[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 63 (Friday, May 19, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E903]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO RON ZIMMERMAN

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. MIKE PENCE

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, May 19, 2006

  Mr. PENCE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the life of 
Ron Zimmerman of Connersville, Indiana. He died this week in 
Afghanistan when a suicide bomber hit his vehicle while he was working 
as contractor on a U.S. State Department police training project.
  Ron was working in Herat, Afghanistan, near the border with Iran and 
Turkmenistan. Among other things, he was training local police forces 
in methods of combating the illicit drug trade of opium poppies. He was 
in a convoy going to work to continue these training efforts when the 
vehicle he was traveling in was attacked by a suicide car bomber. He 
had been in Afghanistan since early April of this year.
  Ron graduated from Connersville High School. Before going overseas, 
Ron served in the Fayette County Sheriff's Department, volunteered as a 
local firefighter, and most recently worked as a police officer in 
Brookville, Indiana. He left the police force in December 2004 to 
become a contractor. Prior to going to Afghanistan, he had worked for 1 
year as a contractor training police forces in Kosovo.
  Ron's courage and selfless dedication to others are shown through his 
willingness to travel to dangerous areas of the world in an effort to 
help those areas become safer and more secure. His wife Marla stated, 
``He was the type of person that felt like he had to do what he had to 
do. He was a very giving person.''
  I offer my deepest condolences to his wife, Marla; his two daughters, 
Mel Walker and Cheyenne Zimmerman, his son, Matt Walker, and all other 
family and friends who loved and admired this fine man.

                          ____________________