[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 156 (Thursday, December 2, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2054]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


A TRIBUTE TO MARY SCARPA FOR HER PUBLIC SERVICE TO ADELANTO, CALIFORNIA

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                            HON. JERRY LEWIS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, December 2, 2010

  Mr. LEWIS of California. Madam Speaker, I would like to join today 
with my friend and colleague Congressman Buck McKeon in paying tribute 
to Mary Scarpa, the former mayor of Adelanto, California, who helped 
that small desert city grow and prosper over two decades of public 
service.
  Mary Scarpa arrived in California's Mojave Desert in 1968 with her 
husband John, joining their lifelong friends from the U.S. Air Force, 
Patricia and Herbert Chamberlaine. They moved to Adelanto, a then tiny 
city in the shadow of George Air Force Base, where Herbert Chamberlaine 
was stationed.
  Within two years, Mary Scarpa and Patricia Chamberlaine began their 
community involvement by helping organize the incorporation of the city 
of Adelanto. They founded the Adelanto Independent newspaper to watch 
over civic affairs. Mary Scarpa joined the city's planning commission 
in 1971, and was elected to the City Council in 1981. She served on the 
council for the next 16 years, including four years as Mayor. For many 
of those years, she was joined on the civic body by her friend Pat 
Chamberlaine.
  The city of Adelanto had just 2,100 residents when Mary Scarpa was 
elected to the council. It had few amenities and almost no business 
base other than the Air Force Base. Today, the city has industrial 
parks, housing tracts and its own minor league baseball stadium--and a 
population approaching 30,000. Mary Scarpa is credited for much of the 
progress.
  At 83, Mary Scarpa is still involved in community activities through 
her work with the Community Food Closet charitable pantry and through 
organizations like the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Read Across 
America program in the local schools. She has attended nearly every 
game of the minor league High Desert Mavericks at the baseball stadium 
she helped bring to the city.
  Madam Speaker, the city of Adelanto and the Adelanto Chamber of 
Commerce are honoring Mary Scarpa as one of the founders and civic 
leaders of the city. Please join Congressman McKeon and me in 
congratulating Mary on her long years of public service, and wishing 
her well in her future endeavors.

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