[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 74 (Tuesday, June 7, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1143-E1144]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  TRIBUTE TO THE LATE FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT JUDGE G. THOMAS VANBEBBER

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DENNIS MOORE

                               of kansas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 7, 2005

  Mr. MOORE of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the 
life and career of Federal District Court Judge for the District of 
Kansas G. Thomas VanBebber, who died on May 26th.
  U.S. District Judge G. Thomas VanBebber, 73, died unexpectedly and 
peacefully at home in Overland Park, Kansas. He was born to Roy 
VanBebber and Anne Wenner VanBebber in 1931 and grew up in Troy, 
Kansas, where he established a law practice after his graduation from 
the University of Kansas and its School of Law in 1955. There, he was a 
member of the editorial board of the Law Review and was a member of the 
Order of the Coif. He served as an Assistant United States Attorney for 
the District of Kansas for 2 years, and he was the Doniphan County, 
Kansas, Attorney for 6 years as he established a 25-year private 
practice in Troy. Before he entered the judiciary, Judge VanBebber was 
active in politics and was Chairman of the Doniphan County Republican 
Central Committee. He served 2 terms in the Kansas House of 
Representatives before being appointed chairman of the Kansas 
Corporation Commission, the state's utility regulatory agency, by 
Governor Robert Bennett. Among his memberships was tenure as a Director 
of the Kansas State Historical Society. In 1982, he was appointed U.S. 
Magistrate Judge for the District of Kansas, in Topeka, and he was 
appointed as U.S. District Judge for the District of Kansas in 1989. He 
sat in Kansas City, Kansas, and became Chief District Judge in April 
1995, a position he held until he elected to assume Senior Judge status 
in December 2000. He had continued to carry an active workload of 
federal cases until his death.
  Judge VanBebber was preceded in death by his parents and his sister, 
Virginia Anne Henry. He leaves his wife, Alleen, at home; and his 
stepson, David Castellani, of Los Angeles, California. He also leaves 
his brother, John Gregory, and his wife, Vondell; his brother, William 
and his wife, Yvonne; his brother-in-law Ward Henry, and many nieces, 
nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews, and cousins. I have known Alleen 
and the Judge for many years. They are wonderful people. We all will 
miss Tom VanBebber.
  On May 28th, the Lawrence Journal-World carried an article reviewing 
the notable moments of Judge VanBebber's judicial career. I include it 
with this statement and thank you, Mr. Speaker, for the opportunity to 
pay tribute to a jurist who was described in the Kansas City Star as a 
man who ``forged a legal career that defines the principles of 
fairness, courage and intelligence . . . He was known for his 
gregarious warmth outside the courtroom, but when he put on the black 
robe he was all business and expected litigants to have the same 
attitude.''

[[Page E1144]]

               [The Lawrence Journal-World, May 27, 2005]

                   Federal Judge VanBebber Dies at 73


   Rulings included OKC bomb case, South Lawrence Trafficway, Phelps

       U.S. District Court Judge G. Thomas VanBebber died 
     Thursday. He was 73.
       ``He was an indomitable spirit . . . a wonderful judge,'' 
     said Steve McAllister, dean of the Kansas University School 
     of Law.
       VanBebber, who lived in Overland Park, called in sick 
     Wednesday.
       ``He died peacefully in his sleep, sometime between 6 and 
     6:30 a.m.,'' said Ralph DeLoach, clerk/administrator for the 
     U.S. District Court of Kansas.
       ``He was respected not only by his peers, but by all court 
     staff who worked for him--highly respected,'' DeLoach said.
       VanBebber was perhaps best known for sentencing Michael 
     Fortier, a key witness for the prosecution in the Oklahoma 
     City bombing trial that led to convictions of Timothy McVeigh 
     and Terry Nichols.
       Fortier admitted knowing about the plot to bomb the Alfred 
     P. Murrah Federal Building and choosing not to warn 
     authorities.
       VanBebber sentenced Fortier to 12 years in prison and 
     ordered him to pay $200,000 in fines.
       Fortier's attorneys appealed the sentence, arguing it was 
     excessive given his cooperation with prosecutors. A federal 
     appeals court upheld the sentence.
       Other VanBebber rulings:
       1997--Issued an injunction halting work on the proposed 
     South Lawrence Trafficway until after completion of an 
     environmental impact statement.
       1999--Denied the Rev. Fred Phelps' attempt to sue Shawnee 
     County Dist. Atty. Joan Hamilton for allegedly prosecuting 
     him in an attempt to limit his anti-homosexual picketing.
       2004--Denied an attempt to force Washburn University to 
     remove a statue from campus that some considered anti-
     Catholic.
       The sculpture, entitled ``Holier Than Thou,'' depicted a 
     scowling, heavyset clergyman wearing ceremonial headgear that 
     some said was shaped like a penis.
       ``The court cannot conclude that a reasonable observer 
     would perceive the university's display of `Holier Than Thou' 
     as an attack on Catholics,'' VanBebber wrote in his ruling.
       VanBebber grew up in Troy, Kan. (population 1,000). He 
     earned a bachelor's degree from Kansas University in 1953; a 
     law degree in 1955. In 2001, he received the KU Law Society's 
     distinguished alumnus award.
       He practiced law in Troy until 1959, when he became an 
     assistant U.S. attorney. He returned to private practice in 
     Troy in 1961, serving as Doniphan County attorney from 1963 
     to 1969. He was elected to the Kansas House, serving one term 
     from 1973 to 1975.
       He served on the Kansas Corporation Commission, from 1975 
     to 1979.
       VanBebber was appointed a federal magistrate in 1982. Seven 
     years later, he was appointed to the federal bench by 
     President George H. W. Bush.
       He served as chief judge from 1995 to 2000, assuming senior 
     judge status on Dec. 31, 2000.
       ``He was a wonderful judge and an even better person,'' 
     said U.S. Chief Judge John W. Lungstrum, who lives in 
     Lawrence.
       ``He was a great student of history and literature,'' he 
     said. ``He had a tendency to relate to anecdotes and people 
     he knew while growing up in Troy--I say that not to imply 
     that he was homespun in character; I say it because he 
     related to small-town values in a way that brought a lot of 
     wisdom and common sense to the bench. He was truly 
     brilliant.''
       Lungstrum succeeded VanBebber as the federal court's chief 
     judge in Kansas.
       As a child, VanBebber contracted polio and often relied on 
     crutches and, in recent years, a wheelchair.
       ``He was in pain every day, but he never let on that there 
     was a problem,'' Lungstrum said. ``His courage and stoicism 
     were tremendously inspirational to the court.''
       VanBebber is survived by his wife, Alleen, an attorney.

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