[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 39 (Tuesday, March 31, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E531-E532]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                     WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH HONOREES

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MARTIN OLAV SABO

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 31, 1998

  Mr. SABO. Mr. Speaker, as Women's History Month draws to a close 
today, I rise in recognition of five notable Minnesota women who have 
made significant achievements in their respective professions and who 
deserve to be recognized as a result.
  Rosalie Wahl is the first woman to have been named a Minnesota 
Supreme Court Justice. First appointed to the Court in 1977, she served 
as a Justice for 17 years. By the time she left the Court in 1994 there 
were four

[[Page E532]]

women Justices. During the course of her career, she witnessed 
encouraging changes taking place for women in the state political 
arena, but her hard work and leadership made Wahl one of the true 
``pioneers.'' Wahl has said, ``I feel we as women move forward together 
. . . none of us can really get where we are today without the help of 
other women and the men who have given us a hand.'' Prior to becoming a 
Supreme Court Justice, Wahl worked for the State Public Defender 
starting in 1967, where she argued over 100 cases before the Supreme 
Court, upon which she would later serve herself. Wahl attended William 
Mitchell College of Law, where she later served as an assistant 
professor and ran the Clinical Criminal Program prior to joining 
Minnesota's highest court.
  Joan Anderson Growe is the six-term Secretary of State of Minnesota 
and is the state's first woman constitutional officer to be elected in 
her own right. Her public life reflects a deep commitment to citizen 
participation and openness. As Secretary of State, Growe has led 
Minnesota in becoming an elections model for the nation. She instituted 
mandatory election judge training, had election safeguard laws enacted, 
and supervised election law recodification. Minnesota's statewide on-
line computerized voter registration database is one of the first in 
the nation. Growe has assembled a coalition of public and private 
sector organizations and businesses to conduct a Get-Out-the-Vote drive 
in every general election. Minnesota led the nation in voter 
participation in 1976, 1980, 1984, and 1988 and tied with Maine in 1992 
and 1996. She organized the National Advertising Council's first Get-
Out-the-Vote drive in 1980.
  Pamela G. Alexander is the Assistant Chief Judge of the Hennepin 
County District Court where she has served for the past 15 years. Her 
commitment to community service is evident both in and out of the 
courtroom. In the Hennepin County District Court, she serves on 
numerous committees which represent a wide range of issues. These 
include the Sexual Assault Coordinating Board, the Public Safety 
Facility Advisory Board, the Grand Jury Task Force, and the Criminal 
Justice Coordinating Committee. The Minnesota Supreme Court has also 
named her to the Racial Bias Task Force where she currently serves as 
Chair of the Implementation Committee for her district. Alexander has 
received several community service awards, including the Minnesota 
Minority Lawyers Profiles in Courage Award. She also serves as a 
motivational speaker for local youth, making many appearances in 
churches and schools throughout the year.
  Alana Blahoski is one of two Minnesota women to have played on the 
gold-medal winning United States women's ice hockey team in the 1998 
Winter Olympics. Her athletic achievements demonstrate genuine 
perseverance and dedication. A St. Paul native, Blahoski graduated from 
Johnson High School, where she was a three-time all-star hockey player. 
She graduated from Providence College in 1996. At Providence, she 
served as co-captain on the women's ice hockey team as a senior and was 
named the 1995-96 Eastern College Athletic Conference Co-Player of the 
Year. Blahoski went on to become a two-time member of the U.S. Women's 
National Team, recording two goals and four assists in ten games. She 
also appeared on U.S. Women's Select Teams in 1995, 1996, and 1997.
  Jennifer Schmidgall is the second Minnesota woman to have been a 
member of the U.S. women's 1998 Olympic ice hockey team, showing 
exemplary athletic ability and sharing the excitement of earning a team 
gold medal at a young age. A native of Edina, Schmidgall's interest in 
ice hockey sparked during visits to an outdoor rink at Lewis Park with 
her father, where she would skate and watch him play hockey. She 
started playing ``serious'' hockey in the eighth grade. By 1995 she was 
a member of the U.S. Women's National Junior Ice Hockey Team, appearing 
on the team again in 1996. Schmidgall graduated from Edina High School 
in 1997. She plans to attend the University of Minnesota this year, 
where she would like to study business management and psychology.
  I am pleased to honor these remarkable women in celebration of 
Women's History Month. I thank each of them for their contributions to 
the state of Minnesota and I wish them continued success in the future.

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