[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 4 (Monday, February 1, 1999)]
[Pages 118-119]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
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 
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.

[[Page 119]]

    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 3:47 p.m. in 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 Mark Beebe and State Representative Randy Minton 
of Arkansas; and Doug Kennedy, chief, Beebe Fire Department.