73rd OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2005 Regular Session
 
 
                            Enrolled
 
                 Senate Concurrent Resolution 8
 
Sponsored by COMMITTEE ON RULES
 
 
  Whereas Eugene D. 'Debbs' Potts was born in a northern
California logging camp called Buzzard Roost, and despite the
lack of a formal education, ascended to the highest levels of
representative government in this state he called home; and
  Whereas Debbs Potts was named after prominent Socialist and
presidential candidate, Eugene V. Debs, but so as not to offend
his Socialist father nor his Republican mother, Debbs Potts
became a Democrat and used the name 'Debbs'; and
  Whereas Debbs Potts served his country in World War II in the
U.S. Navy; and
  Whereas Debbs Potts, who inherited his father's love of
tinkering and fixing anything mechanical, owned a lumber mill and
a cemetery and ran a machinery business; and
  Whereas Debbs Potts founded the legendary town of Pottsville in
southern Oregon; and
  Whereas Debbs Potts served the people of Grants Pass as mayor
for two years; and
  Whereas Debbs Potts served in the Oregon Senate from 1961 to
1984, including as President of the Senate from 1967 to 1971; and
  Whereas as President of the Senate, Debbs Potts served a total
of 196 days as acting Governor of Oregon whenever Governor Tom
McCall left the state, and in March 1968 as acting Governor,
Debbs Potts managed the suppression of a riot at the Oregon State
Penitentiary in Salem without a single loss of life; and
  Whereas during his time in the Senate, Debbs Potts was known as
the man who would get things done, a gracious man with an agile
mind; and
  Whereas Governor Tom McCall called Debbs Potts 'one of the most
decent public men, anywhere'; and
  Whereas former Senator Lenn Hannon remarked, Debbs Potts was,
in the great Oregon tradition, 'one of a kind'; and
  Whereas Debbs Potts served on the Oregon State Lottery
Commission from its inception in 1984 to his retirement in 2003;
and
  Whereas, while serving as chair of the Oregon State Lottery
Commission, Debbs Potts refused to settle for anything less than
excellence, and in so doing, turned the Oregon State Lottery into
the second largest source of state revenue; and
  Whereas on December 19, 2003, this Democratic cowboy died at
the age of 95, just days short of serving his 55th year in the
role he considered most important: as Santa Claus to the children
of Grants Pass; and
  Whereas the Oregon Transportation Commission has named the
Grants Pass Parkway Bridge on U.S. 199 over the Rogue River in
Grants Pass the E. D. 'Debbs' Potts Memorial Bridge; and
  Whereas on February 2, 2004, more than 200 admirers attended
the public state memorial service in the Senate Chambers; now,
therefore,
 
 
 
 
Enrolled Senate Concurrent Resolution 8 (SCR 8-A)          Page 1
 
 
 
Be It Resolved by the Legislative Assembly of the State of
  Oregon:
 
  That we, the members of the Seventy-third Legislative Assembly,
mourn the passing of Debbs Potts and recognize his distinguished
career, remarkable legacy and significant accomplishments; and be
it further
  Resolved, That Debbs Potts will be remembered as a true and
good politician who knew and believed in personal integrity, an
honorable man who dedicated his life to serving the people of
Oregon; and be it further
  Resolved, That the Oregon State Lottery Commission building be
renamed the Debbs Potts Oregon State Lottery Commission Building.
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                                 Adopted by Senate April 7, 2005
 
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                                       Secretary of Senate
 
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                                       President of Senate
 
 
                                 Adopted by House June 13, 2005
 
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                                        Speaker of House
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Enrolled Senate Concurrent Resolution 8 (SCR 8-A)          Page 2