[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 67 (Friday, May 22, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5359-S5360]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           TRAGEDY IN OREGON

  Mr. SMITH of Oregon. Mr. President, I rise today with a very heavy 
heart. Yesterday, Senator Wyden, my colleague from across the aisle, 
and I were confronted with news of a tragedy in our State that was, 
frankly, in my mind, quite unimaginable.
  The Willamette Valley of Oregon is perhaps one of the most beautiful 
places in the world. It is surrounded by mountains with snowcaps and 
clear streams running through it. It is filled with farmers and 
loggers, college professors and students, people working in State 
government. It is truly an Eden on Earth.
  But yesterday, a most mindless and senseless act was committed that 
leaves me, frankly, speechless. A young man, obviously very troubled, 
on the way to school killed his parents and then took three weapons 
into his school cafeteria at Thurston High School in Springfield, where 
he opened up and killed 1 student and injured nearly 30 others. This 
occurred before a wounded student tackled him and held him to the 
ground.
  I don't have words to express the outrage I feel or the heartache 
that I feel for the families, for the victims, for this community, for 
my State, for my country, at this outrageous and despicable act.

[[Page S5360]]

  Yesterday, Senator Wyden and I were asked to be on program after 
program, and we declined, because it was not a day for pontificating 
about policy or political posturing. It was a day for grief and 
mourning. I reach out to my State. I cannot be there physically, but my 
heart is with you and I am in agony with you. It becomes all of us here 
and in any place in government not to pick a single issue and say that 
is why, but to look at the strings that run from Springfield to 
Jonesboro or in any other community in this State and to find out what 
is happening with the youth of America whereby they solve their 
problems by resorting to this kind of violence.
  We must have the courage to face all of the possibilities. It isn't 
just the school. It isn't just the gun. It isn't just the family. It 
isn't any of these things in isolation, but it is all of them together.
  I, for one, reach across to my colleague from Oregon, Senator Wyden, 
and every other member of the Oregon delegation in this Congress, and 
to our Governor, and to school officials and to parents in Oregon and 
across this country and say, let's figure it out and let's try to 
prevent it from occurring again. This does not belong in America. The 
answers start with us.
  The answers start in our hearts and in our homes, in our 
legislatures, in this Capitol building, but it starts with us as 
individuals to find out how to say no to this in the future and to 
prevent it. We are doing many things to punish, and those are 
appropriate things. It is time to do more to prevent.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon is recognized.
  Mr. WYDEN. I thank the Chair.
  As Senator Smith has said, the people of Oregon are grieving this 
morning. Our hearts are out to them. This is a time when all of us from 
Springfield, OR, to Springfield, MA, have to take a few moments out 
from our daily routine and reflect on what has happened in our home 
State. This is supposed to be a joyous time of year for kids in high 
school. They think about summer vacations and plans, time with family. 
Once again, however, our country has been rocked by unspeakable 
violence. I think all of us know that young people get upset and they 
do foolish things. But that is not what this is about.
  In times past, when young people got angry, they might throw a rock, 
they might throw a fist, but there was not this pattern of deadly gun 
violence. And so now it is critically important as we grieve for the 
people of our home State--my staff has been trying to help, giving 
blood, assisting others in the community, but it is especially 
important now to get beyond the kind of finger pointing and the sort of 
blame game that inevitably takes place here and look to how these 
tragedies can be prevented in the future.
  I share Senator Smith's judgment that this is about what is in our 
heart. It is about taking every possible step in the schools, in the 
family, through the education and health programs and through law 
enforcement programs, to protect our citizens and to reach out to those 
young people in trouble. That way we have a chance to restore safety in 
our communities and peace of mind for parents who, right now across 
this country, because of Springfield and the previous tragedies, are 
going to get up in the morning saying to themselves: What is going to 
happen at my child's school today? We cannot have that. No Member of 
the Senate can abide by that. And that, to me, is our central challenge 
today.
  Oregonians have come together in the last 24 hours to do what we 
always do best, and that is to help friends and neighbors in a time of 
great need. We have seen an extraordinary outpouring of concern in 
Springfield towards families. It is not possible to find any real 
comfort at a time like this, but if you can feel hopeful--we have got 
to get up every morning working to make this a better world and a safer 
world--we can take some comfort in knowing that communities like 
Springfield do work. They are getting up this morning and saying that 
they are going to try to reach out to everybody in that community, to 
try to do everything possible to heal in Springfield and our home State 
but, even more importantly, to do everything they can to make sure that 
tragedies like this do not happen again in Oregon or anywhere else.
  That is what we need to work for in this Chamber. Government policies 
can help, and with the government being a better partner, and families 
and schools and communities rallying, as Springfield has, we can make a 
difference and we can stop this carnage in our schools.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia.

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