[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 13060-13061]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        THE VICTIMS OF COLUMBINE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Colorado (Mr. Perlmutter) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PERLMUTTER. Good morning, Mr. Speaker, and to a fellow softball 
coach.
  The columbine is the State flower of Colorado. It's a beautiful 
flower found in our mountains with whites and blues and yellows. It's 
just a gorgeous State flower for us to have.
  Thirteen years ago, on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School, we 
had a terrible tragedy. And I want all of us to remember the names of 
the kids that were killed at that shooting: Cassie Bernall, Steve 
Curnow, Corey DePooter, Kelly Flemming, Matt Kechter, Daniel Mauser, 
Daniel Rohrbough, Rachel Scott, Isaiah Shoels, John Tomlin, Lauren 
Townsend, Kyle Velasquez, and teacher, Dave Sanders.

                              {time}  1050

  Now Columbine, just like this flower, has recovered, sprouted. It's a 
beautiful school. It has strong academics, strong sports, and good 
citizens. We're very proud of the kids in that high school. It's near 
where I live.
  We have suffered some scars from Columbine in Colorado, but we've 
also learned some lessons. We've learned some lessons that were put to 
good use 10 days ago in Aurora, Colorado.
  Aurora, as many of you will remember from your mythology classes, is 
the goddess of the dawn. And there will be a new day.
  We're suffering in Colorado right now. It's a beautiful State. It is 
a wonderful place. We've had two very difficult, tragic moments. And in 
these last 10 days, Mr. Speaker, I have had a chance to go to five 
funerals and visit with some people in the hospital.
  I want us to remember the names of the people that were killed 10 
days ago:
  Jonathan Blunk, Alexander Jonathan (AJ) Boik, Staff Sergeant Jesse 
Childress, Gordon Cowden, Jessica Ghawi, Petty Officer 3rd Class John 
Larimer, Matthew McQuinn, Micayla Medek, Veronica Moser, Alex Sullivan, 
Alex Teves, Rebecca Wingo.
  Beautiful people, good people harmed in a very senseless moment in 
our history.
  But in the midst of this tragedy, there were a lot of heroes. And 
from Columbine, we learned lessons to get in and move quickly to save 
lives.
  So beginning with the Aurora police force and the firefighters from 
Aurora, there were tremendous acts of courage that saved lives, that 
saved people from bleeding to death. We saw in our medical teams a 
coordination of efforts, the likes of which none of us would ever want 
to go through again, but tremendous efforts on the part of the medical 
teams to save lives.
  Yesterday I had a chance to meet with some of the people still in the 
hospital, which gave me so much hope and

[[Page 13061]]

inspiration. I want to start with the family where the husband and the 
wife--she's 9 months pregnant--decided that they want to go to a movie 
before they have their first born. They want to get that one last date 
out.
  He's shot. She suffers shots from the shotgun pellets. He's down on 
the first floor having surgery on his brain. She is up on the third 
floor of the hospital having a baby--baby Hugo, who is like the biggest 
kid I have ever seen at that age. His hands, he's definitely going to 
be a baseball player. And the Rockies came by to visit him and gave 
this baby two baseballs.
  But she was so positive and so optimistic about her son's future and 
about the future of her husband, who has had great medical care and 
will have long-lasting injuries, but he will do well. And this wife was 
so positive, a young woman who is really optimistic about life.
  Another young man who was shot in the side, he was in a coma. He has 
since come out of it, and he is now planning to start his first year of 
college at Western State in Gunnison, Colorado.
  And finally, one guy who had been in a difficult state, the President 
of the United States came and visited him. He woke up at that moment--
whether it was because of that visit or not, who knows, but he has a 
huge smile. The Rockies came to visit him, and he said, ``I'm sorry, 
but I'm a Yankees fan.'' And then, to my chagrin, he also is a fan of 
the San Diego Chargers and the Oakland Raiders, when he should be a 
Broncos fan. But he is recovering well, too.
  These people are recovering. Our community will recover. We live in a 
great State.
  And I want to just finish with these words, if I could, Mr. Speaker. 
Ordinarily I speak off the cuff, but one of the staff members in my 
office, who is a Coloradan, wanted me to say this, and I believe it.
  Even after these tragedies, we must remind ourselves and the world 
what it is to be a Coloradan.
  We are the cities and the open spaces. We are the mountains and the 
prairie. We are the mountains and the trees. We are the snow and the 
sunshine.
  We are loving families and longtime friends. We are the welcoming 
neighbor and the kind stranger.
  We are Coloradans. We live in paradise and surround ourselves with 
loving, wonderful people who enrich our lives. This is what defines our 
State.
  We will always remember the victims, we will always honor the heroes, 
and we will grow stronger.
  I am proud of my State. I'm sorry for what happened. But we will grow 
from this.

                          ____________________