    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1999, Book I)]
    [January 24, 1999]
    [Pages 98-99]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to the Community in Beebe, Arkansas
    January 24, 1999

        Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
    Good afternoon. Thank you for making me feel welcome. Let me say, first
    of all, that I brought my ``Arkansas Cabinet''--Secretary Slater and Mr. Witt--down here
    today along with a number of Arkansans from the White House staff,
    including Missy Kincaid, who is
    from this community. I have been here many times. I have a lot of
    friends here, and I was very sad when I flew over Beebe and McRae today
    and I saw how much damage had been done. And I saw a lot of pain in a
    lot of faces up on the road there, but I also saw a lot of
    determination.
        I want to thank your mayor for being--even
    with his bad foot, walking around with me in some pretty lumpy places.
    He must think he has impeccable timing. He got himself installed just in
    time for the tornado. But he's a young man and a teacher, so he ought to
    be about rebuilding the schools--and that's a good thing.
        And I thank your county judge. I thank your
    superintendent, Mr. Williams. I thank my good
    friend Senator Beebe and Mrs. Beebe and Representative Hinton.
    I'd also like to compliment your fire chief, Mr. Kennedy, and the National Guard people. I know they've worked
    very, very hard the last few days, and I know that we're all
    appreciative of them.
        And you've had some young AmeriCorps volunteers who came down from
    St. Louis, and that's a program that was started after I became

    [[Page 99]]

    President. I'm proud of these young people; they volunteer a year or 2
    years of their lives to work in communities just doing what needs to be
    done. And I'm very grateful for that.
        Let me say on the points that I've heard people talk about, as all
    of you know, we've got a relationship here with the State emergency
    folks. We are going to set up programs to provide whatever help we can
    to this community. I think the most immediate public need, obviously, is
    for some place for the children to go to school. And we've talked about
    how quickly we could get some of the portable classrooms in here in
    large numbers and with the best possible quality. And I assure you that
    we will--I will personally be involved in that, and so will Mr.
    Witt and Secretary Slater. We'll get on it, and we'll get the job done as quickly as
    it can physically be done.
        We also want to make sure that both the community and individual
    families are clear about what the Federal Government can and cannot do
    and what kind of support is there. We don't want anybody to leave
    something on the table that we could contribute to rebuilding the lives
    of the families and the community.
        And again, I just want to encourage you. You probably know, right
    before I came here I was walking through my old neighborhood in Little
    Rock, the Quapaw Quarter, where the Governor's Mansion is and where I
    lived for 12 years. I saw a lot of people whom Hillary and Chelsea and I
    spent a lot of time with, with their homes down around their ears today
    too. They'll have to decide how to go forward, and many of you will. But
    I just want to encourage you. I want to tell you that as awful as it is,
    I just thank God there weren't more people killed. And I hope we can all
    keep the right attitude, and I hope all the neighbors will keep helping
    their neighbors. And in the end, I think it will come out all right.
        And again, let me thank you, Mayor; thank
    you, Judge; and I thank all the other local
    leaders, and thank you for giving a chance to be here--giving us a
    chance to be with you today.
        God bless you. Thank you very much.
        I also wanted to say just one other thing, just because I--there's
    one part of Arkansas I am not visiting today. In addition to Congressman
    Snyder, who has Pulaski and White County--
    Independence and St. Francis County and I think one other county have
    been declared disasters, and the east Arkansas counties are in
    Representative Marion Berry's district, and
    Congressman Berry is here with us today, too. And so our thoughts are
    with the people east of here who are suffering as well. And some of
    those folks lost everything they have, and I just wanted to mention them
    and say our thoughts and our prayers and our support are with them, too.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 3:47 p.m. in front of the Beebe School
    District Building. In his remarks, he referred to Katherine (Missy)
    Kincaid, Special Assistant to the First Lady; Mayor Donald Ward of
    Beebe; Judge Bob Parish of White County; Kieth Williams, Beebe
    superintendent of schools; State Senator Mike Beebe and his wife,
    Ginger; State Representative Randy Minton; and Doug Kennedy, chief,
    Beebe Fire Department.