[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 69 (Thursday, May 16, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E819-E820]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             HONORING THE BILINGUAL FOUNDATION OF THE ARTS

                                 ______


                       HON. ESTEBAN EDWARD TORRES

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 16, 1996

  Mr. TORRES. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join with me today in 
honoring the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts [BFA] for its 
contributions to the greater Los Angeles community.
  BFA has, for over 20 years, proved itself to be an invaluable 
resource for artists of Latino descent. Founded in 1973, and 
incorporated in 1975, by my dear friend and award-winning actress, 
Carmen Zapata, along with Margarita Galban and Estela Scarlata, BFA has 
produced over 100 plays.
  BFA was founded because of a need for an organization to present 
world drama and literature to both English and Spanish speaking 
audiences. BFA programs annually serve more than 125,000 adults and 
children for whom theater is often a new experience. BFA has helped to 
provide a bridge between generations and cultures, and in doing so, has 
brought together our community. It has become an enduring bilingual 
theatrical institution of international stature.
   BFA carries out its work through a number of major productions and 
programs each year. BFA has a touring program that brings a mainstage 
production to California's rural areas and small towns, to reach out to 
those who otherwise do not have access to theatrical drama. There is 
also a theater in education program that helps to educate, through 
drama, our youth about current social and emotional issues. Both 
elementary and secondary school audiences are targeted and to date, 
over 2 million youth have been reached. BFA also presents three 
mainstage productions each season, alternating weekly between English 
and Spanish.
  I also would like to recognize and thank BFA's board of trustees for 
their tireless dedication and selfless support of this worthy 
organization; Mr. Robert J. Gomez, Chair; John J. Menchaca, vice chair; 
Richard M. Lopez, treasurer; Zinnia C. Barrero, secretary; Joseph 
Arelano-Musser; Enrique ``Henry'' Baray; Pedro Birba; Gilbert de 
Cardenas; Daniel C. Carmichael III; Susana Duarte; Richard Gonzales; 
Albert Greenstein; Anthony Hurtado; Olivia J. Manzo; Oscar C. Parra; 
Vince Ramirez; Karime Sanchez; Elaine Sedillo; Martha Tapias-Mansfield; 
and Gregory Villanueva.
  Mr. Speaker, I proudly ask my colleagues to join with me in saluting, 
thanking and honoring the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts along with 
its founder, president, role model, and inspiration, Carmen Zapata, for 
its many years of sharing the beauty of Latino drama with the entire 
community, and for providing artists of Latino descent with 
opportunities to perform before appreciative audiences.

[[Page E820]]



    MINNESOTA'S NATIONAL TREASURES CONSERVATION AND PRESERVATION ACT

                                 ______


                          HON. BRUCE F. VENTO

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 16, 1996

  Mr. VENTO. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing the Minnesota National 
Treasures Conservation and Preservation Act [MNTCAP]. This legislation 
will offer further, needed protection to Minnesota's two special 
natural resources, Voyageurs National Park and the Boundary Waters 
Canoe Area Wilderness [BWCAW].
  As my colleagues may be aware, Congress already has enacted major 
legislation on Voyageurs or the BWCA on three separate occasions. Each 
time, Congress, by an overwhelming bipartisan majority, has determined 
that these two unique lakeland areas are national treasures worthy of 
the highest protections the Federal Government can bestow--National 
Park designation and National Wilderness designation. With the 
Republicans in control of Congress now, a vocal minority is advocating 
a dramatic change from over 20 years of policy designed to protect 
these areas for future generations. This Minnesota minority advocates 
lowering the high standards that we use for Voyageurs and the BWCA, 
replacing resource protection with economic development and personal 
motorized recreation preferences. I and a vast majority of Minnesotans 
and the American people cannot and do not support this retreat from our 
Nation's commitment to Minnesota's lakeland wilderness and park areas.
  The Minnesota National Treasures Conservation and Preservation Act 
will reaffirm, renew and resolve new questions by protecting the 
Voyageur's Kabetogama Peninsula by designating the 74,000 
acre peninsula as wilderness. The Kabetogama Peninsula is home to 3 
wolf packs and has 11 active bald eagle nests. Opening this area to 
snowmobiles and aircraft would have a devastating impact on the 
continued viability of these endangered species and would fragment and 
shred the intact wilderness character of this peninsula.

  For the BWCA wilderness, MNTCAP will close all of Lac La Croix and 
Loon Lake to motorized use and will close Back Bay, Hoist Bay and the 
international border portion of Basswood Lake. In addition, MNTCAP will 
designate over 14,000 more acres of almost all public lands as part of 
the BWCA Wilderness. This land--primarily Federal, State, and local 
land--incorporates key parcels and brings in portions of lakes that are 
currently nonmotorized. One of the most significant additions will be 
the Sand Point Lake addition, which extends the BWCA along the 
international border by less than one quarter of a mile. This area is 
proposed, upon the expiration of existing individual leases with the 
State, will link Voyageurs National Park with the BWCA!
  Clearly, the MNTCAP proposal is in response to the dramatic and far 
reaching changes envisioned by the numerous bills that have been 
introduced in the House and the Senate. Under the current anti-park and 
wilderness atmosphere in this Congress, I fully expect the Republican 
leadership to give serious consideration to acting upon these harmful 
proposals, which mark a retreat from past commitments to our special 
Minnesota treasures.
  To combat those efforts, I am introducing an alternative that 
reflects the views of a majority of Minnesotans. At last summer's 
congressional hearings in International Falls and St. Paul, an 
overwhelming majority of the public opposed weakening the protections 
for Voyageurs and the BWCAW. That view has been reconfirmed by two 
scientific public opinion polls of Minnesotans. Those polls show that 
over 80 percent of Minnesotans want the current balance between 
wilderness preservation and motorized use within these areas to be 
maintained or strengthened.
  MNTCAP will refocus the current one-way debate. Thus far, the focus 
has been on what protections must be dropped or concessions made to 
motorized interests. I am offering a positive proposal that sets forth 
the legal steps that must be taken to protect the unique resources of 
Voyageurs and the BWCA.
  Last month we celebrated the 26th anniversary of Earth Day. Some may 
feel that the spirit of the first Earth Day has dissipated; that 
American people are apathetic and will sit idly by while the progress 
of the past 25 years is undone. I don't hold that view. Now more than 
ever the American people, the people of Minnesota, recognize their 
generation's stewardship role. They realize and are committed to 
protecting our fragile resources and to turning over to our children 
and our grandchildren our lakes, rivers, and forests in at least as 
good a condition as we inherited them. The Minnesota National Treasures 
Conservation and Preservation Act will make that dream for Voyageurs 
National Park and the BWCA.

                          ____________________