[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 7]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 8845]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




TRIBUTE TO PULITZER PRIZE WINNING EAGLE TRIBUTE NEWSPAPER--LAWRENCE, MA

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MARTIN T. MEEHAN

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, April 8, 2003

  Mr. MEEHAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Eagle 
Tribune, a newspaper in Lawrence, Massachusetts. This week the Eagle 
Tribune was awarded journalism's highest honor the Pulitzer Prize for 
breaking news, for its coverage of four young children from Lawrence, 
Massachusetts who drowned in the Merrimack River earlier this year.
  The tragedy was one of the worst on the Merrimack River in the last 
century. Three young boys, ages 7, 8, and 9 attempted to save their 
friend, age 11, who had fallen through the thin ice. All four young 
boys died.
  Just as these children, so young and innocent, acted upon their first 
instinct, which was to help their friend, so did the Eagle Tribune 
reach out to help their community by reporting this story not only with 
accuracy and depth, but also with compassion and justice. Expressing 
their commitment to preventing future tragedies on the River, the Eagle 
Tribune donated their Pulitzer Prize cash award to a fund established 
to aid the families of the victims and to the Boys & Girls Club of 
Greater Lawrence.
  As Eagle Tribune publisher Irving ``Chip'' Rogers III said, ``The job 
of a newspaper is to get the news and publish it instantly, but in 
doing so we are not immune from its heartbreak.'' Indeed, the reporters 
and staff of the Eagle Tribune, led by metro editor Gretchen Putnam, 
with reporters Jim Patten, O'Ryan Johnson, and Jason Grosky, covered 
the story with a deep sense of grief and regret felt by both the 
reporters and the community, while maintaining a stunning truthfulness.
  The Eagle Tribune produced excellence at a time when our communities 
depend on fair and accurate news coverage more than ever. The paper and 
its reporters are to be commended not only for their excellence in 
journalism and professionalism, but also for their compassion and 
generosity in the face of tragedy. They are role models for all of us 
in public service.