[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 103 (Tuesday, July 28, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H6497-H6498]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO TWO FALLEN HEROES

  (Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in tribute to 
our two fallen heroes. I spoke on the floor last night discussing 
actions that we can take in light of this terrible tragedy. All of our 
colleagues have come together in discussing ways that we can assist the 
families of these two brave heroes.
  As I mentioned last night, over the past 12 years I have been in this 
body I have had the pleasure of working with public safety leaders 
around America in both law enforcement, fire, EMS and life safety 
concerns. In fact, in this city I have had the pleasure of working 
closely with the Capitol Hill Police in a number of exercises and in a 
number of situations that I have been able to witness their activities.
  We take our Capitol Police, as we do our law enforcement and public 
safety officials, for granted across this country. Just in the 12 years 
that I have been here, I have seen our Capitol Hill police respond to 
fires in the Cannon Building, the Longworth Building, again in the 
Longworth Building just a month ago; emergencies in this building, bomb 
threats, situations involving people who become ill or are struck with 
heart attacks or other situations. The Capitol Police are always there.
  Mr. Speaker, it takes an event like this where we lose two lives to 
realize how valuable these people are day in and day out. In fact, 3 
months ago my colleague, a good friend of mine, the gentleman from 
Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) and I, after the fire in the Longworth Building, 
decided that we should take the time to recognize these brave heroes. 
So we went to Bill Livingood, the Sergeant at Arms and the chief, and 
we said, how about if we in the Congress recognize those people in your 
department who were taken to D.C. hospitals for smoke inhalation and 
for anxiety caused by their efforts in removing our constituents and 
ourselves and our staffs from the Longworth Building during that fire?
  We assembled them all in a House hearing room in the Rayburn 
Building, and the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) and I both spoke 
to them. At the end of the service, one of the officers said, this is 
the first time that the Congress has actually recognized what we do in 
a formal way.
  Last night, Mr. Speaker, in our bipartisan caucus meeting here in 
this body I suggested, along with the gentleman from Maryland, that we 
establish a permanent Congressional Recognition Program for our Capitol 
Hill Police; not just to recognize these brave heroes when they pay the 
ultimate sacrifice but to make sure that we have a way of paying 
attention to what they do every day that we are in session.
  I would say to America, in this time of national grief, in this time 
of tremendous outpourings of emotion and sympathy from all over the 
country, and having walked down the front steps you see police officers 
from across America coming to this city to pay their respects to our 
two heroes, I would say to America, let us use this opportunity, this 
low point in terms of our national morale, to renew ourselves in two 
ways: First of all, that is to make sure that the families of these two 
brave heroes never forget that we care, nor forget their loved ones. We 
are doing that.
  The leadership on both sides of the aisle has put into place a 
memorial fund. We passed special legislation. We will do everything 
possible to make the lives of the siblings and the wives of these brave 
heroes comfortable for the rest of their lives, as much as we can, 
given the fact that they have lost their fathers and husbands.

                              {time}  1345

  But I would say to America, there is something else we can do. 
Besides taking care of these two families, each of us in this country 
needs to reach down and understand. As I said last night, looking for 
role models in this country should not divert us toward Hollywood, 
should not divert us toward the movies or TV, should not even divert us 
to athletic competition, because the real role models, the real 
American heroes, if you will, are not in Hollywood. They are not on the 
ballfields. They are false heroes. The real heroes and the real role 
models are the men and women in our neighborhoods who serve as our law 
enforcement officials, our sheriffs, our paid and volunteer 
firefighters, our paramedics and EMS personnel, because not only do 
they do their job and work to save lives and property every day, as 
these two brave individuals did, but they also make our community 
strong.
  Every American that wants to pay tribute to Officer J.J. Chestnut and 
Detective John Gibson should make it a personal, a personal challenge 
to reach out in their own communities, maybe establishing a Hero 
Scholarship Fund such as the Heroes Program in Washington; maybe 
establishing a support group, but getting involved locally with those 
public safety heroes in

[[Page H6498]]

America who every day protect all of our lives.
  We are doing that in Washington, and I would just ask this country to 
come together in this time of national sorrow and allow us to all more 
fully appreciate the public safety heroes and role models in America 
who truly are the best that America has to offer.

                          ____________________