[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 60 (Friday, May 9, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S4281]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      CHARLES D. ``CHUCK'' SHIPLEY

  Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, this afternoon I honor the memory of a 
truly great figure in the history of Ohio, Charles D. ``Chuck'' 
Shipley, who died on April 5 of this year at the young age of 54.
  Chuck Shipley leaves Ohio a better place than he found it. Chuck 
dedicated his whole life to public service, to improving the lives of 
his fellow Ohioans. He first spent 16 years in the Ohio State Highway 
Patrol. Chuck was later director of the Ohio Department of Public 
Safety and served under Gov. George Voinovich in that position from 
1991 to 1997. He served as the director of the department of public 
safety for the entire 4 years that I served as Lieutenant Governor of 
the State of Ohio. While he served in that capacity, he was in charge 
of several agencies including the highway patrol, and he was in charge 
in general of highway safety for the 11 million people who live in our 
great State.
  Chuck and I both had experiences in law enforcement that dramatically 
shaped our attitudes toward highway safety. I had been a local county 
prosecutor and in that capacity I dealt with the shattered lives of 
families who had lost loved ones who had been killed in auto 
fatalities, sometimes by drunk drivers.
  When I was in the State senate, a little 7-year-old boy in my home 
county, a little boy by the name of Justin Beason was struck and killed 
by a driver who had been driving and drinking. Little Justin was killed 
as he was getting off his school bus. In response to this tragedy, with 
the help of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, we succeeded in 1983 in 
writing a tough new drunk driving law in the State of Ohio.
  While I was working on safety issues as a prosecutor and as a State 
senator, Chuck Shipley was on the front lines as a highway patrolman. 
He saw much more often than I ever did the devastation that is brought 
by highway fatalities. It was Chuck who was often the one to notify the 
parents of a child who had been killed in a highway accident.

  Chuck told me about that experience, and as he told me about it I 
could see it had left an unbelievable impression on him. He told me it 
was the toughest thing he ever had to do in his life, and tragically he 
had to do that more than once. That kind of experience, as Chuck told 
me, leaves a deep impression on a person. It certainly left an impact 
on Chuck.
  Chuck Shipley became a committed, dedicated fighter in the cause of 
highway safety. When I was Lieutenant Governor and he was director of 
the public safety department, I was, frankly, very grateful time and 
time again for the passion that Chuck brought to his work. It was 
contagious. His energy and enthusiasm helped him change attitudes. It 
helped him win converts who had worked to make Ohio safer.
  Chuck and I spent a great deal of time together traveling the State, 
many times on holidays because that is when you always try to put the 
emphasis on highway safety--Memorial Day, Labor Day, or some other 
holiday. We spent a lot of time talking and a lot of time traveling the 
State to promote antidrunk-driver campaigns or designated-driver 
campaigns and just overall highway safety. Chuck helped us implement, 
among other things, administrative license suspensions, to help crack 
down on drunk drivers, and he took many, many other actions in his 
official capacity to save lives in Ohio. He was a worker, a hard worker 
in a good cause, and Chuck got results. I can truly say something about 
Chuck Shipley that any of us would be incredibly proud to have said 
about ourselves: There are people alive today who would not be alive 
but for Chuck Shipley.
  I join all Ohioans in being grateful for the life he dedicated to our 
State but even more I am grateful for our friendship. He was a 
wonderful human being, a person who would not get upset even in the 
most difficult circumstance. I do not ever recall, all the hours I 
spent with Chuck, him ever getting upset. He always had a smile. He was 
always calm. He always went about his business. I am very proud to have 
known Chuck Shipley, and I want to express my condolences to Chuck's 
family, express to all of them my greatest sympathy for the loss of 
Chuck, to his wife Jana, their children David and Carli, and their 
family. Their loss is great, and so is Ohio's.

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