[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 10 (Wednesday, February 1, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E43]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      TRIBUTE TO 9 HEROES OF MISSOURI'S 8TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

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                          HON. JO ANN EMERSON

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 1, 2006

  Mrs. EMERSON. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor the heroism of nine 
individuals in Missouri's Eighth Congressional District whose quick 
thinking and brave actions saved the lives of a family of five.
  In the early morning hours of December 14th, a billion-gallon flood 
from the Taum Sauk Reservoir swept through the Johnson Shut Ins State 
Park. Park Ranger Jerry Toops, his wife and their three children, ages 
5, 3, and seven months, were awakened to a harrowing scene as the 
freezing cold floodwaters crashed through their home and carried them 
all away.
  Their rescuers were immediately set into motion. Mr. Josh McCarty, 
Mr. Gary Maize, Mr. Tyler Wright, Mr. Robbie Jordan, Mr. Ryan Wadlow 
and Fire Chief Ben Meredith of the Lesterville Fire Department, 
Reynolds County Sheriff's Deputy Brian Fox knew the Toops family had 
been in the path of the flood and raced to the scene. Also on the scene 
was a good Samaritan--Mr. Greg Coleman--a truck driver who had been 
stranded on the roof of his semi truck and heard Jerry Toops calling 
for help from a tree. He called the local emergency dispatcher and, as 
soon as the icy water receded, met the fire department and set out to 
find the family. Mr. Butch Walker, a neighbor, used his truck to clear 
a path through the flood debris for the emergency responders. They 
found the five members of the Toops family alive, but in urgent need of 
medical care.
  On the ensuing ambulance rides, the lives of the three children hung 
in the balance. Their parents, the county, the State and the Nation all 
prayed that they would survive. They did. But a moment later, a 
minute's delay, or a notch less of urgency and the outcome could have 
been grim for the Toops family, laying in their nightclothes on the 
cold, wet ground.
  If not for these nine men with their training and determination, 
acting fast, in the dark, frozen moments after the flood, one, some, or 
all of these five lives would have been lost. It is this character, 
selflessness, and reliability for neighbors in need that make Southern 
Missouri a wonderful place to live. They are heroes of whom we are 
proud, though they would say they are just doing their jobs or doing 
what anyone would do in their position. Yet they responded without 
hesitation, and we owe them a great debt of gratitude. I commend them 
today in the U.S. House of Representatives and thank God for their 
great deeds.

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