[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 133 (Tuesday, September 24, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H10774]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        THE LEGACY OF TOM BEVILL

  (Mr. POSHARD asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. POSHARD. Madam Speaker, regrettably I missed the special order on 
the gentleman from Alabama, Tom Bevill, one of our dear colleagues in 
this House, last week, and I wanted to make sure that I took this 1 
minute to congratulate Mr. Bevill on his years of work in this House.
  When I came here as a freshman nearly 8 years ago, I had a terrific 
problem in the rural district which I represented. We had a levee along 
the Mississippi River that had been greatly compromised. It was well 
over 60 years old. The local folks in the poor part of the district had 
no funds to really repair that levee. As a young freshman legislator I 
went to Mr. Bevill and I said: ``Tom, here is the problem.''
  He helped me, as chairman of his committee. We went in, repaired that 
levee with the Corps of Engineers, and less than 2 years later a 
gigantic flood along the river broke through levees all up and down the 
Mississippi, threatened lives, threatened property, but that levee 
stayed, and it protected thousands of acres of farmland and thousands 
of homes for people who would have had no protection otherwise.
  That is the legacy of Tom Bevill to this institution. He has helped 
us all. Regrettably he is going to be leaving here. I wish him well in 
his retirement because he has made a great, great difference in the 
quality of life of many people across this country that have needed his 
help.

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