[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 49 (Monday, March 23, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E742-E743]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  CONGRATULATING MAYOR SAM JONES FOR BEING NAMED MOBILIAN OF THE YEAR

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. JO BONNER

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 23, 2009

  Mr. BONNER. Madam Speaker, it is with great pride and pleasure that I 
rise today to honor Mobile Mayor Sam Jones on the occasion of being 
named Mobilian of the Year for 2008 by the Cottage Hill Civitan Club. 
The Mobilian of the Year is the city's most prestigious civic honor, 
and Mayor Jones is most deserving of this award in recognition of his 
tireless efforts on behalf of the Port City.
  A native of Mobile, Mayor Jones graduated from Central High School in 
Mobile. He attended Florida Junior College and Jacksonville University 
in Florida before enrolling at the Alabama Interdenominational 
Seminary, where he was awarded an honorary doctorate.
  Mayor Jones started his career in the U.S. Navy where he served for 
nine years. He served on the USS Forrestal where he was a flight deck 
troubleshooter for A-7 aircraft, an equal opportunity officer, race 
relations education specialist, and community services coordinator.
  From 1980 until 1987, Mayor Jones was executive director of Mobile 
Community Action, Inc., where he oversaw a 240-person staff and a $5 
million annual budget. He then served as a Mobile County Commissioner 
for four terms.
  In 2005, Sam Jones was elected as the first African American mayor of 
Mobile. Mobile's Press-Register recently editorialized that ``Mobile's 
first African American mayor has demonstrated to the nation that Mobile 
is a progressive and inclusive Southern city where all residents have 
the opportunity for public service.''
  Mayor Jones is a man known for working 10-12 hour days, including 
weekends, and is rarely one to take a vacation. As captain of the city 
of Mobile, Mayor Jones has done yeoman's work helping to recruit 
several significant economic projects to Mobile, including the biggest 
economic development project in the history of our state, 
ThyssenKrupp's $4 billion state-of-the-art steel plant.
  Mayor Jones has an obvious love for Mobile. He has served as the past 
president of the Association of County Commissions of Alabama; a former 
member of the National Association of Counties Board of Directors; the 
National Association of Counties Election Reform Steering Committee; 
co-chair of Renewal 90 Educational Initiative; steering committee 
member of the 1988, 1992 and 2000 Education Funding Referendum 
Initiatives; former member of the Alabama Sentencing Commission; judge, 
Alabama Court of the Judiciary; former member of the Judicial Inquiry 
Commission; past member of the Alabama Port Authority; former member of 
the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors; former board 
member of the United Way of Southwest Alabama and 1998 chairman of a $7 
million campaign for the organization; founder of the Mobile County 
Community Development Partnership; founder, Prichard Federal Credit 
Union; former chair of Envision Mobile/Baldwin; member, Underage 
Drinking Task Force; member, 100 Black Men, Mobile

[[Page E743]]

Chapter; and director of Christian Education and Sunday School 
Superintendent for Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church.
  He also currently serves on the boards of several organizations, 
including the University of South Alabama, the South Alabama Regional 
Planning Commission, the Mobile United Steering Committee, the Mobile 
Senior Bowl Committee, the MLK Redevelopment Corporation, the Mobile 
County Governmental Utilities, Mobile County Communication District, 
Volunteers of America, and Maritime Center of the Gulf of Mexico. He 
also serves as chair of the Metropolitan Planning Organization and is 
an emeritus member of the Community Foundation of Southwest Alabama.
  Madam Speaker, I would like to offer my personal congratulations to 
Mayor Sam Jones for being named the Mobilian of the Year for 2008 and 
in so doing recognize him for his many outstanding accomplishments.
  I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating a dedicated 
professional and friend to many throughout south Alabama. I know his 
many friends and colleagues join me in praising his accomplishments and 
extending thanks for his many efforts over the years on behalf of the 
city of Mobile and the entire state.

                          ____________________