PEEK AT THE PAST: Sept. 2, 1965

Here’s what made news in the Mat-Su 45 years ago, from the Sept. 2, 1965, issue of The Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman:

Fire district on ballot

Hearings on a proposal to create fire protection areas in the Mat-Su Borough have moved to the next level. The issue will be on the Oct. 5 ballot for voters to decide. At those meetings, many from Wasilla, Butte, Palmer and Sutton expressed concerns that fire service areas are not only desirable, but necessary.

Under the plan, residents in each of the areas will vote on establishing districts that affect them. If approved, those residents would be taxed to fund fire protection services in their districts. The borough would act as a collection agency for the taxes.

Tidbits from around the Valley

• Nearly 100 teachers in local schools: When the new school years begins, the Mat-Su Borough School district will see 99 teachers take to their classrooms, including 26 new to the district. Schools open Sept. 7, the day after Labor Day.

• Montessori school to open: Mrs. Archie Euwer will open her Montessori Method preschool Sept. 7. The preschool will be conducted in the Euwer home and host students from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. daily for $30 a month per pupil. Children in Montessori education are taught in four basic learning areas — practical life, sensory development, language and mathematics.

Love and automation

In an editorial, the Frontiersman opines about the trepidation many have over the modernization of Valley society. It reads, in part:

“There is a growing fear in some circles that automation and computerization are about to take over our private lives. That is not to be lightly brushed aside, especially now that one publication scientist reports he has steered 10,000 couples to the altar with an electronic computer.

“The idea simply is to feed into the machine the desired ingredients for the perfect mate. … Computerized mating, they say, is scientifically sound. But then there is also that July night, a moon and a garden with an inevitable moment of romance, and two people who fall in love.

“Can that be put into a machine? Can it take into account that chemical reaction between people? If scientists achieve that, we’ll soon be falling in love with machines. And the girls will have an automation problem, which serves them right!”

It cost what?

According to advertisements, in August 1965 you could:

• Buy five heads of local lettuce for $1.

• Pay $1.59 a pound for T-bone steak.

• Wash it down with grape or orange drink, three for $1.

• Serve Matanuska Maid ice cream for dessert for 98 cents for a half gallon.