The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“TRAGIC SCHOOL SHOOTINGS” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Energy was published in the Senate section on pages S3972-S3975 on April 21, 1999.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRAGIC SCHOOL SHOOTINGS
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, once again the Senate is grieving for one of our communities that has suffered a tragic school shooting. We are all profoundly saddened today by the news out of the State of Colorado.
For those of us from my home State of Oregon, this feeling is, unfortunately, too familiar. It was just about a year ago that this same form of evil visited Thurston High School in Oregon. And I want to say, first and foremost, to the people of Colorado that Oregon's heart goes out to all of you today. The people of Colorado are in our prayers.
If our experience can be any measure of comfort, I would offer the observation that in Colorado, just as it was in Oregon, the parents and students will find that their neighbors can be an incredible resource of support. There is more strength in our communities than we realize. And while nothing--nothing--can ever ease this sort of pain, that strength does possess a tremendous healing power.
Mr. President, why are we seeing these tragedies in our country? We feel so good about the very strong economy. We play a preeminent leadership role in the world. There are so many good things in our Nation. But we send our children off to school in the morning and so often we have to worry that they might be gunned down by a classmate. What has produced this horrible evil?
I do not come to the floor of the Senate today to say I have the answers, but I know that we are not doing our job in this body if we do not try to find them. And it seems to me those of us from the States that have seen this horrible scourge--the Senators from Colorado and Arkansas and Kentucky and my own of Oregon--need to sit down together--
and soon--and begin a meaningful conversation about the practical and concrete steps that can be taken to prevent these tragedies. We ought to talk with everyone, we ought to talk with Sarah Brady, who has one point of view, talk with the National Rifle Association, who has another point of view. We need to have a concrete dialogue with all who have been part of this national discussion to find a way to stop these tragedies.
In the wake of what happened in Springfield, OR, Senator Gordon Smith and I worked, on a bipartisan basis, to make sure that if a kid brought a gun to school, action would be taken to treat that as a five-alarm warning. Looking at yesterday's tragedy, it seems to me that our bipartisan bill would not have been enough, because these students had never been caught with guns in school before. But the facts appear to be that the students there knew that this group was involved with weapons and that they had been engaged in potentially dangerous activities. We need to find ways to translate this knowledge into concrete approaches so the authorities can take steps to protect our youngsters in our schools.
Mr. President, so many Members of this body are parents. Many of our colleagues have been blessed with grandchildren. It chills all of us to the bone to think that this can happen in our communities, and that it has happened too often.
The people have elected us to lead. This is a problem which cannot be avoided. I am going to do everything I can, in a bipartisan fashion, with colleagues from other States that have seen these tragedies, to find those practical steps so parents across this country can have the certainty that when they send their youngsters to school they will come home safely at the end of the day.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I thank the Chair and I also thank my good friend from Vermont, the chairman of the committee that I serve on with him. I wanted to just take a few minutes to focus the attention of the Senate on this terrible tragedy that occurred yesterday in our schools. We all now know two students of Columbine High School in Littleton, CO, stormed into their school and began shooting at students and teachers, yesterday. The last that I heard, police believed that 16 people have been killed. Many of them were either just beginning their lunch or were studying in the library at the time they were assaulted. The details behind the violence are overwhelming, and the motivations leading to it are incomprehensible to all of us. But we are left wondering how this could happen in a suburban community like Littleton, CO.
I know we all grieve with the parents of those students and the families of the faculty who were killed yesterday.
Our Nation has witnessed five violent events in our schools during the past 17 months and we need to focus on that pattern of activity. Five communities have experienced this violence firsthand:
In Paducah, KY, in December of 1997, December 1, 1997, a 14-year-old boy shot and killed three girls at Heath High School in Kentucky and the shooter wounded five others.
On March 24, 1998, in Jonesboro, AR, two young boys hiding in the woods began shooting at their classmates and their teachers.
At Edinboro, PA, on April 25 of 1998 another 14-year-old student of Parker Middle School shot and killed a teacher and two other boys were wounded.
In Fayetteville, TN, less than a year ago, on March 19 of 1998, a senior at Lincoln County High School in Tennessee shot and killed a fellow student. And then in Springfield, OR, 2 days after the Tennessee incident, on May 21 of 1998, a 15-year-old student opened fire at Thurston High School in Oregon and killed two students and wounded 22 others.
We should not wait for another incident to happen before we take some action here in the Congress. These tragedies are the reason that last year I introduced a bill entitled ``The Safe Schools Security Act.'' The bill passed the Senate unanimously, I believe. Unfortunately, it was dropped in the conference. This year, a little over a month ago, on March 17, I again introduced the Safe Schools Security Act. In my view, we need to move ahead with that legislation. We have waited too long.
Yesterday the importance of this bill was made more evident by what we observed in Colorado. Recent studies show that our children fear they will be the victims of crime in school. Mr. President, 29 percent of our elementary schoolchildren fear that, 34 percent of our junior high, and 20 percent of our high school students fear they will be a victim of a crime while at school, according to a recent poll.
The schoolyard fight which I was familiar with when I was growing up is no longer the worst fear that students have. Mr. President, 75 percent of children ages 7 through 10 say they do worry about being shot or stabbed, and 13 percent of high school seniors report being threatened by a weapon between 1995 and 1996.
In 1997, a high school in my home State, Belen High School in Belen, NM, decided to improve school security. They did so in an effort to protect their students and their teachers and the school property. Belen partnered with Sandia National Laboratories, one of our Department of Energy Labs in Albuquerque, to try to accomplish this security upgrade. The results have been impressive. After 2 years, Belen High School experienced a 75-percent reduction in school violence, a 30-percent reduction in truancy, an 80-percent reduction in vehicle break-ins in the school parking lot, and a 75-percent reduction in vandalism.
Most noteworthy, Belen realized a 100-percent reduction in the presence of unauthorized people on school grounds. This is an issue in more and more of our schools today. They implemented several security measures, including placing security officers on permanent patrol on the campus, fencing the property, and restricting access to a single entrance where students and visitors could be monitored. They installed cameras in the parking lots to monitor vehicles and student activities. Through cooperation with the local police, the high school in Belen secured a police officer to work with the campus security officers and to patrol the school grounds after school to prevent unauthorized access.
This Safe Schools Security Act, which I have introduced again this year, S. 638, will also establish a security technology center that Sandia would operate to provide security assessments of middle schools and high schools, and to offer advice to schools about the security measures that are needed to be implemented and improved. The act would provide money and grants to local schools so they could purchase the appropriate technology and hire the necessary personnel to beef up security.
Obviously, improving school security will not guarantee that violence ceases in our schools.
It is a start. By restricting access, we can reduce unauthorized persons coming onto school grounds. By installing cameras on some of our school campuses, schools can be forewarned of problems in certain areas of the campus, and law enforcement can utilize those cameras in situations like the hostage situation that occurred yesterday in Colorado.
By planning the construction of schools with security in mind, we can begin to minimize the risks of violence occurring in our schools. Teachers and administrators need to identify their schools' security weaknesses. The personnel who have been working on this issue at Sandia Labs, with Federal money I should point out, have developed some expertise that can be helpful to some of our schools in this regard. Because of yesterday's tragedy, parents, teachers, and community leaders are asking, what can be done to protect our schools, and all of us in America are debating what can be done.
This bill cannot ensure that our children will be safe in school, but it will provide schools with a course of action to follow and with some resources to begin addressing this problem in a meaningful way.
We all know that most schools do not have the financial resources to purchase security technology, and high schools and middle schools often lack the technical expertise to know what kind of technology will best serve their school. This bill could help to provide that expertise and help to give good advice, expert advice to schools on appropriate technology and on appropriate actions that could be taken to make our schools more secure.
Mr. President, with this terrible tragedy still very much in front of us, I urge that we consider the proposals that I have set forth in this bill. I urge that we think about what action we can take to lessen the likelihood of these types of incidents in the future. Obviously, our children are our most important resource in this country, and I believe some additional effort in this regard would be well advised and strongly supported by all my colleagues.
I hope we can move ahead on this bill. I appreciate very much the chance to speak on it today.
I yield the floor.
Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, this morning we all have to return to business, but it is an especially difficult day to do so.
It is difficult to think of anything other than the terrible tragedy in Littleton, CO yesterday.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of Columbine High School--the students and staff injured; the families of those who were killed; and everyone who suffered the terrifying ordeal there.
Our nation is suffering, too--at the thought that such horrifying events are taking place all too often in our country.
It was heartening to see so many parents reunited with their children yesterday. Still, those joyful hugs were bittersweet reminders of the families waiting for students and staff who didn't come home.
These families and the community of Littleton have lost their loved ones, and their lives will never be the same again. Their losses cannot be replaced. They, and everyone affected by yesterday's events, have lost their innocence, too.
We all want to believe that our schools will be places where children can learn in a safe, supportive environment, where they will learn not only what they need to go on to college or vocational school or work, but also what they need to become well-balanced, emotionally secure people.
Certainly schools cannot be expected to do the job by themselves. It does take a village to raise a child.
It takes, first and foremost, parents who love and respect and talk to and spend time with their children. Parents must be prepared to meet the daunting challenge of rearing children in a society that seems to move too fast. As important as schools are, parents are their children's first and most compelling teachers. Parents must realize that, even when they aren't conscious of it, they are teaching their children constantly. Their example is the most powerful teaching tool available, and it can be used to constructive or destructive ends. Our children's values originate from their parents' values--those taught, and those exemplified, those that are negative and those that are positive.
It also takes a child care system that pays its workers more than the minimum wage. It takes schools that truly educate and do their best to give every student the attention he or she needs. It takes qualified teachers who value their students and, in turn, are valued by us. It takes friends and neighbors who get involved in supporting parents, schools, and children. It takes a juvenile justice system that protects society from violent criminals and strives to intervene in youthful offenders' lives before they are beyond our help. It takes a society that shows children the way without alienating them.
It takes all of us.
Our schools are populated by a talented, committed generation of young people. I am optimistic about our future, their future. It is a sad reality that just a few people can cause such great devastation--in our schools and on our streets. The problem is not our children--it is our failure to deal adequately with their needs. Too many of today's children face intense fear, anger, and confusion. They need our time and attention. They need us to teach them how to deal with those emotions in constructive ways.
Even children who have good values--and are good kids--face incredible emotional and societal challenges and pressures that most children of my generation never had to worry about. And they need our help. I never had to worry about assault weapons or pipe bombs when I went to school. I wasn't confronted with drug pushers. And I had two loving parents who were involved in my education and my life.
We can't go back in time, and we shouldn't undercut our basic freedoms. But we do have to work together--every one of us--to address the problems that threaten the fabric of our society.
We can--and should--have a thoughtful discussion about how to shape a comprehensive national response to the problem of violence in our schools and our communities. We should have that discussion soon.
But today is about grieving the loss of those killed, sending positive thoughts to those who were injured, and praying for everyone involved in this terrible tragedy.
Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, yesterday's tragedy in Littleton, Colorado has brought the nation together in our sense of shock and horror. I want the people of Littleton to know that they are in our thoughts and our hearts. We cannot know the devastation they must feel, and we can only imagine, ``what if that were my child?'' In this time of terrible sorrow, your nation sends its profound sympathy.
Yesterday, two heavily-armed students went into Columbine High School in Littleton, in what has been described as a suicide mission, to bring violence and death on their classmates, their teachers, and themselves.
One student last night, a girl from another high school who visited Columbine to show her support, made a very important observation:
``People always say `it couldn't happen here; it couldn't happen to me,' well, it did happen here; it did happen to us.'' We must ask ourselves what we can to stop this senseless violence from happening again in another town, another community, another school.
As we begin to sort through the aftermath of this terrible tragedy, inevitably we will arrive at the question ``why?'' It is too easy for a young person these days to feel anonymous--to go unseen. Too many young people in America will wake up today, walk through the neighborhood, attend a crowded school, walk through the shopping mall, and return home--without ever getting acknowledgment or recognition or support from even one adult.
As a nation, we must make a determined effort to change this unfortunate fact. We have a responsibility to the nation's young people to do better. I have talked to too many young people who say that
``adults just don't seem to care about me.'' Sometimes just a conversation or even a smile can send an important message to a young person--``You matter. I want things to go well for you. If you need help, I'm here.''
Young people today are different in many ways than when we were young, but one thing hasn't changed. They still need our understanding, and our compassion. And they need to know that someone cares about them so that they don't see violence as a solution. Violence is not an option. We cannot tolerate violence in our schools.
Tragically, these two students at Columbine High School, who so desperately wanted someone's attention have finally succeeded. In their cry to be heard, they have done irreparable damage to the families and community of Littleton. And as we search for an explanation, we find ourselves struggling to understand who those two boys were and how they could commit such an awful crime.
There is not a legislative solution to the problem of violence in our schools. Instead, we must begin a national dialogue about what we all can do to let children know that violence is simply not acceptable. As we all reflect on yesterday, each one of us should ask ourselves what we can do to make a difference. We each must take responsibility to do a better job in letting all children know that adults care about them .
. . that there are other ways to make their voice heard . . . that they matter.
For the last three years, I have cosponsored, with former Senator Kempthorne, a resolution establishing the Day of Concern About Young People and Gun Violence. Every year we have received dozens of Senate cosponsors--56 last year--and widespread support from the Parent-
Teacher Association, Mothers Against Violence in America, the National Association of Student Councils, and others.
But more importantly, last year more than a million students signed a pledge promising they would never take a gun to school, would never use a gun to settle a dispute, and would use their influence to prevent friends from using guns to settle disputes. I hope all of my Senate colleagues will join me this year in cosponsoring and passing this important resolution establishing the Day of Concern on October 21, 1999.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Mr. ALLARD. Mr. President, my wife Joan and I were shocked and dismayed at the violence and bloodshed at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado yesterday.
Words cannot do justification to the deep sense of loss all of us are feeling today following the tragedy. But words--these words, and the words of our prayers--are what we have to offer now.
I offer my condolences to all those who lost loved ones, and to those whose loved ones have been wounded, hurt, and terrified.
I would like to ask America for their prayers as well. They are needed. The Columbine High School community is in shock, the State of Colorado is in shock, and America is in shock.
Before I left my office just now, I heard the final number of casualties--15. Fifteen lives, most of them young, ended yesterday by savage violence.
This is a wound, a scar, that will not be removed, and for those who bear the worst of this burden my wife and I offer all our compassion, our sympathy and our prayers.
We should recognize the heroism of the local police, the emergency personnel, and others who responded, as well as the heroism of the students and teachers caught in the attack. Many put their lives on the line to rescue students and escort them to safety.
The simple, unplanned bravery and courage of those who did whatever they could--in the midst of mayhem and terror--to avert further tragedy might never be fully known but should be fully acknowledged.
There are far too many of my colleagues who have had this experience--who have watched as news of school shootings and teen violence spread across the media. This tragedy erupted in Colorado, but it is part of a nationwide concern.
In the coming months there will be time, and there will be a need, for us to commit ourselves to finding a solution to this tragic problem. We must ask ourselves how this could happen, and what can be done to prevent it from ever happening again. There is, I am sure, no simple solution. But we must pledge ourselves to doing what we can.
Right now, however, I think the best response in the aftermath of this horror is, as Governor Bill Owens said, to hug our children. To hug them, and think about providing a better, more secure future.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Idaho.
Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I think, be it Senator Allard or his wife or myself or my wife or any American, we woke up this morning to watch the morning news to be saddened by the situation in Kosovo but to be brought to tears by the situation in Littleton, CO. It is a tragic time and a very sad day for America. I concur with my colleague from Colorado, there are no easy answers. There were brave people and there were wonderful young people who lost their lives. So let me join with my colleague from Colorado in expressing our concern, our sympathy, and our condolences to all involved in this tragic issue.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, it is my understanding that Senator Boxer and I have been given 30 minutes in morning business today. Is that true?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is correct.
Mr. REID. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada is recognized.
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