02/20/2014 09:00 AM Senate STATE AFFAIRS

         HJR 23-GOOD FRIDAY EARTHQUAKE REMEMBRANCE DAY                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
10:04:05 AM                                                                                                                   
CHAIR DYSON announced that HJR 23 is before the committee.                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
10:04:12 AM                                                                                                                   
JEFF   TURNER,  Staff,   Representative  Millett,   Alaska  State                                                               
Legislature,  Juneau, Alaska,  said  HJR 23  will  mark the  50th                                                               
anniversary of the  Good Friday Earthquake on March  27, 2014. He                                                               
continued to read the following statement:                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
     The 9.2 magnitude quake tore  apart about 50,000 square                                                                    
     miles  of  South  Central  Alaska  and  leveled  entire                                                                    
     communities   and  triggered   massive  tsunamis   that                                                                    
     brought  even more  devastation to  the coastal  areas.                                                                    
     The  purpose  of  HJR  23   is  not  to  highlight  the                                                                    
     earthquake  or  the  destruction,   but  to  honor  the                                                                    
     thousands  of  Alaskans  who put  the  needs  of  other                                                                    
     before  their  own  needs following  the  quake.  First                                                                    
     responders, medical personnel, the  Alaska Army and the                                                                    
     Air National  Guard, the U.S. Army  Corps of Engineers,                                                                    
     and  government  employees   were  joined  by  everyday                                                                    
     Alaskans  to  conduct  search  and  rescue  operations,                                                                    
     provide   medical   care,   food,  shelter,   and   the                                                                    
     restoration  of vital  services and  infrastructure. It                                                                    
     was  their selfless  determination  that saved  unknown                                                                    
     numbers of  lives and rebuilt  Southcentral communities                                                                    
     before  the   return  of  winter  that   year.  HJR  23                                                                    
     recognizes how  a great disaster  brought out  the best                                                                    
     of all Alaskans  by proclaiming March 27,  2014 as Good                                                                    
     Friday   Earthquake  Remembrance   Day.  Representative                                                                    
     Millett respectively  asks for the  committee's support                                                                    
     for  the  legislation so  it  can  be included  in  the                                                                    
     events marking  the 50th anniversary of  the quake that                                                                    
     will   be  taking   place   in   Anchorage  and   other                                                                    
     communities around Southcentral Alaska.                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
MR.  TURNER pointed  out  letters of  support  from Valdez  Mayor                                                               
David  Cobb and  Anchorage Mayor  Dan Sullivan.  He informed  the                                                               
committee that on  the phone is Mr. Chuck Volanti,  an Alaska Air                                                               
Guard veteran who  brought the idea for HJR  23 to Representative                                                               
Millett. He noted the Mr.  Volanti served at Kulis Airbase during                                                               
the earthquake  and is one  of the individuals honored  under HJR
.                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
10:06:20 AM                                                                                                                   
CHARLES VOLANTI, representing himself, Olympia, Washington, read                                                                
the following statement:                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
     I  wish   to  thank  Representative  Millett   for  her                                                                    
     compassion,     humanitarian    efforts,     and    for                                                                    
     orchestrating  overwhelming  House   support  for  this                                                                    
     resolution  that  honors  Alaska state  history.  Thank                                                                    
     you,  Mr. Chairman  and Senate  committee members,  for                                                                    
     the opportunity to speak on  this tragic and historical                                                                    
     event  that not  only affected  all Alaskans,  but also                                                                    
     carried  death and  destruction far  beyond its  Alaska                                                                    
     boarders.                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
     Today  much is  known  about the  Alaska Earthquake  of                                                                    
     1964, it  is measured  9.2 magnitude strength  and wide                                                                    
     spread  areas  of  death  and  destruction  are  widely                                                                    
     published and  appear across a  variety of  written and                                                                    
     electronic media.  There are thousands of  pictures and                                                                    
     equally countless testimonials, mine  is but one and my                                                                    
     family one of  lucky ones. The best way  to describe my                                                                    
     experience is to  say that most of us know  what a bull                                                                    
     riding contest  looks like, rider  sitting on top  of a                                                                    
     massive jumping,  jolting, and  twisting beast  that is                                                                    
     doing  everything possible  to  dislodge  the rider,  a                                                                    
     rider who is hoping to  last the required 8 seconds, if                                                                    
     you can  imagine that,  then you will  know what  I and                                                                    
     countless thousands  of others  went through not  for 8                                                                    
     seconds, but for almost 4  minutes where seconds seemed                                                                    
     liked  hours.  On  March  27,   1964  I  was  a  flight                                                                    
     dispatcher  at   Kulis  Air  National  Guard   Base  in                                                                    
     Anchorage, a  position that I  held as part of  a small                                                                    
     contingent of  civilian employees,  less than  100, and                                                                    
     an Air National Guardsmen.  That evening I arrived home                                                                    
     from Kulis just about 5:00  p.m. and waited for my wife                                                                    
     and son  to return home.  Suddenly in the  fading light                                                                    
     of day  at 5:36  p.m. all hell  broke loose  and Alaska                                                                    
     was forever  changed. I bolted  for the door  and tried                                                                    
     desperately  to get  out  to reach  the  screams of  my                                                                    
     neighbor and  daughter, but try  as I may there  was no                                                                    
     way  of standing,  so I  sat pinned  to the  floor with                                                                    
     both hands  tightly wrapped around  the entry  way door                                                                    
     knob, waiting  and praying for  the violent  shaking to                                                                    
     end. Finally after what seemed  an eternity it stopped.                                                                    
     I jumped  up, ran  next door,  entered, checked  on the                                                                    
     women, once I saw they  were alright I ran back outside                                                                    
     just in time  to see my wife pulling  into the driveway                                                                    
     with our six month old  son strapped into his car seat.                                                                    
     She said  when the  quake started it  felt like  a flat                                                                    
     tire  and  promptly  pulled  to   the  curb,  but  soon                                                                    
     realized this was  a massive quake and not  a flat tire                                                                    
     and she  watched in  horror as  plate glass  windows of                                                                    
     store  crashed to  the sidewalk  and people  who sprang                                                                    
     out of  the openings  being knocked  to the  ground. We                                                                    
     exchanged  hugs, some  quick  comments,  and went  back                                                                    
     into  our home.  There  was no  structural damage,  but                                                                    
     plenty of disarray,  it took a few minutes  to see that                                                                    
     she  and  our  son  had the  basic  necessities  and  I                                                                    
     immediately turned to  her and said I have  to leave, I                                                                    
     have to  get to  Kulis. She was  visibly shaken,  but a                                                                    
     strong woman  she replied  "go," fully  realizing there                                                                    
     would be  those who  were in desperate  need. I  ran to                                                                    
     the  car  and  sped   towards  Kulis,  jumping  several                                                                    
     divisions in  the road  and all  the time  wondering if                                                                    
     there might be one I  wouldn't be able to overcome, but                                                                    
     god  was  gracious and  within  15  minutes I  made  it                                                                    
     without  mishap.  By now,  Alaska  Air  Guard and  Army                                                                    
     National  Guard  troops  were converging  on  Kulis  in                                                                    
     mass. We immediately  set about doing what  we had long                                                                    
     been trained to  do and that was to  expend all efforts                                                                    
     to   alleviate  and   mitigate   the  suffering   being                                                                    
     experienced by  countless citizens of  Alaska, wherever                                                                    
     that took  us. Anywhere from freeing  two souls trapped                                                                    
     in the  rubble of  a collapsed  Anchorage International                                                                    
     Airport   tower,    to   sending    troops   throughout                                                                    
     neighboring  communities to  recover the  dead, provide                                                                    
     for  the injured,  free those  still trapped,  maintain                                                                    
     civil  order,  and  finally to  forge  efforts  to  put                                                                    
     humanitarian relief flights in to the air.                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
     That  day, in  the bond  of human  compassion we  stood                                                                    
     shoulder   to   shoulder   with  thousands   of   first                                                                    
     responders, it  was unlike  anything ever  seen before;                                                                    
     they came  from all walks  of life beginning  with your                                                                    
     next  door  neighbor  to those  described  within  this                                                                    
     resolution.  Many  self-sacrificing  people  went  into                                                                    
     unstable,  unknown  circumstances  as  they  sought  to                                                                    
     render aid  and assistance to those  in desperate need.                                                                    
     Tragically,  some would  pay  the  ultimate price.  The                                                                    
     quakes and tsunamis,  though ravaging, destructive, and                                                                    
     deadly  as they  were, is  not the  main focus  of this                                                                    
     event. The  cornerstone to this day  remains the people                                                                    
     of Alaska,  their strong  will of  resilience, resolve,                                                                    
     tenacity, and their  unabated selfless sacrifice became                                                                    
     their  legacy, that  is what  we  should never  forget,                                                                    
     never take  for granted,  and always  remember. However                                                                    
     massive and tragic  as this event was,  there remains a                                                                    
     common  thread   that  was   even  stronger   and  more                                                                    
     pervasive  than all  of that  and it  was the  enduring                                                                    
     spirit  that  was found  embedded  within  the milk  of                                                                    
     human kindness. On  March 27, 2014 at 5:36  p.m., in an                                                                    
     act of  honor and  tribute, church bells  across Alaska                                                                    
     will toll  in memorial for  all we have spoken  of here                                                                    
     today.  Ladies  and  gentlemen   of  the  Senate,  your                                                                    
     support  of this  resolution and  its ultimate  passage                                                                    
     will  ensure   its  rightful  place  in   Alaska  state                                                                    
     history. I close by saying  that I dedicate all efforts                                                                    
     I have  thus far expended  to those who  have perished,                                                                    
     those  who suffered  great loss,  to the  thousands who                                                                    
     selflessly served,  and to those who  paid the ultimate                                                                    
     sacrifice and are mentioned  within this resolution and                                                                    
     the families that the left behind.                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
10:11:16 AM                                                                                                                   
CHAIR DYSON commended Mr. Volanti  for his service. He noted that                                                               
an international  earth quake symposium  will occur  in Anchorage                                                               
with 1,000 experts attending the spring  of 2014. He asked if Mr.                                                               
Volanti  served  with Major  Herb  Bedrow  in the  Anchorage  Air                                                               
Guard.                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
MR.  VOLANTI answered  yes and  noted a  letter addressed  to him                                                               
from his wife following his passing.                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR DYSON  noted that  Major Herb Bedrow  perished [in  a C-123                                                               
that went  down] near Cape Romanzof  [on the Bering Sea  Coast in                                                               
1965.]                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
MR. VOLANTI answered yes.                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
10:14:26 AM                                                                                                                   
CHAIR DYSON  announced that HJR  23 will be  set aside for  a few                                                               
minutes until the committee has a quorum.                                                                                       
         HJR 23-GOOD FRIDAY EARTHQUAKE REMEMBRANCE DAY                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
10:19:01 AM                                                                                                                   
CHAIR DYSON returned attention to HJR 23 and announced that the                                                                 
Chair will entertain a motion on HJR 23.                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
10:19:01 AM                                                                                                                   
SENATOR GIESSEL moved to report HJR 23, labeled 28-LS1038\C from                                                                
committee with individual recommendations and attached zero                                                                     
note.                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
10:19:13 AM                                                                                                                   
CHAIR DYSON announced that without objection, HJR 23 passes out                                                                 
of the Senate State Affairs Standing Committee.