[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 116 (Wednesday, July 11, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H6043-H6044]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
RECOGNIZING EAGLE SCOUT TOMMY FULFORD
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
Illinois (Mr. Bost) for 5 minutes.
Mr. BOST. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Tommy Fulford of
O'Fallon, Illinois, for winning the National Eagle Scout Service
Project of the Year Award for the central region.
This project was a year in the making. Tommy took a dirt-filled
storage room dating back to 1904 in the basement of the O'Fallon,
Illinois, History Museum and created an exhibit illustrating the long
history of coal mining in southern Illinois. The room was designed to
give visitors the feel of being in an actual mine.
I visited the exhibit last month. Mr. Speaker, coming from mining
roots myself, I can tell you Tommy's project hit very close to home.
To put things in perspective, Eagle Scouts around the country and
their volunteers completed almost 8.5 million hours of service toward
their Eagle projects last year. This works out to 150 hours per
project. Tommy and his 18 volunteers dedicated 934 hours of service to
complete his coal mining exhibit.
[[Page H6044]]
Tommy, I applaud you, and I appreciate your dedication and hard work.
I know you have a bright future ahead of you.
School Violence Prevention Program
Mr. BOST. Mr. Speaker, in January, I came to this well to urge
support for bipartisan legislation I introduced with my Illinois
colleague, Mr. Schneider. Our bill proposed a Federal grant program to
improve security at our schools and protect our children.
Since then, our legislation passed the House and the Senate and was
signed into law by President Trump. Because of Members' bipartisan
support, I am proud to say these grants are now available to local
communities.
Please urge local officials in our districts to visit cops.usdoj.gov
for more information on how to apply for up to $500,000 in grants
through the school violence prevention program. However, the
application deadline for this fiscal year is July 30, so time is of the
essence.
We have advanced safety technology in banks, office buildings, and
retail locations. There is no reason we shouldn't have that same
technology in our schools to protect our children.
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