Juneau -- In a symbolic gesture yesterday, Senator Jerry Ward refused to listen to a televised speech that he feels would divide urban and rural Native Alaskans. Senator Ward's act came when Julie Kitka, of the AFN, played a videotape made by President Bill Clinton, addressing subsistence in Alaska. Senator Ward said, "when the President of the United States, Bill Clinton, said, and I quote, 'I will ensure that all Alaskan natives have subsistence rights,' I just couldn't sit there and listen to him tell another lie to the people of Alaska."

"Approximately 50% of the Alaska native population now reside in urban areas of the state, and they would all lose their subsistence rights under the Knowles amendment that Clinton endorses," Senator Ward said. Senator Ward's district, which covers south Anchorage and Kenai, would be impacted severely. "I represent part of one of the largest native 'villages' in Alaska," he said "and a lot of my constituents would lose their right to hunt and fish for subsistence just because of where they choose to live."

"This is what the liberals in the federal government have been doing for years," Ward said, "divide and conquer the native American people."

Senator Ward said that he supports subsistence rights for all Alaskans as the highest priority, but won't be a part of making anyone in the state a "second class citizen." It's important not only for the 50% of native Alaskans who now live in urban areas, but for all Alaskans, urban and rural, that they have the freedom to hunt and fish for subsistence.

"It seems that once again, Bill Clinton doesn't care about the consequences of his actions or the divisiveness that this amendment would cause," Senator Ward said.

Attachment: Letter to President Clinton from Senator Rick Halford, Chairman of the Alaska Senate Resources Committee, asking for clarification of the President's comments to AFN.

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