E 928 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks May 2, 1995

Dr. E. ALMA FLAGG—ROLE MODEL

HON. DONALD M. PAYNE OF NEW JERSEY

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Tuesday, May 2, 1995

Mr. PAYNE of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I

am pleased and honored to inform my colleagues of a special event that was held this

past weekend. It was the recognition of a

woman who has touched the lives of generations of residents of the greater Newark, NJ

community. This genteel woman is Dr. E.

Alma Flagg.

Dr. E. Alma Williams Flagg was born in City

Point, VA, to the late Hannibal Greene Williams and Caroline Moody Williams. She and

her family, which included a sister and three

brothers, later settled in Newark, NJ. The traditional family has always been a source of

support and it was no different in Dr. Flagg’s

family. Her widowed mother provided the love,

support, encouragement and inspiration that

enabled Dr. Flagg to excel.

Dr. Flagg is a graduate of Newark’s East

Side High School where she became a member of the National Honor Society, served as

class poet and was voted most likely to succeed. She continued her education at Newark

State College. She earned her master’s degree at Montclair State College and the doctor’s degree from Columbia University.

Her full-time teaching career began in

Washington, DC but she returned to Newark,

NJ in 1943 and taught and served as a school

administrator in all wards of the city. Throughout her career she has been a trail blazer. In

1964 she was appointed principal of the integrated Hawkins Street School. She became

the first African-American woman to hold that

distinction. Her appointment as assistant superintendent in charge of curriculum services

in 1967 was also a milestone. In 1985 a new

elementary school was dedicated and named

for her.

Dr. E. Alma Flagg’s life is filled with acts

that prove she has made a difference. Although retired, she continues to give of herself. Her days are filled with church, community, and various committee work. Her love for

life and its participants is evident in her poetry.

She and her late husband, Dr. J. Thomas

Flagg, have raised two outstanding children—

Dr. Thomas L. Flagg, a professor of psychology at Eastern Michigan University, and Luisa

Flagg Foley, a Spanish teacher at Cherry Hill

High School.

Mr. Speaker, I am sure my colleagues

would have joined me as I gave my best wishes to an outstanding human being and consummate role model, Dr. E. Alma Flagg.

REGARDING MISCELLANEOUS

TRADE LEGISLATION

f

HON. HOWARD COBLE OF NORTH CAROLINA

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Tuesday, May 2, 1995

Mr. COBLE. Mr. Speaker, today I am reintroducing legislation to benefit a small business located in Burlington, North Carolina,

which is part of my congressional district. The

company is called D&S International, and it

actively engages in overseas trade. My bill is

virtually identical to other legislation I have

sponsored during the previous two terms at

the behest of D&S. In fact, last year’s bill, H.R.

1318, was included in the House version of

the GATT-implementing language.

By way of background, D&S imported four

German-made warp knitting machines in the

fall of 1988. ‘‘Warp knitting machines’’ are

classified under HTS 8447.20.40 and are not

dutiable. D&S subsequently sold the machines

to a Venezuelan company, which reserved the

right to return them to D&S if certain conditions were not met. This, in fact, did occur,

and the buyer shipped the machines back to

D&S. The Customs ‘‘Entry Summary’’ lists an

entry date for this transaction of July 12, 1989,

at the port of Charleston.

Here is where the problem arose. The entry

documentation classified the machinery as a

reentry of goods of U.S. origin. This

misclassification was then changed to a second misclassification in which the goods were

listed as ‘‘knitting machines’’ under HTS

8447.90.90—dutiable at 4.4 percent.

Upon discovery of the additional duties,

D&S contacted its freight forwarder and the

U.S. Customs Service. This was done at the

customs level by letter and office memorandum. Instead of correcting the classification at

this point, however, Customs engaged D&S

and the freight forwarder in a series of discussions and exchanges of information.

Pursuant to 19 U.S.C. 1514, such duty protests must be filed within 90 days of liquidation

(i.e., the time at which Customs classifies an

imported good and gives notice to the importer). While D&S conveyed the necessary

information in a timely manner to Customs,

the company did not do so by using the technical agency method of documentation, called

‘‘Form 19.’’ Since D&S did not use Form 19

within this 90-day period, Customs did not and

will not recognize the company protest. The

inequity of the situation is therefore manifest:

the other correspondence, while accomplishing the same goal as Form 19, is considered

worthless for the purposes of protesting a

misclassification.

The bottom line is that D&S owes approximately $28,000 in duty with interest accruing

daily, effectively inhibiting the ability of the

company to do business. Litigation is not a

viable alternative, as it will only add to these

costs. Accordingly, I urge my colleagues to

support this legislation, which simply instructs

the Secretary of the Treasury to treat the reentry of the four machines from Venezuela as

a duty-free occurrence; and to refund any duties and interest which D&S has paid as a result of the misclassification.

In closing, I should note that the Department

of Treasury informed the Ways and Means

Committee last year of its support for H.R.

1318. I am also inserting in the RECORD a

copy of a March 15, 1994, correspondence

from the General Counsel’s office at Treasury

which states that failure ‘‘* * * to grant relief

would cause the importer—D&S—an justice.’’

I thank the Speaker.

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY,

Washington, March 15, 1994.

Hon. DAN ROSTENKOWSKI,

Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S.

House of Representatives, Washington DC.

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This letter expresses

the views of the Department of the Treasury

on H.R. 1318, ‘‘To provide for the liquidation

or reliquidation of a certain entry of warp

knitting machines as free of certain duties.’’

The bill would authorize the refund of duties

mistakenly imposed.

Although the Department generally opposes the enactment of private relief bills

where the importer failed to make a timely

claim for refund under applicable Customs

regulations, the Department does not object

to the enactment of H.R. 1318 because not to

grant relief would cause the importer an injustice.

D&S International of North Carolina

(D&S) imported four warp knitting machines

from Germany duty free and sold them to a

Venezuelan company. The Venezuelan company then returned the machines to D&S.

Upon reentry, Customs mistakenly classified

the machines as a reentry of U.S. goods and

applied a rate of duty of 4.4 percent. Although D&S timely protested the duty, Customs ruled that the protest was not properly

made. As a result, D&S now owes approximately $25,000 in duties on goods which

should have been re-entered duty free.

The Senate companion legislation to this

bill is S. 1009. A similar letter has been

transmitted to the Senate Committee on Finance.

The Office of Management and Budget has

advised that there is no objection from the

standpoint of the Administration’s program

to the transmittal of this report to your

Committee.

Sincerely,

fJEAN E. HANSON.

TRIBUTE TO LION ERIC C.

JACOBSON

HON. SAM GEJDENSON OF CONNECTICUT

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Tuesday, May 2, 1995

Mr. GEJDENSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today

to pay tribute to Eric C. Jacobson of

Colchester, Connecticut. Mr. Jacobson is a

Lion and currently serving them in the position

of District Governor of District 23C. This district represents the eastern third of Connecticut. He will step down on June 30 after a year

of dedication and hard work.

Mr. Jacobson has been a Lion for 17 years

and embodies their motto, ‘‘We Serve.’’ He

has been President of the Colchester Lions

Club where he was honored with the Melvin

Jones fellowship, the highest honor of Lions

Club International. He went on to serve the

Lions as cabinet secretary-treasurer, zone

chairman, district chairman, and most recently

as lieutenant governor. As district chairman he

oversaw Campaign Sight First, a world-wide

effort to prevent the curable causes of blindness. As a result of this dedication, the Lions

of eastern Connecticut raised more money for

this noble cause than for any other project in

the district’s history.

In his current position as District Governor,

Mr. Jacobson spends countless hours working

with Lions all over the district. He is called

upon to speak to each individual group and is

very involved in their activities and projects.

With fifty-seven different clubs in the district he

will often dedicate five or six days a week to

his fellow Lions and serves as liaison with

other Lion Club districts in Connecticut. Mr.

Jacobson oversees many district wide projects

such as the Low Vision Center in Norwich,

which provides equipment to the visually impaired to help them see.