[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 54 (Wednesday, April 30, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H2012]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   DISASTER AWAITING THE SPACE COAST

  (Mr. WELDON of Florida asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WELDON of Florida. Mr. Speaker, a medical colleague of mine, Dr. 
Vince Griffith, came up here with his daughter, Stacey, to testify 
before the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure about a 
tragic accident on Florida's Highway U.S. 192 that robbed them of a 
wife and mother.
  Dr. Griffith awoke the next day in the hospital with his daughter 
next to him. Stacey's intestine was ruptured and her spine was snapped. 
His wife had died of massive internal injuries. This brave father and 
daughter joined Robert Lay, who supervises Brevard County's Emergency 
Management Office, in telling the panel how important it was to widen 
U.S. 192.
  Mr. Lay talked about the disaster awaiting the space coast if a major 
hurricane strikes and U.S. 192 is turned into a parking lot trapping 
tens of thousands of fleeing residents. I am grateful to all of these 
witnesses, but I am especially proud of Stacey Griffith, who is 
partially paralyzed and overcame her own fear to testify before 
Congress. I congratulate them and thank them for the hard work they are 
doing on behalf of the people of the space coast.

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