Senator Basham offered the following resolution:

            Senate Resolution No. 116.

            A resolution commemorating November 9, 2006, as Whitwell Middle School’s Children’s Holocaust Memorial Day.

            Whereas, In an effort to teach the students of Whitwell Middle School about diversity, parents, teachers, and administrators developed a special class about the Holocaust; and

            Whereas, In learning about the 6 million Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust, the students sought a way to put that enormous number into perspective; and

            Whereas The students in the Holocaust class chose to collect paper clips because they were worn by non-Jewish Norwegians in protest to the Nazi’s forcing the Jews to wear yellow stars on their clothing; and

            Whereas, The students of Whitwell Middle School wrote letters to sports heroes, politicians, film stars, and other leaders asking for help in their effort to collect paper clips and created a website explaining the project and asking for contributions; and

            Whereas, White House correspondents learned of this project, began writing articles for German newspapers urging readers to send paper clips, and ultimately resulted in more than 46,000 paper clips being sent from Germany; and

            Whereas, When the students had almost reached their goal of 6 million paper clips, they learned that many more than just Jews were killed and the total number of Holocaust victims was actually 11 million. They decided to collect the greater number of paper clips to represent all of the people murdered; and

            Whereas, Once the 11 million paper clips were collected, the students hoped to find a German railcar used to transport prisoners to concentration camps to hold the paper clips; and

            Whereas, After a lengthy search began throughout Germany and other parts of Europe, a Nazi-era railcar--Car Number 011-993--was found at a German railroad museum; and

            Whereas, Upon receiving word that a railcar had been found, the entire Whitwell community came out to help build the Holocaust memorial; and

            Whereas, The Children’s Holocaust Memorial was officially dedicated on November 9, 2001, the 63rd anniversary of Kristallnacht--the "Night of Broken Glass" when the Nazis torched synagogues, looted Jewish-owned businesses, and committed murder; and

            Whereas, On that day, the students of Whitwell Middle School showed the world that there is a way other than hate and intolerance; now, therefore, be it

            Resolved by the Senate, That we hereby commemorate November 9, 2006, as Whitwell Middle School’s Children’s Holocaust Memorial Day in recognition of the Whitwell Middle School’s Children’s Holocaust Memorial and the profound impact it has had on the students, the community, our nation, and the world; and be it further

            Resolved, That a copy of this resolution be transmitted to the Whitwell Middle School as evidence of our support, admiration, and commendation of the students and teachers of Whitwell Middle School and the entire Whitwell community for their efforts.