[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 138 (Monday, September 30, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1875]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    HONORING JOHN KABLER, A VOICE FOR PRESERVATION OF OUR WATERWAYS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. STENY H. HOYER

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 30, 1996

  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to John Kabler, 
one of Maryland's most effective and respected environmental leaders; 
no one worked harder than John to protect the Chesapeake Bay. As 
regional director of Clean Water Action, John Kabler showed citizens of 
Maryland how to work together for a better environment.
  John's quiet constructive approach to leadership is well described in 
a brief tribute published in the New Bay Times. Because we all have 
much to learn from the way John helped Maryland and the Nation, I would 
like to share this article with my colleagues and the public.

                 [From the New Bay Times, Aug. 8, 1996]

                       Appreciation: John Kabler

                            (By Joe Browder)

       John Kabler's life was about protecting water: assuring 
     safe drinking water for all Americans; working to save the 
     Chesapeake and his hometown rivers and streams that nourish 
     the Bay, restoring the Everglades waters flowing to coastal 
     south Florida's mangroves and corals and cities. The 
     difference John made, in these and other issues that help 
     shape our lives, actually came from his love of life and 
     people. John loved his family most of all; few persons so 
     accomplished in public service remain so deeply grounded in 
     the love of family and friends.
       My wife Louise Dunlap and I began working with John in the 
     '70s and came to know him better through three paths. For 
     Louise, the intensity of a political campaign during the 1984 
     presidential primaries and work on the Clean Water Fund's 
     board. For me, the continuing struggle to protect the 
     Everglades. For both of us, living in Anne Arundel County and 
     treasuring every moment spent with John and Sandy.
       John took joy from the absurdity and dignity of America's 
     political process. He relished helping people realize that 
     they can be powerful when working together. He believed 
     that citizens, informing themselves and sharing their 
     knowledge, can and should define the rules that everyone 
     must play by.
       John knew that both nature and neighborhoods are usually 
     the losers when politicians make deals with polluters. But 
     John remembered what was worth fighting for, so he understood 
     that there is no more important struggle than against the 
     impulse to let ehtier conflict or compromise becomes ends in 
     themselves. When colleagues would form a circle and fire on 
     each other, he was kind enough to help all the wounded.
       John also believed that so long as the right things happen, 
     it doesn't matter who appears to be responsible. That's why 
     John's fundamental role in protecting the Bay was only 
     recently given wide recognition, when the Governor of 
     Maryland proclaimed John an Admiral of the Chesapeake.
       In the Everglades, John's team demolished the myth about 
     immigrants' indifference to the environment. Talking with 
     thousands of households in south Florida, John's Clean Water 
     surveyors repeatedly found Spanish-speaking families 
     expressing the highest level of support for protecting the 
     Everglades and making polluters pay.
       When the Everglades was betrayed by the sugar industry's 
     pet politicians and frustrated citizen leaders turned on each 
     other or lashed out at government workers, John counseled 
     better ways. Whether managing small armies or nurturing new 
     leaders, John guided by teaching and learning.
       John experienced what nature gives us, so his work was 
     founded on understanding what is really to be won or lost. He 
     believed in justice, for everyone, and saw the connection 
     between social opportunity and the integrity of nature. He 
     was awed by the majesty and intricacy of being while loving 
     people--as a part of life and one person at a time.
       John left us as gracefully as he lived with us. He is on 
     his present journey filled, and filling us, with all the love 
     a person could hope to give or get.

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