European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 30, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Zine Way up in Hammerfest by Hugh Mulligan associated press the jail in has no Beds and the temperature is kept at h 95 guests sleep on the its kept that Way so the drunks dry out observed police Ralph driving Between the High Snow Banks left by the rotary plow to Point out a few other oddities about the modern theres the old folks Home where retired sailors live in big windowed rooms at the front so they never lose sight of the theres the High school with three bulls Eye targets painted on the gymnasium facade so the kids will aim their snowballs away from classroom on the Bleak Amundsen Points to the ski run which is floodlit so the townsfolk can frolic during the the dark time from 21 to 21 when the Sun never shows its norwegians Pride themselves on Indi like not joining the common Market and Only partially participating in their scattered towns in an age of urbanization and centralization Are a re Flection of this Independent the Small communities above the Arctic Circle Are their particular Iso Miles above us Arctic was incorporated on july when was just a swamp with a few scattered villages of pow Faalava Ikas every tourist poster is id the same As the Northern up o we were the first town in Europe to have All Pur streets lit by says town Engineer Olav citing an Early example of Hammerfest two of my predecessors brought the idea Home from the parts exposition in the same one that featured Alexandra Eif Fels now a town of with the largest fish factory in the world employing some boo Young Hammerfest shows few signs of its proud mainly be cause the germans burned it to the ground when they retreated from the russians in they left Only the Little lutheran Church standing because some of their dead Lay buried in the said Fondi Valria Hom Taum Normam Vinnet mans Industry conquers nature is the town motto proudly inscribed on the new town halibut with typical norwegian verily the people have repudiated it now their main concern is not says Seta a reporter of the Ftp Mark dab Tad the daily he Points to a student demonstration outside the town Hall with signs that read in norwegian Oil exploration above the 62 degree test brings Are to said people know Oil development will bring mom maybe but they Are afraid of the effect it will have a the on Ibe on town itself when a lot of new people come in Polar Bear pelts and stuffed bears adorn the town but the basement of the building is headquarter for the Royal and ancient Polar Bear dedicated to preserving the the citizens of Llam Merfels too great interest in the blizzards that burled Buffalo and other upstate new York communities last the Snow Here begins in octo Ber and sometimes lasts till late says we were fascinated with the plight of a City paralysed by i pose were always organized Tor it around we build up our roads streets so us wind Wil blow the Snow and we keep our plows running1 Day and despite winds piling drifts 35 feet Hammerfest spends less than three per cent of its c million budget on Snow the town prides itself on keeping its Airport and its 30 Miles of streets and roads open All people around Here see the Snow plows More often than our two police says during the Days of the Midnight which lasts ram May 11 until july the downtown were crowded with a few Lapp promenade proudly la their multilayered Tulip and some Drunken a Warnen off a trawler that decked Duronc Ibe Alibi called excitedly in language Bat might have been Pousa or latvian to the i coming out at the Ufa fado lots of foreign put in the lieutenant there Are girls enough to go around so there Arent Many Nantt the drug problem among school Chil Dren has just hit imparted by the fishing fleets and the who come every summer to bask in the Midnight surprisingly they have a hard drug problem at an isolated fishing Vil Lage of 300 people on the other Side of the said journalist Norway with 154 ranks with Japan As one of the most literate countries in the and nowhere do people spend More Lime writing to the the do blod runs a Nai dozen let i v we a very discus save says the arc highly critical of everything Ibe town of the Pou Udani must have Belr Chance to answer such individuality la part of our its not for nothing that the mayor of a norwegian town carries the title of Ord Leader of id Reindeer Graze on Hillside at Home of worlds northernmost july 1977 the stars and stripes Page 13