[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 111 (Thursday, July 24, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S9901]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                      IN MEMORY OF MR. PAUL BERNAL

 Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I rise to recognize a great New 
Mexican, Paul Bernal, who passed away on July 16. Mr. Bernal was a 
truly remarkable--yet remarkably humble--man.
  Mr. Bernal was best known for his work to recover the Pueblo de Taos' 
title to its people's sacred Blue Lake, which lies in the Sangre de 
Cristo Mountains of northern New Mexico. Mr. Bernal served the Pueblo 
for many decades as a strategist and interpreter in its struggle to 
restore this sacred piece of land, which was taken without just 
compensation by the United States at the turn of the century. The 
Pueblo de Taos is a very traditional community and at that time had few 
leaders who spoke the English language. This language barrier stalled 
the Pueblo's efforts for decades. Mr. Bernal, who in 1946 had completed 
his service to this country aboard the aircraft carrier Ticonderoga in 
World War II, was appointed by the Pueblo elders to overcome this 
barrier and achieve the goal of restoring these sacred lands.
  Mr. Bernal and his colleagues did achieve their goal, and the 
restoration act returned 48,000 acres of the Carson National Forest to 
be held in trust for the Pueblo to use for traditional purposes. It 
also restored to the Pueblo their rights to hunt, fish, graze livestock 
and, most importantly, to hold their lakeside ceremonies undisturbed. 
Mr. Bernal's courage and dedication is an inspiration and a testament 
to perseverance from which we can all learn.
  I am honored to say that I had the opportunity to work with the 
Pueblo and Mr. Bernal when I cosponsored a bill in the mid-1990's to 
restore a final tract of sacred land to complete the Blue Lake 
wilderness' integrity--a tract the Taos Pueblo people use as the sacred 
Path of Life Trail that connects the Pueblo itself with Blue Lake. At a 
1994 hearing on the bill, I had the privilege of hosting the last of 
Mr. Bernal's many appearances before the Senate Committee on Energy and 
Natural Resources. At that hearing, Mr. Bernal remembered the days when 
he testified before the distinguished and longtime Committee Chairman 
Scoop Jackson: ``They used to call me Mr. Blue Lake,'' Mr. Bernal said, 
``I loved that name.''
  Mr. Blue Lake surely will be missed. My thoughts and prayers are with 
Paul Bernal's family and community. I hope they can be comforted by the 
fact that his was a life of dedicated service to his people and 
country, and that his legacy will endure with the continued use of the 
sacred Blue Lake and its surrounding wilderness.

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