05/06/1997 04:15 PM Senate TRA

                                                                               
            HB 246 GEORGE W. PALMER MEMORIAL BRIDGE                           
                                                                              
 Number 350                                                                    
                                                                               
  CHAIRMAN WARD  introduced  HB 246  as the next order of business.            
                                                                               
  SANDRA YOCOM , Staff to Representative Ogan, explained that HB 246           
 would name the bridge being built over the Matanuska River.                   
 Representative Ogan introduced HB 246 on behalf of Justin Kaucic,             
 a local Palmer youth.  Mr. Kaucic collected 401 signatures and                
 gained support from the Borough and City of Palmer which both                 
 issued resolutions.  Ms. Yocom informed the committee that George             
 Palmer, after whom the bridge would be named, arrived in Alaska in            
 1875 and operated a trading post near the site of the new bridge.             
 Mr. Palmer died in 1935 and in 1951 a small Alaskan city                      
 incorporated and choose the name Palmer in order to reflect Mr.               
 Palmer's pioneering spirit and independence.  That remeberance                
 would be extended with the naming of the new bridge.                          
                                                                               
  JUSTIN KAUCIC , Palmer youth, believed that naming the bridge after          
 George Palmer was appropriate due to Mr. Palmer's trading post                
 being near the bridge site.                                                   
                                                                               
  SENATOR GREEN  moved to report HB 246 out of committee with                  
 individual recommendations.  Without objection, it was so ordered.