Political Quotes

“I wanted to speak for just a few moments this afternoon about how the tragedy in Dallas touched many in Alaska, particularly the bedroom community of Eagle River, AK, just outside of Anchorage. Among the five law enforcement heroes who were murdered last Thursday was Senior Corporal Lorne Ahrens of the Dallas Police Department. His father, William, and his stepmother, Sue, live in Eagle River. Last Friday morning Bill and Sue became members of a very exclusive fraternity that no law enforcement family ever wishes to join, and that is the fraternity of families who have lost an officer in the line of duty. Lorne never lived in Alaska. He did visit on several occasions. He grew up in Southern California. He served with the L.A. County Sheriff's Department and then with the Dallas Police Department. But if you read the accounts of the articles in the Alaska papers--not only in the Alaska Dispatch News over the weekend but in the Juneau Empire yesterday--the accounts of Lorne and his story and his connection with Alaska, one would have assumed that he was one of ours, that he was an Alaskan. I think it just spoke to the loss, and the tragedy we all saw last Thursday reminded us that we are truly one community in so many ways. Bill and Sue Ahrens attend the Anchorage Baptist Temple.…”