[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 163 (Wednesday, November 17, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2425]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


  TRIBUTE TO RETIRED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CENTRAL REGION DIRECTOR 
                           RICHARD P. AUGULIS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. KAREN McCARTHY

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 16, 1999

  Ms. McCARTHY of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to 
Richard P. Augulis on the occasion of his retirement as Director of the 
National Weather Service Central Region headquartered in my 
Congressional District.
  A 35-year employee of the National Weather Service, part of the 
Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration, Mr. Augulis has always held public safety as the first 
priority in his career, whether as a forecaster or as an office and 
regional manager. He recently retired after 12 years as Director of the 
14-state Central Region and is currently enjoying his retirement in Las 
Vegas, where he relocated to be near his family.
  Mr. Augulis joined the National Weather Service in August 1961 as a 
Weather Bureau Student Trainee at WBAS Midway Airport in Chicago while 
attending St. Louis University. He earned his Bachelor of Science in 
Meteorology in 1963 and added a Masters Degree in 1967. His 
distinguished career included a variety of forecasting and management 
positions with the National Weather Service in Salt Lake City, Utah; to 
Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska; Garden City, New York; and finally, to 
Kansas City.
  As meteorologist in charge of the new Fairbanks Weather Forecast 
Office beginning in 1974, Mr. Augulis presided over a staff that 
operated service programs during the exciting and challenging times of 
the Trans-Alaska Pipeline construction.
  Mr. Augulis' leadership was invaluable to employees during the mid 
1970s transition from teletype machines to computers as the Automation 
of Field Operations (AFOS) communications network was implemented by 
the National Weather Service.
  Mr. Augulus' last decade with the National Weather Service included 
the largest modernization and reorganization ever undertaken by the 
agency. He helped guide his Region through the introduction and 
implementation of sate-of-the-art Doppler radar, computer-enhanced 
weather modeling and forecasting, and restructuring from more than 300 
offices of varying sizes and capabilities to an efficient network of 
123 Twenty-First Century Weather Forecast Offices across the United 
States.
  Mr. Augulis served proudly as an employee and a manager of the 
National Weather Service. He is a distinguished executive branch 
employee whose accomplishments reflect credit on himself, the National 
Weather Service, and the United States of America.
  Mr. Speaker, on this occasion, please join with me, his family, 
friends, and colleagues as we honor Richard P. Augulis on his 
retirement from the National Weather Service and on his outstanding 
contributions to our region.

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