JUNEAU DAILY NEWSMINUTE

By Chris Burns - kiny@ptialaska.net

Monday, January 15, 1996 (c) Alaska Juneau Communications

*The Alaska Veterans Affairs claims processing office in Anchorage is going to be closed down permanently as part of federal cost-cutting measures. The work will be shifted to a beefed-up regional center in Phoenix. A spokesman for Juneau veterans says they probably won't notice much difference in service because they've had to deal with the V.A. over the phone to the Anchorage office, anyway. Tim Armstrong of the Auke Bay Post of the V.F.W. believes veterans could even see quicker claims processing because the Phoenix office will have a much larger staff than Anchorage had.

*A bill is being introduced in the Legislature to increase small timber sales on state lands. Representative Jeanette James of North Pole will unveil her bill Wednesday in the House Resources Committee. She says Alaska's timber industry needs help, and this is one way to provide additional logs. Her bill is the result of talks between legislators, the Knowles Administration and the timber industry.

*Senator Frank Murkowski has taken cartoonist Gary Trudeau to task for a Doonesbury strip depicting House Speaker Newt Gingrich selling off 500-year-old Tongass old growth for $1.46 a tree. Murkowski says Trudeau doesn't know the facts -- that there are no trees 500 years old in the Tongass, and that K.P.C. and other companies actually pay more for each tree. The Southeast Alaska Conservation Council believes Murkowski is the one who doesn't know the facts. SEACC says there are lots of trees between 500 and 800 years in the forest. And, SEACC says, there was a time when the Alaska Pulp Corporation did pay as little as $1.42 a tree.

*Over a hundred people attended a meeting last week to begin the public process of putting together a master plan for development of West Douglas Island. Residents raised serious concerns about the possibility of additional traffic congestion on North Douglas Highway if housing and other facilities were built on Goldbelt and C.B.J. property between the end of the road and Point Hilda. Several options for the land are currently under discussion, but none will be pursued until the plan is completed.

*Trade show space for Comtech '96 has sold out. The conference in Juneau on February 1st, 2nd and 3rd, has drawn over 40 vendors, and is expecting 350 people to attend. The conference is focused on new information technologies including telemedicine, community networks, the Internet and videoconferencing among other others. For more information, email comtech@ptialaska.net