[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 10583]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    BADMAN VS. LAWMAN--A TRIBUTE TO TEXAS PEACE OFFICER DALE GEDDIE

  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, I request permission to take Mr. Burton's time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentleman from Texas 
is recognized for 5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, it is the kind of ammunition you would expect a 
foreign insurgent to have, 150 armor piercing bullets and a rifle. But 
it was all too familiar what happened in this event. This individual 
with all this fire power and being a bad father and a bad husband, he 
was pitted against police and his own family. He held them hostage, 
then lashing out at the lawmen sent to rescue his family. This domestic 
disturbance ended fatally, just as too many domestic disturbances end.
  After threatening his wife, this family terrorist, Joseph Earl Walsh, 
turned his blazing gun on a well-known and well-loved peace officer--a 
servant of the people--leaving him to die while holding fellow peace 
officers at bay. This stand-off would last more than 3 hours. And when 
the dust and gun powder cleared the skies, East Texas Constable Dale 
Geddie of Tyler, Texas would be found murdered.
  As a constable, Geddie was more than a law officer, he was an officer 
of the people. He carried a charge that dates all the way back to the 
Father of Texas, Stephen F. Austin--who started this band of lawmen to 
protect Texas settlers from the Indians. Constables are an elite corps 
of cowboy-lawmen, part of an organization really older than Texas 
Rangers. They date back to before the days of the Republic of Texas. 
And Constable Dale Geddie was known for upholding the charge ``to 
protect and serve''.
  He was a fine lawman and a fine human being. Friends have said that 
``if you knew Dale, he was your friend for life. He was the guy who 
would take off his boots and give them to you if you needed them''. Now 
it is Constable Dale Geddie's family, his wife and his two sons, who 
will need help during the loss of their good father and their good 
husband. Their father's fellow peace officers, with their badges draped 
in the black cloth of sacrifice, their hearts bruised, have lost a 
friend, a leader, and a hero.
  Today we remember Constable Dale Geddie, his family and friends and 
other fellow Texas lawmen, and as we remember them we also remember 
Smith County Sheriff's Deputy Daniel Leon, who was also injured in this 
attack. Today we pause to say a prayer and give praise to all the other 
lawmen across the country who face the forces of evil, evil that hides 
in the hardened hearts of the heathen.
  Mr. Speaker, peace officers are the last strand of wire in the fence 
between the people and the lawless.
  Constable Dale Geddie was one of those peace officers.
  And that's just the way it is.

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