House Stalls Emergency Appropriation Bill with $250 Million
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News land: 25¢ (SOC Postpaid) "2.528 Vol. 108. No. 17 ISSN: 0030-8579 941 East 3rd St . Suite 200. Los Angeles, CA 90013 (213) 626-6936 Friday, May 5,1989 House Stalls Emergency Appropriation Bill With $250 Million Redress Payment WASHINGTON-Momentum for an The Foley amendment wa defeated emergency spending bill containing priation Committee Chaimlan Jamie 172 to 252. Whitten (D-Mi . ) $250 million for redress payments wa A ub titute amendment by Rep. temporarily stalled on the House floor Matsui al 0 aid another important Silvio O. Conte (R-Ma .), which debate i curr ntly going on in the lhi past week (April 26) a the meas would have cut $1.8 billion from ure was ent back to committee for Hou e Budget Committee where law the $4.7 billion mea ure including makers will oon detemline how much "corrective surgery," according to $250 million for redre ,wa not Rep. Robert T. Matsui (D.-Calif.). money redre will receive in the 1990 introduced. budget. The $4.7 billion measure, H.R. Many who voted "nay" to Foley's 2027, was termed the "dire emergency Rep . Don Edward (D-Calif.). amendment did 0 becau e of their chairman of the Hou e Judiciary ub supplemental appropriation act." It opposition to cuts in defense and contain $250 million for redre s pay committee on civil and con titutional dome tic program . While redres right , declared: ments in 1989 plus $6.4 million for was not a central point of the floor administrative cost . debate, ome made comments. uch "It wa the considered judgment of eal Members had debated for 5 \12 hours Smith, chainnan of the Appropriations as: subcommittee on commerce , justice, state in a lively and emotional manner. Rep. Ron Marlenee (R-Mont.)-"Tt To make the bill more acceptable and judiciary, to begin redre payment. i simply outrageous to blackmail vete with the supplemental . It was proud to a greater number of members, rans' health care funding by attaching day for me personally and for our comry House Majority Leader Tom Foley $250 million for Japanese American re 'BUDDHIST BELL-Esther and Col. William Lee of Washington, D.C. JACL take when Congre enacted the Ci vii Liberties CD-Wash.) offered an amendment paration to this bill . Last year, J told Act Act last year. We toed very tall in o,:,e .I~st look at the Shuri Castle Buddhist bell, which is being retumed from a my con tituents that I would not support Virginia home to Okinawa through assistance of Sen. Spark Matsunaga. which would have cut .57% of the the eyes of the world . Our Nation admitted previously enacted FY 1989 di - funding for reparation, especially that a terrible mi take was made over 45 cretionary appropriations for de when veterans have to beg and grovel years ago when the civil and con titutional to receive the federal benefits theyh rights of person of Japanese ance try were Buddhist Bell Being Returned fen e, foreign aid and domestic pro have earned with their blood and ac grams but leaving funds specified rifice ... violated . And we made a promi e to make to in H.R. 2027 (the redress payment Rep. Conte's remark in the Con redre . .. thi i a promi e we must Okinawa, a Shuri Castle Relic and discretionary programs) intact. gressional Record were described by keep. We have a real opportunity with the (From th~ Washington. D.C. JACL News Notes) for the purpose of returning the bell to JACL-LEC a inaccurate when he noted upplemental to begin to keep our prom On May 20, there will be a cere Okinawa. that the Ju tice Department said "they i e." mony in Okinawa, marking the return Following the death of the posses Ryukyu Limestone will not be ready to make any substan OMB Interpretation of a BUddhist bell to Japan, the result sor, his widow permitted Lee to con to Be Placed Inside tial payment during this year. due Reps. Daniel Akaka CD- Hawaii) of a IS-year endeavor. duct a historical study of the bell. in part to the directive in the authorizing and Norman Mineta (D-Calif.), who He was assisted by his son, Lt. CoL Washington Monument legislation that the eldest recipients are had challenged the Office of Manage The bell, originally part of Shuri to be paid flrst. The first payments will Castle in Okinawa. was taken by DanwiU Aoki Lee, who at that time TOKYO -A 135-year-old pledge be ment and Budget' previou interpreta be made in fi cal 1990, 0 funds are tion of the redress law that P.L. 100- American GI during World War ll. was a tudent atthe U.S.-Foreign Serv tween the United State and the King not needed at this time. ,. The return of the bell is principally the ice Institute at Yokohama and Dr. dom of Ryukyu (Okinawa) will be JACL-LEC acting director Rita Ta 383 required all eligible recipient be result of retired Col. William F. Lee, . Warren Tsuneishi of the Library of realized this ummer when a piece of kahashi pointed out that the Justice De located and certified before any pay his wife Esther Keiko Aoki Lee, and Congress. Coincidentally, Dr. Tsu Ryukyu limestone is placed in ide the partment, in hearing after hearing, tes ment could be disbursed. were Sen. Spark Mat unaga (D-Hawaii). neishi, while serving as military intel Washington Monument. tified they would be able to payout the gratified by the a urance from the as ligence sergeant during the battle for In 1854, Commodore Matthew maximum amount ($500 million) if the sociate director Jegi lative affairs, The history of the bell (one of two) monies were available. Thoma A. Scully, that their interpre was aptly described ill Okinawa: The Okinawa had translated the larger bell Perry brought a piece of rock from Matsui Remains Optimistic tation was "entirely correct." Last Battle, p. 402: for the XXIV Corps. Ryukyu to the United State 0 that it The study verified that the bell was could be imbedded in the monument Matsui said he wa di appointed that Scully, in a letter to Akaka, said , "On a high oval knob of ground at the south the bill was stalled but was also op "The language of the act states that the ern edge of the town, Shuri Castle had stood. cast in 1457 and presented by the then with memorial stone from throughout Wall of coral blocks, 20 feet thick at the base ruling king, "Sho Taikyu," to the America and around the world. timistic that it will return in some form Justice Department shall endeavor to and 40 feet in height, enclosed the castle area Eifukuji Temple, recovered by the But it was lost about the time of the with the redre s funds intact. No date identify qualified beneficiarie , and of approximately 290 acres. The castle in its U.S. Army from the ruins of Shuri U.S. Civil War when con truction on has been set for recon ideration by the does not require classification as a pre modem form had been constructed in 1544. full House. That will be up to Appro- requisite to funding." Here the kings of Okinawa had ruled. Now the Castle, removed to XXIV Corps Head the monument wa halted. Last year, massive rampartS, which had been banered by quarters for safekeeping, listed as mis the Ryukyu America Society ug 14- and l6-inch shells from American sing in a listing of historical bells in gested a ub titate stone to realize New City Library Opens battleships, remained intact in only a few the Dictionary of Ryukyuan History Perry' intention. places. Inside the castle aree one could discern (Ryukyuans Buddhist Temple Bells) in Liffle Tokyo Church the outline of the rubble-strewn and pined The story of the mis ing stone was parade ground. Magnificent large trees that had and was indeed a very important na related by Bob Oesch Ie, an American LOS ANGELES-In 1977 , Friends of graced the castle grounds were now blackened tional cultural property. member of the ociety. who vi ited the Little Tokyo Public Library Services skeletons on the kyline. The surviving widow, after chang monument as a tourist five years ago. got the city to park its bookmobile once "From the debris of what once had been ing her mind a number of times , un He noted the records indicated an a week into the area. Shuri Castle two large bronze bells, scarred and conditionally gave the bell to Lee. He Okinawa tone wa imbedded, but he This past week (April 29), the city' dented by shell fue, were dug out by the troops. immediately moved it singlehandedJy only discovered the Shimoda stone 63rd and malIest branch library was One of them was about five feet in height, the to his re idence where it remained until other three and a half. Cast about 1550. they from Japan. opened at the newly constructed Cente were inscribed with characters that may be last Oct. 14. Lee' wish was to return . Tadahiko Kinjo, a project leader to nary United Methodi t Church , which Iran lated as follows: the bell to where it belonged as soon end the lime tone . aid the effort i is providing 2,500 square feet rent free " 'In the Southern Seas lie the islands of as po sible. However, it was decided "aimed at young Okinawan . inform for five year in its community center Ryukyu Kingdom, known widely for their not to take official action until the ing them of a century-old relation of at E.