CONGRESSIONAL RECORD— Extensions of Remarks E588 HON. CHARLES W. ''CHIP'' PICKERING HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH HON
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E588 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks April 21, 2004 and practice . and played with purpose, In addition to being named the SEC Player Czechoslovakia and condemnation of the endurance and confidence. of the Year, Roberts is the first Associated crushing of ‘‘Prague Spring.’’ For their noble Lopez High School Principal Maggie Gutier- Press All-American First Team selection from efforts, they were arrested by the KGB, tried, rez summed up the lessons for the team to a Mississippi Division I school since fellow and convicted of ‘‘slander’’ against the Soviet learn in this sweet victory. ‘‘This team has a Bulldog Bailey Howell in 1958–59. In addition Union. Bogoraz was sentenced to 4 years of spirit of never giving up no matter what,’’ she to earning a slot on the gold standard of internal exile in the Irkutsk region of eastern said. ‘‘Lopez Lobos are born to succeed, and postseason teams, Roberts has also garnered Siberia, where she worked in a wood-proc- no one else will tell them any different.’’ These first-team all-America recognition this season essing factory. In a show of solidarity and re- athletes learned an important lesson in this by both the National Association of Basketball spect for her, Larisa’s dissident friends com- championship: They are absolutely capable of Coaches (NABC) and United States Basket- bined their resources and bought her a house doing great things; my prayer is that their ball Writers Association (USBWA). to live in while she served her exile term. imaginations will be their only limits in this He adds first-team national honors by the When she completed her sentence, she sold world. Sports Illustrated.com and College Insider.com the house and gave the proceeds to a fund for I offer my proud congratulations to each Web sites as well as by the Adolph F. Rupp political prisoners. member of the team, to the coaches and their Award committee. Roberts has also collected By 1976, she was back in Moscow actively assistants, to the parents who must endure second-team all-America accolades by the involved in the compilation of the ‘‘samizdat’’ the practices and the injuries, and to the prin- Basketball Times publication and ESPN.com. publication ‘‘Memory’’ dedicated to chronicling cipal and teachers who set the example of Roberts has been named a top five finalist the repressions of the Stalin era. combining education and athletics. Mostly, I for the 28th Annual John R. Wooden Award Meanwhile, personal tragedy struck. Lansa’s want these young people to understand that along with Stanford’s Josh Childress, Chris second husband, Moscow Helsinki Group they won far more than the respect that Duhon of Duke, Jameer Nelson of Saint Jo- member and political prisoner Anatoly comes with a championship . they now seph’s, and Connecticut’s Emeka Okafor. Marchenko, died of a hunger strike in know that dreams can come true. Roberts becomes Mississippi State’s first-ever Chistopol Prison in December 1986. The Hel- Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me Wooden Award All-American, which dates sinki Commission, which I am proud to chair, in offering our best wishes to the Lopez High back to the 1976–77 hoops campaign. had raised the Marchenko case on several oc- School Lobos for their hard-fought and well- Bulldog fans will wait till mid-June to see casions, and the late Warren Christopher, our deserved victory at the Texas Class 4A State whether Roberts will return for his senior year head of delegation at the CSCE meeting in Vi- soccer championship. or enter the NBA draft. This young man has enna, led a moment of silence in memory of f time to make that decision and consider his Mr. Marchenko. The Soviet and East German opportunities, but fans in Mississippi will be delegations walked out in protest, but a few RECOGNITION OF LAWRENCE watching him either way, either on the colle- weeks later Dr. Andrei Sakharov was released ROBERTS giate court or in the professional arena. from his Gorky exile, and in February 1987 f General Secretary Gorbachev initiated the HON. CHARLES W. ‘‘CHIP’’ PICKERING wholesale release of Soviet political prisoners. OF MISSISSIPPI THE PASSING OF LARISA After the fall of the Soviet Union, Larisa BOGORAZ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Bogoraz continued her involvement in human Wednesday, April 21, 2004 rights activity, working with her colleagues HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH from days past as well as a new generation of Mr. PICKERING. Mr. Speaker, I would like OF NEW JERSEY activists from Russia and the newly inde- to salute a student at Mississippi State Univer- IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES pendent countries of the former Soviet Union. sity who has demonstrated athletic excellence Wednesday, April 21, 2004 Mr. Speaker, in its eulogy to this dissident this year and distinguished himself in the heroine, the Ryazan Memorial Society writes, ranks of college basketball not only in my Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, on ‘‘. texts that were signed ‘L. Bogoraz still state, but across the country. April 6 of this year, one of the true giants of remain,’ and our children will learn from Mississippi State’s SEC Player of the Year, the Soviet and Russian human rights move- them.’’ Lawrence Roberts, is the first Bulldog player ments, Larisa Bogoraz, passed away. So might we all. since Rickey Brown (1979–80) to average a Born in eastern Ukraine, Larisa Iosifnova f double-double for an entire season. Roberts Bogoraz was by profession a linguist. In 1950, completed the 2003–04 campaign as the she married the writer Yuli Daniel who, to- TRIBUTE TO DR. JOHN S. BURD, SEC’s No. 7 scorer (16.9 points per game) gether with Andrei Sinyavsky, was subse- PRESIDENT, BRENAU UNIVERSITY and second-leading rebounder (10.1 rebounds quently arrested by Soviet authorities in 1965 per game). Roberts also finished the year for publishing their stories abroad. This trial, HON. NATHAN DEAL ranked fifth in the league in field-goal percent- marking the first prosecution of Soviet writers OF GEORGIA age (51.9%). With an SEC-leading 16 double- for their literary activities since the time of Sta- IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES doubles on the season, the 6-foot-9, 235- lin, gained international attention and laid the pound Roberts ranks fourth nationally among groundwork for the Soviet human rights move- Wednesday, April 21, 2004 active NCAA Division I players with 38 career ment. Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise double-doubles. The former University of Daniel and Sinyavsky were convicted by a today to address the House to honor a pio- Baylor transfer and Houston, Texas native has kangaroo court and sentenced to long terms in neer and friend within the higher education averaged 16.3 points (1,400 career points) a Soviet labor camp in the Mordovia region. arena of Georgia. It is with immense pride and and 9.5 rebounds (821 career rebounds) per Traveling to visit her incarcerated husband, a great honor that I pay tribute to a man that contest during his three-year, 86-game colle- Larisa Bogoraz met relatives of other political has made similar contributions to our region, giate career. prisoners. Soon she was deeply involved in but in the higher education arena. Please join This season, Roberts helped lead Associ- drafting and distributing petitions calling upon me recognizing a friend and a community ated Press SEC Coach of the Year Rick the Soviet Government to observe the basic servant, Dr. John S. Burd, as he retires as Stansbury’s eighth-ranked Bulldogs to a 26–4 civil liberties enumerated in the 1936 Soviet president of Brenau University in Gainesville, overall record and league-best 14–2 SEC constitution. GA. mark en route to claiming the school’s first In early 1968, Larisa Bogoraz joined Pavel Since donning the mantle of president of outright SEC regular-season championship Litvinov to produce a petition addressed to the what was then known as Brenau College in since 1962–63. This year’s State squad also international community and protesting the trial 1985, it could be argued that Dr. Burd has ac- made school history by appearing in a fourth of dissident Alexandr Ginzburg, who had com- complished more in under twenty years than consecutive postseason tournament and earn- piled the well-known ‘‘White Book’’ on the trial all previous presidents did in the first 107 ing a third straight NCAA Tournament berth. of Daniel and Sinyavsky. In August of that years of this fine institution’s history. Since he Roberts’ teamwork benefited the entire Bull- year, when, as Ludmilla Alexeyeva wrote so first assumed office, his vision of private liberal dogs squad. But his skill on the court distin- eloquently, ‘‘the Politburo decided to ‘strength- arts higher education, his dedication, hard guished him individually, and he has been rec- en peace’ by invading a sovereign country,’’ work, personal sacrifice, and love of the arts ognized for his achievements. The accolades Larisa and six other brave souls met on Red have transformed the college into a nationally continue to roll in. Square and unfurled banners in defense of recognized university and enhanced the lives VerDate mar 24 2004 04:43 Apr 22, 2004 Jkt 029060 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 0626 Sfmt 9920 E:\CR\FM\A21AP8.055 E21PT1.