Lawmakers aim to deliver tribute
Federal lawmakers introduced bills before the U.S. House and Senate Wednesday, proposing a name change of Canonsburg Post Office at 120 W. Pike St. in honor of fallen Officer Scott Bashioum.
Officer Scott Bashioum
Mike Bashioum wants to make sure everyone who travels along the main drag through Canonsburg will remember his brother’s name.
Bashioum, 54, of Ross Township, Allegheny County, could soon get his wish. Area federal lawmakers introduced bills in both chambers of Congress Wednesday that would rename the building at 120 W. Pike St., in honor of 52-year-old Scott Bashioum.
“It’s huge,” Mike Bashioum said. “His name will be on that building forever and everyone will know who he was.”
Scott Bashioum was a U.S. Air Force veteran and assistant chief at Slovan Fire Department who’d served seven years with Canonsburg police. He and Officer James Saieva, who survived, were shot during an ambush Nov. 10 when they arrived at a home on Woodcrest Drive. The shooter, Michael Cwiklinski, also killed his pregnant wife, 28-year-old Dalia Sabae, before shooting and killing himself.
Mike Bashioum said the name change could help the “healing process” for the community and police department in the wake of the attack.
“He’s a postal employee, so it was actually Mike’s idea to name the post office after his brother,” said Carly Atchison, a spokeswoman for Congressman Tim Murphy, whose office Mike Bashioum called with his idea for the name change.
Murphy, R-18th, introduced the House bill.
Murphy said in a statement the name change would be “a fitting tribute to all that (Scott Bashioum) did for the community he loved so dearly and this nation he honorably served.”
Two of Murphy’s counterparts – Democrat Bob Casey and Republican Pat Toomey, both from Pennsylvania – jointly introduced a Senate version of the bill, also Wednesday.
Casey said no legislation “could properly honor the sacrifice of Officer Bashioum, but this bill is one measure that will pay tribute to him and all those who sacrifice on our behalf,” Casey said in a statement.
Toomey called renaming the post office “a small yet important step we can take to honor his life and legacy.”
Scott Bashioum’s four children will throw the ceremonial first pitch at PNC Park Friday when the Pirates play their home opener against the Atlanta Braves. The stadium will honor him during a moment of silence as part of the pregame ceremony.