[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 7]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 9122-9123]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                      A TRIBUTE TO LEE QUARNSTROM

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. SAM FARR

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 22, 2001

  Mr. FARR of California. Mr. Speaker, I am in the habit of paying 
tribute on this floor to constituents and persons who have made 
extraordinary contributions to our community. But words fall me when it 
comes to describing the life of one of Santa Cruz's finest newspaper 
columnists, Lee Quamstrom. Consequently, Mr. Speaker, I ask your 
indulgence in my sharing with the House the observations of Mr. 
Quamstrom's journalism colleagues on the event of his retirement:
  Whereas, Lee Quamstrom has toiled for the San Jose Mercury News for 
nearly 20 years, covering daily events in Santa Cruz County, Monterey 
County as well as the great American West, and during that time has 
written literally more than a dozen news stories; and
  Whereas, Lee has covered three generations of Santa Cruz County 
politicians, simultaneously indulging and insulting them; and
  Whereas, Lee is the only man in Santa Cruz County to have made the 
psychedelic journey from Merry Prankster to Cranky Curmudgeon; and

[[Page 9123]]

  Whereas, Lee has acted as a selfless champion of homeless rights, 
giving even the poorest among us the special privilege to call 
themselves ``bums''; and
  Whereas, Lee has been voted ``Man of the Year'' by the Santa Cruz 
Bicycling Club for his columns that have come flat out against capital 
punishment for cyclists; and
  Whereas, Lee is the longest-standing member of the local journalistic 
community's honorary, limited organization, ``The Three Biggest Jerks 
in Santa Cruz County,'' serving along with such notables as Dick 
Little, Steve Shender, Tom Honig, Bob Smith, Greg Beebe, Lane Wallace 
and Don Wilson; and
  Whereas, Lee has been a friend, an advocate and an intellectual voice 
for all that is good about journalism, Santa Cruz County and for all 
who ply their trade just trying to get a story in the paper without the 
copy desk screwing it up. He's funny, appropriately disrespectful and--
perhaps the greatest praise of all--never boring to have around.
  Now, therefore, be it resolved that Lee Quamstrom has been the most 
memorable Santa Cruz resident ever and thus shall be allowed to 
dismantle the Santa Cruz lighthouse, brick by brick, and take it to the 
real Surf City, Huntington Beach in Orange County, Calif. As his buddy 
and former fellow columnist, James Trotter, put it:
  ``He might as well take the lighthouse because without Lee Quamstrom, 
Santa Cruz will never be the same place again.''

                          ____________________