246 



Mr. Cook. Well, I would like to ask Mr. Wirth, how do you get 

 where you are at and where I am at one step at a time? Keep that 

 in mind while I say what I have to say. 



STATEMENT OF EARL COOK 



Mr. Cook. My name is Earl Cook, I live and work in Southeast 

 Alaska. 



If you close the Tongass for harvesting you are depriving me and 

 thousands of others of our homes and our jobs and I cannot believe 

 that people like you could be so insensitive as to devastate the 

 economy of an entire region. 



Would you like it if people were going to take your job and home 

 away from you? I do not think you would. 



All the people here in southeast want this to be left alone so we 

 can work and live the way we feel and if you close the Tongass you 

 are taking away my constitutional right to live and work where I 

 choose, and in closing, all I have got to say is I do not like it and 

 leave me alone and let me work. 



Senator Wirth. Thank you, Mr. Cook. [Applause] 



Again, the Chair will remind our friends in the audience that 

 they again are here as guests of the United States Senators, we are 

 happy to have you here to observe and there are some times that 

 the political process may look a little bit like the Johnny Carson 

 Show. This is not intended to be so. 



Mr. Cook. You want my shirt? 



[Witness removes his shirt.] 



Mr. Cook. I will keep my hat but you can have my shirt. 



Senator Wirth. Thank you very much. [General applause.] 



O.K., Mr. Riffe. 



STATEMENT OF GREG RIFFE 



Mr. Riffe. My name is Greg Riffe and I drive a log truck. 



I came here to tell you that this is — what this means to me and 

 my family if the logging is shut down. 



I was born in Alaska and my dad and grandfather were and are 

 in the logging industry, so I was born into logging. My family — I do 

 not know anything but logging. My roots are here in southeast and 

 I just do not know what I would do for a living if I had to leave 

 here. I do not want to leave here. 



Will the government provide me and my co-workers with jobs 

 and training for industrial jobs? 



So what it all boils down to is what is more important, people or 

 wilderness? Why cannot we keep both? 



Thank you. 



Senator Wirth. Thank you, Mr. Riffe. 



Mr. Roberts or Mr. Watkins. 



STATEMENT OF FRED WATKINS 



Mr. Watkins. My name is Fred Watkins, I live and work in La- 

 bouchere Bay. I am a log truck driver and I live and work in La- 

 bouchere Bay. 



If r lose my job because of this bill I would have to sell my home 

 and try to find another job, move to another state and start over in 



