[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 13947]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            PHILIPPI HEROES

  (Mr. McKINLEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. McKINLEY. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to commend three local 
citizens from Philippi, West Virginia.
  The first is Twila Smith, a teacher at Philip Barbour High School. On 
August 25, one of her students brought a gun to school and held her 
classmates hostage. Twila did a miraculous job in calming the teenager 
and buying time until the police could arrive.
  Philippi Police Chief Jeff Walters and the young man's pastor, Howard 
Swick, are our next two heroes. They negotiated the release of the 
student hostages and then convinced the teenager to surrender 
voluntarily.
  Because of these heroes and their courage in a threatening situation, 
more than 700 high school students were unharmed, and this man will now 
be able to receive the help that he needs.

                          ____________________