[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 40 (Wednesday, April 1, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E547-E548]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       LOCAL PROFILES IN COURAGE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. WILLIAM J. COYNE

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, April 1, 1998

  Mr. COYNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to three men from 
southwestern Pennsylvania who stood up for what was right.
  Over the last 40 years, we have overturned the laws that once upheld 
race-based segregation and discrimination. This accomplishment should 
not be underestimated. Unfortunately, the fact of the matter is that 
while discrimination has been curbed, it has not been eliminated.

[[Page E548]]

  I want to talk today about an example of discrimination that we 
witnessed in southwestern Pennsylvania last year, and I want to let the 
American people know about three local men who took a stand against it 
at that time. Their names are Bruce E. Dice, Esquire, Dr. Anthony 
Brusca, and Wayne E. Smith, Jr. These men risked the disapproval and 
ostracism of their peers to battle what they perceived to be a 
discriminatory act.
  Last summer, Mr. Dice, an attorney from Plum Borough, and Dr. Anthony 
Brusca, a dentist from the nearby town of Murrysville--both members of 
the Edgewood Country Club--sponsored Mr. Edwin L. Edwards's application 
to become an associate member at that club. Mr. Edwards is a highly 
respected local businessman--the owner of a local television station--
who has attended the Edgewood Country Club as a guest for many years. 
He also happens to be an African-American.
  The Edgewood Country Club, one of the oldest country clubs in western 
Pennsylvania, at that time had no black members. Even before Mr. 
Edwards's application was officially submitted, Mr. Dice began 
receiving anonymous threatening phone calls opposed to the admission of 
African-American members. Subsequently, racist graffiti was written on 
Mr. Dice's locker. Despite unanimous approval by the club's membership 
committee and conversations with board members suggesting that their 
response to Mr. Edwards's application would be favorable, the club's 
board of directors rejected Mr. Edwards's membership application.
  Mr. Edwards and his sponsors were surprised and upset by the vote. 
Cases in which the board had rejected an applicant recommended by the 
membership committee were rare, if not nonexistent.
  A number of people went to bat for Mr. Edwards, however. Mr. Smith, 
for example, resigned from his position as vice president of the 
country club's board of directors in protest. Mr. Dice and Dr. Brusca 
stood behind their sponsorship of Mr. Edwards. The local chapter of the 
NAACP threatened to boycott the country club.
  As a result of these actions, the board voted to admit Mr. Edwards. 
Many members of the Edgewood Country Club have since welcomed Mr. 
Edwards warmly.
  Mr. Edwards's attorney, Dwayne Woodruff, captured the essence of the 
issue in a statement about two of Mr. Edwards's supporters that could 
apply to any of his supporters in this affair: ``They stood up for what 
was right. A lot of times that's tough because sometimes you're 
standing by yourself.''
  All too often the fight against discrimination is a lonely, painful 
experience. It is often much easier to look away, to ignore such 
unpleasantness, or to back down in the face of open, virulent hostility 
than to press ahead and confront these attitudes and actions. That is 
what makes people who take that difficult stand so special--and so 
deserving of our attention and praise.
  Mr. Speaker, I commend Mr. Dice, Dr. Brusca, and Mr. Smith for their 
integrity, their perseverance, and their strong sense of justice. If 
all Americans would respond in a similar manner, we could move a long 
way towards realizing a truly just society.

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