Peek at the Past

As it appeared in the April 13, 1983, Frontiersman

Voters approve

bond issue

Twelve percent of the 14,000 registered voters passed a $20 million bond to construct new West Wasilla elementary school and renovate Palmer Junior High School.

The bond sale will pay for site purchase, design, equipping and construction of an elementary school near northwest Wasilla. A 40-acre site for the school on Lucille Road is being negotiated with the University of Alaska.

MEA voters oust Staudenmaier

A yearlong battle between one Matanuska Electric Association board member and his fellow directors ended when the MEA membership voted Tom Staudenmaier off the board Friday.

It was a crushing defeat for the Eagle River residents and his slate of six followers who wanted to merge all Southcentral electric utilities and fire some 200 employees they referred to as "deadbeats."

Funding sought for livestock pavilion at state fairgrounds

The Alaska State Fair is putting on an all-out effort to get a $7.3 million state appropriation to finish building a new livestock pavilion. The facility would provide yearlong indoor space for horse shows, rodeos, animal judging clinics, plus other uses.

At Connie's Video Center, the "coming soon" attractions included First Blood, the first in the Rambo series with Sylvester Stallone. At Palmer Video Cache, a VCR with the ability for "unattended recording and remote pause control" was selling for $469 -- on sale, and only while supplies lasted. The store was selling "Panasonic green screen computer monitors" for $189 and 25-inch televisions for $1,069.

In the classified section, you could a buy a new ranch on one acre for $92,500 or a two-bedroom townhouse for $79,000. A two-bedroom house with a greenhouse was renting for $600 a month.