[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 23 (Thursday, February 27, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H679-H680]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         CELEBRATING THE 125TH ANNIVERSARY OF SHEPHERD COLLEGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from West Virginia [Mr. Wise] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WISE. Mr. Speaker, I am going to speak on two topics today. 
First, Mr. Speaker, I rise today to wish a happy anniversary to 
Shepherd College in Shepherdstown, WV, just about an hour and 15 
minutes drive from here. Today Shepherd College celebrated its 125th 
anniversary with the ringing of the town bells that occurred at noon 
today. This is going to kick off a year of celebration. Although I 
cannot be at the school today to share in this moment, I felt that this 
occasion warranted special recognition.
  Shepherd College is located in Shepherdstown, WV, on the banks of the 
Potomac River. It is the oldest town in my State and its history runs 
deep. Shepherdstown has watched its young men march off to participate 
in each war in this country, beginning with the Revolutionary War. It 
witnessed James Rumsey's demonstration of the steamboat two decades 
before Robert Fulton. Shepherdstown also served as witness to the 
bloodiest day of the Civil War, the Battle of Antietam, which was 
fought less than 5 miles away.
  Shepherdstown has indeed experienced a lot in our Nation's history, 
but perhaps its proudest accomplishment has been the founding of 
Shepherd College. Shepherd College was established in 1871, when the 
county seat of Jefferson County was moved from Shepherdstown back to 
Charles Town. The people in and around Shepherdstown decided to use the 
vacated courthouse for a private college. A year later, in 1872, the 
West Virginia Legislature passed an act establishing a school for the 
training of teachers in Shepherd College.
  One hundred and twenty-five years ago Shepherd College consisted of 1 
building and 20 students. Today its campus entails over 20 buildings 
and approximately 4,000 students. The campus has grown from one single 
lot in 1871 to over 161 acres of land today.
  As the college has grown, so has its importance, not only to West 
Virginia but to our Nation as well. Shepherd College alumni live in all 
50 States of our country.
  I am proud to represent such a fine institution in this congressional 
district. Over the years I have had an opportunity to work with both 
Shepherd College, its administration and its students, and I have 
always been impressed with the level of dedication they all feel to 
this school. I wish Shepherd College, its president, David Dunlop, its 
alumni, its faculty and staff, and certainly its students, every 
possible success in the future, and congratulate them as they celebrate 
their 125th anniversary.
  Mr. Speaker, I also wish to speak briefly today on the matter of the 
Air Force expanding its overflights into West Virginia and parts of 
Virginia. And indeed it has been good to work with Congressman 
Goodlatte of Virginia, Congressman Rahall, and the Senators from each 
of our States as we have dealt with the Air Force in trying to get them 
to review and reconsider their proposal to greatly expand their number 
of training flights in the military operational area to include eastern 
West Virginia and parts of Virginia.
  The fact of the matter is that in a meeting just last week the Air 
Force conceded that they had not done the proper environmental 
assessment. They conceded that they had not taken

[[Page H680]]

public opinion into proper review, and that they would now do the 
proper environmental assessment.
  Many of us have great reservations about the economic and 
environmental impact of increasing from 66 flights a year to over 2,200 
training flights, some only 300 feet above the mountainous terrain, the 
impact that this would have on our very prosperous poultry industry and 
livestock industry. There are additional impacts, as well.
  The Air Force also has conceded that it did not do a good enough job 
in communicating with the public, and indeed it did not, and that they 
will be, shortly, announcing meetings to occur in Pendleton County and 
presumably in Virginia, as well. Indeed, I will be meeting today with 
representatives of the Air Force to press this case.
  The reality is, the best proposal would be one in which they either 
revisit the whole idea completely, or actually reject it and consider 
expanding the training flights they are doing in the existing training 
area where it has long been conducted.

                              {time}  1245

  So for these reasons, I hope that the Air Force will continue to look 
at this, to reevaluate. Certainly we have pushed off any effective date 
significantly. It does call for a fair environmental assessment. It 
does call for public opinion and public comment. Most importantly, it 
calls for a complete review and reconsideration of what I consider to 
be an ill-founded proposal, and I will work to see if we can get the 
Air Force to agree with that opinion.

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