IT’S A SMALL SMALL WORLD

According to KTUU Television news tonight, a Frank Adams was arrested this weekend after a wild car chase up the Glenn Highway - and they found a dead woman’s body in his car. Quoting from the KTUU broadcast, “ . . . Adams was found guilty of killing Col. Robert Cassell when he was just 16 years old. Several teens were convicted of stabbing and beating Cassell to death after Cassell's adopted son offered them a car and some cash.” Then the TV showed a photo of Lt. Colonel Cassell. Wow!

Lt. Colonel Cassell was my commander at the radar site at Sembach, Germany, where I was Second-in-Command and Operations Officer immediately following my service in Vietnam and Thailand. That was in 1973-1974. I had heard Col. Cassell had been murdered a couple years after he returned stateside – California, I think. I hadn’t thought of him in years. Whatever, I never expected to see Cassell’s photo on my living room TV in Alaska. “It’s a small small world.”

CONGRATULATIONS, SENIORS

Governor Palin signed SB10, the new Senior Assistance bill, into law today at the Delaney Park Strip in Anchorage during the annual Governor's Picnic (a huge crowd today, far more than last year).

I believe in strong family values - you name the subject, I’m there. Well, Alaska is a family, and respecting our elders and helping seniors meet basic needs is another traditional family value. I’m a proud co-sponsor of this bill. I was also co-sponsor of the amendment that raised the benefits from the original bill, but somehow that got removed from the official record.

Senior benefits, whatever form it takes, shouldn’t have a party label. When a senior tries to make ends meet - or maintain a reasonable lifestyle without robbing their piggy bank, or begging money from their kids - they really don’t care if any of us are Republicans, Democrats, or Hottentots. Seniors only care for basic respect, and receiving the benefits they deserve, without being demeaned in the process - and that’s what this new bi-partisan legislation accomplishes. Thanks to Governor Palin for signing the bill, and congratulations to everybody involved, and especially to seniors!

GOVERNOR PALIN VISITS ALASKA TROOPS OVERSEAS

I'm proud of our Alaska troops everywhere they serve, and I also support our brave troops in war zones and in military hospitals. Hats off to Governor Sarah Palin for visiting or Alaska military in Kuwait, and our wounded soldiers in the Landstul Hospital in Germany! The photo shows our governor greeting Alaskans in Kuwait - I didn't take the photo of course, but I wish I could have.

OSCAR, YOU’RE GOIN’ TO THE MOON

Headline news today about Oscar the Cat, who lives in a hospice, senses imminent death, then snuggles up to patients just before they pass away. The ominous little feline is reported to have a better record of predicting death than doctors. I wonder if the cat was once owned by "Dr." Korvakian. I hereby give Oscar fair warning. If one of these days that animal gets near me, my fist will launch the furball into outer space. In the words of the late great vintage comic Jackie Gleason, "Bang! Zoooooom! Oscar - you’re going to the moon!” Note to PETA: Mellow out, please.

WHAT'S PNWER?

I've been busy since Sunday July 22nd attending the PNWER Conference at the Captain Cook Hotel in Anchorage. PNWER, short for the Pacific Northwest Economic Region, consists of legislators from Alaska, British Columbia, The Yukon, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana - as well as private sector business people. This is the first time the event was held in Alaska, hosted by the Alaska State Legislature. The conference ended today, July 25th.

Our Pacific Northwest faces similar challenges and opportunities, and it's educational good to rub shoulders with other leaders from the same region. As part of the event, I was among those briefed by the Anchorage Port Authority on their expansion, and by the Air Force on air defense, the AWACS airborne radar systems, and the new C17 cargo plane. Last time I was in an AWACS plane was in 1973 over Cambodia in an old EC121 Constellation (when an enemy MIG fighter came toward us - but thankfully turned away!).

AN EARTHQUAKE - NOT

Multi-tasking this evening, talking on the phone to my son John while slaving away on my computer – my chair shook a little bit. But I didn’t say anything. A few moments later, the table by my computer shook some. I told John on the phone (he lives a mile and a half away), “I think we’re having a slight earthquake. Did you feel anything”? “No,” he said. With the great knowledge I have acquired over the years, I told John “We have dozens of earthquakes every, but we don’t usually feel them.”

Then laughter. My grandson Holden scurried out from where he had been hiding under the table - and from whence he had been initiating “earthquakes.” I think I made his day!

MY NEWSLETTER SOON SHALL COMMETH!

I've been busy the last few days writing my official Summer 2007 Legislative Newsletter, and personally putting it together on my Microsoft Publisher program. It'll be another 8 page tabloid, each separate page being about 11x17. I'm trying to get it to the printers before the end of the week. I write every word myself so - good or bad - I did it myself.

PS: Governor Palin today named Wes Keller to be our new representative from Wasilla, to replace Rep. Vic Kohring. Congratulations to Wes!!! He was a trememndous choice, and I'll be happy to be working with him!

GOVERNOR PALIN SIGNS MY MORTGAGE BILL

Governor Palin signed HB162 on July 12th in Anchorage. It’s a consumer protection law that requires licensing of mortgage lenders, brokers, and loan originators working in Alaska.

Alaska was the only state in the union that didn’t regulate mortgage lenders. Before my HB162 became law, persons working in the Alaska mortgage industry were not licensed and not required to have any training. Tattoo artists, and the person who cuts what little hair I have, and all kinds of other people are licensed, and must have training but, until passage of HB162, someone who attempted to arrange a mortgage home mortgage for your kid, or your mother, needed no training or license whatsoever. Not only that, none of these people were required to have background checks, and were not subject to periodic examination by the Division of Banking and Securities. This bill fixed that.

For most of us, the biggest loan we’ll ever get in our lifetime is the mortgage on our home. If we don’t get the right loan, with the right terms, it can be a very expensive thirty year mistake. Most of us who take out a mortgage don’t know much about the hidden mechanisms and inner workings of these loans, or ever changing state and federal mortgage laws - it seems like something’s different every day.
I recognized that fact every day when I was a working Realtor. My first step, when I was fortunate enough to have a homebuyer, was to take that homebuyer to lender who knew what they were doing - a lender I had reason to believe knew the law, a lender who was qualified to match a proper loan to my buyer, work through any problems, and whom I had reason to believe was honest. Having a good lender can be even more important than finding a buyer the perfect house in the perfect location.

My bill enjoyed strong support from the Alaska Mortgage Bankers Association, the Alaska Mortgage Brokers Association, the Alaska Independent Lenders Association, the Alaska Division of Banking, and Realtors throughout the state. I was proud to have my son and daughter-in-law John and Ann Lynn , and grandkids EDthan and Simon Lynn wittness their first bill sigining. See
picture below.

GOVERNOR SIGNS ETHICS BILL

Governor Palin signed our new ethics bill, HB109, into law today. It was ironic, and totally coincindental, that the bill was signed the same day former legislator Tom Anderson was convicted by a federal jury on seven different charges.

I watched,along with fellow legislators, Max Gruenberg, Jay Ramras, Bob Roses, Hollis French, the governor sign the bill at APOC (Alaska Public Offices Commission) office in Anchorage. All of us thanked the governor for her work on the bill. The bill amends four titles in state statute concerning lobbying, disclosure, and both legislative and executive branch ethical behavior. The following is my Chairman of the House State Affairs Committee quote for the Majority Press release:

"HB 109 is everybody's bill. No individual legislator's name appears as a sponsor. In a manner of speaking, Governor Palin's ethics bill was 'co-sponsored' by constituents and all 60 legislators. "Now, we have another 'AGIA' bill. The first was for a gas pipeline. I call HB 109 'AGEIA II,'the 'Alaska Governmental Ethics Inducement Act."

"Whatever we call it, building a foundation of trust between voters and the people they elect is essential to everything we do - including the gas pipeline. No legislation will make a dishonest person honest. But HB 109 may assist the 'ethically challenged' who, one way or another,obtain public office. HB 109 is everybody's bill. No individual legislator's name appears as a sponsor. In a manner of speaking, Governor Palin's ethics bill was 'co-sponsored' by constituents and all 60 legislators."

Before and after the bill signing, we took questions from the media. In response to a question on whether legislative pay of only $24,012 a year contributes to ethical lapses I said, "No. The amount of one's salary has nothing to do with one's ethics - some of the poorest people in the world are the most honest . . . If you can't manage to take care of your personal business, without "consulting contracts," and so on, then you shouldn't run for office. I added, "I was never offered a "consulting contract" and wouldn't have taken it if I was (yes, we do get per diem, but we have to pay rent in Juneau, as well as pay on our mortgage and winter utilities, and other expenses back home).

When asked about the conviction of Tom Anderson, I responded, "The sad thing is, what happened will affect his parents, children, and wife - we need to keep them in our prayers, and also Tom." When people commit crimes,they seldom consider the hurt it brings to innocent parties.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY 2007

Independence Day 2007: I confess. I love a parade, and I’m a flag waver.

Today’s 4th of July Anchorage parade was especially special for me: my son John Lynn– new to Alaska last year - drove our Crossfire parade car (a loaner), and next to me in the car were 2/18th of my grandkids, Simon Kenith and Ethan Andrew. We had “The Air Force Song” blasting forth from the car CD player - I’m retired US Air Force. Watching the parade (only because they couldn’t fit into the parade sports car) were my daughter Mary Lynn and my grandson Holden Michael, who became new Alaskans on June 14th. Photo (L to R) Simon, Ethan, proud "Opa," Holden. Son John took the pictures.

We thought might “rain on our parade,” but the weather cooperated. Next to us in the parade were my comrades from the Vietnam Veterans of America - and I proudly wore their cap. In the legislature, I’m a Member of the Joint Armed Services Committee.

God Bless our troops. God Bless America. Happy Fourth of July!