[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 87 (Friday, June 20, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6038-S6039]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              134TH BIRTHDAY OF THE STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA

  Mr. BYRD. Madam President, today is the 134th birthday of the State 
which I have been so pleased and so proud and so privileged and so 
honored to represent in Congress since January 1953. Born of the 
turmoil of the Civil War, West Virginia has never had an easy time of 
it. Although blessed with great beauty and rich in natural resources, 
my State's rugged terrain and isolated geography have worked to make 
her people a breed apart.
  Their independent views--they are a mountain people; mountain people 
traditionally have independent views, whether they live in Switzerland 
or Afghanistan or in Scotland or in West Virginia--their independent 
views, their impoverishment, their fierce loyalty to their communities, 
to their State and to their country have made them fodder for bad 
jokes, degrading sitcoms and derogatory nicknames.
  Well, I am here to tell those who would perpetuate such hackneyed 
stereotypes that it is they--it is they--who are backward, because in 
West Virginia's hollows and on her mountains live some of the finest 
people in all of God's great creation.
  For the most part, West Virginians are religious. They don't have, as 
some would like to portray, rattlesnakes in their church services. They 
are traditional in their outlook, they are reverent about their tried-
and-true customs and patriotic about their Nation.
  In World War II, West Virginia ranked fifth among the States in the 
percentage of its eligible male population participating; first among 
the States in eligible male population participating in the Korean war; 
second among the States in the percentage of its eligible male 
population participating in the Vietnam war. Also, West Virginia ranked 
first among the States in the percentage of deaths its eligible male 
population suffered during both the Korean and Vietnam wars.
  West Virginians are generally quiet. They are not loud talkers. I 
don't like loud talkers. They are not loud talkers. You would not hear 
them from one end of the Capitol to the other talking with loud voices 
in the corridors. They don't do that. They are generally quiet, 
courteous, sincere, and accommodating.
  There is a presence of basic values among her residents that is 
scarce in much of the Nation in many places. West Virginians value hard 
work. They are not afraid of it. They love their families. They have a 
respect for authority. We don't burn flags in Weirton, WV, where there 
are at least 30 ethnic groups from the old world. They have respect for 
their communities and a love for their country and reverence for a 
Creator.
  They don't go around wearing their religion on their sleeves. They 
don't make a big whoop-de-doo of it, and, as far as I am concerned, 
most are not the religious right or the religious left. They are simply 
respectful of a Creator and quietly religious.
  More and more people are discovering our State. The crime is low in 
West Virginia, life is slower there and stress seems to float away, to 
be replaced by the serenity of beauty, charm and uncomplicated 
courtesy. Our unique mountain crafts attract attention nationwide, as 
do our scenic parks and our recreational activities.
  West Virginia really is a world apart. My State has come a long way 
from the days when she was plundered by industrial barons who lived 
outside her borders, plundered for her rich natural resources, and many 
of her citizens were used as little more than indentured servants in 
those days in the dangerous dirty work of mining coal, for example. 
Today, she is experiencing new economic growth and prosperity as a 
result of new roads.
  When I was a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, the 
lower house of the West Virginia Legislature in 1947, West Virginia had 
4 miles--West Virginia had 4 miles--of divided four-lane highways--4 
miles. That was when I was starting out in politics, now 51 years ago. 
Four miles, and then one need not wonder why West Virginians become 
indignant when a few dollars are appropriated by the Federal Government 
to build safe, modern four-

[[Page S6039]]

lane divided highways in West Virginia; a few dollars compared with the 
billions of dollars that go for airports, go for mass transit and other 
modes of transportation elsewhere.
  So she is experiencing new economic growth. Travel our highways now, 
view the scenery now, experience the hospitality now, see the historic 
places, stand on the tops of those mountains and view the creative 
works of an omnipotent God. Look at her sunrises, pause at her tranquil 
sunsets and view the land where the early pioneers crossed the 
Alleghenies with a Bible in one hand and a rifle in the other, carrying 
a bag of seeds.
  They used the forests, dredged the rivers, and built a great State--a 
great State--a State that was born during the struggle between the 
States, the war between the States, the war among the States.
  So she is experiencing new economic growth and prosperity as a result 
of new roads, technology, and forward-looking leadership. In fact, West 
Virginia boasts four cities in the top 200 of Money magazine's 1997 
list of the best places in America to live. And there are many more 
than four cities there and towns and rural communities that I would 
categorize as the best places in America to live.
  So today I say to all of those who have never tasted our glorious 
country cooking or danced at our traditional mountain festivals to 
tunes that are played by mountain musicians, never skied our shimmering 
slopes or paddled our wild white water, never heard the rich notes of 
our mountain music or gazed at our phenomenal sunsets, come to West 
Virginia. We will show you the way.
  Happy birthday. Happy birthday, West Virginia. May you grow, and may 
your people never, never change.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. THURMOND addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Carolina.
  Mr. THURMOND. I want to commend the able Senator from West Virginia 
on his devotion and dedication to his State. He has just paid a 
wonderful eulogy to that State and the people of that State. I am sure 
the people of the United States are very proud of West Virginia and the 
people of West Virginia and the able Senator who represents them here 
in the Senate.
  Mr. BYRD. Madam President, I thank my friend, my senior colleague, 
for his gracious and kind remarks concerning my State and my people.

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