[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 4 (Monday, February 1, 1999)]
[Pages 116-118]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to the Community in Little Rock, Arkansas

January 24, 1999

    Thank you very much, James Lee. Ladies and gentlemen, let me thank 
you for coming out today. I want to thank Governor Huckabee for his 
response to this terrible, terrible tornado--and Mrs. Huckabee--I thank 
them for joining us on this walking tour today and welcoming me back to 
the Governor's Mansion. It's still--it's very beautiful inside, and it's 
had a little radical surgery in

[[Page 117]]

the backyard, as I'm sure that a lot of you have seen.
    I thank Secretary Slater, the Secretary of Transportation, also, 
obviously, our native Arkansan, for coming down here with me. And they 
will be helping us on the rebuilding. I thank Congressman Snyder and 
Congressman Marion Berry from east Arkansas, who has had some 
communities hit, and representatives of our other congressional offices 
who are here today. And Lt. Governor Rockefeller, Attorney General 
Pryor, Secretary of State Priest, Treasurer Jimmie Lou Fisher: I thank 
all of them for being here.
    And I want to thank Mayor Pat Hays for coming across the river and 
lending a friendly, neighborly hand. James Lee Witt's regional director 
here is Buddy Young, who lives in Texas and who, as many of you know, 
was in the Arkansas State Police for many years before that.
    This is a tragedy we all take very personally. When I was--I got out 
this morning at 25th and Gaines and sort of wended my way down Arch and 
Spring toward the Governor's Mansion, and I thought about how many 
hundreds of times I had run on those streets. And all these folks kept 
coming out and said, ``The last time I saw you, you were running by 
here. And I had a roof on my house.''
    And then we went over--we crossed Roosevelt and went down toward 
Martin Luther King Drive and saw a lot of those homes, large numbers of 
homes have been completely destroyed there. And I just wanted to say to 
you because Arkansas always had a lot of tornadoes and two huge floods 
when I was Governor, I asked James Lee Witt to run the national Federal 
Emergency Management Agency so that it would not be political and so 
that it would be competent, professional, and highly personal. And we've 
dealt with everything from a 500-year flood along the Mississippi River 
to a massive earthquake in California and all kinds of other natural 
disasters. This is a trip, I'm sure--I know I, and I'm sure both James 
Lee and Rodney, never wanted to have to make.
    I'd like to give a word of personal encouragement to my former 
neighbors up here in the Quapaw Quarter not to give up on it. I hope 
everyone who possibly can will rebuild those homes--will rebuild the 
homes, fix the roofs, replant the trees, and keep the spirit of the 
place alive. And I want to say to the folks in all the counties in the 
State--and I've got a list that includes not only Pulaski but also 
Independence, St. Francis, Saline, and White counties--we've already 
declared individual and local governments eligible for assistance there. 
The State has been declared a disaster area as more counties may become 
specifically eligible. I want to encourage all of them, as well.
    These things happen, as Governor Huckabee reminded me, that Arkansas 
had the largest number of tornadoes in one day moving through here the 
other day that have ever been recorded. And we grieve for the loss of 
life.
    I'd like to say, especially, that this is a landmark for me, this 
store here. And I'm so glad that the people who own it are going to 
rebuild it, because it used to be our family store. And Hillary and 
Chelsea and I used to come down here. We think of the fine pharmacist 
here who lost his life, and the others here in Arkansas. And when we 
survey the scope of the devastation, I think we can all be grateful to 
God that the loss has not been greater.
    And so this is a day when the Sun is out, and a lot of people have 
offered their helping hands. I want to thank these young people from the 
AmeriCorps program, our national service program, for being here. 
They've come in to help. We're glad to see them.
    And so I ask you to redouble your resolve, and help your neighbors. 
And we'll do everything we can to be good neighbors.
    Thank you, and God bless you. Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 1:10 p.m. in the parking lot of a Harvest 
Foods store. In his remarks, he referred to Gov. Mike Huckabee and his 
wife, Janet, Lt. Gov. Win Rockefeller, Attorney General Winston Bryant, 
Secretary of State Sharon Priest, and State Treasurer Jimmie Lou Fisher 
of Arkansas; and Mayor Patrick Henry Hays of North Little Rock.

[[Page 118]]