[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15471]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     GARFIELD'S 25TH ANNIVERSARY: ``I'LL RISE, BUT I WON'T SHINE''

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Pence) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PENCE. Mr. Speaker, as the Congressman who represents Muncie, 
Indiana, and Delaware County, home to the most famous cat in the world, 
I rise today for the awesome and important duty to pay a happy birthday 
wish to Garfield. Not President Garfield, but someone probably more 
famous in this day and age than that, a large, orange, slovenly, lazy 
cat, born in the mind of an Indiana native by the name of Jim Davis 
who, along with Garfield and literally dozens of artists and artisans, 
make their home near Muncie, Indiana, the world headquarters of Paws, 
Incorporated.
  It was, in fact, today in 1978 that the Garfield strip debuted in 41 
U.S. newspapers. Several months after its launch, the Chicago Sun-Times 
abruptly canceled the Cat. Over 1,300 angry readers, it is reported, 
immediately demanded that Garfield be reinstated. As they say, the rest 
is history. Today, 263 million readers across the globe read Garfield 
in 2,570 newspapers every day. Recently, Guinness World Records named 
this cat, Garfield, the most widely syndicated comic strip in the 
world. It all comes proudly from east central Indiana.
  It is said that people relate to Garfield because Garfield, in many 
ways, is them. ``He's a human in a cat suit,'' his creator Jim Davis 
likes to say. Garfield loves TV and he hates Mondays. He would rather 
pig out than work out. In fact, his passion for food and sleep is 
matched only by his aversion to diet and exercise, a cat after my own 
heart. He would like mornings better if they started later, coffee 
``strong enough to sit up and bark,'' and, he pledges regularly, ``I'll 
rise but I won't shine.''
  Jim Davis, born in July of 1945 in Marion, Indiana, was raised on a 
small Black Angus cow farm. He graduated from Ball State University in 
Muncie, Indiana, where he majored in art and business and he is the 
founder and president of Paws, Incorporated, a full service licensing 
studio created and established in eastern Indiana. They have received 
numerous awards, including four Emmys and the National Cartoonist 
Society award, just to name a few.
  So I rise today in the midst of serious debates and serious 
discussions to pay tribute to a very large, orange American tradition, 
here shown bursting out of his birthday cake on this, the 25th 
anniversary.
  I will never forget, Mr. Speaker, as I close, Jim Davis and I first 
became acquainted 15 years ago. He told me of all the offers he had had 
through the years to move Garfield, which is internationally 
syndicated, maybe to Los Angeles or maybe to New York, more recognized 
as media centers than the cornfields of eastern Indiana, and Jim Davis 
said to me, ``Mike, I always turn them down, because you have to have a 
sense of humor to live in Indiana.'' Let us hope Jim Davis and this big 
orange cat always live in Indiana. They are a source of pride, not only 
their creativity and their energy, but their philanthropy and their 
commitment to the quality of life for the families of our region.
  We thank you, Jim. Congratulations to you and that big, fat, lazy 
cat.

                          ____________________