[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 135 (Friday, December 8, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2217-E2218]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        RECOGNIZING M. HOLLIS CURL ON A LIFETIME ON ACHIEVEMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. JO BONNER

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, December 8, 2006

  Mr. BONNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a good friend 
and a great Alabamian, M. Hollis Curl, in recognition of his lifetime 
of achievement and service to the profession of journalism and the 
people of Alabama.
  Hollis, a native of Red Bay, Alabama, is the long-time editor and 
publisher of The Wilcox Progressive Era in my hometown of Camden, 
Alabama.
  He began his career in--as he calls it--``newspapering,'' by selling 
copies of The Red Bay News from his shoeshine stand outside the hotel 
in Red Bay.
  During World War II, his family moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, which 
did not have a newspaper at the time. However, Hollis was able to get a 
paper route carrying the Knoxville News Sentinel. He has often 
recounted the day the WWII ended, and his customers crowded around his 
``drop spot'' so they could get their papers without waiting for him to 
walk his route to their house.
  It was also in Tennessee that a young Hollis Curl began his career in 
journalism. He started his own neighborhood publication--in the form of 
a single sheet--which he sold for five cents a copy.
  In the late 1940s, Oak Ridge began its own newspaper, and Hollis 
became one of the first with a paper route for The Oak Ridger. As he 
became older, he was given various jobs at the paper, but in 1949, 
Hollis took a break from ``newspapering'' to serve as a congressional 
page for the late Congressman Albert Gore, D-Tennessee.
  Hollis attended Ole Miss and while there, he worked at the student 
newspaper. Following college, he returned to The Oak Ridger, and in 
1958, he became the advertising manager for the Clinton Courier-News in 
Clinton, Tennessee.
  He returned to Alabama in 1960 to work in the advertising department 
at The Dothan Eagle. From there, he moved to Butler, where he served as 
publisher for The Choctaw Advocate and quickly began winning awards 
from the Alabama Press Association (APA) in various categories. He 
purchased The Choctaw Advocate in 1968, and later, he and John Jones 
purchased The Demopolis Times.
  In 1969, he and his wife, Glenda, bought The Wilcox Progressive Era 
in Camden, which is where they reside to this day. Hollis and Glenda 
recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.
  Throughout the years, Hollis Curl has owned newspapers in Butler, 
Demopolis, Montevallo and Marion, but today his sole paper is the 
award-winning Progressive Era.
  Of particular significance, Hollis gained national recognition in 
1997 when he was selected by Sigma Delta Chi as recipient of the Ethics 
in Journalism Award. He was the first weekly newspaper editor to 
receive the award presented at the National Press Club in Washington, 
D.C. In addition, the Alabama Press Association awarded Hollis with 
their first Lifetime Achievement Award--in addition to awarding him 
virtually every other award APA gives.
  He has also won the Troy State University's Hector Award four times 
and served from 1975-1976 as the Hall School of Journalism's Grover C. 
Hall Fellow and Editor-in-Residence teaching editorial writing and 
press law.
  Mr. Speaker, Hollis Curl is a very special person to many of us 
throughout the State of Alabama, and I rise today to honor and publicly 
thank him for his many years of service, loyalty, and dedication to the 
people of Camden and Wilcox County.
  As a young boy growing up in Camden, I spent many an afternoon after 
school in ``Mr. Hollis's'' house. At the time, I was hoping my 
elementary school crush on his daughter, Julie, might lead to our being 
family one day. Such was not meant to be. Regardless, he was then--and 
has certainly remained--always interested in the wellbeing of the young 
people of Wilcox County.
  While he has taken more than a few politicians to task on his 
editorial page and in his award-winning, weekly column, ``For What It's 
Worth,'' he has always been more than fair to me and to those people in 
the political arena with whom I have been associated.

[[Page E2218]]

  And when I first became a candidate for the position I am so honored 
to hold today, it was my dear friend, ``Mr. Hollis,'' who penned the 
very first editorial endorsement for my candidacy, even though I was 
running as a Republican in a congressional district different from his.
  Several years ago, ``Mr. Hollis'' began featuring someone from our 
community who had made a positive difference in the lives of others. 
One week, he chose my father's twin brother, Uncle James, to be in the 
spotlight.
  Some months later, when Uncle James had passed away, I wrote ``Mr. 
Hollis'' a letter and thanked him for taking the time to recognize 
someone who had long since been out of the limelight but who so 
appreciated the attention and recognition that came from the pages of 
his newspaper.
  And that, Mr. Speaker, is the real reason I rise today--to pause and 
pay tribute to a man who has spent almost all of his adult life writing 
about others, telling of their joys and sorrows--good times and bad--
and for once, I want him to realize how truly special he is to all of 
us.
  In some ways, I guess, I looked at this like when George Bailey, 
played by Jimmy Stewart in the 1946 hit, It's a Wonderful Life, 
realized that with the help of an angel named Clarence, it had been a 
wonderful life after all.
  I know an entire community of friends and admirers join me in 
saluting M. Hollis Curl and wishing him many more years of editorials 
and commentaries. And to his wonderful wife, Glenda, their children, 
Mark and Julie, and their grandchildren--thank you for sharing this 
extraordinary person with us for all these years. May God continue to 
bless them all with good health and happiness.

                          ____________________