419 



it has come to my attention that a few proponents of last year's 

 position are claiming* often in emotional and personal terms- that the 

 process last year was fair and somehow perfect because it was 

 representative of the numerous communities in, and impacted by, the 

 Tongass National Forest, while the process this year was unfair and one 

 sided. 



When stating the former, however, certain facts are not mentioned. 



1. This school district was never contacted, even though we are 

 comprised of the above communities, are one of the largest employers 

 in the rural communities in southern Southeast Alaska (with 

 approximately 200 employees), and have a communications network 

 throughout the communities in the southern half of the Tongass National 

 Forest. A reasonable person would conclude that we would have been 

 contacted to see what the impact would be on employment, provision of 

 educational programs to children throughout southern Southeast Alaska, 

 and so on. 



2. Members of our school board were never contacted. One, Es telle 

 Thompson, is also the mayor of Kasaan, the only native Alaskan village 

 in our district (which does not include the communities of Hydaburg, 

 Craig, and Klawock due to their first class city status). Ms. Thompson's 

 husband, Louis, is the president of Kavilco Corporation, the Kasaan 

 village corporation established pursuant to the Alaska Native Land 

 Claims Settlement Act. Mr. Thompson, In his capacity as Kavilco 

 president, has recently publicly stated that he and Kavilco were never 

 contacted. Ms. Thompson has advised me that the city of Kasaan was not 

 contacted. 



3. Most other communities in this district, including those organized as 

 cities, were not contacted as part of the process last year as welt. 

 Again, I do not know if the leaders in last year's effort deliberately 

 excluded the communities in our district because they were part of, and 

 closely associated with, this district or not, but there is certainly an 



