OPENING CEREMONY

Commissioner Bayh

I'd say Dow Chemical is very lucky to have such a good representative.

I am almost done. Anybody happy about that? Yes. I am going to do a couple thank you's and then we are going to have a wonderful native blessing to finish this off, but I want you just to help me thank some wonderful people. Anybody who has been in a marriage, who's been a mother knows that partnerships are not always equal, right? I don't know, my husband says it's 90/10 on the kids but you know how difficult something like this is to put on. We have three wonderful people who have spent night and day and night and day just to put on this conference so all of you can have a wonderful time. So, I would like to call them up and to have all of you thank them as well as the IJC thank them.

First of all, let's start out with Susan Mudd from Citizens for the Environment. (Applause) Now, each one of these individuals, these special ones that work night and day, are going to get a special carving. I believe it's soapstone from the Eskimo Indians from Canada. So, this is for you. (Applause) Susan was the one who took the first phone call and didn't, she actually called me back when I told her that we wanted to come to Milwaukee.

Her very able associate who has been working night and day, night and day is Mary Beth Driscoll. (Applause) Here you go. Thank you. Unless you think the world is run by women, Steve, I hope I get Steve's last name right, Steve Skavroneck, please come forward and accept our thanks. (Applause) Let's give them all another round of applause. (Applause) They've been wonderful.

I also, while they are taking pictures back here, would like to recognize Frank Steeves and his law firm of Crivello, Carlson, Mentkowski and Steeves, because they have donated office space, they have donated phones, they have donated parties with lots of wine. They have been wonderful. Everyone give them applause. Are there representatives from Wisconsin Electric here, because they have been wonderful as well and being one of our sponsors give them a round of applause. The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District -- these are the good guys. (Applause) They are probably all upstairs drinking at the Expo already. And the Milwaukee Foundation who has made it possible for us to be here tonight. I'm going to ask these other people to stand and we'll hold our applause until the end and get them all together Camp Dresser & McKee; Earth Tech; Greater Milwaukee Convention and Visitors Bureau -- those are all the people in the halls that were saying come this way don't go to the Spiegel outlet -- Harza Engineering; Milwaukee Bulk Terminal; the Spirit of Milwaukee Fund; Donohue Engineering; Graef Anhalt Schloemer; HNTB; JJR Inc.; Kapur and Associates; Midwest Express; Panl's Complete Catering; United Water; Waste Management; Webmariner Internet Communications; WICOR ... (tape change) ... all of you that like to have the IJC meetings free to the public, these are the people we have to thank. So thank you all for doing that. (Applause)

Now to end our ceremony, I am not going to come back up. I am just going to invite somebody up and I'm going to invite all you to go upstairs to the Environmental Expo. I know there is a bar up there and I know that some of you are interested in that and some of you are not, but we are going to have a reception after this so please join us upstairs at the Expo after we're done.

I would like to call forward James De Nomie. He's a member of the Bad River Band of the Chippewa Indians of Lake Superior and he is going to do something that's become an important tradition at all of our meetings. He will perform the traditional native American blessing. James. (Applause)