[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 156 (Monday, November 8, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H11666-H11668]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1515
                        JOSEPH ILETO POST OFFICE

  Mr. McHUGH. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 3189) to designate the United States post office located at 
14071 Peyton Drive in Chino Hills, California, as the ``Joseph Ileto 
Post Office.''
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 3189

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. JOSEPH ILETO POST OFFICE.

       (a) Designation.--The United States post office located at 
     14071 Peyton Drive in Chino Hills, California, shall be known 
     and designated as the ``Joseph Ileto Post Office''.
       (b) References.--Any reference in a law, map, regulation, 
     document, paper, or other record of the United States to the 
     facility referred to in subsection (a) shall be deemed to be 
     a reference to the ``Joseph Ileto Post Office''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Biggert). Pursuant to the rule, the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. McHugh) and the gentleman from Maryland 
(Mr. Cummings) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York (Mr. McHugh).
  Mr. McHUGH. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, H.R. 3189 was introduced by the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Miller) on November 1 of this year. This legislation 
designates the building of the United States Postal Service located at 
1407 Peyton Drive in Chino Hills, California, as the Joseph Ileto Post 
Office.
  This legislation honors Mr. Ileto, an employee of the United States 
Postal Service who was slain while on duty in a hail of bullets by a 
white supremacist on August 10, 1999.
  According to an affidavit filed in Federal court, the gunman had, 
just an hour before the shooting, opened fire at a Jewish community 
center in Los Angeles, wounding five children and employees. While 
making his rounds, Mr. Ileto encountered the assassin who, according to 
the affidavit, thought it would be a good idea to kill a non-white 
person who was also a government employee as a target of opportunity.
  Mr. Ileto was the oldest of five children, born and raised in the 
Philippines and named after St. Joseph, the patron saint of the worker. 
He emigrated to the United States when he was 14 years old. After 
completing high school, he studied at East Los Angeles College, earning 
an associate degree in engineering in 1983. He lived with his brother 
in Chino Hills, and he cared for his recently widowed mother in 
Monterey Park.
  He worked two jobs, at ABX Filters Corporation, where he tested 
electronic filters for heart pacemakers, and part-time as a substitute 
mail carrier. He was substituting for a regular letter carrier when he 
was killed, at age 39. Joseph Ileto took the postal position 2 years 
ago because he was seeking better pay in an outside job.
  Mr. Ileto was known for his goodness, his good humor, his willingness 
to help, and for being reliable. Joe was known to be a humble man, 
never wanting to be the center of attention, just wanting to blend into 
the crowd. His work ethic and reliability won him a Special Achievement 
Award from the Postal Service. He was also very competitive, and loved 
playing games and watching the Los Angeles Lakers and the Dodgers.
  He was a skilled chess player and was ranked at the master level. The 
Los Angeles Times and magazines devoted to chess recognized him for his 
achievements in that regard. His father taught him to play that game at 
the age of 7.
  Uniformed postal workers, in a caravan of more than 100 trucks, paid 
their respects to their fallen colleague. Every mail carrier in his 
post office attended the funeral, along with many others from the 
postal community. Retired mail carriers offered to deliver the mail 
that day so everyone who knew Joseph could attend, exemplifying the 
model of mail carriers everywhere, that an injury to one is an injury 
to all.
  Madam Speaker, it is important to note that the Post Office in Chino 
is

[[Page H11667]]

near completion, and due to open early next year. It would be fitting 
that this body take action today on this bill, H.R. 3189, so that the 
naming of the post office coincides with the opening of this facility. 
Naming the Post Office in Chino Hills after Joseph Ileto would be an 
act of remembrance and honor to a person who, though he just wanted to 
blend into the crowd, exemplifies all the qualities that we look for in 
an outstanding citizen of this great Nation.
  I also want to, Madam Speaker, take one moment to express our most 
heartfelt sympathy to the family and friends of this brave man. They 
share in this honor. We come to this floor many times each session and 
extend the privilege of a postal naming bill to presidents, to people 
who, in very real ways, made world history, to heroes of all kinds. 
Today we honor a hero of a somewhat different kind, but certainly no 
less a deserving individual.
  I would strongly urge all of our colleagues to support this bill and 
to extend this honor to a very, very special man.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Madam Speaker, as a member of the Committee on Government Reform and 
Oversight, I am pleased to join the gentleman from New York (Chairman 
McHugh) in the consideration of two postal naming bills, H.R. 3189, to 
designate the United States Post Office located at 41071 Peyton Drive 
in Chino Hills, California, as the Joseph Ileto Post Office, and H.R. 
2307, to designate the United States Post Office located at 5 Cedar 
Street in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, as the Thomas J. Brown Post Office 
Building.
  H.R. 319, introduced by the gentleman from California (Mr. Gary 
Miller) on November 1, 1999, seeks to honor a fallen postal employee, 
Mr. Joseph Santos Ileto. My colleagues will remember that Mr. Ileto was 
slain on August 10, 1999, by a gunman who shot and wounded five 
children and employees at the North Valley Jewish Community Center in 
suburban Los Angeles.
  Mr. Ileto was a letter carrier for the United States Postal Service. 
While he lived in Chino Hills, California, he worked at the Chatsworth 
Post Office, located at 21606 Devonshire Boulevard in Chatsworth, 
California.
  A letter carrier for just 2 years, he was remembered by the 
Chatsworth Postmaster, Ramona Franco, as a good employee with a 
wonderful sense of humor. According to Postmaster Franco, Mr. Ileto was 
the recent recipient of a Special Achievement Award and recognized for 
his outstanding performance.
  Joseph Santos Ileto was born on March 10, 1960, in Legaspi City, 
Philippines, and named after St. Joseph, the patron saint of workers. A 
Dodgers and Lakers fan, Mr. Ileto was a master chess player who was 
murdered by white supremacist Buford Furrow while delivering mail on 
his mail route.
  Joseph Santos Ileto was a fine man who loved his family and friends. 
My colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr. Gary Miller), is to be 
commended for recognizing a man who was proud to wear the uniform of 
the United States Postal Service letter carrier. I would agree with the 
gentleman from New York (Chairman McHugh), it is so appropriate that we 
take this time to honor this postman.
  The thing is that so often when we name buildings, they are not named 
after the people who do not normally make the front pages of the 
Washington Post or local papers, but this was a gentleman that so often 
I would take it that, like many other Post Office people, that we take 
for granted. They are the people who deliver our mail every day through 
the cold, the sleet, the wind, the sun, whatever. They are there.
  I join the gentleman from New York (Chairman McHugh) when he says 
that we want the family to know of our sympathy, and we want them to 
know how we feel so strongly about Mr. Ileto. Here is something else 
that needs to be said, and it is simply this, that in naming this Post 
Office after this postman, hopefully when people pass that Post Office 
and see that name up there, they will be reminded of what postmen and 
postwomen do every day in making sure that our mail is delivered, and 
making sure that correspondence, which is the lifeblood of any kind of 
communications process all over the world, is taken care of and taken 
care of in a very excellent fashion.
  To that end, it is indeed a fitting tribute to name a soon-to-be-
opened postal facility in Mr. Ileto's hometown in Chino Hills, 
California, after its fallen son.
  Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from 
Guam (Mr. Underwood).
  Mr. UNDERWOOD. Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding me 
the time.
  Madam Speaker, I stand in strong support of the bill offered by the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Gary Miller), H.R. 3189. As outlined, 
this bill will designate the United States Post Office in Chino Hills 
the Joseph Ileto Post Office.
  I stand in strong support of this on a couple of bases: One, as 
chairperson of the Asian-Pacific American Caucus in Congress, we have a 
particular affinity for this particular piece of legislation which is 
being passed in honor of Joseph Santos Ileto, a Filipino-American 
postal employee murdered by white supremacist Buford O. Furrow 
basically for being foreign-looking.
  Basically, the entire incident involving the murder of Mr. Ileto was 
that he looked like a foreigner. He was an Asian-American who was 
devoting his life to public service in the Post Office.
  Certainly I would like to also associate myself with the comments 
about the Postal Service. My father was postmaster at one time, and my 
grandfather was postmaster, so we have a long tradition in our family 
of paying honor and tribute to people who work in the Post Office.
  In this particular instance, we have what is usually a person who 
does not attract much attention, but he is emblematic of the many 
thousands of people who work for the Postal Service and who carry on 
their duties on a regular basis.
  I want to commend the gentleman from California (Mr. Gary Miller) on 
his initiative to remember Joseph Ileto, and to not let the issue go 
away about the circumstances of his murder and bringing recognition of 
that. At the same time, I want to point out that the number of hate 
crimes which have gone on this past year continues to increase in this 
country.
  I think it is very important that, in Mr. Ileto's name, we continue 
to focus on the issue of hate crimes, of which he was himself a victim, 
and to continue to support hate crimes legislation. This is an 
opportunity for us to draw attention to it. It is an opportunity to 
draw attention to the service of Asian-Pacific Americans in this 
country.
  Also, I would like to again commend the work of our colleague, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Gary Miller) in this matter.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague, the gentleman from Guam, 
for making a very significant point. That is that, unfortunately, in 
our country we are still seeing the results of hate crimes. 
Unfortunately, our friend, Mr. Ileto, died as a result of a hate crime. 
It is very, very sad.
  It is a fact that we are hoping that by taking this moment on the 
part of the United States Congress to recognize this wonderful, 
wonderful man, we will say to all of America that we, the Congress of 
the United States, will not stand for that kind of conduct. As we lift 
him up and say to Mr. Ileto and to his family that we are grateful for 
his service and all that he has given us, we also say to all of those 
who want to wander throughout our country committing these kinds of 
offenses that we will not stand for it, and we will do everything in 
our power to stomp it out.
  To that end, Madam Speaker, I would urge my colleagues to vote for 
this very, very important piece of legislation. I thank the chairman, 
the gentleman from New York (Mr. McHugh), the ranking member of our 
committee, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fattah), the gentleman 
from California (Mr. Waxman), and the chairman, the gentleman from 
Indiana (Mr. Burton).
  Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back 
the balance of my time.

[[Page H11668]]

  Mr. McHUGH. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, let me first of all express my appreciation to the 
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings) and the gentleman from Guam (Mr. 
Underwood), and all of the minority members, including, of course, the 
ranking member, the gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman), for their 
continued and continuous support on these kinds of measures.

                              {time}  1530

  I do think it is a very fine example as to how the majority and 
minority can work toward a common good and a common action.
  I also want to thank the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton), the 
chairman of the full committee, for his continuous support in these 
efforts and for helping us to expedite consideration as we wind down 
the end of this legislative session so that we can, indeed, pay tribute 
to a very deserving individual.
  I want to say that I certainly agree with the comments of the two 
previous speakers. The cause of this crime was despicable, and I think 
it is true as well that all Americans find hate and find the kinds of 
actions fueled by the hate in this instance to be unspeakably evil. And 
to the extent that we can make a statement against that in this forum, 
that is a positive thing.
  But I would say that we are here today honoring an individual who 
fell and who was victimized and who we think would be worthy of this 
honor regardless of the motivations of the criminal who took his life. 
This is a man who has, through his life, through his roots and the way 
in which he has overcome, earned all of our admiration.
  Madam Speaker, Mr. Ileto I think in many ways is a perfect profile 
for the American dream, a gentleman who works hard, someone who carries 
the common values that have continuously bound this Nation together 
through our more than two centuries of existence. And regardless of his 
race, his color, his religious beliefs or any other distinguishing 
factor is a man fully deserving of this honor today.
  So with that, Madam Speaker, I offer again our deepest sympathies to 
Mr. Ileto's family, to his loved ones, and to those who knew him and 
urge that all Members support this legislation.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Biggert). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from New York (Mr. McHugh) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 3189.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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