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.
“ALASKA AIRLINES FLIGHT 261” mentioning the Department of Interior was published in the Senate section on pages S186-S187 on Feb. 1, 2000.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
ALASKA AIRLINES FLIGHT 261
Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I am here because I am deeply saddened to report to the Senate a very serious loss, as far as the country is concerned and a real sad loss for myself personally. I was saddened last night when my wife and I received a call about the loss of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 on a flight from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to San Francisco.
Eighty-eight people were on board that plane, many of them apparently employees or relatives or friends of employees of that airline. While the search continues, we have been told now that no survivors have been found. My thoughts and prayers and I hope all of our thoughts and prayers are with the families of these people who have perished.
Among those on the plane were at least five Alaskans. We think there were more. One was one of my very close and dear friends, Morris Thompson--we called him Morrie--his wife Thelma and their daughter Cheryl.
Morrie Thompson has been a respected leader of the Native community of our State and a businessman. Just last fall, he retired as the chief executive officer of Doyon Limited, which is one of 12 regional corporations for our Alaska Native people. Because of Senate business, I was unable to attend that retirement dinner in Fairbanks, but my granddaughter Sara went as my representative.
Morrie had a tremendous background. He was not only a great leader for the Native people of Alaska, but he was a leader in his own right nationally. He was a member of the University of Alaska's Board of Regents. He served as president of the Alaska Federation of Natives. During the Nixon administration, he was the Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs for our Nation in Washington, DC, and a special assistant to the Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs in the Department of the Interior. He was president of the Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce and in 1997 was named Business Leader of the Year by the University of Alaska.
He is going to be remembered for his work on the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, landmark legislation in 1971, which was a tremendous economic boost for our Native people. His greatest legacy will be among the young people of our State who have benefited from Morris Thompson's fellowship program and the Doyon Foundation, which he created to subsidize tuition for Native students in Alaska.
My heart goes out to the Thompsons' surviving daughters, Nicole and Allison, and to all the members of their family. Morrie has not just been a political friend or a business friend. We have joined one another in each other's homes for dinner and raised our children together in a way.
There are many families, I am sure, mourning over this terrible tragedy. Also on that plane was the son of a former State legislator, Margaret Branson. Her son Malcolm and his fiancee Janice Stokes, both of Ketchikan, were returning from a vacation in Mexico.
I have this report for the Senate. I have been in touch with Jim Hall of the National Transportation Safety Board and the Secretary of Transportation, Secretary Slater. It is my intention to go to California on Thursday to meet with NTSB officials in Oxnard and the Coast Guard officials in Port Hueneme, CA, concerning the crash.
I say to the Senate that Alaska Airlines has an exemplary safety record. In my State, their pilots and planes fly in the most challenging terrain and weather of our whole Nation, if not the world. This is a great tragedy for that small airline and for our State.
My thoughts are with those people who are involved in trying to make certain the airline continues and their personal families of that airline who are affected by this tragedy are cared for as well as the relatives of people who have lost their lives.
I thank my colleagues very much for their courtesy in allowing me to make this report to the Senate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous agreement, the Senator from New York is recognized.
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Alaska for his remarks and say to him that--and I am sure I speak for all the people of my State--we share the grief of the families who have lost loved ones and all those who have been affected by this terrible tragedy. To hear of an outstanding citizen and his wife and daughter losing their lives on that flight reminds us all that there but for the grace of God go each of us.
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