Jim Clyburn

Mr. CLYBURN

Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a good friend and public servant who is working diligently on behalf of our nation's natural resources. Mr. Ryan Noel was recently named the recipient of the South Carolina Waterfowl Association Public Waterfowl Management Award. This award was given in recognition of excellence in public waterfowl management. Mr. Noel is leaving his position as manager of the Santee National Wildlife Refuge to take a new job in Denver, and will be sorely missed. Mr. Noel is a consummate team player. His successful leadership of quality staff and local volunteers has resulted in tremendous improvements for waterfowl and wildlife habitat at the Santee National Wildlife Refuge. Mr. Noel is committed to improving wildlife habitat and sharing this resource with the general public. He and his dedicated staff have successfully increased public use at the Santee National Wildlife Refuge. He has demonstrated that the role of the National Wildlife Refuge System is not only to conserve and enhance wildlife habitat but also to provide quality outdoor recreational opportunities and natural resource education to the general public. Mr. Noel and his staff have added greatly to the quality of life for people within and beyond the Sixth Congressional District of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I ask you and my colleagues to join me and my fellow South Carolinians honoring Mr. Ryan Noel. He is a wonderful example of commitment to career and community alike and is well deserving of public recognition. We wish him Godspeed in his new endeavor.

Mr. CLYBURN

Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Mr. James B. Hunt a gifted musician and native of Greenville, S.C. Mr. Hunt's first experience with music came at the age of six when his parents taught him to sing. In the 8th grade, unable to buy an instrument, he bought a toy clarinet from Kress ``five and dime'' Store. Mr. M.C. Lewis, Sterling High School Band Director, and some members of the band heard him playing Sousa marches on his toy instrument. They gave him an alto tuba, a fingering chart, and a ``march book''. On Tuesdays and Fridays he marched with the band at halftime. Upon graduating Salutatorian from Sterling High School, Mr. Hunt entered South Carolina State College, now S.C. State University, in 1942 where he won a band scholarship and had the rare honor of being chosen as a freshman to play in the dance band known as the ``State College Collegians.'' At S.C. State College, he studied the trumpet. He earned a B.S. Degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1946, and a Master's Degree in Education in 1958. Mr. Hunt is often called the ``First Band Director'' because of his many ``first'' achievements. He was the first band director at Wilkinson High School in Orangeburg, a position he held for 25 years. He was the first band director at Sharperson Junior High School, Brookdale Middle School and Bellville Junior High. With the merger of Orangeburg High and Wilkinson High Schools in 1971, he organized and became the first director of the Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School Band. He was the first director of an integrated band to march in the Railroad Daze Festival in Branchville, S.C., and in 1972 this band participated in the Shrine Bowl Parade and halftime show in Charlotte, NC. Mr. Hunt has placed more than 250 students in South Carolina All- State Bands sponsored by the S.C. Band Masters Association. He served as president of the Band Masters Association for three years and was selected ``Band Director of the Year'' in 1962. His peers recognized him for his significant contributions to music education in South Carolina at the S.C. State College Second Alumni Band Concert in 1976. In 1987 he was inducted into the S.C. State College Jazz Hall of Fame. Mr. Hunt is most proud of the accomplishments of his former students who include Johnny Williams, member of the Count Basic Band since 1970; Shellie Thomas, a retired music teacher in Los Angeles and currently the leader of the Original Honey Drippers Band; Horace Ott, Broadway composer and arranger and sometimes conductor for the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin; three of the famous Javis Brothers and Javis Sister, Priscilla; and 2000 Hall of Fame inductee Dwight McMillan. Mr. Hunt has been married for more than 50 years to the former Lerlon Hilton. They have two daughters: Mrs. Deborah Hunt Woods, a 1999 Teacher of the Year in Lithonia, Georgia, and Dr. Marilyn Hunt Alim, an education analyst at NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. They have eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Mr. Hunt is a member of Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church where he serves on the Deacon Board and teaches the Merfts Sunday School Class. He is a member of Epsilon Omega Chapter of Omega Psi Phi fraternity. Mr. Speaker, I ask that you and my colleagues join me in honoring an outstanding South Carolinian whose dedication to his profession and family is unparalleled. I wish him good luck and Godspeed.

Mr. CLYBURN

Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Mr. Isaac Washington, who on June 15, 2002 was bestowed the National Newspaper Association's Publisher of the Year Award on behalf of the award winning Black Media Group. Mr. Washington was born in Columbia, S.C. and grew up in public housing, Allen-Benedict Court. But his experiences were not without love. Surrounded by the love of his parents and four siblings, brothers Eddie, Jeremiah and Oliver, Jr. and a sister, Ethel, young Isaac learned the value of reaching out to others. A graduate of C.A. Johnson High School, he earned a bachelor's degree from Benedict College. His career began in the media business at Columbia's WIS-TV, where he served as Assistant Program Director and Director of Sales Traffic and Operations. He pioneered the Awareness program, WIS-TV's foray into minority affairs reporting and programming. After his stint at WIS, Washington entered a partnership to publish Black News. His diverse media experience prepared him for his leadership role as President/Publisher of the South Carolina Black Media Group, SCBMG. Within a few years, SCBMG began marketing its product statewide, and eventually evolved into eight newspapers published in virtually every major market of the Palmetto State and in Fayetteville, N.C. In 1997, SCBMG consolidated its newspapers into one statewide publication, The Black News. Within the last three years, Black News has twice been a finalist for the coveted A. Philip Randolph Messenger Award, which honors Black newspapers for journalistic excellence in the field of civil rights. Washington's community outreach also extends far beyond the walls of the newspaper office. He is a member of Zion Baptist Church in Columbia, where he serves as an ordained deacon and member of the Men's Committee. He also serves on the boards of the American Red Cross, the Will Lou Gray Foundation, and is a commissioner with the S.C. State Housing Authority. He is a lifelong member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and the NAACP. He has been bestowed many honors, including an honorary doctorate of Religious Education from the C.E. Graham Bible College, and has been honored with a mural on the Columbia Housing Authority's Wall of Fame. Washington established the S.C. Black Media Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides opportunities for youth in the community through tutorial and job training programs, and provides public housing and other services for the elderly. Mr. Washington, a longtime personal friend, was presented his award during the Merit Awards Dinner, at NNPA's 62nd Annual convention, held in Jacksonville, FL. He is married to the former Clannie Hart, and has one son, Isaac, Jr., who is a student at Benedict College. Mr. Speaker, I ask that you and my colleagues join me in honoring an outstanding South Carolinian whose dedication to his profession and family is unparalleled. I wish him good luck and Godspeed.

Mr. CLYBURN

Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Queen Chapel African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church on the occasion of their celebration of a new sanctuary after 136 years. It was my hope to join the congregation at the dedication and a daylong jubilee celebration this coming Saturday. Queen Chapel A.M.E. Church is not only the oldest church on Hilton Head Island, but also the oldest A.M.E. church in the State of South Carolina. Queen Chapel represents the rich Gullah-Geechee cultural history and religious heritage that is characteristic of the coastal Sea Islands. Queen Chapel A.M.E. Church was founded when Minister Richard Harvey Cain--who served in this body for four years--Reverend James A. Johnson, and Reverend James Handy arrived on Hilton Head Island in the area called Cherry Hill. As they waited for a violent storm to pass over, they decided to have church services with prayer and singing under a large, oak tree. This was to be an historic event because it was where the African Methodist Episcopalian religion began in the state of South Carolina. The property where Queen Chapel now sits was purchased from W.D. Brown in 1886, and the first church was built on September 11, 1892. The pastor of Queen Chapel during that era was Reverend R.C. Williams, and the presiding elder was Reverend P.W. Jefferson. Some of the Church's early members include Abraham Grant; Ben Singleton, Sr.; Jake Green; Ceasar Johnson; Paul Edwards; Ed Green; Perry Ward; Sarah Grant; Joe Jones; Ben Jones; Harry Burke; John Burke; John Henry Perry; Nellie Perry; Fannie Burke; Christina Williams; Martha Goff; Sarah Singleton; Mary Cannick; Maria Green; Blind Joe Ellis; Backus Johnson; Julia Reed; Lula Jones; Chamberlin Robinson; Mae Bell Simmons; and Ida Singleton. Later members were Charlie Singleton; Willie Singleton; Mae Bell Aiken; Beulah Kellerson; Raymond Perry; James Grant, Sr.; Viola Murray; Marion Aiken, Sr.; William Kellerson; William Brown, Sr.; Abraham Johnson; John Patterson; and many others whose relatives are still members of the congregation today. The present church was built in 1954, with the Reverend S.C. Washington serving as pastor, the Reverend F.M. Reid as Bishop, and the Reverend J.C. James as presiding elder. The officers credited with building the new church were James Grant, Sr.; Solomon Grant, Sr.; John Patterson; Marion Aiken, Sr.; William Kellerson; Abraham Johnson; and Leander Cannick, Sr., just to name a few. The new facilities of this prominent church on Hilton Head Island will not only serve the Queen Chapel congregation, but will also serve the entire community with considerations for amenities such as day care and after school tutoring. Mr. Speaker, I ask you and my colleagues to join me today in honoring Queen Chapel A.M.E. Church which is raising another sanctuary after 136 years on the same hallowed grounds. I wish the congregation and surrounding community Good Luck and Godspeed on this special occasion.

Mr. CLYBURN

Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to my fellow South Carolinian, Dr. William F. Gunn, Jr. Dr. Gunn is a graduate of Morehouse College, where he earned a Bachelors degree in Physical Education. He then continued his educational quest for knowledge at Indiana University receiving a Masters in Physical Education, and later a Doctorate in Education Administration at the University of South Carolina. Dr. Gunn began his South Carolina teaching experience at Benedict College in Columbia in 1964, where he remained until 1999, when he retired as Professor of Health, Physical Education and Recreation and the Chair of the Health, Physical Education and Recreation Department. While at Benedict his commitment to the school extended out of the classroom onto the athletic field as coach of the tennis, cross- country, and soccer teams throughout the years. Dr. Gunn is also a member of the American Alliance of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, the American Association of University Professors, Phi Delta Kappa, the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations, and the South Carolina Parks Recreation Association. Dr. Gunn is also a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. He has also served as Chairman of the Saint Luke's Center Commnunity Council, the Ethnic Minorities Committee for South Carolina Association of Health, Physical Education and dance, and the South Carolina Governor's Council on Physical Fitness from 1984-1987. Additionally, he has served on the United Black Fund of Midlands Board of Directors, and on the Richland County Board of the Tuberculosis Association. Dr. Gunn's many accomplishments include being recipient of a United Negro College Fund Study Grant, 1972; University Year Academic Grant, 1976, Who's Who in the South and Southwest, 1976-1977, named Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity ``Man of the Year'' for South Carolina by the Ethnic Minorities Committee, 1985; and the recipient of a ten, fifteen, twenty, and thirty year awards for excellence in teaching from Benedict College. Throughout his career, Dr. Gunn has also written and published numerous papers and books on community health related projects, the Health profession, and African American Education/Group Leadership. Some of his more notable publications include the Hip-Hop Culture: A Suggested Leisure Counseling Model for Young Clients,'' 1998; ``Leisure and Spiritual Well-Being: Vital for Maximizing Human Potential,'' 1999; and ``Healing the Body and Mind Through Cosmic Rhythms in Music and Dance,'' 2002. Mr. Speaker. I ask you and my colleagues to join me today in honoring Dr. William F. Gunn, Jr., a man who's contributions to his community and the educational system will leave lasting impressions on the numerous lives he has touched. I wish him continued success and Godspeed!

Mr. CLYBURN

Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of ``National Therapeutic Recreation Week'' in South Carolina as proclaimed by Governor Jim Hodges. The purpose of this event, which begins today and is celebrated through July 14, is to increase public awareness of therapeutic recreation programs and services, and expand recreational and leisure opportunities for individuals with disabilities. Physical therapists from all over the state met and worked together to eliminate barriers to leisure activities for many with disabilities and educate people in leisure skills and attitudes. These therapists constantly stressed the importance and advantage of having a clear understanding of how involvement in leisure and recreational activities improves physical and psychosocial health, and how recreation can provide individuals with a sense of self-confidence and satisfaction. The theme for ``National Therapeutic Recreation Week'' is ``Therapeutic Recreation . . . Examine the Possibilities.'' The theme suited the occasion perfectly, as the aim was to explore a variety of methods used by therapeutic recreation professionals to enhance the quality of life and well being of persons with disabilities. This year's ``National Therapeutic Recreation Week'' will hopefully generate more interest and encourage all South Carolinians to recognize the positive benefits of leisure and recreation. Mr. Speaker, thousands of South Carolinians devoted their time and energy to improve their quality of life, and also the lives of others. Please join me in recognizing the gallant efforts of these individuals, and the wonderful accomplishments they made during ``National Therapeutic Recreation Week.''

Mr. CLYBURN

Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Mrs. Ruth C. Gist of Union, South Carolina on occasion of the Union County Pacolet River Baptist Association declaring Saturday June 22, 2002, Mrs. Ruth C. Gist Day in Union South Carolina. Mrs. Ruth C. Gist has devoted her life to her family, her community and Christian service. She has served as a role model for her family and fellow community members. She is described as a ``woman of strong moral values, great strength, integrity and dignity.'' Mrs. Ruth C. Gist has five children all of whom I have had the privilege to interact with professionally and socially. She has five grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. In addition, she has served as a surrogate parent to numerous other children in her church and local community all of whom she tries to serve by precept and example. Because of her selfless devotion and tireless community service, Mrs. Gist's, church family, and the citizens of Union County have deemed it appropriate to recognize her for her years of unselfish service. Mr. Speaker, I ask you and my colleagues to join me in congratulating Mrs. Gist on this momentous day, Mrs. Ruth C. Gist Day, in Union County, South Carolina. I wish her good luck and Godspeed.

Mr. CLYBURN

Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Brookland Baptist Church, of West Columbia, South Carolina, on the occasion of their Centennial year. This Sunday, June 23, 2002, will be Brookland Baptist Church's Men's Day Celebration during which they will celebrate 100 years of Christian service. Although this church--as many others--is made of bricks and mortar, to its community it symbolizes the body of Christ. In times of need, Brookland Baptist has been, and continues to be, a place of comfort and support. In times of joy, it has been and is a gathering place for families and friends to join in celebration. Every day, and in every way this church has been a place of sanctity and worship. Brookland Baptist's entire church family is to be commended for its commitment and service. Brookland Baptist Church not only has demonstrated great love and loyalty to its community, but also has shown its resilience and strength over the years. This prominent church in West Columbia started out with modest roots. In the 1800's, Brookland Baptist Church held its first meetings in the home of Mrs. Francis Milliage. But from this modest beginning, the members--with faith in their hearts--were able to construct Brookland's first church edifice in Triangle City, West Columbia, in 1902. Since that time the church moved twice in order to have space for its growing congregation. Today the Church has a 2,200 seat sanctuary, and will break ground next year on a new Family Life Center. The church currently has 4,500 members in their congregation. Mr. Speaker, I ask you and my colleagues to join me in recognizing Brookland Baptist Church for its dedication and commitment, endless faith and devotion, and the love and contributions it has shown to the community of West Columbia. Congratulations on this latest milestone in its rich history. May God continue to bless the good works of this great Church and smile upon each of its outstanding members.

Mr. CLYBURN

Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3389, and I commend Members for bringing forth this outstanding reauthorization bill for the National Sea Grant College Program. I should note that I am a cosponsor of this important legislation. H.R. 3389 makes significant improvements in the Sea Grant program. It reauthorizes the Sea Grant Program within NOAA for 5 years, increases the authorization for appropriations, extends the term of office for members of the Sea Grant Review Panel from 3 to 4 years, and specifies how funds appropriated above fiscal year 2002 levels shall be allocated. The National Sea Grant Program is a nationwide network of over 300 colleges, universities, technical schools and research institutions that respond to issues and opportunities of national, regional, and local importance. Sea Grant engages partnerships with the public and private sectors to maximize the environmental, economic, and social value of the country's coastal, marine and Great Lakes resources, resulting in an extraordinary return on a small Federal investment. Studies show that each Federal dollar is leveraged tenfold or more in private sector economic development, often in small businesses. For instance, the Sea Grant Program in my home State of South Carolina has been instrumental in supporting the involvement of students with diverse backgrounds in careers in marine science and others. South Carolina State University, my alma mater, was awarded a 3-year grant from Sea Grant in a national competition to encourage minority students to pursue education and careers in marine and related sciences. Over the last year and a half, minority students have been supported with internships and mentored by scientists from the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources; the Oak Ridge National Laboratories; a fish hatchery in Orangeburg, South Carolina; and South Carolina State University. In total, Sea Grant in South Carolina has supported more than 400 graduate and undergraduate students in the successful completion of their theses and dissertations over the last 2 decades, adding significant human and intellectual capital to the State and national workforces. Nationwide, Sea Grant has supported more than 14,000 college students in similar situations. The southeastern region of the United States is subject to a variety of coastal natural hazards, including hurricanes during the summer and coastal storms during the fall and winter. Risks to life and property will only become more severe with the anticipated growth of coastal populations over the next several decades. Since 1989 when Hurricane Hugo struck South Carolina, South Carolina Sea Grant has been supporting the work of wind engineers at Clemson University to develop low-cost methods to reduce the loss of lives and property. Many of these solutions can now be observed at the 113 Calhoun Street Sustainability Center, a regional educational and training facility dedicated to extending coastal hazards research information to a diverse group of users. Mr. Chairman, I urge Members to recognize and acknowledge the many contributions of the National Sea Grant College Program to the Nation's economic development and resource conservation by voting in support of this important legislation.

Mr. CLYBURN

Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a dear friend and fellow South Carolinian, Dr. Leroy Davis, Sr. On June 30th Dr. Davis will retire as president of our alma mater, South Carolina State University (SCSU) in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Dr. Davis is only the second alumnus and the first Orangeburg native to be inaugurated as president of South Carolina State University in its 125-year history. Dr. Leroy Davis, Sr. received a bachelor of science degree in biology and a master of science degree in microbiology at SCSU. He matriculated at Purdue University and received his doctoral degree in molecular biology in 1979. Most of Dr. Davis' professional career has been spent serving his alma mater at South Carolina State University, where he quickly advanced and became a tenured professor of biology. He also worked at Brookhaven National Laboratory as a research assistant and the National Institutes of Health where he was an extramural associate. However, his love for his home State and S.C. State brought him back to South Carolina. Dr. Davis has served as director of the Office of Institutional Self- Studies, Provost for Academic Admissions, vice president of Student Services, and interim president. On April 10, 1996, Dr. Davis became the eighth president of this exceptional institution. While serving as president of South Carolina State University, Dr. Davis has shown tremendous leadership and innovation. The University established its first staff senate, increased scholarship support in order to recruit more academically talented freshmen, the first Emeritus awards to professors have been presented, and community service programs in the fields of health care and economic development have been put into action. In addition to his many accomplishments at South Carolina State University, Dr. Davis has spread his talents to other Universities in the region by being active in the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). In this organization, he serves as Commissioner on the Commission on Colleges and presents workshops and symposiums, Dr. Davis also holds memberships in many professional and service organizations including the American Council on Education, The American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Rotary International. Dr. Davis is husband to the former Christine McGill of Kingstree, South Carolina and the father of two children Tonya and Leroy, Jr. Throughout his life, Dr. Davis has shown an unrelenting pursuit and love for education. Through his example of diligence and perseverance in his studies and as an educator, Dr. Leroy Davis has touched many lives, and has inspired students as well as peers. Mr. Speaker, I ask you and my colleagues to join me in recognizing my good friend and a man that I greatly admire and deeply respect. Dr. Leroy Davis, Sr. has served his community and State well and has provided outstanding leadership to South Carolina State University over the years. I wish him good luck and Godspeed in what I know will be a very active retirement.

Mr. CLYBURN

Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a dear friend and fellow South Carolinian, Dr. William O. Cason. On June 30, 2002, ``Bill,'' as he is commonly referred, will retire from Sumter County School District 17, where he served as Superintendent for three challenging but rewarding years. After 34 years in public education, it is a retirement well deserved and he will be sorely missed. Dr. Cason began his educational career in Georgia public schools in 1968 as a math and history teacher at Clinch County High School. He also served as an assistant football and basketball coach, an assistant principal and guidance counselor, and as principal for high schools, where he served for over fourteen years. Prior to coming to Sumter School District 17, he was the Superintendent of Schools in the Colleton County School District in Walterboro, South Carolina from 1993-1999. When Dr. Cason accepted the position of Superintendent of Sumter School District 17, he came to a district in the throes of scandal and quickly turned the school system to solid fiscal and educational footing. During his tenure, he made several needed changes to the personnel division of the school district which included: increasing the number of insurance options available to employees, supporting the development of a comprehensive salary schedule to ensure equity for non-teaching positions, instituted signing bonuses to attract quality teachers, added personal leave days for employees who were not eligible for annual leave. Dr. Cason received a bachelor's degree in secondary education, a master's degree in history, a master's degree in education administration supervision all from Valdosta State College, and a doctorate degree in education administration supervision from Georgia State University. He is a member of numerous national, state and local organizations, and will be retiring to a family of five wonderful children and a loving wife. Samuel Johnson said, ``What we hope to do with ease, we must learn to do with diligence.'' Dr. Cason is an exemplar of what Johnson referred. He was diligent in his strides to make Sumter School District 17 all that it can be. Mr. Speaker, I ask you and my colleagues to join me today in honoring Dr. Bill Cason. The contributions he made to his community and to the educational system will leave lasting impressions on the lives he touched. I wish him continue success and Godspeed!

Mr. CLYBURN

Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Captain Darryl A. Kelly of Society Hill, South Carolina, whose dedication to his duties as a national guardsman earned him the honor of being the first African American from South Carolina to receive the General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award. A Society Hill native, Captain Kelly received a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from Coker College and a Master's degree in Public Administration from Troy State University. He joined the National Guard in 1989, after seven years active duty in the Army, and commands Company ``A'', 151st Signal Battalion in Laurens, South Carolina. Captain Kelly is also a South Carolina Highway Patrol sergeant with thirteen years experience. Captain Kelly will receive the General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award on May 22, 2002, a distinction bestowed upon only seven Army National Guardsmen in the nation each year. He automatically qualified last month when he won the General James C. Dozier award, which recognizes the South Carolina National Guard's most outstanding company officer for leadership and quality of service. Captain Kelly is not only the first African American from South Carolina to receive the MacArthur Leadership award, but only the second South Carolinian to have this honor bestowed upon him. Mr. Speaker, I ask that you and my colleagues join me in honoring Captain Darryl A. Kelly, a dedicated guardsmen whose service and leadership should be commended. I congratulate him on his receipt of the General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award and wish him good luck and Godspeed in his future endeavors.

Mr. CLYBURN

Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Dr. Gerald E. Wright of Denmark, South Carolina; a man who has dedicated his life to improving the educational opportunities and pursuits of young people in his community. For over thirty-five years, Dr. Wright has served the young people of his community and the State of South Carolina through his roles as a mentor, a teacher, and a superintendent. Dr. Gerald E. Wright began his quest for higher education at Morehouse College, where he received a degree in Mathematics. He matriculated at South Carolina State College where he earned masters and Doctorate degrees in Education. Dr. Wright began his career in education as a Mathematics Instructor at Voorhees College in 1965. He later held numerous positions, that included Federal Projects Coordinator, and Director of Support Programs for Denmark-Olar School District Two. In 1992, Dr. Wright became Superintendent of Denmark-Olar School District Two in Bamberg County, which is currently in my Congressional district. It was as Superintendent that he made some of his most indelible marks on the school system. His accomplishments include: the establishment of a JROTC Unit at Denmark-Olar High School, the initiation of block scheduling, the improvement of parent education through the PEP STEP Program, and the addition of a Coordinator of Student Services, among many others. He hired additional staff and teachers through Title I funds which included a School-to-Work Coordinator. He reinstated the music program, and reorganized the Gifted and Talented Program. Dr. Wright also implemented ``community involvement night'' giving parents and members of the community a forum to discuss pertinent issues affecting the school. Because of Dr. Wright's initiatives, High school students in his school district have had the opportunity to receive educational experiences in a more conducive environment. Dr. Wright is currently contributing to his community as an Instructor of Mathematics at Denmark Technical College. Mr. Speaker, I ask that you and my colleagues join me in honoring Dr. Gerald E. Wright, a man who deserves recognition for his role in improving the educational system of Bamberg County and South Carolina. I commend him on his dedication to others, and wish him Good Luck and Godspeed.

Mr. CLYBURN

Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a man of great principle and faith, U.S. Army Chaplain James E. Walker of Columbia, South Carolina. This is a man whose path I crossed 30 years ago to the month. He was a bright, young student at C.A. Johnson High School in Columbia then, and was selected to introduce me as the speaker of their Honors and Awards Day, when I was in Governor John West's office. The event was a memorable one for me, but I had no idea that my comments at the time would touch the soul of young James Walker. To this day, he still has the program from the event and remembers my urging to set goals and make plans to achieve them. These sentiments I have expressed countless times over the years when visiting school groups. Yet this is one of few opportunities I have had to join in celebrating with a young man who took my words to heart and achieved amazing things as an adult. On Thursday, May 2, 2002, Chaplain Walker receives the promotion to Army Colonel at the U.S. Army Chaplain Center and School at Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina. On that day his story will come full circle to the place where it began. In his hometown, Chaplain Walker will officially achieve this well-deserved ranking as a reflection of his hard work and dedication. On September 11, 2001, 1 was on Capitol Hill watching the smoke rise from the Pentagon in disbelief. However, Chaplain Walker had no time that day to stop and watch the tragedies unfold before his eyes. He, too, was in the Washington area. He was at Ground Zero--the Pentagon-- ministering to those who were wounded and in shock. In the subsequent weeks, Chaplain Walker served tirelessly at the Pentagon's makeshift triage station for three weeks to ``care for the wounded, minister to the living and honor the dead.'' For this service, our nation owes him a debt of gratitude. This tremendous strength in the face of adversity is a hallmark of Chaplain Walker's career. He is one of 138 African-American Army Chaplains among the 2,000 Chaplains serving the Army worldwide. His military service has taken him to Desert Storm where he ministered to troops in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait. For his skilled pastoral work in trying times, he was awarded the Saudi-Kuwait Liberation Medal. Chaplain Walker has received numerous other commendations including the Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Southeast Asia Service Medal, and the Army Service Ribbon. This outstanding service record was built on the strong foundation he received growing up in Columbia. He graduated C.A. Johnson High School and earned a Bachelor of Science from my alma mater, South Carolina State College. He served seven years in the Army as a Signal Officer before becoming a chaplain. He received his Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry from Andover Newton Theological School in Newton Center, Massachusetts. His thirst for knowledge also led him to attain a Master of Business Administration from Western New England College and Master of Arts degrees from Boston College both in Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, although my duties here in Washington prevent me from sharing this memorable day with in person, I ask that you and my colleagues join me in congratulating Chaplain James E. Walker for his outstanding service and well-deserved promotion. He is a fine example of what can be achieved in life with a strong desire to learn and a willingness to serve others. It is fitting that he receives this promotion while in his hometown. I wish him good luck Godspeed as he returns to service at the Office of the Chief of Chaplains in Arlington, Virginia.

Mr. CLYBURN

Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Mrs. Helen Frederick of Florence, South Carolina. Retiring after thirty years of service, Mrs. Frederick is being recognized for the contributions she has made to the higher education community in the State of South Carolina. Mrs. Frederick began her career in 1957 as Secretary to the Registrar at Lander University. In 1960, she began working part-time in order to raise her children. Over the next thirteen years, she divided her time between family and career; and in 1973 she rejoined Lander's full-time staff. Less than ten years later, in 1981, Mrs. Frederick was promoted to Assistant to the President and Director of Alumni Relations. In addition to the duties she encountered with these new positions, Mrs. Frederick also coordinated the activities of the thirty-six member Lander Board of Visitors. In 1984, Mrs. Frederick moved to Florence to join the staff of Florence-Darlington Technical College (FDTC) as Executive Assistant to the President. She served FDTC's Commissioners with an unbridled enthusiasm that secured her tenure through the leadership of five different Presidents of FDTC. Mrs. Frederick's dedication earned her the title of Director of External Relations in 1994. With this promotion she had oversight over all of FDTC's Public Relations, Marketing, FDTC Education Foundation, Alumni Relations, and Print Shop. After these many years of service, Mrs. Frederick is entering a well- deserved retirement, and looks forward to spending more time with her husband and their five grandchildren. Mr. Speaker, I ask that you and my colleagues join me in honoring Mrs. Helen Frederick, an outstanding South Carolinian whose dedication to helping those in higher education has touched the lives of countless students and a number of administrative staffs. I congratulate her on her retirement and wish her good luck and Godspeed.

Mr. CLYBURN

Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Mrs. Verdell G. Stone of Ridgeway, South Carolina. A woman dedicated to her faith and to her community, Mrs. Stone has served as a lifelong role model for others and has always been a woman of strength, integrity, and dignity. Mrs. Stone has been a leader and matriarch for her family of eleven children, fifteen grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren, as well as numerous other children in her church family and community. She has taken the responsibility of teaching them and bestowing upon them her Christian values by being an example. Mrs. Stone has served faithfully as a member of Antioch Baptist Church for more than fifty years, where she has held numerous positions of leadership, such as President of the Missionary Society, the Senior Choir, and Jubilee Choir. She is a former President of the Usher Board, and currently holds the title of Mother of the Church. Because she has always served her family, her church, and her community with distinction and honor, the Ridgeway Community and the citizens of Fairfield County have deemed it appropriate to recognize Mrs. Stone for her many years of dedicated service. Mrs. Stone will be honored with a Verdell G. Stone Appreciation Day, this coming Saturday, April 13, 2002. Mr. Speaker, I ask that you and my colleagues join me in honoring Mrs. Verdell G. Stone, a woman whose contributions to her family, church and community are outweighed only by the immeasurable gratitude of those whose lives she has touched. We all appreciate Mrs. Stone for her many years of community and Christian service and extend to her our best wishes, and Godspeed.

Mr. CLYBURN

Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Terry A. Matheny, of South Carolina, a courageous and dignified man for his personal strength and volunteer work with physically and mentally challenged individuals. Mr. Matheny was born with a congenital birth defect called clubfoot, which took several surgeries and many years of rehabilitation to overcome. He graduated from Fairmont State College in West Virginia from which he received a Bachelor of Science degree. Mr. Matheny received a Master of Science degree from West Virginia University. He is currently working with the USDA-REE-Agriculture Research Service and has worked at the Coastal Plains, Soil, Water, and Plant Research Center in Florence, South Carolina for twenty-three years. Mr. Matheny's life experiences led him to develop a strong desire to help others less fortunate than himself. He has been actively involved with helping physically and mentally challenged individuals for the past eighteen years. In 1983, Mr. Matheny became a member of the local Civitan Club and Civitan International, which is a volunteer community service organization. Mr. Matheny has been a coordinator and helper in the South Carolina State Special Olympic Games. His involvement in the Special Olympics includes helping to supervise sporting events, helping with the awards ceremony, helping to provide entertainment between sporting events, and helping to serve lunch for hundreds of Special Olympians and volunteers. His long career achievements include six USDA-REE ARS Certificate of Merit awards for outstanding performance of duties at the center. Mr. Matheny has served on the American Society of Agronomy's Student Essay Committee for three years. He has also been involved in the Civitan's adopt-a-dorm project, which adopted one of the housing units at the Pee Dee Mental Retardation Center. Mr. Matheny also helped organize and construct a park at the Pee Dee Mental Retardation Center. I commend Mr. Matheny for his service to the physically and mentally challenged individuals who have dreams of participating in the Special Olympics and helping to turn those dreams into reality. Mr. Matheny is a fine citizen in every respect and I wish him continued success and Godspeed. Mr. Speaker, I ask you and my colleagues to join me today in honoring Terry A. Matheny.

Mr. CLYBURN

Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to E. L. ``Bert'' Pooser, of South Carolina, a renowned man and respected leader of hotel development and management throughout the southeastern United States. Mr. Pooser grew up in Orangeburg, SC, during the 1940s where he learned the value and need of hard work at an early age. He invested in his first hotel at the age of 28. Since then, his hotel empire has expanded to 33 hotels throughout six southeastern States. Many in the industry consider him a hotel giant. Currently, Mr. Pooser is president and CEO of Interstate Management and Investment Corporation (IMIC) hotels. Mr. Pooser's company includes 1,500 employees that handle all aspects of the business from sales and marketing, to a design and property management team. IMIC assets include Sheraton Hotels, Hampton Inns, Comfort Inns, and Quality Suites. Throughout IMIC's 20 years of existence, they have purchased or built nearly 40 hotels. This past year, Mr. Pooser's firm opened two more hotels in Myrtle Beach, SC. Mr. Pooser has received numerous awards during his building career. The University of South Carolina's School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management has honored him as the Hospitality Leader of the Year. Today, at 63, Mr. Pooser has no plans for retirement anytime soon. Mr. Speaker, I ask you and my colleagues to join me today in honoring Mr. E. L. ``Bert'' Pooser for his achievements and commitments to the hotel industry in the southeastern States. I sincerely thank Mr. Pooser for his outstanding contributions, and congratulate him on becoming a recipient of the 2002 South Carolina Hospitality Leader of the Year Award, and wish him well in all of his future endeavors.

Mr. CLYBURN

Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a lifelong friend and mentor, Mr. James T. McCain of Sumter, South Carolina. ``Nooker'' as he is affectionately known, is an extraordinary man who has contributed greatly, not only to his community and state, but the entire nation. He started his professional career as an educator. But his most lasting contributions were made as a civil rights activist. An accomplished author, his long-standing commitment to the struggle for equality is legendary throughout the nation. He is married to the former Ida M. Channault of Georgia, and they have three children. Nooker was born on March 8, 1905 in Sumter, South Carolina, where he resides. He graduated from Morris College in Sumter, and continued his education in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he received a Masters of Education Degree from Temple University. His talents were displayed over subsequent years as an outstanding educator. He held positions as a teacher, principal, college professor, registrar and dean. The Negro Educational Review nationally recognized Mr. McCain's unique abilities in 1952 when he was named Runner-up in a nation-wide Classroom Teacher of the Year project conducted. In addition to his incredible contributions as an educator, Mr. McCain has dedicated his life to seeking full citizenship, civil rights and absolute equality for minorities in our country. Through his participation in such civil rights efforts as the sit-ins, Freedom Rides and picketing during the sixties, Mr. McCain displayed his willingness to put the good of the people ahead of his own safety. He served as Field Secretary and Director of Organization of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) for nine years. His affiliation with CORE called for him to courageously work in numerous communities throughout the South during the turbulent 60's when civil rights activities were hazardous work. He later served as Director of the Citizenship, Education, Scholarship, Education and Defense Fund for Racial Equality in South Carolina. Mr. McCain has made his mark on the civil rights movement, not only through his actions, but also through his publications. He was an inductee into the University South Caroliniana Society, and has contributed countless volumes on the civil rights movement to the South Carolina Library. He is co-author of the publication, Political Strength: How to get it, a guide to effective community action. Throughout his life, ``Nooker'' has been active in many facets of his community. His past and present professional and civic affiliations include Associate Director, South Carolina Council on Human Relations; President and Treasurer, Palmetto Education Association; Vice Chairman, South Carolina Economic Opportunity Board; Coordinator Sumter Black Political caucus; Charter President, Sumter Branch of the N.A.A.C.P.; 1st Vice Chairman, Wateree Community Actions, Inc.; Boy Scouts of America; Lay Advisory Board, Sumter High School; Sumter Count Council on Aging, and the Governor's Council on Human Affairs for South Carolina. He is a recipient of the Order of the Palmetto, the highest honor that a South Carolina Governor can bestow on an individual. He has also been recognized as the Outstanding Senior Citizen of the Year for South Carolina. Mr. McCain continues his community involvement as a trustee emeritus of the Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church. Mr. Speaker, I ask that you and my colleagues join me in wishing my first baseball coach and lifelong political mentor--Mr. James T. ``Nooker'' McCain--a Happy 97th Birthday which, God willing, he will celebrate on Friday, March 8th. I wish him good luck and Godspeed.

Mr. CLYBURN

Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Jamel Bradley as he--along with Columbia native Aaron Lucas--prepares to play his final home game as #10 for the University of South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday, March 2, 2002 Senior Day. Leading college basketball's Southeastern Conference and ranking in the top ten nationally in three-point field goals as well as setting the three point record at USC would be reasons enough to recognize senior Jamel Bradley's accomplishments. What is even more extraordinary is the path that brought him to these amazing achievements. At 18 months old, Jamel suffered an illness that kept his temperature at 106 degrees for three straight days. Although he recovered, 80% of his hearing was gone. As a child growing up in West Virginia, Jamel never felt he ``belonged in this world.'' The hearing aids in both ears were inadequate and only served to stigmatize him. It wasn't until he found basketball that he discovered a way to fit in with his peers. His success on the court led him to the USC Gamecocks and another life-changing event. This time Jamel received programmable, omni- directional hearing aids that restored 75-80% of his hearing. For the first time he could remember, he heard birds chirping and clocks ticking. Jamel's basketball accomplishments also took him to Rome, Italy last summer where he scored 33 points in the Championship Game of the Deaflympics, leading the U.S. team to a gold medal. This reinforced what Jamel had come to realize--his hearing deficiency would not and should not keep him from achieving his goals. That is a message that he enjoys sharing with deaf youth while serving as the role model he never had growing up. Recently the ESPN Sports Network brought his low-key, inspirational style to a nationwide audience. Now his story has served to inspire children with disabilities across the country. Since Jamel's story aired, calls and emails have poured into USC's Basketball office attesting to the impact his story has had on others. It had a tremendous impact on me. Mr. Speaker, I ask you and my colleagues to join me today in honoring Jamel Bradley. The contributions he has made both on and off the basketball court will leave lasting impressions on all those he has touched. He is a remarkable young man. I wish him continued success and Godspeed!

Mr. CLYBURN

Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Johnnie Thompson of South Carolina, a decorated combat veteran of the Korean War who, after retiring from the Army, served for twenty-two years as an elected official on the City Council of Walterboro, South Carolina. Over the years he has maintained a commitment to veterans of the armed forces. In 1989, he co-chaired a committee that established a Colleton County Veterans Monument to honor all of Colleton County's fallen veterans from World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. In 1993 he was instrumental in bringing back the renowned Tuskegee Airmen who trained for combat in Walterboro, South Carolina, and the Governor awarded the Order of the Palmetto to each of the Tuskegee Airmen who attended. These events brought worldwide attention to Walterboro and to the State of South Carolina. Under Mr. Thompson's leadership a World War II Memorial Park was dedicated and the Tuskegee Airmen Monument was unveiled at the Walterboro Airport in 1997. Mr. Speaker, I ask you and my colleagues to join me today in honoring Johnnie Thompson for the outstanding service he has provided the U.S. Army, the state of South Carolina, and his beloved Walterboro Community. I sincerely thank Mr. Thompson for his contributions and wish him the best in all of his future endeavors.

Mr. CLYBURN

Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Kathryn Williams of South Carolina, a respected lawyer and the first woman ever to lead the forty-four year old South Carolina Trial Lawyers Association. Ms. Williams career achievements and accomplishments are exemplified in her extraordinary contributions to the State of South Carolina. Ms. Williams was born in Fort Mill, South Carolina. She received her undergraduate degree from Clemson University and her law degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law. She started her own practice in 1989, not long after graduation. In 1993, Ms. Williams was named Greenville Likable Lawyer, during a local celebration of law week. Ms. Williams serves on the Board of Governors of the South Carolina Trial Lawyers Association. During her years of involvement in the South Carolina Trial Lawyers Association, Ms. Williams has held various offices, including Editor, Secretary, Treasurer, Vice President and President Elect. As President of the Trial Lawyers Association for one year Ms. Williams will lead a 1,300-member group of plaintiffs attorneys dedicated to keeping South Carolina's families safe and improving the plaintiffs bar. Mr. Speaker, I ask you to join me today in honoring Ms. Kathryn Williams for the outstanding service she has provided to the legal profession and citizens of South Carolina. I wish Ms. Williams good luck and Godspeed in her new position.

Mr. CLYBURN

Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to John W. Gadson, Sr. of South Carolina, who is retiring as Director of the Small Business Development Center at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Mr. Gadson's long and impressive career spans over forty-seven years and includes many outstanding accomplishments. Mr. Gadson began his career in 1953, when he joined the United States Army. After serving three years, he was discharged as a Sergeant, and in 1956, enrolled at Clafin College in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Mr. Gadson received a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry Education from South Carolina State College in 1960. He later received a Master's degree in Science Education from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. His desire to help others lead him to a teaching career. His first teaching job was at Robert Smalls High School in Beaufort, South Carolina. In 1969, he left the classroom to serve as Director of the Beaufort-Jasper Neighborhood Youth Corps Project. This program, which offered work experience and training, was funded by the United States Department of Labor. It allowed Mr. Gadson to demonstrate his administrative skills and management abilities. The Directorate of Penn Community Services, Inc., located on St. Helena Island, South Carolina, took note of Mr. Gadson's skills and hired him to direct its programs. The historic center served as a critical educational and community development site during the civil rights activities of the 1960's and often hosted Martin Luther King, Jr. and the SCLC staffers. Included among his many achievements at Peen Center was the establishment of the first Minority Business Development Center in South Carolina in 1972, through the U.S. Department of Commerce Office of Minority Business Enterprise. The center provided numerous services to more than 140 blacks seeking to become entrepreneurs. That same year, he established the Penn Center Black Land Services, Inc. Mr. Gadson left Penn Center in 1976 to work as a Ford Foundation Fellow at the State Reorganization Commission and later as a Research Assistant and Research Director on the Commission's staff. One of his projects resulted in passage of the new state procurement code, which laid the foundation for the State of South Carolina's increases in the amount of funds spent with minority-owned businesses. Mr. Gadson also served as a member of the Governor's Senior Advisory Team. In 1986, Mr. Gadson was awarded the Order of Palmetto, which is the highest honor that the Governor can give a citizen of the state. Mr. Speaker, I ask you and my colleagues to join me today in honoring John W. Gadson, Sr. for the incredible service he has provided to the students of South Carolina State University and the citizens of South Carolina.

Mr. CLYBURN

Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Mrs. Cindy Wall Beard of South Carolina, a remarkable woman who, despite her battle with cancer, is a leader, a mentor and an inspiration to those in the community. Mrs. Beard, a native of Scranton, South Carolina, received her high school diploma from The Carolina Academy. She later earned a Bachelor's degree in Administration from Limestone College. After college she worked as an administrator for Wall Home Health Care. She currently resides in Florence, South Carolina, but spends much of her time in nearby Lake City where she is an active member of Lake City Pentecostal Holiness Church exercising her leadership abilities as a Sunday School Teacher, leader of Discipleship, and coordinator of a local non- denominational prayer group called TEARS. In 1996, Mrs. Beard founded the Lake City chapter of the March for Jesus and has organized activities for the celebration every year since. In May 2001, Mrs. Beard established Project Blessing, a program designed to assist children of families in low-income housing in Lake City. The impact Mrs. Beard has had on members of her community is best exemplified in the story of the Brown Street kids. The birthday of each child on Brown Street has been celebrated. Complete with cake, presents, and enough pizza for the neighborhood, every party was made possible by Mrs. Beard and cooperation from area businesses. She collaborated with Hilton Head residents to make sure Brown Street kids got the gifts on their Christmas wish lists. Always dedicated to her faith, Mrs. Beard established the backyard Sunday School program for Brown Street and other Project Blessing neighborhoods. The impact she has had on the lives of people in the community is immeasurable. Though these accomplishments would be impressive under any circumstances, perhaps what is most remarkable is Mrs. Beard has contributed all this to the community while fighting a battle against cancer. In 1998 she became a published author with her book, His Messages, a statement of hope and inspiration to others with cancer. Mr. Speaker, I ask you and my colleagues to join me in recognizing Mrs. Cindy Wall Beard, a women who has touched innumerable lives in her community in countless ways. I commend her on her tireless dedication to others and wish her all the best in the future.

Mr. CLYBURN

Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to offer a Special Order tonight in conjunction with the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Clayton), who will be joining us very shortly, as well as some other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, to speak on an issue that we feel is very, very important to our constituents and to our great Nation. Mr. Speaker, reparations, the act or process of making amends, is a word that often evokes vociferous reactions from many citizens in our Nation. Ever since I have been in Congress, among the first bills introduced at the beginning of the term are bills calling for reparations for slavery. Although I have always supported legislation dealing with the establishment of a commission and various other efforts to examine the issue of reparations, I have not always supported other measures, many of which call for direct remuneration. There was always the question of who can be identified as deserving, and how do we determine how much they deserve. But the question of reparations in the traditional form aside, I believe very strongly that there is ample documentation of various forms of racial injustices that occurred very often under the color of law. Not only can we document the injustices in many of these instances, but we can also identify those who were the subject of the injustices; and the time is long since passed for our government to take up where we fell short in 1872 when this Congress rescinded ``40 acres and a mule.'' The Associated Press recently documented some of these injustices when it conducted an 18-month long investigation into black landowners who have illegally and sometimes legally had their land stolen from them. After interviewing 1,000 people and examining tens of thousands of public records, the Associated Press documented 107 land-takings in 13 Southern and border States. In those cases, 406 black landowners lost more than 24,000 acres of farm and timberland, plus 85 smaller properties, including stores and city lots. This research was compiled in a three part series titled ``Torn From the Land,'' which detailed how blacks in America were cheated out of their land or driven from it through intimidation, violence, and even murder. Some had their land foreclosed for minor debts. Still others lost their land to tricky legal maneuvers, still being used today, called partitioning, in which savvy buyers can acquire an entire family's property if just one heir agrees to sell them one parcel, however small. Mr. Speaker, although I am going to submit the entire research by the Associated Press as part of my statement, I wish at this time to read an excerpt from one of those series: ``As a little girl, Doria Dee often asked about the man in the portrait hanging in her aunt's living room, her great-great grandfather. `It's too painful,' her elderly relatives would say, and they would look away. ``A few years ago, Johnson, now 40, went to look for answers in the rural town of Abbeville, South Carolina. ``She learned that in his day the man in the portrait, Anthony B. Crawford, was one of the most prosperous farmers in Abbeville County. That is until October 21, 1916, the day the 51-year-old farmer hauled a wagon load of cotton to town. ``Crawford `seems to have been the type of Negro who was most offensive to certain elements of the white people,' Mrs. J.B. Holman would say a few days later in a letter published by the Abbeville Press and Banner. `He was getting rich for a Negro, and he was insolent along with it.' ``Crawford's prosperity had made him a target. `` `The success of blacks such as Crawford threatened the reign of white supremacy,' said Stewart E. Tolnay, a sociologist at the University of Washington and coauthor of a book on lynchings. `There were obvious limitations or ceilings that blacks weren't supposed to go beyond.' ``In the decades between the Civil War and the civil rights era, one of those limitations was owning land. ``Racial violence in America is a familiar story, but the importance of land as a motive for lynchings and white mob attacks on blacks has been widely overlooked, and the resulting land losses suffered by black families such as the Crawfords have gone largely unreported. ``The Associated Press documented 57 violent land takings, more than half of the 107 land takings in an 18-month investigation of black land lost in America. The other cases involved trickery and legal manipulations. ``Sometimes black landowners were attacked by whites who just wanted to drive them from their property. In other cases, the attackers wanted the land for themselves. ``For many decades, successful blacks `lived with the gnawing fear that white neighbors could at any time do something violent and take everything from them,' this, according to Loren Schweninger, a University of North Carolina expert on black land ownership. ``While waiting his turn at the gin that fall day in 1916, Crawford entered the mercantile store of W.D. Barksdale. Contemporary news accounts and the papers of then Governor Richard Manning detailed what followed: ``Barksdale offered Crawford 85 cents a pound for his cottonseed. Crawford replied that he had a better offer. Barksdale called him a liar. Crawford called the storekeeper a cheat. Three clerks grabbed ax handles, and backed Crawford into the street, where the sheriff appeared and arrested Crawford, for cursing a white man. ``Released on bail, Crawford was cornered by 50 whites who beat and knifed him. The sheriff carried him back to jail. A few hours later, the deputy gave the mob the keys to Crawford's cell. ``Sundown found them at a baseball field at the edge of town. There, they hanged Crawford from a solitary southern pine. ``No one was ever tried for the killing. In its aftermath, hundreds of blacks, including some of the Crawfords, fled Abbeville. ``Two whites were appointed executors of Crawford's estate, which included 427 acres of prime cotton land. One was Andrew J. Ferguson, cousin of two of the mob's ring leaders. ``Crawford's children inherited the land, but Ferguson liquidated much of the rest of Crawford's property, including his cotton, which went to Barksdale. Ferguson kept $5,438, more than half the proceeds, and gave Crawford's children just $200 each, according to estate papers. ``Crawford's family struggled to hold on to the land, but eventually lost it when they could not pay off a $2,000 balance on the bank loan. Although the farm was assessed at $20,000, a white man paid $504 for it at the foreclosure auction, according to land records. `` `There's land taken away and there's murder,' said Johnson, of Alexandria, Virginia. `But the biggest crime was that our family was split up by this. My family got scattered into the night.' ``The former Crawford land provided timber to several owners before International Paper Corporation acquired the property last year. Jenny Boardman, a company spokeswoman, said International Paper was unaware of the land's history. When told about it, she said: 'The Crawford story is tragic. It causes you to think that there are facets of our history that need to be discussed and addressed.''' Mr. Speaker, I include the entire Associated Press series of articles entitled ``Torn From the Land'' for the Record. [From the Associated Press] AP Documents Land Taken From Blacks Through Trickery, Violence and Murder (By Todd Lewan and Dolores Barclay) For generations, black families passed down the tales in uneasy whispers: ``They stole our land.'' These were family secrets shared after the children fell asleep, after neighbors turned down the lamps--old stories locked in fear and shame. Some of those whispered bits of oral history, it turns out, are true. In an 18-month investigation, The Associated Press documented a pattern in which black Americans were cheated out of their land or driven from it through intimidation, violence and even murder. In some cases, government officials approved the land takings; in others, they took part in them. The earliest occurred before the Civil War; others are being litigated today. Some of the land taken from black families has become a country club in Virginia, oil fields in Mississippi, a major- league baseball spring training facility in Florida. The United States has a long history of bitter, often violent land disputes, from claim jumping in the gold fields to range wars in the old West to broken treaties with American Indians. Poor white landowners, too, were sometimes treated unfairly, pressured to sell out at rock-bottom prices by railroads and lumber and mining companies. The fate of black landowners has been an overlooked part of this story. The AP--in an investigation that included interviews with more than 1,000 people and the examination of tens of thousands of public records in county courthouses and state and federal archives--documented 107 land takings in 13 Southern and border states. In those cases alone, 406 black landowners lost more than 24,000 acres of farm and timber land plus 85 smaller properties, including stores and city lots. Today, virtually all of this property, valued at tens of millions of dollars, is owned by whites or by corporations. Properties taken from blacks were often small--a 40-acre farm, a general store, a modest house. But the losses were devastating to families struggling to overcome the legacy of slavery. In the agrarian South, landownership was the ladder to respect and prosperity--the means to building economic security and passing wealth on to the next generation. When black families lost their land, they lost all of this. ``When they steal your land, they steel your future,'' said Stephanie Hagans, 40, of Atlanta, who has been researching how her great-grandmother, Ablow Weddington Stewart, lost 35 acres in Mattews, N.C. A white lawyer foreclosed on Stewart in 1942 after he refused to allow her to finish paying off a $540 debt, witnesses told the AP. ``How different would our lives be,'' Hagans asked, ``if we'd had the opportunities, the pride that land brings? No one knows how many black families have been unfairly stripped of their land, but there are indications of extensive loss. Besides the 107 cases the AP documented, reporters found evidence of scores of other land takings that could not be fully verified because of gaps or inconsistencies in the public record. Thousands of additional reports of land takings from black families remain uninvestigated. Two thousands have been collected in recent years by the Penn Center on St. Helena Island, S.C., an educational institution established for freed slaves during the Civil War. The Land Loss Prevention Project, a group of lawyers in Durham, N.C., who represent blacks in land disputes, said it receives new reports daily. And Heather Gray of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives in Atlanta said her organization has ``file cabinets full of complaints.'' AP's findings ``are just the tip of one of the biggest crimes of this country's history,'' said Ray Winbush, director of Fisk University's Institute of Race Relations. Some examples of land takings documented by the AP: After midnight on Oct. 4, 1908, 50 hooded white men surrounded the home of a black farmer in Hickman, Ky., and ordered him to come out for a whipping. When David Walker refused and shot at them instead, the mob poured coal oil on his house and set it afire, according to contemporary newspaper accounts. Pleading for mercy, Walker ran out the front door, followed by four screaming children and his wife, carrying a baby in her arms. The mob shot them all, wounding three children and killing the others. Walker's oldest son never escaped the burning house. No one was ever charged with the killings, and the surviving children were deprived of the farm their father died defending. Land records show that Walker's 2\1/2\-acre farm simply folded into the property of a white neighbor. The neighbor soon sold it to another man, whose daughter owns the undeveloped land today. In the 1950s and 1960s, a Chevrolet dealer in Holmes County, Miss., acquired hundreds of acres from black farmers by foreclosing on small loans for farm equipment and pickup trucks. Norman Weathersby, then the only dealer in the area, required the farmers to put up their land as security for the loans, county residents who dealt with him said. And the equipment he sold them they said, often broke down shortly thereafter. Weathersby's friend, William E. Strider, ran the local Farmers Home Administration--the credit lifeline for many Southern farmers. Area residents, including Erma Russell, 81, said Strider, now dead, was often slow in releasing farm operating loans to blacks. When cash-poor farmers missed payments owed to Weathersby, he took their land. The AP documented eight cases in which Weathersby acquired black-owned farms this way. When he died in 1973, he left more than 700 acres of this land to his family, according to estate papers, deeds and court records. In 1964, the state of Alabama sued Lemon Williams and Lawrence Hudson, claiming the cousins had no right to two 40- acre farms their family had worked in Sweet Water, Ala., for nearly a century. The land, officials contended, belonged to the state. Circuit Judge Emmett F. Hildreth urged the state to drop its suit, declaring it would result in ``a severe injustice.'' But when the state refused, saying it wanted income from timber on the land, the judge ruled against the family. Today, the land lies empty; the state recently opened some of it to logging. The state's internal memos and letters on the case are peppered with references to the family's race. In the same courthouse where the case was heard, the AP located deeds and tax records documenting that the family had owned the land since ancestor bought the property on Jan. 3, 1874. Surviving records also show the family paid property taxes on the farms from the mid-1950s until the land was taken. AP reporters tracked the land cases by reviewing deeds, mortgages, tax records, estate papers, court proceedings, survey or maps, oil and gas leases, marriage records, census listings, birth records, death certificates and Freedmen's Bureau archives. Additional documents, including FBI files and Farmers Home Administration records, were obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. The AP interviewed black families that lost land, as well as lawyers, title searchers, historians, appraisers, genealogists, surveyors, land activists, and local, state and federal officials. The AP also talked to current owners of the land, nearly all of whom acquired the properties years after the land takings occurred. Most said they knew little about the history of their land. When told about it, most expressed regret. Weathersby's son, John, 62, who now runs the dealership in Indianola, Miss., said he had little direct knowledge about his father's business affairs. However, he said he was sure his father never would have sold defective vehicles and that he always treated people fairly. Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman examined the state's files on the Sweet Water case after an inquiry from the AP. He said he found them ``disturbing'' and has asked the state attorney general to review the matter. ``What I have asked the attorney general to do,'' he said, ``is look not only at the letter of the law but at what is fair and right.'' The land takings are part of a larger picture--a 91-year decline in black landownership in America. In 1910, black Americans owned more farmland than at any time before or since--at least 15 million acres. Nearly all of it was in the South, largely in Mississippi, Alabama and the Carolinas, according to the U.S. Agricultural Census. Today, blacks won only 1.1 million of the country's more than 1 billion acres of arable land. They are part owners of another 1.07 million acres. The number of white farmers has declined over the last century, too, as economic trends have concentrated land in fewer, often corporate, hands. However, black ownership has declined 2\1/2\ times faster than white ownership, the U.S. Civil Rights Commission noted in a 1982 report, the last comprehensive federal study on the trend. The decline in black landownership had a number of causes, including the discriminatory lending practices of the Farmers Home Administration and the migration of blacks from the rural South to industrial centers in the North and West. However, the land takings also contributed. In the decades between Reconstruction and the civil rights struggle, black families were powerless to prevent them, said Stuart E. Tolnay, a University of Washington sociologist and co-author of a book on Lynchings. In an era when black Americans could not drink from the same water fountains as whites and black men were lynched for whistling at white women, few blacks dared to challenge whites. Those who did could rarely find lawyers to take their cases or judges who would give them a fair hearing. The Rev. Isaac Simmons was an exception. When his land was taken, he found a lawyer and tried to fight back. In 1942, his 141-acre farm in Amite County, Miss., was sold for nonpayment of taxes, property records show. The farm, for which his father had paid $302 in 1887, was brought by a white man for $180. Only partial, tattered tax records for the period exist today in the county courthouse; but they are enough to show that tax payments on at least part of the property were current when the land was taken. Simmons hired a lawyer in February 1944 and filed suit to get his land back. On March 26, a group of whites paid Simmons a visit. The minister's daughter, Laura Lee Houston, now 74, recently recalled her terror as she stood with her month-old baby in her arms and watched the man drag Simmons away. ``I screamed and hollered so loud,'' she said. ``They came toward me and I ran down in the woods.'' The whites then grabbed Simmons' son, Eldridge, from his house and drove the two men to a lonely road. ``Two of them kept beating me,'' Eldridge Simmons later told the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. ``They kept telling me that my father and I were `smart niggers' for going to see a lawyer.'' Simmons, who has since died, said his captors gave him 10 days to leave town and told his father to start running. Later that day, the minister's body turned up with three gunshot wounds in the back, The McComb Enterprise newspaper reported at the time. Today, the Simmons land--thick with timber and used for hunting--is privately owned and is assessed at $33,660. (Officials assess property for tax purposes, and the valuation is usually less than its market value.) Over the past 20 years, a handful of black families have sued to regain their ancestral lands. State courts, however, have dismissed their cases on grounds that statutes of limitations had expired. A group of attorneys led by Harvard University law professor Charles J. Ogletree has been making inquiries recently about land takings. The group has announced its intention to file a national class-action lawsuit in pursuit of reparations for slavery and racial discrimination. However, some legal experts say redress for many land takings may not be possible unless laws are changed. As the acres slipped away, so did treasured pieces of family history--cabins crafted by a grandfather's hand, family graves in shared groves. But ``the home place'' meant more than just that. Many blacks have found it ``very difficult to transfer wealth from one generation to the next,'' because they had trouble holding onto land, said Paula Giddings, a history professor at Duke University. The Espy family in Vero Beach, Fla., lost its heritage in 1942, when the U.S. government sized its land through eminent domain to build an airfield. Government agencies frequently take land this way for public purposes under rules that require fair compensation for the owners. In Vero Beach, however, the Navy appraised the Espy's 147 acres, which included a 30-acre fruit grove, two houses and 40 house lots, at $8,000, according to court records. The Espys sued, and an all-white jury awarded them $13,000. That amounted to one-sixth of the price per acre that the Navy paid white neighbors for similar land with fewer improvements, records show. After World War II, the Navy gave the airfield to the city of Vero Beach. Ignoring the Espy's plea to buy back their land, the city sold part of it, at $1,500 an acre, to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1965 as a spring training facility. In 1999, the former Navy land, with parts of Dodgertown and a municipal airport, was assessed at $6.19 million. Sixty percent of that land once belonged to the Espys. The team sold its property to Indian River County for $10 million in August, according to Craig Callan, a Dodgers official. The true extent of land takings from black families will never be known because of gaps in property and tax records in many rural Southern counties. The AP found crumbling tax records, deed books with names torn from them, file folders with documents missing, and records that had been crudely altered. In Jackson Parish, La., 40 years of moldy, gnawed tax and mortgage records were piled in a cellar behind a roll of Christmas lights and a wooden reindeer. In Yazoo County, Miss., volumes of tax and deed records filled a classroom in an abandoned school, the papers coated with white dust from a falling ceiling. The AP retrieved dozens of documents that custodians said were earmarked for shredders or landfills. The AP also found that about a third of the county courthouses in Southern and border states have burned--some more than once--since the Civil War. Some of the fires were deliberately set. On the night of Sept. 10, 1932, for example, 15 whites torched the courthouse in Paulding, Miss., where property records for the eastern half of Jasper County, then predominately black, were stored. Records for the predominantly white western half of the county were safe in another courthouse miles away. The door to the Paulding courthouse's safe, which protected the records, had been locked the night before, the Jasper County News reported at the time. The next morning, the safe was found open, most of the records reduced to ashes. Suddenly, it was unclear who owned a big piece of eastern Jasper County. Even before the courthouse fire, landownership in Jasper County was contentious. According to historical accounts, the Ku Klux Klan, resentful that blacks were buying and profiting from land, had been attacking black-owned farms, burning houses, lynching black farmers and chasing black landowners away. The Masonite Corp., a wood products company, was one of the largest landowners in the area. Because most of the land records had been destroyed, the company went to court in December 1937 to clear its title. Masonite believed it owned 9,581 acres and said in court papers that it had been unable to locate anyone with a rival claim to the land. A month later, the court rules the company had clear title to the land, which has since yielded millions of dollars in natural gas, timber and oil, according to state records. From the few property records that remain, the AP was able to document that at least 204.5 of those acres had been acquired by Masonite after black owners were driven off by the Klan. At least 850,000 barrels of oil have been pumped from this property, according to state oil and gas board records and figures from the Petroleum Technology Transfer Council, an industry group. Today, the land is owned by International Paper Corp., which acquired Masonite in 1988. Jenny Boardman, a company spokeswoman, said International Paper has been unaware of the ``tragic'' history of the land and was concerned about AP's findings. ``This is probably part of a much larger, public debate about whether there should be restitution for people who have been harmed in the past,'' she said. ``And by virtue of the fact that we now own these lands, we should be part of that discussion.'' Even when Southern courthouses remained standing, mistrust and fear of white authority long kept blacks away from record rooms, where documents often were segregated into ``white'' and ``colored.'' Many elderly blacks say they still remember how they were snubbed by court clerks, spat upon and even struck. Today, however, fear and shame have given way to pride. Interest in genealogy among black families is surging, and some black Americans are unearthing the documents behind those whispered stories. ``People are out there wondering: What ever happened to Grandma's land?'' said Loretta Carter Hanes, 75, a retired genealogist. ``They knew that their grandparents shed a lot of blood and tears to get it.'' Bryan Logan, a 55-year-old sports writer from Washington, D.C., was researching his heritage when he uncovered a connection to 264 acres of riverfront property in Richmond, Va. Today, the land is Willow Oaks, an almost exclusively white country club with an assessed value of $2.94 million. But in the 1850s, it was a corn-and-wheat plantation worked by the Howlett slaves--Logan's ancestors. Their owner, Thomas Howlett, directed in his will that his 15 slaves be freed, that his plantation be sold and that the slaves received the proceeds. When he died in 1856, his white relatives challenged the will, but two courts upheld it. Yet the freed slaves never got a penny. Benjamin Hatcher, the executor of the estate, simply took over the plantation, court records show. He cleared the timber and mined the stone, providing granite for the Navy and War Department buildings in Washington and the capitol in Richmond, according to records in the National Archives. When the Civil War ended in 1865, the former slaves complained to the occupying Union Army, which ordered Virginia courts to investigate. Hatcher testified that he had sold the plantation in 1862-- apparently to his son, Thomas--but had not given the proceeds to the former slaves. Instead, court papers show, the proceeds were invested on their behalf in Confederate War Bonds. There is nothing in the public record to suggest the former slaves wanted their money used to support the Southern war effort. Moreover, the bonds were purchased in the former slaves' names in 1864--a dubious investment at best in the fourth year of the war. Within months, Union armies were marching on Atlanta and Richmond, and the bonds were worthless pieces of paper. The blacks insisted they were never given even that, but in 1871, Virginia's highest court rules that Hatcher was innocent of wrongdoing and that the former slaves were owed nothing. The following year, the plantation was broken up and sold at a public auction. Hatcher's son received the proceeds, county records show. In the 1930s, a Richmond businessman cobbled the estate back together; he sold it to Willow Oaks Corp. in 1955 for an unspecified amount. ``I don't hold anything against Willow Oaks,'' Logan said. ``But how Virginia's courts acted, how they allowed the land to be stolen--it goes against everything America stands for.''