[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 11793]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       A TRIBUTE TO PAUL AZEVEDO

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 8, 2004

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Paul Azevedo, a 
resident of Pacifica, California, located in my Congressional district, 
who passed away on May 9th. Mr. Azevedo was a popular columnist at the 
Pacifica Tribune, a local paper, a historian of his beloved town, and 
above all, a family man.
   Mr. Azevedo was born in Sonoma County, California on March 20, 1931. 
He served in the U.S. Army and earned a degree from San Jose State 
University. Mr. Azevedo moved with his wife Lydia to picturesque 
Pacifica 41 years ago where they raised four children, Mike, Rena, 
Martin and Joane, in this picturesque Peninsula town.
   Mr. Azevedo joined the Pacifica Tribune in 1966 as an ad salesman 
and proceeded to hold almost every imaginable job at the paper before 
eventually settling into his role as a columnist. Known as ``The 
Reactor'', Mr. Azevedo eloquently opined on all matters that affected 
the Peninsula. Sometimes he merely related historical anecdotes that he 
thought relevant to the present day. A bit of a maverick, he did not 
always write the conventional column, but inspired praise nonetheless 
for engaging his readers on a variety of diverse and interesting 
subjects.
   Mr. Speaker, no one knew more about the Pacifica and no details 
escaped his steel trap of a mind. In the last “Reactor” 
column, his family recalled all of the places around town that he loved 
with no area left out.
   As one would expect of a vocal columnist, Mr. Azevedo had strong 
opinions about politics, however despite those opinions his overriding 
desire was to insure that his beloved democracy was upheld. That is why 
in addition to writing his column, he also worked in the local 
election's office, proofreading election material in English, Chinese 
and Spanish and although not fluent in Chinese and Spanish, he spotted 
errors in the materials that fluent speakers overlooked by finding 
inconsistencies in the text. Mr. Azevedo also looked to preserve the 
natural beauty of Pacifica as a member of the Open Space Committee.
   Mr. Speaker, Mr. Azevedo was as much apart of Pacifica as the fog 
that rolls in off the ocean and the waves that crash on his beloved 
beaches. Both his personality and his column will be sorely missed. I 
invite my colleagues to join me in paying tribute to him, and all that 
he meant to family, friends, and neighbors on the Peninsula.

                          ____________________