[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 44 (Friday, April 7, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S3373]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        SCHOOL SAFETY PATROLLERS

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize several young 
people who were recently selected by the American Automobile 
Association, AAA, to receive the Lifesaver Award for their outstanding 
work as school safety patrollers.
  More than 500,000 students in 50,000 schools worldwide participate in 
AAA's School Safety program. These young people have taken on the 
important responsibility of making the streets around their schools 
safer for their classmates. Though their responsibilities are often 
routine, the patrollers on occasion must place themselves in harm's way 
in order to save lives. Today, I want to recognize four students who 
received the AAA Lifesaver Award for selfless and heroic actions while 
fulfilling their duties as patrollers.
  Nico DelGraco and Mitchell Davis of Simpson Elementary School in 
Bridgeport, WV, are the first two recipients of this year's awards. In 
the second week of November 2005, Nico and Mitchell were watching their 
patrol posts for traffic; a first-grader on his way home from school 
began to cross the street. As the student walked just past the center 
of the street, Nico noticed an SUV coming toward the red light that 
showed no signs of stopping. Nico quickly left his post, took hold of 
the child, and directed him toward Mitchell. Mitchell then grabbed the 
first-grader from Nico and dragged him back toward the sidewalk. No one 
was injured in the incident.
  The third AAA Lifesaver Award recipient is Molly Kaiser, a fifth-
grade student from Defer Elementary School in Grosse Pointe Park, MI. 
On the morning of November 9, 2005, Molly pulled a second-grader out of 
the street as a bus was turning. Molly had tried to verbally caution 
the student that he was in danger. After this was met with no response, 
she pulled the student out of the intersection and the path of the 
school bus that was making its turn. The bus swerved to avoid the child 
and drove on without stopping.
  The fourth AAA Lifesaver Award recipient is also from the State of 
Michigan. Her name is Emma Elise Binegar, and she is a student at 
Morenci Elementary School in Morenci. On December 9, 2005, Emma quickly 
noticed that 5-year-old William Leeroy Webster was in danger as he was 
crossing the street in the path of a fast-approaching car. Emma saved 
him by pulling him out of the path of a vehicle about 10 feet away.
  I would like to thank AAA for making the school safety program 
possible. The program has helped save many lives over the years and has 
made our schools safer for our students. As the stories of the 
Lifesaver Award recipients demonstrate, the streets around our schools 
are not safe enough. That is why I have worked for the last 2 years to 
create a national Safe Routes to School program, which was adopted as 
part of the Federal transportation bill on July 29, 2005. The $612 
million allotted for the program can now help communities construct new 
bike lanes, pathways, and sidewalks, as well as to launch Safe Routes 
education and promotion campaigns in elementary and middle schools.

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