Digital Bob Archive

Notes Along the Way

A law placed on the books by the legislature to cure a perceived problem is sometimes completely ignored by the bureaucracy, either because it doesn't like the law or doesn't believe there is a problem, or for some other undefined reason.

A prime example is Chapter 14 of the Laws of Alaska 1935. The late A.H. Ziegler of Ketchikan introduced the bill and it sailed through without major opposition. It was approved on March 4, 1935, by Governor John W. Troy.

The law was simple. Section 1 provided that the Commissioner of Education \"is hereby authorized and directed to prepare a suitable, reliable and unbiased course of study on the subject of alcoholism and narcotics for the grades in which health and hygiene are usually taught in the elementary schools and for the science courses in high schools of Alaska.\"

Section 2 provided that \"Every teacher teaching in the public schools of the Territory of Alaska shall use such course of study on alcoholism and narcotics as is prepared by the Commissioner of Education.\"

Apparently the buck stopped with Commissioner of Education Anthony E. Karnes, and with the many commissioners who succeeded him until the law was repealed in 1966. In some diligent inquiry, I was unable to find a teacher who taught such a course, a pupil who studied such a course, or an administrator who had heard of such a course.

Nor could I find any statement as to why it was repealed in 1966.

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Will Juneau again become a mining town, as it was during the first 60 years of its existence? Will we see a return of the Sluice Box Saloon and the Miners' Rest, advertisements for Hercules Powder, and a new dock at DuPont? Is it even possible that \"bulldozer\" will again be a job description as well as a piece of heavy equipment? Don't hold your breath, but it seems possible.

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A burglar-proof inner chest in a big safe in the office of the U.S. Marshal here proved to be exactly that after the combination was accidentally changed some 90 years ago. Emery Valentine, local jeweler, gunsmith and locksmith, tackled it without success. So did some experts from the Hall Safe & Lock Company. Marshal James Shoup wrote to the company which replied that the combination lock would have to be drilled out, which would ruin the chest.

There was apparently nothing in the chest that needed to be gotten out, but it remained a frustration because it could not be used. The matter drifted along for nearly ten years and was seldom mentioned, but finally the Rev. Father Anthony R. Dratham learned of it. Seems he had a very deft touch with combination locks and had opened a number of stubborn locks in Juneau. He offered his services and in less than 15 minutes had the chest open. He then reset the combination and the strong box again became available for use. H.L. Faulkner was the Marshal by then and he perhaps gave thanks that Father Dratham had not followed another line of work.