Did They Add Extra Tubes?

The Stevens thing really is just kinda weird.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The idea to double the size of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens' home in Girdwood, Alaska, by jacking it up and adding a new first floor was hatched by Veco employees over drinks at the Alyeska Prince Hotel, according to two of the participants.

"This is what I'm thinking — I want to expand Ted's house," former Veco chairman Bill Allen told two of his trusted employees, his nephew David Anderson and Robert "Rocky" Williams. "How can we do this?"

The conversation was recalled in interviews last week by Anderson and Williams, federal grand jury witnesses who may testify at Stevens' corruption trial, scheduled for September. They said it took place in a suite at the Girdwood hotel rented for the night by Allen probably in the spring of 1999 or 2000, Anderson said.