[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 14 (Thursday, February 1, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S864-S865]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ROBERT A. BUDUSKY

   Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I rise today to pay my 
respects to Robert A. Budusky of Meriden, CT, who was the victim of a 
senseless murder on Tuesday. Mr. Budusky, a letter carrier for the U.S. 
Postal Service, was delivering mail along his route in Hartford when he 
was suddenly and fatally shot in the back of his head. His alleged 
murderer is a man on parole for an earlier weapons conviction.
  I did not have the honor of knowing Robert Budusky, but from what I 
have learned, he was a dedicated public servant and a wonderful human 
being. ``Everybody on his route loved him. They're all telling me so,'' 
said Martin Torres, according to an article in today's Hartford 
Courant. Torres, also a letter carrier, volunteered to take over Mr. 
Budusky's route ``to make sure they get the service today that Bob gave 
them every day.''
  Robert Budusky is the first letter carrier to be killed on the job in 
New England in more than thirty years. But his death is a reminder that 
all letter carriers brave much more than the elements every day as they 
deliver our mail. Too often we take for granted their service, and fail 
to provide them the respect they all richly deserve.
  Mr. Budusky reportedly had enough seniority to request mail routes in 


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other communities, but he chose to remain on the job in Hartford, where 
he ``loved the people on his route,'' said his supervisor, Dwight 
Davies, according to an Associated Press report. That report also 
quotes Mary Asberry, a resident along Robert Budusky's route, saying, 
``He was a friend, to me and to a lot of other people around here.''
  Flags are at half staff in front of post offices across Connecticut 
today, and thousands of black ribbons are being worn by postal 
employees in honor of their fallen colleague. At the young age of 35, 
Robert Budusky will be buried this Saturday. My prayers go out to his 
family and his many friends.

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