[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 2 (Thursday, January 6, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S60-S61]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HAYES CENTER AND VILLA HAYES

 Mr. NELSON of Nebraska. Mr. President, Hayes Center is in the 
southwestern part of my home state of Nebraska. Villa Hayes is in the 
southwestern part of the Republic of Paraguay. I rise today to 
highlight the unusual connection between these two towns, named for the 
same American President, which have forged strong ties despite the 
distance between them. Thanks to a historian's efforts, these towns 
share a bond that affirms the power of international friendship and the 
enduring legacy of President Rutherford B. Hayes.
  In 1878, President Hayes arbitrated a boundary dispute between 
Paraguay and Argentina, awarding new territory to Paraguay. The country 
named a department and a city, near the national capital of Asuncion, 
for him. John Fatherley of Chicopee, MA, is a historian who studies 
President Hayes. During college studies in Paraguay, he learned about 
the country's respect for our 19th President, whose decision in 1878 
enlarged Paraguay by 30 percent.

[[Page S61]]

  Mr. Fatherley has since sought to promote ties between Hayes Center 
and Villa Hayes. He has traveled to Nebraska to educate Hayes Center 
students about the President for whom their town is named. He has also 
brought documents on President Hayes from the U.S. to Paraguay. In 
return, Villa Hayes presented Mr. Fatherley with its town seal, which 
he donated to the Hayes Center Historical Society in Nebraska.
  Nebraskans are fortunate to share this connection with our South 
American friends and to have benefited over the years from Mr. 
Fatherley's admirable efforts. He has promoted international 
cooperation between Nebraskans and Paraguayans and honored the memory 
of a president too often forgotten. In an age when the well-being of 
any nation depends on so many others, it is more important than ever to 
strengthen the ties between Americans and our fellow human beings 
around the world.
  I wish to express my admiration, therefore, for Mr. Fatherley and the 
towns of Hayes Center, NE, and Villa Hayes, Paraguay. Mr. Fatherley's 
work has revealed a small but important piece of common ground between 
the United States and Paraguay. He has also taught students in a small 
Nebraska community about the world beyond their walls. Both these 
things are essential to continued American prosperity and leadership in 
these challenging times.

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