[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 171 (Thursday, September 30, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6833-S6834]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Tribute to Anne Sears

  Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, there is a lot going in the Senate, as 
we have been debating and voting on a number of things--important 
matters, no doubt--for the country. But that doesn't mean that we are 
going to forget other important matters that we regularly take up here 
in the Senate. And what I am talking about, of course, is the Alaskan 
of the Week.
  Now, our pages are back, which is such great news. But you need to 
know this is one of the most exciting times in the Senate. Usually 
every Thursday I get an opportunity to come down here on the Senate 
floor and talk about somebody in Alaska who is making a difference.
  In fact, we talked about a Gold Medal Olympic athlete just a couple 
of weeks ago, making a huge difference for Alaska, her community, the 
world, America. So we really enjoy this. We kind of have a cult 
following. But the pages really enjoy it because it is stories and 
adventure, all for the people who are doing wonderful things in my 
State.
  This week, on the actual day of her retirement from a long and 
rewarding career with the Alaska State Troopers, our Alaskan of the 
Week is Anne Sears.
  So before I talk about Anne and her extraordinary service to Alaska, 
about her being the first and only Alaskan Native female trooper, let 
me tell you a little bit about what is going on back home.
  In Wasilla, AK, where Anne recently moved--she was actually born in 
Nome; we will talk about that--the temperature has been in the 
midforties, twenties at night. The sun rose today at 8 a.m., sets at 
7:30 p.m. You know, it moves fast in Alaska. We have already had 
several pretty good size snowstorms. So winter is coming. Winter is 
coming--definitely coming to Alaska right now.
  But let's get back to Anne. After decades of hard work as an Alaska 
State Trooper, it is time for Anne to settle into a new home, to rest, 
get some sleep, and think about her next steps--all of which she is 
planning on doing starting tomorrow because, today, she is retiring.
  So Anne Sears--well, let's start with her mother Gladyce, who is from 
Nome. Gladyce actually left Nome for a little bit of time, moved to the 
lower 48. And among other things, Gladyce, Anne's mom, worked here in 
DC. She worked for Alaska Congressman Ralph Rivers.
  Most people don't think we ever had any other Congressman but   Don 
Young because he has been there forever, but this was Congressman Ralph 
Rivers. And Gladyce, Anne's mom, met her husband Cary, Anne's father, 
who was an electrician in the Navy. But Cary and Gladyce decided to 
move back to Nome because they wanted to make sure Anne was going to be 
born in Nome, which she was.

[[Page S6834]]

  So Gladyce, obviously, is a woman of ambition, and so was her 
daughter Anne. She passed that down to Anne. So after Anne was born and 
Cary, her father, left the Navy, he got a job as an electrician with 
the Federal Aviation Administration in Alaska, which took him and his 
family all around the State: Bethel, Kotzebue, Unalakleet--so many 
great villages in our rural part of Alaska.
  Now, eventually, they settled in Juneau. And after high school, Anne 
got a job as a clerk for the Juneau Police Department. All through her 
younger years, she knew she wanted to do something to help people. But 
it wasn't until the tender age of 31 that her calling came.
  As the clerk at the Juneau Police Department, she decided: Hey, I can 
do this.
  So she took the test required to become a police officer. Of course, 
a woman of this intelligence passed with flying colors, and she was 
offered the job. On the first day of on-the-job-training, Anne was in a 
police car, speeding to a site where a woman was hurt. She got there. 
She helped that woman. And her desire, motivation, to be a police 
officer was cemented. She was hooked.
  She met her future husband Jay at the police academy, and eventually, 
they became Alaska State Troopers as a couple--both of them working in 
rural Alaska together, where they had worked for over 15 years.
  It didn't take Anne long to realize she was actually really good at 
her job. That is not being arrogant. She just knew.
  ``I could talk to people,'' she said. ``Not being big and being a 
woman, you've got to use your words [in this job].''
  Anyone who has watched the reality show ``Alaska State Troopers''--
now, there are a lot of Alaska reality shows, but anyone at home 
watching right now, if you have seen ``Alaska State Troopers,'' you 
will have seen Anne featured prominently in that series, and you will 
understand what she means when she talks about using her words. She is 
articulate. She is tough. She is firm. She is very clear, but she is 
also calming, which is what you need from a good officer. She is able 
to bring calm and ease to the most volatile situations and situations 
that can be extraordinarily challenging for our law enforcement 
officers.
  Now, as some might have heard me talk about here on the floor, the 
hundreds of small, rural villages in the hub communities of rural 
Alaska are literally the spiritual and cultural soul of my State.
  Like many areas across America, both urban and rural, rural Alaska 
also has many challenges. And one of them is that there is not enough 
public safety officers present in rural Alaska. We have dozens of 
communities with nothing--no sheriff, no police officer, no trooper, no 
VPSO--nothing.
  It is a big issue. It is something I am certainly passionate about 
that we are all working on, more law enforcement presence in our rural 
communities. So being a law enforcement officer in rural Alaska, 
particularly in the hundreds of villages that don't have roads to get 
in and out of, can pose unique challenges. Anne has seen those 
challenges throughout her career.
  What are some of those?
  Well, first, you have to get to the village, especially if it doesn't 
even have an officer in the village when this is a crime or a 
challenge. That often requires flying in a single-engine plane to a 
remote place in a giant State, in tough weather. Then when you get 
there, you have to figure out where you need to go. Sometimes, there is 
no facilities, no jail, no holding cell, no place to take people--maybe 
one city office, at the most. And then you have to figure out how to 
get into those offices, which can be particularly challenging, 
particularly in the winter. When it is cold and dark, it might be 50 
below zero with the wind howling.
  So these are many, many of the challenges that Anne has dealt with. 
As she says: This is not ``NCIS'' or ``Law and Order.'' In rural 
Alaska, we have to do it all.
  Indeed, as a trooper, she has played many roles: a protector, an 
enforcer, a trooper, a friend, a confidant, a social worker. And she 
loved it all, and she was really good at it. Here is what she said:

       It was the best job I could have ever had and the hardest 
     job I could have ever had. But I couldn't have done it 
     without my husband, Jay, my sons, Hunter and Zachery, and my 
     brother, Perry.

  Anne also credits the health aides and public safety officers, VPSOs, 
VPOs in these villages who have really, really important roles.
  One of the most difficult aspects of her job was handling cases of 
domestic violence and sexual assault.
  Now, I love my State. We are a great State. I come down on the floor 
once a week and brag about it with our Alaskan of the Week. But this is 
something we don't like to brag about in Alaska: the horrific problems 
we have with domestic violence, sexual assault, and the challenges that 
brings particularly with young people, too many people.
  But she has been very focused on these issues. Anne teamed up with 
local health providers to go into high schools, to give presentations 
about these horrible crimes, and talk about why it is wrong--this kind 
of abuse--and to try to change the culture of our State, which we need 
to keep focused on.
  She had groups and gatherings for parents too. She said mostly 
mothers would come and, heartbreakingly, almost inevitably tell stories 
of some of the victims and survivors of abuse that we have in our 
State. But she was undeterred.
  She said: If I could just touch one child on these kinds of crimes, 
to help them, I know I made a difference.
  Anne has made a difference--I would say a huge difference--for 
Alaska.
  Here is what fellow Trooper Bryan Barlow said about Anne's service: 
``Her legacy as a caring, compassionate, and dedicated trooper and 
investigator has without a doubt made our State''--the great State of 
Alaska--``a much safer place.''
  James Cockrell, the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Public 
Safety, said that Anne's dedication to rural Alaska was an 
extraordinary asset to the department's mission to keep Alaskans safe.
  As I have said, Anne was the first female Alaskan Native trooper, but 
I guarantee you, she will not be the last. She has proved a role model 
for so many, a true trailblazer, an example that we need in Alaska and 
so many people look up to.
  Now, she hasn't decided what the future holds, but she is still young 
and still has the urge to help out. I have no doubt she is going to 
make a big impact in other places, helping Alaskans. For now, though--
you can tell this is a tough job--I think she needs a little rest and 
some sleep.
  So, thank you, Anne, for all you have done. Congratulations on your 
retirement today. From the Alaska State Troopers: Thank you for being 
an inspiration, an example to so many in our great State. And, of 
course, congratulations on being our Alaskan of the Week.

  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.

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