[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 155 (Saturday, December 19, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2361]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  REMARKS OF THE HONORABLE MARION BERRY DECEMBER 18, 1998 TRIBUTE TO 
                           MAURICE SMITH JR.

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                           HON. MARION BERRY

                              of arkansas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, December 18, 1998

  Mr. BERRY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of a good 
friend, Maurice Smith, a prominent farmer and banker in Birdeye, 
Arkansas, who passed from this world earlier this month Maurice was a 
great man who lived in Arkansas and provided leadership for the 
generations.
  Maurice has had a long history in Arkansas politics. He served as 
highway commissioner and director of the state Highway and 
Transportation Department. He was also appointed to the University of 
Arkansas board of trustees and served as chief of staff to then-
Governor Bill Clinton. But if it is one thing that Maurice Smith be 
remembered for, it is his leadership as the director of the state 
Highway Department. In 1991, under his direction, a 5-cent-a-gallon 
increase in the gas tax and a 2-cent-a-gallon increase in the diesel 
fuel tax pumped an additional $48 million into the department's 
construction budget each year.
  One of my favorite quotes is from former Senator Le Roy Percy of 
Greenville, MS. ``I guess a man's job is to make the world a better 
place to live in, so far as he is able--always remembering the results 
will be infinitesimal--and to attend to his own soul.'' Maurice was 
such a man and he will be greatly missed. He was chairman of the St. 
Francis Levee Board. He provided support and leadership for generations 
of Arkansans to make the state a better place to live, work, and raise 
a family, with special attentionto developing infrastructure.

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