[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 102 (Friday, July 11, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1446]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            TOWN OF BLUFFTON

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. MIKE PENCE

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 10, 2003

  Mr. PENCE. Mr. Speaker, last night the Wabash River in northeastern 
Indiana crested at an incredible 25 feet. However, thanks to the 
extraordinary leadership of Mayor Ted Ellis and Sheriff Barry Story, 
Bluffton, IN, was spared a catastrophe.
  Their leadership, in cooperation with Gov. Frank O'Bannon, and 
literally thousands of volunteers in Wells and Adams counties managed 
to stem the tide. Special commendation should go to Irving Material 
Incorporated and also to the Indiana National Guard's 2nd Battalion of 
the 151st Infantry. Under the leadership of General George Buskirk and 
Colonel Rick Shatto nearly 200 troops loaded and stacked sandbags and 
helped save the community of Bluffton, IN.
  As more rain approaches, I urge the President to speed disaster 
relief to the counties in Indiana that the Governor has requested. I 
encourage the volunteers for their determination to move forward as the 
rain approaches and I urge prayers by all citizens to remember the cry 
of the Psalmist when he wrote, ``God is our refuge and our strength, 
though the earth be removed, though its waters roar and be troubled, we 
will not fear.''

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