[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 587]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             RECOGNIZING SERGEANT INVESTIGATOR ADAM SOWDERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Flores) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FLORES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Adam Sowders, 
sergeant investigator with the Burleson County Sheriff's Department.
  On December 19, 2013, Sergeant Sowders was killed in the line of 
duty. Sergeant Investigator Sowders passed away due to wounds he 
received while serving a search warrant with a team of deputies in 
Burleson County, Texas.
  Adam graduated from Somerville High School in 2001, and like his 
father and his brothers, he became a volunteer firefighter at the 
Somerville Fire Department.
  He began his career with the Burleson County Sheriff's Department as 
a patrol deputy in 2006 after serving as an officer with the Somerville 
Police Department.
  Sergeant Investigator Sowders was loved and respected by his 
community, by his friends, and by his family. Our thoughts and prayers 
are with his family and his friends.
  Today, we honor and remember Adam for putting himself in harm's way 
for the good of his neighbors, his family, his friends, and his 
community. We thank him for his service and his sacrifice for public 
safety. He devoted his life to public safety and to being a first 
responder, and he will be forever remembered as an outstanding 
individual who lived to selflessly serve his community.
  Adam was a model public servant, however; and, more importantly, he 
was a servant leader who modeled the words of Jesus in John 15:13, 
which states:

       Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his 
     life for his friends.

  His death marks the 17th first responder lost in the line of duty in 
the 17th Congressional District of Texas since the time I was sworn in 
in January 2011.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to close by reminding all Americans to 
continue praying for our country and for our American men and women who 
serve in our military and for our first responders. Their selfless 
service protects our lives, our freedoms, and our liberties from both 
internal and external dangers.
  God bless our first responders and our troops, and God bless America.

                          ____________________