01/13/2004 08:00 AM House STA

HB 304-JACK COGHILL BRIDGE TO THE INTERIOR                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
9:22 a.m.                                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR WEYHRAUCH  announced that  the next  order of  business was                                                               
HOUSE BILL  NO. 304, "An  Act naming  the Jack Coghill  Bridge to                                                               
the Interior."                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  JOHN   COGHILL,  Alaska  State   Legislature,  as                                                               
sponsor of HB 304, prefaced his  remarks by stating his intent is                                                               
to  honor his  father and  he  means no  self-aggrandizing.   The                                                               
purpose of the  bill, he explained, is simply to  name the bridge                                                               
over  the Nenana  River at  Rex the  Jack Coghill  Bridge to  the                                                               
Interior.                                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  COGHILL revealed  that the  story behind  this is                                                               
that  when  the  Parks  Highway was  being  surveyed  to  connect                                                               
Anchorage  and  Fairbanks,  Jack  Coghill  got  an  appropriation                                                               
through the legislature that actually  preceded the money for the                                                               
highway;  therefore, the  bridge  was actually  built before  the                                                               
highway got  to it.   He said  his father "took  a little  bit of                                                               
ribbing" as the author to "the bridge to nowhere."                                                                              
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL  noted that this  year his father  will be                                                               
one  of the  oldest members  of the  Alaska State  Constitutional                                                               
Convention, he was in the  territorial legislature, and he served                                                               
as lieutenant governor.  He said  he knows that naming things for                                                               
people is  generally done after  they die; however,  he explained                                                               
that his  son, Joshua,  who heard  the story  of the  bridge from                                                               
someone in Healy, asked him  to author this piece of legislation.                                                               
Representative Coghill  mentioned spending  time with  his father                                                               
after his  mother, Frances, died  a couple  of years ago,  and he                                                               
said  he has  come to  think that  [naming the  bridge after  his                                                               
father] is  an appropriate thing to  do.  He said  he thinks this                                                               
will honor  Alaska, generally,  as well as  those who  cross that                                                               
bridge who know his father personally.                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
9:24 a.m.                                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR  WEYHRAUCH  suggested  that   the  bridge  be  named  after                                                               
Representative Coghill's father and mother.                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  COGHILL  said  he  would not  want  to  do  that,                                                               
because  his mother  already has  a  foundation in  her name  for                                                               
children who  have speech impediments,  which was  something that                                                               
was "part  of her  heart" and probably  more appropriate.   Since                                                               
the  bridge is  a legislative  matter  dating back  to the  early                                                               
1960s, he  said he  thinks it  appropriate to  name it  after his                                                               
father.                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
9:26 a.m.                                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG moved to report  HB 304 out of committee                                                               
with individual recommendations and  the accompanying zero fiscal                                                               
note.   There being  no objection,  HB 304 was  moved out  of the                                                               
House State Affairs Standing Committee.