[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 16207-16208]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   IN RECOGNITION OF DICK KURTENBACH

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EMANUEL CLEAVER

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 14, 2005

  Mr. CLEAVER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of the 
achievements of Dick Kurtenbach, the former Executive Director of the 
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Kansas and Western Missouri 
and tireless advocate for the constitutional rights of Americans. Mr. 
Kurtenbach retired on June 30th, 2005 after 20 years of distinguished 
service to the ACLU and his community. For this reason, I rise today to 
honor and celebrate his life achievements.
  Dick Kurtenbach's tenure with the American Civil Liberties Union has 
been prolific for the Western Missouri and Kansas region as well as 
fruitful for the entire Nation. He oversaw notable litigation, such as 
Cruzan v. Director of the Missouri Department of Health, which was herd 
by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1990. The ruling was a victory, by 
recognizing that patients are entitled to the fulfillment of their end-
of-life care wishes. More importantly, the case raised much needed 
public awareness towards the importance of living wills, medical 
proxies, and other means of documenting those wishes and was lauded as 
a success by supporters. However, Dick's unwavering commitment to the 
values of liberty didn't always make him friends. In 1989, while I 
served on the City Council, his office filed suit on behalf of the 
Missouri Knights of the Ku Klux Klan arguing that the Kansas City, 
Missouri City Council had violated the Klan's First Amendment rights by 
denying them access to rant on a public cable TV channel. I remember 
being interviewed with Dick on ``The Today Show'' in New York City. As 
we walked out of the NBC studios, it was obvious that he was painfully 
uncomfortable having appeared to side with a group like the Klan. All I 
could do was put an arm on his shoulder and say, ``Hey, I understand 
what you're doing and why.'' It is a tough job but he has done it time 
and time again. Dick's steadfast refusal to compromise on something as 
precious as our civil liberties is representative of the purity and 
character of the American way.
  Dick Kurtenbach had been the Executive Director of the Kansas and 
Western Missouri ACLU since 1985 and was responsible for their original 
merger. Prior to that, he was the Executive Director of the Nebraska 
Civil Liberties Union from 1979 through 1985. He has

[[Page 16208]]

worked on several Senate and Congressional campaigns, as well as for 
the Nebraska Democratic Party. Dick is a veteran of the United States 
Army, having served on active duty from 1967 to 1970, including 15 
months of service in Southeast Asia. He has served on the Board of 
Directors of the Kansas City Civil Rights Consortium, The Human Rights 
Project, and the Western Missouri Coalition Against the Death Penalty. 
Dick graduated from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln with a 
Bachelors of Arts degree and is married to Joette Pelster.
  Mr. Speaker, please join me in expressing our heartfelt gratitude to 
Mr. Dick Kurtenbach, not only for his unwavering efforts to preserve 
the tenets of our Constitution, but also for his courage in defending 
the individual rights of citizens, no matter how unpopular or 
difficult. I urge my colleagues to please join me, in congratulating 
Dick on his retirement as Executive Director of the Kansas and Western 
Missouri American Civil Liberties Union, and in celebrating his 
invaluable contributions and sacrifices to the cause of freedom.

                          ____________________