[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 90 (Thursday, June 30, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1410]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          HONORING EARL ALFORD

                                 ______
                                 

                   HON. CHARLES W. ``CHIP'' PICKERING

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 29, 2005

  Mr. PICKERING. Mr. Speaker, today in Amite County, Earl Alford is 
retiring after 39 years with the Mississippi Forestry Commission--all 
of them in Amite County. He is the longest serving county forester in 
the history of the commission. He has a great knowledge of Mississippi 
and Mississippi trees and has been honored and praised by friends, 
neighbors and colleagues in Southwest Mississippi.
  He is one of our great tree farmers who possesses not only an 
understanding of the operations of the timber business, but also a love 
for the land. He is a conservationist who wants to balance timber and 
the environment so we can produce the wood our industries need while 
protecting the land that gives birth to these forests. His service to 
the community includes managing the school system's 16th Section timber 
land of which he has managed the harvest of, replanting of, growth of, 
and harvest of once again.
  I would like to share with the House some of the comments on Earl 
Alford recorded recently in McComb's Enterprise-Journal newspaper.
  ``He birthed the association . . . If it wasn't for him I don't think 
it would still be operating.''--Bryant Barron, president of the 
Southwest Mississippi Forestry Association.
  ``He's forgotten more than most of us will ever know about forestry. 
Humble, common as peas, but a very learned man.''--James Copeland, U.S. 
Natural Resource Conservation Service and the Amite County School 
Board.
  ``The Mississippi Forestry Commission and the people of Amite County 
are gong to lose tremendously because we're not going to have him on 
the job every day.''--Richard Hay, Extension Service.
  ``He's never asked us to do anything he wouldn't do--except boot up a 
computer.''--Charlotte Reynolds, Earl's secretary.
  ``Having known him on a professional level, I've learned what a 
highly qualified forester he is, what a great people person he is, what 
a great asset he is to Amite County.''--Lee Wilson, U.S. Natural 
Resource Conservation Service.
  Earl was born in Walthall County into a logging and farming family, 
the grandson of a tree farmer and sawmill operator. His father worked 
for the forestry commission and after school he would follow in the 
family legacy. He graduated from Salem High School, Southwest 
Mississippi Community College and finally Mississippi State University. 
In 1966 he went to work as the Mississippi Forestry Commission's Amite 
County forester; he retires today.
  Mr. Speaker, Earl and his wife Pauline, a retired Extension Service 
home economist, have reared two children. Holly Alford is a sonographer 
at Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center. Mac Alford recently 
received a Ph.D in plant biology at Cornell University and has taken a 
position at the University of Southern Mississippi. He has served his 
family and community for many years and I am proud to take this time to 
honor him on this day of retirement. Though I know, his service to God 
and family and man will continue for years to come.

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