S10480 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE October 2, 2008 

would not exist today. I would like to 

recognize their work as they seek to 

honor their ancestors by collecting historical accounts, and locating important artifacts from this time in history. Accordingly, the Lakota language includes an expression that fits 

their mission: Hecel lena Oyate kin 

nipi kte, so that our people may live.

f 

∑ 

TRIBUTE TO GEORGE 

WARRINGTON 

∑ Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, in 

light of today’s historic vote on the 

Amtrak reauthorization legislation, I 

wish to honor a great transportation 

leader and a son of New Jersey George 

Warrington, who passed away at his 

home in Mendham, NJ, on December 

24, 2007. During a public service career 

that spanned more than 30 years, Mr. 

Warrington held an influential and decisive role in the development and continued success of public transportation 

systems not just in our State of New 

Jersey but throughout the entire region. His role in the early development 

of NJ Transit helped make the agency 

what it is today one of the largest and 

most successful transit agencies in the 

country. 

George Warrington’s contributions to 

public transportation cannot be overstated. His work to secure funding for 

NJ Transit in the 1970s was crucial to 

the creation and early development of 

the agency. He later served as vice 

president and general manager of NJ 

Transit’s rail operations and brought a 

necessary focus on customer service, 

ontime performance, and repairing the 

rail system’s infrastructure. He worked 

tirelessly to expand regional rail capacity by adding additional seating in 

cars and parking spaces at stations 

across the State. He also promoted the 

development of new rail lines, such as 

the Midtown Direct Montclair service 

and Newark Light Rail extension, and 

he spearheaded the addition of key rail 

stations such as Hoboken Terminal and 

Secaucus Junction. These initiatives 

were central in creating and maintaining a successful public railroad transportation system in New Jersey and 

the surrounding region, and I was 

proud to secure Federal funding for 

these efforts. 

George’s efforts on one project, in 

particular, will help secure the economic future of the New Jersey-New 

York region and that is the new Hudson River Rail Tunnel. Also called the 

Trans-Hudson Express, THE, Tunnel, 

part of the Access to the Region’s Core, 

ARC, Project, this new rail tunnel will 

ensure that travel between New Jersey 

and Manhattan by rail will be available 

well into the future. Existing tunnels 

are already at capacity during peak 

hours, with trains moving through 

them at a rate of one every 21⁄2 minutes. Without this new tunnel, our region’s economy will suffer. New 

Jerseyans would lose out on a convenient and environmentally friendly way 

to commute to work into New York 

City and New York City would lose out 

on a strong and dedicated labor pool of 

New Jersey workers. George garnered 

critical early support for the new tunnel project from both sides of the river, 

a feat acknowledged by many experts 

as vital to the project. 

George Warrington also listened to 

passengers and employees, a critical 

feature of any successful organization. 

He considered their input in new rail 

car designs, such as the popular new 

multilevel cars. These rail cars eliminate the dreaded ‘‘third seat,’’ while 

adding to the overall number of seats 

in the car. 

For several years, George also served 

as executive director of the Delaware 

River Port Authority, which governs 

the Delaware River port system, four 

major vehicle bridges in the region, 

and the PATCO rail system. He is credited with speeding up project delivery 

times and managing the conversion to 

collecting tolls in just one direction on 

the bridges. 

George Warrington must also be recognized for his significant contributions to national transportation as 

Amtrak’s corporate president and CEO 

and chief executive of its Northeast 

corridor. He was instrumental in the 

launching of Acela Express, the nation’s first high-speed rail line, as well 

as carrying out the completion of the 

electrification of the entire Northeast 

corridor rail line between Boston and 

Washington, DC, another project I was 

proud to secure Federal funding for. 

The Northeast corridor now offers the 

country’s premier high-speed rail service and carries more passengers than 

all of the airlines combined between 

key northeastern cities. George will always be remembered as an important 

advocate of a strong national rail system. 

Mr. President, while George Warrington passed away on December 24, 

2007, his legacy lives on through his 

family and through his lasting contributions to the rail industry both in 

New Jersey and throughout the Nation. 

On behalf of the people of New Jersey, 

I am proud to commemorate his many 

achievements to make New Jersey and 

our Nation a better place and convey 

our best wishes to his family and 

friends.∑ 

f 

HONORING REV. DR. WALTER 

SOBOLEFF 

∑ Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, 

when Americans think about what 

they most admire about my home 

State of Alaska, the breathtaking scenery first comes to mind. What I most 

admire about my home State of Alaska 

are the people, and in particular our 

Native Elders. 

Our Elders are the bearers of our 

uniquely Alaskan culture. They have 

accepted the responsibility of ensuring 

that succeeding generations know 

where they came from. They preserve 

and transmit the traditions that make 

Alaska different from anyplace else. 

Looking at the face of an Alaska Native Elder is like looking at the concentric rings in the trunk of a tree. 

Every line on that face represents a 

precious slice of Alaska history. 

It would be a vast understatement to 

characterize the Elders as witnesses to 

Alaska history. They are the living embodiment of Alaska’s history. They 

were the first generation of Alaskans 

to experience and adapt to the challenge of living in two worlds. They 

have come to embrace the traditional 

world of subsistence and the modern 

world of the Internet in the same 

breath. Some like the individual I 

speak about today have devoted their 

lives to preserving Alaska Native languages as spoken and written languages for all eternity. 

Today I pay tribute to a most respected Tlingit Elder, the Reverend 

Doctor Walter Soboleff, who will celebrate his 100th birthday on November 

14, 2008. Walter Soboleff was born on a 

small island called Killisnoo near Admiralty Island in Southeast Alaska. 

His father was the son of a Russian Orthodox priest serving in Southeast 

Alaska. His mother, a Tlingit Indian. 

Four languages were spoken in his 

home: Russian, German, English, and 

Tlingit. 

Walter Soboleff was educated at a US 

Government Indian school on his island 

and subsequently at the Sheldon Jackson School in Sitka. Several years 

after graduating from Sheldon Jackson 

with a high school diploma he enrolled 

at Dubuque University in Iowa, receiving a bachelor’s degree in education in 

1937 and a divinity degree in 1940. 

Ordained as a Presbyterian minister 

he returned to Southeast Alaska to 

take the pulpit at the Memorial Presbyterian Church in Juneau. The 

church, which was built to minister to 

the Tlingit people, opened its doors to 

all. Its congregation included Caucasians and African Americans, and Filipinos as well as Haidas and 

Tsimshians. 

We take diverse congregations like 

this for granted in 21st Century Alaska. It must be remembered, though, 

that Jim Crow racial segregation laws 

and practices were quite prevalent in 

pre-World War II Southeast Alaska. 

Reverend Soboleff emerged a key 

player in the maintaining and enhancing the Tlingit culture, serving seven 

terms as President of the Alaska Native Brotherhood and broadcasting 

church services in Tlingit on the radio. 

From 1962–1970 he took his ministry to 

the water traveling on mission vessels 

to Native villages, logging camps and 

Coast Guard facilities in the archipelago of islands that make up Southeast Alaska. 

In 1952, Reverend Soboleff accepted a 

commission in the Alaska Army National Guard, serving as Chaplain for 20 

years, retiring with rank of Lieutenant 

Colonel on February 1, 1973. 

In 1970, Walter Soboleff founded the 

Alaska Native Studies Department at 

the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He 


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October 2, 2008 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S10481 

taught Tlingit history, language and 

literature, retiring again in 1974. 

You may have discovered that it is 

difficult to use the words retirement 

and Walter Soboleff in the same sentence. Every time Walter Soboleff retires he embarks on a new and ever 

more vital project. 

Awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity by Dubuque University in 1952 

and an honorary Doctor of Humanities 

by the University of Alaska Fairbanks 

in 1968 he continues to serve as Pastor 

Emeritus of the Northern Lights 

United Church in Juneau and as a 

member of the Board of Trustees of the 

Sealaska Heritage Foundation. And 

lest I forget, he was the first Alaska 

Native to serve on the Alaska State 

Board of Education, where he served as 

chairman. 

I think I can speak for the entire 

Senate in wishing the Reverend Doctor 

Walter Soboleff a happy 100th birthday. 

We extend our best wishes to Dr. 

Soboleff for continued good health and 

good works.∑ 

f 

RECOGNIZING LARRY G. SALYERS 

∑ Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, I 

wish today to congratulate Larry G. 

Salyers on his years of service as the 

manager of Tri-State Airport. Larry’s 

hard work and continuous efforts have 

greatly enhanced this important regional airport as well as the community it serves. I am honored to have 

served with him and to share his story 

with you today. 

In December 1975, Larry began working at the airport as Director of Operations and Security. He exhibited extraordinary dedication and hard work 

and, in March 1980 he was promoted to 

assistant airport manager. In 1981, he 

was named acting manager and by May 

1982 he was appointed as the airport 

manager. 

Under Larry’s leadership, the airport 

has experienced many positive 

changes. He has overseen numerous 

structural renovations in Tri-State’s 

terminal design and the conditions of 

the runways. At present, the airport is 

in the process of a major runway extension which will allow Tri-State to continue its reputation for excellence for 

many years to come. Larry has also 

diligently worked to ensure that the 

airport has the best maintenance vehicles and equipment possible. 

Throughout his long service, Larry 

has seen Tri-State Airport through 

some of the aviation industry’s hardest 

times. He has seen the deregulation of 

the industry which left many small 

communities across the country with 

significantly diminished air service. 

The September 11 terrorist attacks 

also had enormous repercussions 

throughout the aviation business as 

many airlines went into bankruptcy 

and new security measures were required at all the Nation’s airports. TriState, like many small airports across 

the country, is often the first to feel 

the pain during trying times for the 

aviation industry and the last to recover. Despite these challenges, Larry 

was able to successfully keep everything going, and I am pleased to say 

that in recent years, Tri-State Airport 

has seen significant financial and passenger growth. Between 2006 and 2007, 

passenger traffic increased by 62 percent, and the airport is currently producing its highest boarding numbers in 

over 13 years. Much of this success can 

be directly contributed to Larry’s efforts to bring Allegiants Air’s low-fare 

flights to the airport. This accomplishment has helped Tri-State Airport to 

contribute roughly $50 million annually to the local economy. 

The hard work and dedication of 

Larry Salyers personifies the attitude 

of America and the true nature of West 

Virginians. When he retires, he will 

have left Tri-State Airport and the region around the city of Huntington 

better than it was when he first began 

his career there over 33 years ago.

f 

∑ 

TRIBUTE TO LIEUTENANT GENERAL HENRY A. ‘‘TREY’’ 

OBERING, III 

∑ Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, today 

I honor a great American, a native of 

Birmingham, AL, LTG Henry A. 

‘‘Trey’’ Obering III, on the occasion of 

his retirement after 35 years of dedicated service to our country. His passion for progressing missile defense has 

been imperative to its success and critical to our national security and the 

safety of our allies. 

General Obering entered the Air 

Force in 1973 and received his pilot’s 

wings in 1975. From there he went on to 

become a skilled air-to-air Top Guntrained F–4E pilot and lead a very distinguished career. As an Air Force captain, General Obering was assigned to 

the Space Shuttle Program the year 

before the first orbiter flew into space. 

General Obering became an important 

part of this pioneering endeavor and 

participated in 15 space shuttle 

launches as a NASA orbiter project engineer. 

I want to highlight the critical role 

General Obering played in developing, 

testing, and fielding this Nation’s ballistic missile defense system. General 

Obering joined the Missile Defense 

Agency in December of 2001, the very 

month the United States announced its 

withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic 

Missile Treaty, which had seriously impeded the development and deployment 

of missile defenses. He deserves credit 

for the tremendous progress our Nation 

has made in recent years in the field of 

missile defense. The advancement of 

all approaches to ballistic missile defense, BMD, including kinetic energy 

interceptor, KEI, ground-based midcourse defense, GMD, Aegis ballistic 

missile defense, and terminal high altitude area defense system, THAAD, can 

be attributed to the hard work of General Obering and those he has led. 

Under General Obering’s leadership, 

the Agency addressed current and 

emerging ballistic missile threats by 

fielding missile defenses at an unprecedented pace to defend the United 

States, our deployed troops, and U.S. 

allies and friends around the world. 

During his tenure as director, the 

Agency emplaced ground-based interceptors in Alaska and California, developed and deployed missile defenses to 

defeat shorter-range threats to our 

troops and our allies, and successfully 

modified 18 U.S. Navy Aegis warships 

to give U.S. military commanders a 

highly effective regional ballistic missile defense capability. 

To demonstrate the effectiveness of 

our missile defense to our friends, our 

allies, and, importantly, those that 

would mean us harm, General Obering 

presided over a series of historic flight 

tests of our ballistic missile defense 

system and spearheaded efforts to train 

the warfighters employing the system. 

These tests proved to our allies that we 

are prepared to defend ourselves and 

our allies and will pursue technologies 

to further reduce and eventually eliminate the threat of attack by ballistic 

missiles. 

General Obering has pursued an aggressive development program to address future threats, such as boost 

phase defenses, space tracking and surveillance, and technologies to destroy 

multiple threat objects using a single 

interceptor. 

General Obering recognized early on 

the importance of working with our 

international partners and he led the 

expansion of the Department’s missile 

defense cooperative activities. He pursued bilateral programs with Japan, 

Israel, the Czech Republic, and Poland, 

among others, as well as multilateral 

programs with NATO. Working closely 

with the State Department and the Office of the Secretary of Defense, General Obering’s vision and personal engagement resulted in a broad consensus 

among international leaders, combatant commanders, and the international 

communities on the growing need to 

establish long-range missile defenses in 

Europe. 

General Obering has overseen the expansion of the Missile Defense Agency. 

During his tenure, while executing all 

of the activities in one of the most important programs in the Department of 

Defense, the Agency successfully underwent unprecedented organizational 

changes. Thanks to his guidance, this 

transition is proceeding smoothly. 

General Obering’s leadership proved 

critical during two real-world crises. 

During North Korea’s provocative missile launches in July 2006, General 

Obering oversaw the Agency’s input to 

the Nation’s strategic response and 

provided situational awareness to the 

President, combatant commanders, and 

the missile defense community. His assurances that the Nation had the option of a responsive missile defense capability, had it been necessary, contributed greatly to the maintenance of 

international stability. And in February 2008, General Obering also led the 


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