[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8267]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1010
                     BILL JACKSON RETIREMENT SPEECH

  (Mr. GARDNER asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. GARDNER. Mr. Speaker, this week, my district is losing one of its 
very best agricultural reporters to retirement. Bill Jackson will be 
leaving the Greeley Tribune, and in his place will be a big hole in 
coverage of agricultural issues in the Fourth Congressional District of 
Colorado.
  He spent his entire childhood and early years in Fort Morgan but 
ultimately moved to my hometown of Yuma, Colorado, where he graduated 
high school. He served in the Navy, and after that he went to Arizona 
and Sterling before joining the Greeley Tribune in 1977, where he has 
spent the last many years.
  In 2004, Bill was inducted into the Colorado Agricultural Hall of 
Fame. Mike Peters, one of Bill's colleagues at the Greeley Tribune, 
wrote a speech about Bill for his retirement, and it was so funny that 
I would like to share some of those excerpts with you today.
  You know you're Bill Jackson if you go to cover a water meeting and 
you know what the heck they're talking about.
  You know you're Bill Jackson if, when someone mentions Charlie or 
Dick Monfort, instead of talking Rockies baseball, you tell them how 
you changed their diapers when they were little.
  You know you're Bill Jackson if you know every single farmer, 
rancher, milker, ditch rider, beet picker, cowboy, cowgirl, and 
rainmaker in Weld County.
  You know you're Bill Jackson if the term ``NISP'' not only makes 
sense, but it also makes your heart race.
  You know you're Bill Jackson if you know the path of a snowflake from 
the point it falls from the sky onto the mountain, it goes into a river 
and then a reservoir and down a river until it reaches your water cup.
  We're going to miss Bill Jackson. I thank him for his service to 
Colorado and to Colorado agriculture.

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