[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 116 (Thursday, August 1, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H9833]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   TRIBUTE TO TROOPERS WHO SAVED LIVES IN ATLANTA'S CENTENNIAL PARK 
                                BOMBING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Forbes). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Kingston] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I would certainly be remiss in my duty if 
I did not brag on and recognize four of our First District of Georgia 
heroes that led the safety efforts in last Saturday's early morning 
Centennial Park explosion in the Olympics in Atlanta. The gentlemen 
that I want to recognize are Mr. Ted Riner, Mr. Tommy Sisson, and Mr. 
David Averitt. These are all State troopers who lived in Statesboro, 
GA, who were on detail at the Centennial Park in Atlanta.
  I also wanted to recognize Mr. Tom Davis, who married a Statesboro 
girl, who is the daughter of my friends, Bobby and Floyd Naxton, in 
Statesboro. Tom was the GVI agent in charge of Centennial Park. If you 
can visualize the scene a little bit, in fact last Monday, Libby, my 
wife and I were at an Olympic medal ceremony in Savannah, and it was 
very similar to the scene that had happened on Saturday, just a few 
days before. The Spinners were playing, a great popular group, 
everybody was dancing, everybody was having a good time, folks were 
celebrating the Olympics from all over America, from all over the 
world, and so forth.
  I was thinking, this is what the scene was like Saturday morning 
early, at 1:20 a.m., when the bomb exploded. As we know, Mr. Davis was 
among the very first to know of the bomb, and immediately he began 
evacuating the area. Mr. Riner, Mr. Sisson, and Mr. Averitt all were 
key players.
  There were only 9 people evacuating about 150 partiers. Some of these 
partiers had been drinking, some of them were tired, some of them did 
not want to be interrupted in their partying, and yet these brave men 
very calmly but very firmly led these 150 people, this group, out of 
the way of danger, and when the bomb went off, only two people were 
fatally wounded, which, of course, were two too many. However, you can 
only think of how many people would have died if it had not been for 
the efforts of these four men and the five others who were with them.
  The interesting part, being true Americans, true officers who will do 
their duty and act without question when the time of emergency comes, 
they laughed later when they were told that they were heroes. They 
said, why are we heroes? We were just doing our jobs.
  Then they talked about being wounded, as all three of them were. Mr. 
Davis was not wounded, but the three of them were, the three others 
were. They said that even as they were being told to lie still and 
being taken to the hospital, their first concern was, how many people 
were injured, and what about each other? They all, Riner, Sisson, and 
Averitt, had known each other. They know Pam, David's wife, and they 
were all very fond, and that was their first concern each one of them 
had, for the other person and for the public in general.
  Mr. Speaker, as long as America has men like this, people like this 
from all over the country, heroes that come from everyday walks of 
life, our country will continue to be a great Nation. I am proud to say 
that I know some of these guys vicariously. I certainly know of them 
very well and know their families, and I am very, very proud of them.
  Just think what it would have been like, how much more tragic the 
explosion in Centennial Park would have been, if it had not been for 
their fast and immediate action. So I salute them, and I know all 435 
Members of Congress join me in this salutation: Job well done, 
gentlemen.

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