By JAMES BRANSCOME
         
  KNOXVILLE -- Amid elaborate
security precautions, President
Gerald Ford came here Tuesday
for the eleventh in a series of
White House issue conferences
designed to build "what his aides
called an "open administration."
     The President fielded 19 questions
 on a variety of subjects
related to the Appalachian region
posed to him by an invited
audience of 1,300 people.
     The President used the conference
 forum--aid to be the largest
of the series--to plug his tax cut
proposals made this week and tied
to a promise to hold the line on
federal spending.  The questions
for the President came from
representatives of regional organ-
izations such as the Chamber of
Commerce and the Commission
Religion in Appalachia.  Ford
answered questions for approximately
 40 minutes.
-    During his seven-hour and ten-
minute stay in Knoxville, Ford
also met with executives of the
Appalachian Regional Commission
 (ARC) and seven state governnors.
  While he had bad news for
governors who want to increase
spending programs, he did endorse
 a general resolution passed
by the group, urging that Appalachia
 get a larger share of the
energy pie.
     In his question and answer
session, the President said:
-    he is standing behind his
controversial nomination of James
Hooper to a vacancy on the board
of directors of the Tennessee
Valley Authority (TVA).
-    he will not sign stripmining
legislation that restricts the production
 of coal in the mountains.
-    he would advise coal operators
 strapped by federal regulations
 to "set on Congress' door-
step" to get less stringent mining regulations.
-    he would continue to veto
congressional spending programs

Kentucky.  Ford said he vetoed it
because it gave aid to those who
were undeserving.  Congress has
overriden that veto by overwhelming margins.
     Billed as a non-political event, the Knoxville conference was sprinkled at the last minute with some partisan politics.  Responding to the hurt feelings of the Tennessee
 congressional delegation, that found itself univited to the conference, Ford arranged at
the last minute to fly to the state
with Republican Sens. Bill Brock
and Russell Baker and other
members of the east Tennessee
congressional delegation.
     The questions directed at the
President ranged from the concerns
 of farmers to those of large
companies that are feeling the
pinch of the natural gas shortage.
Other questions concerned women's rights, unemployment, stripmining and
 the President's feelings about his security.
     And perhaps the most controversial statement of his trip, Ford said he
 believed James Hooper
was "qualified" for the TVA
position, and that it would be "ill
advised" for the President to
comment on a pending nomination 
before the Senate.