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John J. Rooney Bids CongressFond Farewell After 30 YearsSPEECH OF HON. JOHN J.ROONEY OF NEW YORK*TU ESDAY, JUNE 4, U.S.HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, WASHINGTON, D.C.:Mr. Speaker, this coming IThursday I will have served thirty years in this distinguished body. I regret that 1 have to take 'this means at this time to advise all of my colleagues and longtime friends of a sad and painful decision I have been forced to reach. It is with sorrow and considerable heartache that yield to the admonitions of my doctors and the pleas of my family not to be a candidate for re-election this year. I have been hospitalized six times since March 19, 1973.I came to Washington as afreshman member in the Second Session of the 78th Congress,fully determined to devote my complete energies and my fullOne Bright SpotAmid the SorrowBY JAN BARRYLike the backbone of a \\ dragon, there is a continuous chain-link fence that runs behind the waterfront from the Brooklyn Bridge south to the tip of Red Hook, enclosing the Port Authority docks. In the rare place that the fence reaches the water, prominent signs announce: %u201c No Trespassing. Proliibido El Paso. The Port of New York Authority.%u201d Here, tie vast bay of New York is off limits. Not just the docks. But the water, and the sea breeze, and the view too.Within the limits allowed the residents of Red H ooksqueezed on the west by the Port Authority fence, on the %u20ac>ast by the Brooklyn-Queens expressway, and divided in the middle by the Brooklyn-Battery tunnel-there is not much to relieve the eye, or the mind or heart, from the blinding stench of debris. Abandoned cars, abandoned buildings, abandoned lots.Red brick tenement rows e-mid boarded-up store fronts in the few blocks in the hook behind the docks, filled with some more than few of New York%u2019s abandoned, out of sight, forgotten people. A treeless, human-packed oven in summer, baking grimy brick and ashblown glass ever deeper into the littered asphalt and concrete... Red Hook would knock the romance out of even Dante%u2019s fabled inferno, or the red hook of war.In the midst of this mundane Americar urban corner of hell, along the long central stretch of Columbia Street, a ch ild %u2019s castle abruptly pokes out between two tenements: battlements, tower and all. An unpainted lumberyard cross rises above the curved gates. Inside this strange %u201c vest-pociket%u201d park is a grove ofJapanese red maples, quiet walkways, rock gardens and (empty) pools, more crosses, a children%u2019s stage, and a plaque. The plaque immortalizes gabriel Cardona, Jr., a 25 year old native of Red Hook killed in VietNam.Beyond the engraved picture of Gabriel Cardona-two superimposed m ilita ry poses enclosed by the steel halo of a helmet-children shrieked and ran in delight about the tiny battlements and cool red forest behind the plaque. The spring wind brought the bay to the trees. Out of a sunny hot afternoon it began, lightly, to rain.A hard voice behind startled me from my knees, where I had been squatting, scribbling down the inscription on the plaque.%u201c Gabriel Cardona! Hey, I knew him...we were friends. I don%u2019t know about this park... hey kids, let%u2019s go, don%u2019t get wet! But he was always that, for the community. You in %u2018Nam%u2019 with him? No? Gabriel, he wasn%u2019t prejudiced. Some of our people don%u2019t like whites, but he wasn%u2019t like that. Sports, that was his thing, boxing, for the kids...Hey kids, we gotta go! I moved away from here, this neighborhood, ten years ago...my grandmother still live here. Gabriel I think died before '69. I donno. I remember he died. Then they put up this park. He was a good kiu ...\Who put up the park, I asked. He shrugged, waving his arms out in the rain. The people, his old neighbors, the residents of Red Hook.Jan Barry, a Boer urn Hillresident is a poet and co-editorof %u201c W inning Hearts andMind? %u201d He was a founder ofVietnam Veterans Against theW ar.time to serving my constituents in Brooklyn%u2019s 14th Congressional District and the citizens of my country. I am proud to say that this determ ination has remained steadfast through each consecutive session of Congress to the present.I hope, Mr. Speaker, that I may be forgiven if I speak with considerable pride in calling brief attention to the legislation in which I was fortunate in being able to play a significant role, both in its enactment and in its subsequent im plem entation funds. Such legislative items include improvements in law and order and the control of crime; social security, Medicare and expanded welfare care; national defense measures; job and housing benefits; veterans%u2019 benefits; im m igration and refugee help; and many other kindred measures, such as the approval of funds for hospitals and schools here and abroad.I A M INDEED GRATEFULfor the rich experiences I have gained in this body. I have been permitted to make firm and lasting friendships with a host of leaders who, too, dedicated themselves to serve a grateful nation.I feel honored to have been al lowed to play a personal role in more than a score of historic events that range from official inspection of the Western and Italian Fronts in Europe in the winter of 1944, being an official observer at the first Bikini atom bomb test and later at theJapanese peace conference in San Francisco to more recent events that include the birth of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the admission to the Union of the States of Alaska and Hawaii.My longtime tenure as chairman of the subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee which deals with the funding requests of the Departments of State, Justice and Commerce, the Federal Judiciary and related agencies gave me the opportunity to enjoy close working relationships and the friendship of the Secretaries of State who have served six Presidents, as have I. I am grateful, too, for my close relations with distinguished members of the Judiciary and Departments of Justice and Commerce officials.I shall always treasure the experiences gained from the committee work which took me abroad where I was privileged to meet with Kings, with prime ministers, and with heads of State and other officials whose names have been and are today prominent in world affairs, lam grateful, too, for the cooperation and courtesies extended to me by so many of our Ambassadors and members of our Foreign Service at our posts abroad.I FIN D IT EXTREM ELYdifficult to adequately express my appreciation to you, Mr. Speaker, and to my many dear colleagues on both sides of the aisle for the many courtesies and assistance extended to me.I wish to convey my deep gratitude to my constituents and to my faithful political friends of the 14th Congressional District for manifesting their trust in me by electing and re-electing me to sixteen consecutive terms.My warmest thanks go to the dedicated members of my staff not only in Washington but in my Brooklyn office . . .Having made the decision not to be a candidate for re-election this year, I find myself already possessed of a feeling of uncertainty and loss. I am unable to visualize a day by day existence devoid of the responsibilities and associations which have been my life the past 30 years. I confess that I have ignored leisure time pursuits and I have had little time to develop hobbies. My whole life has been wrapped up in the office to which I have been elected.I sincerely trust that when my term expires, I can still be of service to my many warm friends and respected colleagues in this body. Until the day of my departure, health permitting, I shall do my utmost to carry on in the same manner known to most of you.To you all I extend my warmest wishes for a full measure of health, happiness and success. This is not %u201c Goodbye%u201d or %u201c Farewell%u201d but merely %u201c So long, see you again.%u201d...................... \. .......... .................................. .PARK SLOPE CIVIC COUNCIL:Thanks for the Support;I Couldn't Have Done ItWithout Everyones HelpBY JOHN NOONANThis has been truly a year of excitement and accompl ishment for your Park Slope Civic Council. I am grateful to you for having elated me to be your President a year ago, and I must say that I look with envy upon your new President, knowing the opportunities, the excitement, the recognition, and also the responsibilities which will be his.This was the year when everything happened. The Park Slope Civic Council led the fight against prostitution on Dean Street. W s fought for the restoration of the library at 4th Avenue and Pacific Street, and we fought against the expansion of methadon clinics in Park Slope. Thanks to Evelyn Ortner, and her committee, we achieved Landmarks status. The proposed study for a 7th Avenue Mall developed into the 7th Avenue Betterment Commiiioe.We joined the effort to bring Baruch College to downtown Brooklyn, and we successfully brought the problems of bar and cabaret proliferation to our elected officials for action. We helped obtain justice for the poor inhabitants of the tenements on Garfield Place, and we are assisting the beautification efforts on Fourth Avenue.In short, our horizons have widened. It is obvious that we cannot close our eyes to the numerous social problems that exist in Park Slope. Neither can we ignore the problems and developments in surrounding neighborhoods such as Prospect Heights, Gowanus, Boerum Hill or downtown Brooklyn, uur interests and the interests of these other communities have much in common. As time gpss on, our Park Slope Civic Council can only grow in importance.I owe a large debt of gratitude to all the Officers and Trustees and committee workers whoout their support and dedicated work, our successes could never have been achieved. Last, but not least, I thank our civic news Editor, Irene Wilson for herserved with me this year. W ithdedication and devotion to the Park Slope Civic Council. Her patient understanding and total co-operation with me, the Officers, and the Trustees made this year an enjoyable one for alliBinimninMimiiiiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiMiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiJane 13, 1974, PHOENIX, Page 11