[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 127 (Thursday, October 12, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S10400]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               IN REMEMBRANCE OF THE HONORABLE SID YATES

  Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, Sid Yates, former Congressman from Ohio 
and a long-time friend of Indian country passed away last week.
  I am particularly saddened because in the last 2 years, we have lost 
Morris Thompson, the Alaska Native tribal leader and one of the 
instrumental leaders in Alaska politics, Dr. Helen Peterson one of the 
founders of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), and now 
our long-time friend Sid Yates.
  Indian country is losing far too many friends and most unfortunate is 
that we seem to be losing more friends than we are gaining.
  As a Congressman from the State of Ohio with no federally-recognized 
Indian Tribes Sid Yates had no political reason to become the champion 
for Indian causes that he was known for. His dedication was not part of 
constituent service and he stood to lose more than he gained from his 
advocacy. Nonetheless, Sid Yates' commitment and determination to do 
the right thing never wavered.
  I am saddened to be making this statement because all who knew or 
came in contact with Sid Yates were awed by his generous heart and 
humbled by the patience he showed with his colleagues and with the 
public--even when they disagreed with him.
  His patience and focus in the legislative realm were legendary. Sid 
Yates started what I believe an appropriate protocol in the House 
Subcommittee by affording every Tribal Leader wishing to come before 
the subcommittee the brief opportunity to describe the most pressing 
needs of his or her Tribe.
  When I came to the House of Representatives in 1986, I became deeply 
involved in issues that affect my State of Colorado, natural resource 
issues and of course issues that affect American Indians. In pursuing 
and working on these matters, I worked with Sid Yates time and again 
and benefitted from that association both as a legislator and as a man.
  Sid Yates also knew when generosity of spirit and patience were not 
the appropriate response. In the mid 1980's a series of newspaper 
articles appeared in the Arizona Republic that revealed a breathtaking 
level of corruption and waste in the Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs. 
Millions of dollars were being siphoned off or wasted and were not 
getting to the Indian beneficiaries as Congress intended.
  As Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Interior Appropriations, Sid 
Yates took bold steps to ensure that this would not happen again and 
launched the Tribal Self Governance Demonstration Project. I am proud 
to say that in August the President signed legislation that I sponsored 
in the Senate to make permanent Self Governance in Health Care.
  The auditorium in the U.S. Department of Interior was appropriately 
named the ``Sid Yates Auditorium'' and his name will carry with it the 
kind of dedication and honesty that was his hallmark.
  It is customary and protocol to add the prefix ``The Honorable'' when 
talking of elected leaders and if there was ever a man who fulfilled 
that moniker it was the Honorable Sid Yates.

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