[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 51 (Friday, April 19, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E589]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    HONORING THE VICTIMS AND SURVIVORS OF THE OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING

                                 ______


                            HON. PAT ROBERTS

                               of kansas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 18, 1996

  Mr. ROBERTS. Mr. Speaker, 1 year ago today, the Nation was gripped by 
the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, 
OK. We looked on in shock and horror as rescue workers and members of 
the community tried valiantly to reach the victims still trapped in the 
rubble--victims who were young and old, victims who were somebody's 
child or parent, husband or wife, brother or sister, friend or 
colleague. The magnitude of the tragedy was incomprehensible, the sense 
of loss overwhelming. We were left, in the words of the Roman 
philosopher Virgil, with ``a grief too much to be told.''
  As the hours and days passed, our grief continued to mount. Mixed 
with the grief was a sense of empathy and compassion so strong that it 
gave birth to courage and hope and a resolute spirit. We watched the 
faces of thousands of heroes as they reached out with gestures large 
and small. We knew as a community and as a nation that we would endure.
  Some 168 lives were lost that day, including the lives of 7 employees 
from the Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection 
Service [APHIS]. A little over a month after the bombing, we paid 
tribute to the seven APHIS employees on the floor of this Chamber. Last 
year in this Chamber I paid tribute to Olen Bloomer, Jim Boles, Peggy 
Clark, Dick Cummins, Adele Higginbottom, Carole Khalil, and Rheta Long. 
I spoke of the lives they had led--good, productive, loving lives--and 
remembered their dedication to their work and their families. Today, we 
honor their memory and we remember as well the other victims, the 
survivors, and all the people whose lives were so sadly transformed by 
the events in Oklahoma.

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