620 



nancial job, with the same pay scale, in order to keep up with my 

 present monthly bills. 



I feel the 50-year contract should stay the same for both south- 

 east Alaska pulp mills. I believe a deal is a deal and a contract is a 

 contract. I would think I could rely on Congress for their word, but 

 I guess I may be wrong. 



In closing, please support Alaska Senator Murkowski's Senate 

 Bill 237 — the sensible way to manage the Tongass and keep valua- 

 ble jobs. 



Thank you. 



Senator Wirth. Mr. Villanueva, Mr. Fike, Mr. Gassman, Mr. 

 Blomberg, would you all please come up and move to the front row. 

 I hope we will see Mr. Alsup, Shelly Beltran, Larry Wright, Napo- 

 leon Milla, Yetvart Haciyan, and Terry Kobylus. 



Mr. Villanueva. 



STATEMENT OF PETE VILLANEUVA 



Mr. Villanueva. My name is Pete Villaneuva. I am the current 

 president of Sitka Filipino community. I am also a member of the 

 Moose Lodge. I have worked for Alaska Pulp for 13 years and have 

 lived in Sitka for 14 years. I became a U.S. citizen in Sitka. 



Our Filipino community here in Sitka has 35 to 50 families and 

 about one-third of them work in the mill. We do not know what we 

 would do without our jobs. Our paychecks are important. 



Sitka is where I have raised my family. We chose Sitka because 

 it is a better place to live. Here you can go hunting, fishing, and 

 camping all the time. My wife works for the Pioneer's Home. My 

 youngest daughter is in the 6th grade. My oldest daughter is grad- 

 uating from high school next month and intends to go to college 

 and I want to help support her in college. To help her in college, I 

 will need to keep my job. I am concerned that some of the Tongass 

 Forest bills do not consider the people who work. Some bills want 

 to cancel the contracts and to stop the timber supplies and to make 

 more lands for wilderness. 



We would like to see the mills stay open. We do not want the 50- 

 year contracts broken. We already have lots of wilderness. 



I support Senate Bill 237 by Senator Murkowski. 



Senator Wirth. Mr. Fike. 



STATEMENT OF ROBERT FIKE 



Mr. Fike. My name is Robert Fike and when I was notified that I 

 was picked by the computer to testify I thought I would not do it 

 but the more I learned about the two bills I thought I should at 

 least come down and put in my two minutes worth. 



One of the bills could put me out of business, as I am a millwork- 

 er, and I have bought a home here in Sitka. I know what it is to 

 lose a home when you owe far more on it than you could ever sell 

 it for, having lived in Anchorage before moving to Sitka. Many 

 families were ruined and I do not want to see the same thing 

 happen here because the government decides to renege on a con- 

 tract. That in itself rankles me, as I come from a career military 

 family and grew up accepting the word of our government as 

 gospel. 



