[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Page 4782]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               AMTRAK ``CITY OF NEW ORLEANS'' DERAILMENT

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, millions of Americans awoke yesterday to the 
tragic news of the derailment of the Amtrak ``City of New Orleans'' 
passenger train in Bourbonnais, Illinois. Late Monday night, the train, 
bound for New Orleans from Chicago, struck a tractor trailer at a 
highway/railroad crossing, throwing the two locomotives and 11 of the 
14 cars off the tracks. More than 100 of the 196 passengers, 18 crew 
members, and two off-duty Amtrak employees were injured. At least 
eleven passengers were killed, including three Mississippians.
  Both Tricia and I are keeping the families of the victims of this 
terrible tragedy in our prayers, especially the Bonnin and Lipscomb 
families of DeSoto County, Mississippi. June Bonnin of Nesbit, 
Mississippi was diagnosed with what doctors described as incurable 
cancer five years ago. However, her strong faith in God kept her going 
and inspired others around her. She and her granddaughter, Jessica 
Tickle of Memphis, Tennessee, are in God's hands now, and her daughter 
Ashley was severely injured. Rainey and Lacey Lipscomb, two young 
sisters from Lake Cormorant, Mississippi, also perished in this crash. 
We grieve with these families for their loss.
  Mr. President, a group of students and adults from Clinton High 
School and Covenant Christian School in Clinton, Mississippi riding 
that train were returning to Mississippi after a spring-break ski trip. 
These young teenagers were jolted into a nightmare situation as some of 
the train's locomotives and cars overturned, split open, and caught 
fire.
  I want to recognize the reactions of two of those students during 
this catastrophe. Clinton High School students Michael Freeman and 
Caleb McNair quickly recovered from the initial shock of this crash and 
went to the aid of their fellow students and passengers. The Jackson, 
Mississippi newspaper reported today that Michael located an escape 
route through a side window, which was now at the top of their 
overturned passenger coach, built a ladder from broken seats, climbed 
out, and pulled his fellow students out to safety. Meanwhile, Caleb 
searched the coach for his fellow students. They had rescued more than 
a dozen students by the time emergency personnel arrived on scene. 
Michael then assisted one of the injured students to a telephone so she 
could notify her parents.
  Mr. President, the actions of these two young men may have prevented 
the other students from suffering additional injury or even death. 
Their reaction during this unexpected and disorienting event was truly 
commendable, as was the response by local, state, and Federal emergency 
personnel, Amtrak, and the Red Cross.
  It is unfortunate that the Nation's awareness of the dangers of road/
railway crossings tends to be raised by tragedies such as this, only to 
fade as time passes. Drivers who fail to heed rail intersection 
warnings place not only themselves at risk, but others as well. More 
needs to be done to prevent such accidents. I intend to work with my 
colleagues this year to do just that.

                          ____________________