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Welcome! I am Jim Bruce. [P.O. Box 7258, Ketchikan, Alaska 



99901, Telephone (907) 225-9525] 



I'm a third generation Coloradian--descended from homesteaders, 

 raised on the side of Pikes Peak and having B.S. and Juris 

 Doctorate degrees from the University of Colorado--but 

 transplanted to Ketchikan in 1964. My children are lucky enough 

 to have been born in Ketchikan and our oldest son has the name 

 "Denali" after our tallest mountain, which some people outside 

 mistakenly call Mount McKinley. 



My position on the legislation before us is dictated by my 

 e-xperience growing up. On the one hand I love the out-of-doors. 

 My grandmother once chained herself to a Colorado Spruce Tree to 

 keep the City of Colorado Springs from cutting it down to widen a 

 street. She succeeded. My heritage teaches that our most 

 precious art work is natural. 



On the other hand in high school I made up my mind that I would 

 live where there was some industry to go with my more ascetic 

 side seeking a cabin up a mountain. Only tourism supported my 

 little mountain town. People caume to see picturesque scenery, 

 not to assist my parents materially. It was obvious then, as it 

 is now, that the price of living well required industrial 

 productivity in my community. Even today with hundreds of 

 thousands of visitors to Ketchikan in the summer, only 5% of the 

 local personal income comes from tourisml/. Never-the-less, our 

 diverse economy here including forest products has afforded my 

 children the means to live in the best spot in this world. 



Therefore, I support the Southeast Conference's Policy Statement, 

 with these improvements: (1) Provision in law should now be made 

 for the long term contract to be extended for another 50 year 

 term. Thereby, long term planning can be continued by industry 

 with assurance its needs for change and expansion will be meet. 

 (2) Neither the legislation nor long term contracts should be 

 written in such absolute language as we now use. More 



