who dug his way through tons of ice and snow 22 hours after being buried by an avalanche says he thought he "was in heaven" when he finally emerged.

His partner died under the snow, but Lester Jay Morlang, of Grand Junction, survived because of an air pocket that moved upward as he crawled and clawed his way with frostbitten hands to the surface. Before he broke through, he said Wednesday, "I thought the ice coffin was going to be it." Morlang said he "thought I was in heaven when I got out." But that wasn't the end of his ordeal. Morlang, sitting in a wheelchair with his hands and feet bandaged, said that when he emerged from the snow, he dug a snow cave to survive sub-zero 'temperatures and then dodged more avalanches while awaiting rescue Tuesday. Officials at Mercy Hospital said Morlang remained in good condition and continued to improve today. Dr.

Gary Ruggera, a specialist in high altitude cold trauma, called Morlang's survival "incredible. His mental strength saved him." Ruggera said Morlang was extremely dehydrated and suffered severe frostbite on his hands and feet. He could lose some fingers, the doctor said. Morlang's partner, Jack Ritter, 58, of Grand Junction, died of suffocation when the men were buried about 6 p.m. Sunday.

Ritter and Morlang operated the Bessie G. mine, perched with several others above 12,000 feet. 20 miles northwest of Durango in the La Plata Mountains, The two men were trying tohbuild a snowshed at the mine when the avalanche began. New Rules May Add To Susitna King Take A j-w Goaf Fire Wbn't Leave Fairbanks In the Cold FAIRBANKS CAP) People in Fairbanks who depend on coal for warmth will not be left in the cold by a fire that caused more than $500,000 damage at the Usibelli Coal Mine in Healy, officials said Wednesday. "We have everything all mapped out," mine spokesman Joe Usibelli Jr.

said; "Nobody will be without coal Association is a major buyer of coal, but the utility's coal plant is located in Healy and it does not rely on the convey or system. Gerald England, manager of the University of Alaska-Fairbanks power plant, said the campus facility uses about three-carloads of coal a day. "We've got enough coal through the because of stockpiles we have, or i23rd. We have more the coal that wefiave oh track already or 'Usibelli has assuretl'us already ready to ship now." Usibelli said it may take months to repair the conveyor system destroyed by the blaze Monday, night, but temporary repairs should enable the resumption of some rail shipments in about two weeks. He estimated the damage at more than $500,000.

There were no injuries. conveyor system loaded a "75-ton rail car every two minutes. The system was designed so. the cars to be loaded could remain in motion, traveling at about one-half mph, a company publication said. Until repairs can be completed, the mine will load the cars with front-end loaders, a more costly and time- consuming process, officials said.

Utility officials in Fairbanks said there is no immediate problem with city coal supplies. Virgil Gillespie, general manager of the Municipal Utilities System, said the city-owned power utility has a 30-day supply of coal on hand. "Right now the impact on us is not going to be severe," he said. The utility buys: $3 million to $4 million worth of coal a year from Usibelli. The Golden Valley Electric Dillingham Killer Gets 45 Years ANCHORAGE (AP) A Dillingham man who pleaded no contest to first- degree murder in the 1983 stabbing death of an Anchorage junior high school counselor was sentenced Wednesday to 45 years in prison.

Kenneth Wahl, 22, pleaded no contest to the charge in August. He killed Edward Delany, 40, a counselor at Wendler Junior High School. The murder occurred the morning-after an apparently casual sexual encounter between the two. Delaney was found dead in his blood- spattered apartment on the evening of Jan. 16, 1983, by a roommate.

He had been slashed about 40 times. Wednesday's sentencing was Wahl's second. In October 1983, he was sentenced to 99 years in prison, but he protested he -had a with prosecutors guaranteeing him no more than 30 years in jail. He asked that he be allowed to withdraw his plea. Superior Court Judge Victor Carlson refused, but bowed to an order from the state Court of Appeals.

Wahl and the state entered into an agreement earlier this year that premised he would serve a maximum of 45 years in return for a plea of no contest. Carlson agreed and sentenced him to 70 years with 25 suspended. Wahl will be eligible for parole after 15 years. that will not have an interruption in our coal supplies," he said. Other major customers of Usibelli coal include the military bases, which are reported to have stockpiles of their own, and Suneel, which is exporting coal to Korea.

"The Koreans have enough in stockpile for their next ship and right now we won't be shipping any in the next two weeks to them. When we get this temporary system operational we'll -have to assess how much we can put out," Usibelli said. A ship filled with coal from Usibelli leaves Seward every 35 days for Korea ANCHORAGE (AP) -Regulations aimed at increasing the sport and commercial harvest of king salmon heading for the Susitna River and its tributaries have been approved by the Alaska Board of Fisheries. The harvest rate for the fish in 1985 was about 12 percent. That rate can be expected to double, or even triple, in 1986 under the new regulations approved Tuesday, board members and biologists say.

One change allows a commercial set- net fishery in Cook Inlet's northern district. The fishery, proposed by the Northern District Set Netters Association of Cook Inlet, now will have a season from June 1 to June 24, with an anticipated harvest of 12,500 fish. That nearly matches the sport harvest of kings taken this year. Figures presented the board showed an escapement of 150,000 kings this year. Sport fishermen landed 14,823 kings, subsistence users caught 2,007 and commercial fishermen netted as part of their "incidental" catch.

State biologists, commercial fishermen and sport fishermen all agreed the northern Cook population is But--sport fishermen and softie 'biologists" said commercial fishing could endanger king runs in some streams. "We might be playing Russian roulette here," said board member Bix Bonney. "We have mixed stock traveling up the inlet; we could wipe out any of the small streams and end up with some big problems. I would oppose this until staff has a way of finding out what we're giving away." Bonney and John Garner of Juneau voted against the commercial fishery. There has been no commercial fishery for the kings since 1964, after the fishery was nearly wiped out.

Sport fishing was also stopped that year. Short sport fishing seasons were allowed from 1967 to 1973 under tight regulation as the stocks rebounded. Under the new rules, sport fishermen will be allowed to take two kings per day measuring I6.inches or longer, with four in possession, on the west side of Cook Inlet and in the western tributaries of the Susitna River. However, only one per day or two in possession will be allowed for fish more than 28 inches in length. This year, the daily limit was one salmon, 20 inches or longer.

The board also approved several new weekend-only fisheries on the east side of the Susitna River. Those include Birch Creek, Goose Creek, Little Willow Creek, Sheep Creek and Sunshine Creek. In addition, all streams between Cape Douglas and the Susitna River on the west side of Cook Inlet and all waters draining-into the Susitna downstream of the Deshka River will be opened to king salmon sport fishing. Hunters, Trappers Gei a Sitka area trappers and hunters are reminded that the University of Alaska Cooperative Extension Service has several publications on fur trapping and hide tanning and on wild game. Those wanting more information may visit the extension office in the Post Office building, or cal 747-6065.

Rally Day Set First Baptist Church is holding a Rally Day at AWANAS 6:30 Thursday. "Hudson Taylor," a feature-length film will be shown. Watch for these Holiday Events Special Hours Sponsored by the Sitka Chamber of of Commerce-November 29 Many Stores Open until 9pm Friday, Dec. 6 Many stores will begin late Friday hours. December 13 Ladies Night until 9pm December 15 Kids' Day Noon 4pm Beginning Dec.

16 Many Stores will remain open daily until 9pm December 20 Men's Night December 22 Many stores will 4pm be open Noon 4pm December 24 Most stores will close at 4pm.