[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 10412-10413]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     PANAMA CITY BEACH HUMAN CHAIN

  (Mr. DUNN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DUNN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the bravery and the 
ingenuity of more than 80 beachgoers in Panama City Beach last weekend. 
As many were enjoying the crystal blue waters of the Gulf, a family of 
six and four others became caught up in a riptide. Losing strength to 
fight their way back to shore, the swimmers screamed for help and faced 
a tragic fate.
  Thankfully, ordinary citizens did something extraordinary. One of 
them was Jessica Simmons, who noticed the struggling swimmers from a 
nearby sandbar. She said to herself: ``Those people are not drowning 
today.'' Jessica helped coordinate dozens of others to form a human 
chain from the shore all the way out to the distressed swimmers, 
ultimately bringing all of them to shore and saving their lives.
  It is a testament to the generosity of the human spirit to see 
complete strangers quite literally join hands to help those in need.
  On behalf of the Second District, I thank Jessica Simmons and all who 
fought the churning currents of Panama City Beach on Saturday. May we 
all learn from their example.

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