20980 Hon. Carolyn B. Maloney Hon. Brad Sherman
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
20980 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS September 21, 2005 Mr. Betts played in hands with Oscar years with the notorious Queen of the Blues options to monitor the medical impacts of Hur- Peterson, Tommy Flanagan, Woody Herman, and cut several classic records, including ricane Katrina, there is no Federal program in Nat Adderley, Joe Pass, Clifford Brown and ‘‘Dinah Jams’’ (1954) and ‘‘Dinah!’’ (1956). place to set up a medical monitoring program. Vince Guaraldi. Her gruff exterior was ‘‘for the people,’’ After he made the Washington area his Mr. Betts said. ‘‘She was a different person This is why we are introducing the Disaster home in the mid-1950s, Mr. Betts teamed inside.’’ She paid for Mr. Betts’s wedding re- Area Health and Environmental Monitoring with Byrd, the lyrical guitarist who made ception in 1953 at Birdland in New York; Tito Act—H.R. 5329 in the 108th Congress. This is his name with sensual, samba-inspired bossa Puente provided the music. the companion to legislation introduced in the nova music. They were regulars at the Show- Washington taught Mr. Betts a secret to Senate by Senators VOINOVICH and CLINTON— boat Lounge in the District and made several good musicianship: Learn the lyrics. She S. 1279—and has passed the Senate by State Department-sponsored trips abroad. said the best musicians know the entire unanimous consent last Congress. During one trip to Brazil, Mr. Betts be- song, not just the chord changes. The Disaster Area Health and Environ- ‘‘There’s an art to playing behind the sing- came enthralled with samba records and, he mental Monitoring Act would create a standard said, spent months persuading Byrd to play er,’’ he said later. ‘‘When the singer comes the music around Washington. onstage, they’re buck naked. And it’s the job for a monitoring program following a disaster Although Mr. Betts was on the million- of the group backing her up to dress that when the President determines a monitoring selling ‘‘Jazz Samba’’ (1962) album—recorded person for the audience.’’ program is needed. This monitoring program at Washington’s All Souls Unitarian He met Fitzgerald through his golfing would be set up to screen the health of af- Church—stars Byrd and saxophonist Stan partner, bassist Ray Brown, the singer’s ex- fected individuals. By creating a coordinated Getz were credited with launching the bossa husband and business manager. Mr. Betts monitoring program, we can provide valuable nova craze in the United States. played with Fitzgerald in the mid-1960s and information to affected individuals and we can again from 1971 to 1993, often doing weeks of One of the most memorable songs from the assure our first responders that we will con- album, ‘‘Desafinado,’’ featured Mr. Betts one-nighters around the world. doing the supple bass-line introduction. But Meanwhile, he played at the Kennedy Cen- tinue to care about the health affects after the his contribution to finding the music went ter and on jazz cruises. He also stayed active disaster. I urge my colleagues to support this unheralded until recent years, after he spoke in musical education through Head Start, legislation. to JazzTimes magazine about his role. among other programs. At the Wolf Trap In- f Ken Kimery, a producer and drummer with stitute for Early Learning Through the Arts, the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orches- he often amazed the kindergarten set by tak- SIMON WIESENTHAL tra, told The Washington Post in 2003: ‘‘My ing ‘‘Happy Birthday’’ and covering it in dif- experience with him is that he feels the ferent styles: classical, Brazilian, country story will come out, and he does not feel and western, rock and jazz. HON. BRAD SHERMAN he’ll have to be the one who takes the effort In 1994, he was inducted into the Wash- OF CALIFORNIA to do that. Here’s a gentleman who’s ington Area Music Association’s Hall of IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES done so much and does not feel the need to Fame. Wednesday, September 21, 2005 self-promote.’’ He emerged as a bandleader with a flurry William Thomas Betts was born in Port of recent CDs and composed a handful of Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, Simon Chester, N.Y., July 22, 1928, and was raised songs, notably the sweet and tender ‘‘Pinky’s Wiesenthal refused to forget the horror he en- by his single mother, a domestic worker. He Waltz,’’ in memory of his wife, Mildred dured and witnessed in five Nazi death camps got his nickname when a family friend said Grady Betts, who died in 2000. during the Holocaust. He would not let the the baby was as cute as a mosquito. Mos- Survivors include five children, William world forget what the Jewish people and so Betts Jr. of Washington, Jon Betts of Olney, quito became Skeeter, then Keter. many others suffered at the hands of Hitler’s One day, his mother sent the youngster for Derek Betts of Los Angeles and Jacquelyn milk and bread at the market. Thrilled by Betts and Jennifer Betts, both of Silver Third Reich. He dedicated his life to bringing the sound of a passing Italian parade, he fol- Spring; and four grandchildren. Nazis to justice, educating the world about the lowed the drummer across town. He was gone f Holocaust, and fighting to help ensure that the four hours with the milk and bread. intolerance that brought it about would not be ‘‘My mother almost killed me when I got INTRODUCTION OF THE DISASTER repeated. The spirit Wiesenthal brought to home,’’ he told an interviewer. ‘‘I got a AREA HEALTH AND ENVIRON- these lifelong pursuits will not end with his whippin’. After that, I told my mother I MENTAL MONITORING ACT death. wanted to play drums.’’ Along with millions of other Jews, She figured that if her fury did not dis- suade him, he must be serious. She arranged HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY Wiesenthal was imprisoned by the Nazis dur- for drum lessons. OF NEW YORK ing the Holocaust. Unwilling to accept this His switch to the bass came one day in IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES fate, Wiesenthal daringly escaped in 1943, 1946, his senior year in high school. He went only to be recaptured in 1944. Wiesenthal was to New York to see Cab Calloway’s big band Wednesday, September 21, 2005 sent back to a concentration camp, and as the and meet the drummer. When bassist Milt Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, today I am German Eastern front collapsed Wiesenthal Hinton appeared at the stage door, he told introducing the Disaster Area Health and Envi- was marched with other prisoners across Eu- the teenager that the drummer was gone but ronmental Monitoring Act with my colleagues rope. The trek left him near death when finally that he would spring for a 35-cent lunch. He also talked up the bass. Representatives CHRIS SHAYS and TIM BISHOP. liberated by the advancing American army. Ultimately, Hinton’s words were not as During a disaster our first responders hero- The moment his health returned, Wiesenthal persuasive to Mr. Betts as the fact that car- ically rush to the disaster area with little regard sprang into action. He began to build a legal rying a drum set up four flights of stairs to for their personal safety in hopes of saving case against the Nazis, first for the American his mother’s apartment was excruciating. others. We owe it to them to at least monitor military’s war crimes trials and then through an Almost from the start, Mr. Betts’s profes- their health when it has been put at risk. Un- independent effort based in Vienna. sional career brought him to Washington. fortunately, no such program exists. There is Wiesenthal relentlessly searched for Adolf New York area saxophonist Carmen Leggio no better example of this than what has hap- Eichmann, the infamous Nazi who headed Hit- invited Mr. Betts to play with his band at a club near the Howard Theatre in 1947. pened in the aftermath of 9/11. ler’s Gestapo, and other Nazis who had In 1949, while Mr. Betts was playing at Today, more than 4 years after 9/11, there evaded trial by the allies. Wiesenthal’s work Washington’s Club Bali, R&B bandleader are literally thousands of individuals who are led to the capture of Eichmann and other infa- Earl Bostic heard and hired him. He made still sick as a direct result of their work in and mous Nazis years after the world had given up his recording debut that year on Bostic’s around Ground Zero. Included in the sick are on bringing them to justice. Although the Holo- rendition of ‘‘Wrap Your Troubles in police officers, firefighters, volunteers, resi- caust was fading into the world’s memory, Dreams.’’ dents, and area workers. Despite a clear Wiesenthal continued to fight its battles every ‘‘I didn’t want to play R&B,’’ Mr. Betts need, there is still no one in the Federal Gov- day with his time, determination, and spirit. said. ‘‘But it was a good chance to go on the road and see the country.’’ ernment in charge of caring for these individ- In Los Angeles, Simon Wiesenthal’s mem- He met Dinah Washington in 1951, when uals, there is no coordination among programs ory lives on at the Simon Wiesenthal Center. she and pianist Wynton Kelly were doing a established to screen these illnesses and The international organization works to pre- one-nighter with Bostic’s band. The singer there is no Federal program that provides any- serve the memory of the Holocaust and to offered Mr.