[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 14815-14816]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



       TRIBUTE TO MR. JOHN ROUSE, EDITOR OF THE BOWIE BLADE NEWS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Mr. John 
Rouse. He is celebrating his 30th anniversary as the editor of the 
Bowie Blade News, a hometown newspaper located in Bowie, Maryland, in 
the heart of my district.
  The first amendment states, and I quote, ``Congress shall make no law 
abridging the freedom of speech or of the press.'' This first tenet of 
freedom in the Bill of Rights is vigorously exercised by the thousands 
of hometown newspapers that act as watchdogs for the American public 
against intrusion on its rights and property by the government and by 
others.
  Newspapers across the country oversee elected officials' conduct and 
performance, reporting the facts and offering praise or criticism on 
their editorial pages. It is the prism by which many Americans gain 
their insight on just what is happening in the world, in America, and 
even right next door.

                              {time}  1415

  We lament the fact that sometimes they are wrong, as human beings are 
wont to do, but most times they are right. In any event, they are 
absolutely essential to the continuation, to the growth and the 
vitality of democracy.
  John Rouse, Mr. Speaker, has made an extraordinary contribution to 
his community by fulfilling this watchdog role in Bowie, Maryland, for 
30 years. After serving in Vietnam as an Air Force officer, John joined 
the Bowie News as editor and became the editor and general manager of 
the new Bowie Blade News in 1978 when the two papers merged.
  John reports issues fully and fairly and often shows his keen sense 
of humor. He is an adept writer, a skilled editor, and very much in 
tune to the needs, the hopes, and the vision of the people of Bowie. 
John's skills earned the Bowie Blade the 1999 Best in Show award by the 
Maryland, Delaware and D.C. Press Association, and his walls are 
covered by numerous other awards he and the paper have won over the 
years. The paper itself has received dozens of accolades under his 
stewardship.
  Bowie, Mr. Speaker, is a vibrant community that has grown rapidly and 
changed greatly over the past 30 years. The city is in many ways a 
microcosm of the changes that have buffeted this country over the past 
few decades,

[[Page 14816]]

from increased suburbanization to greater diversity. It certainly is no 
easy task to keep one's hand on the pulse of such a community, but that 
is exactly what John Rouse has been able to do for 30-plus years. He 
has kept himself constantly connected with the issues that are 
important to the city of Bowie and to its people.
  John has snapped and growled at me more than once. I know that my 
colleagues can empathize with that in dealing with some of their local 
editors. But he has been an editor that I have been always in respect 
of. I always appreciate that his goal is to advocate for the best 
interest of his city, of his county, his State, and his country. He and 
I have grown to be friends and to hold each other in mutual respect and 
esteem.
  Our democracy, Mr. Speaker, cannot continue to thrive without the 
likes of John Rouse, without whom the electorate would have a much 
harder time discerning fact from fiction when it comes to their local 
politicians, their community leaders, and the policies that are 
proposed.
  So today, Mr. Speaker, I would like to say thank you, thank you to 
John Rouse, an editor of a small paper. Unlike Katherine Graham, not 
known worldwide, but equally important in the strength of our 
democracy, equally important to the informed citizenry of his 
community. I want to wish him the best of luck as he continues as the 
editor of this great little paper.

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