[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 89 (Thursday, June 24, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S7424]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                        TRIBUTE TO KEN ROBINSON

 Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, today I want to remember Ken 
Robinson, a long time friend and community leader. Ken passed away on 
Friday, April 30, 2004 at the age of 89 years. I would like to pay 
tribute to the many contributions he has made to his community, to his 
profession, and to this country.
  I have known Ken and his wife Mary Louise, both as personal friends 
and as the owners of the Bayard News, the Bagley Gazette, as well as 
several other Iowa newspapers. In 1940, he was one of the founders of 
the Bayard News which merged with the Bagley Gazette in 1973 to become 
the Bayard News Gazette. They received many awards over the years for 
their publishing including the National Newspaper Association's Amos 
Award which is given to a person who is considered to have done the 
most for the newspaper industry as well as for his own community.
  When is came to being an advocate for publishers of newspapers in 
rural areas, Ken was the best. He was fearless, and nothing deterred 
him from approaching public officials, including the Post Master 
General or the President of the United States, to bring to their 
attention problems experienced by his newspaper readers due to delayed 
rural delivery service or postage price increases. He was a crusader in 
the best sense of the word when there was an issue that needed to be 
fixed.
  He came to Washington, DC every year to participate in the annual 
conference sponsored by the National Newspaper Association. Ken was the 
one to ask the hard questions of the officials who would speak at the 
conference, holding their feet to the fire to follow up on commitments. 
At one association conference session at the White House, Iowa 
Newspaper Association Director Bill Monroe remembers worrying about Ken 
and why he had not shown up in time for the meeting. Just before the 
meeting began, Ken came out of the Oval Office just before President 
Reagan came out to meet the group. He had been in the office promoting 
Bayard's sesquicentennial and had sold President Reagan a raffle 
ticket.
  Ken also served as mayor of Bayard for 24 years, as a State 
representative, and was active in many organizations, including the 
League of Iowa Municipalities, the Democratic Party, the Iowa Civil 
Rights Commission, and the board of Iowa Public Television. He was an 
active and loyal alumnus of Drake University from where he graduated 
with a major in economics. During his college years, he was managing 
editor of the Drake Times Delphic where he primarily wrote sports 
articles.
  Ken was born near Panora, IA in 1914. In his junior year of high 
school, he was stricken with polio. As a person with a disability, long 
before the ADA was passed, Ken found ways to overcome barriers to 
achieve his long-time dream of owning and publishing a newspaper. He 
not only achieved his dream, but with his passion for justice and his 
impatience with inaction, he became a strong voice for common sense and 
fairness. As a civic leader, he had the kind of ``can-do'' attitude 
that motivates others to get involved to get things done. Who knows 
what Ken might have achieved if the ADA had been implemented while he 
was involved in so many aspects of community life. In this spirit, Ken 
was the first recipient of the Easter Seals of America Award to honor a 
person with a disability who had provided outstanding service to 
government and to community.
  Ken and Mary Louise have been great friends to me and I will never 
forget them. People such as Ken and Mary are an inspiration to us all. 
They are among the leaders who are the fabric that gives shape and 
color to our rural communities. They have spent their life making their 
community, State, and Nation better places to live, work and raise 
families. And for that, we are forever grateful.

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