[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 102 (Monday, July 27, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9002-S9003]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           TRIBUTE TO OFFICERS JACOB CHESTNUT AND JOHN GIBSON

  Mr. MACK. Mr. President, I rise today to honor John Gibson and Jacob 
``J.J.'' Chestnut, the officers who gave their lives Friday in the line 
of duty.
  For Members of the Senate, I would remind them that John Gibson was 
one of the individuals who was a part of our security detail on our 
most recent retreat. Yesterday morning, after an early morning run, I 
stopped by the Capitol where people had placed flowers at the steps, 
and I talked with a young officer who told me how proud he was of J.J. 
J.J. was the kind of person who, after 20 years of service in the 
military, took under his wing the new men and women who were coming 
into the Capitol Hill Police Force service and to help them on a 
personal basis, giving them tips about the kinds of things to which 
they needed to pay attention with their training, the kinds of things 
they ought to try to accomplish when they are dealing with our 
constituents when they come into the Capitol.
  Many times, I am sure, we forget the difficulty of the duty that they 
have, on the one hand to be trained to the extent to react the way they 
reacted on Friday, unselfishly, putting themselves in harm's way so 
that others may survive, but at the same time having the responsibility 
of treating our constituents, our friends, our neighbors, when they 
come to the Capitol, with such graciousness. It is a really difficult 
job, and I just want to express to the members of the Capitol Hill 
Police Force, all of those who participate in providing security, our 
deep appreciation for what they do on a day-to-day basis. Each day we 
come to work, we pass these officers. As the majority leader said, some 
of them we know by name, others we have become friends with.
  I particularly remember C.J. Martin over at the Delaware entrance in 
the Russell Building, how each morning we would discuss some very 
personal things about our lives, the kinds of common bonds, if you 
will, that we shared. And so, while I didn't know J.J. Chestnut and 
John Gibson to the degree that I have known other members of the police 
force here, I know that they were very special people. Again, listening 
to that young officer talk about how J.J. would stand at that door, 
erect in that military stance, with great pride, frankly, in the job 
that he performed, and the reaction that he had, again, with the people 
as they came in, we don't take what they do for granted, and we want 
them to know that we are concerned about them and we are concerned 
about their families.
  I had the opportunity on Friday evening to visit the families of J.J. 
Chestnut and John Gibson and to express to them our deep concern and 
our love for them, wanting them to know that we cherish their fathers, 
their husbands, that they mean a great deal to us, that we will do what 
we can to comfort them, that we won't forget them, that we will 
remember the families.
  While the officers are the ones who lost their lives, now it is a 
tough and

[[Page S9003]]

difficult time for the families. Each one of us, I know, has had the 
experience of losing someone close to us and we can feel the pain of 
the tragedy that took place, and we want those families to know that we 
have not forgotten them and that we will do what we can over the years 
to see that they are not forgotten.
  Friday, in talking with the young sons of ``Gibson,'' as they refer 
to him, I can only imagine the hurt and pain that those boys 14 and 15 
years old must be feeling. I say to all of us, regardless of the role 
that we play in the Senate or in the House, we are all one big family.
  In a sense, there are many families within the family. There is the 
family of officers and the special grief that they must be experiencing 
today, as they are required to carry out their duties at a moment in 
which their minds and hearts must be focused on their lost officers and 
their families. So I ask everyone, if they would, during this day and 
the next several days, to pray for those families--for comfort, for 
love, and for hope.
  Again, I can remember a particular time in which my younger brother 
passed away. I was so angry about his loss; people would come up to me 
and say, ``Connie, time will take care, time will heal,'' and I was so 
angry I said, ``I don't want it to be healed. I don't want time to take 
care of it. I am angry.''
  But I hope that the families, especially the children, will deal with 
those feelings inside, that they will share those thoughts to get them 
out so they don't carry around that hurt and that pain. We want them to 
know that we truly love them, that we will miss their fathers, their 
husbands, and we will try to make the Senate and House and the Capitol 
a place in which they can be proud.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. KEMPTHORNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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