On the recordMarch 6, 2012
We are told to mourn with those who mourn and grieve with those who grieve. Mr. Speaker, I rise to do so today. Across southern Indiana, in small towns like Henryville, Marysville, Pekin, and others, Hoosier families and communities are picking up the pieces after one of the most devastating tornados in my lifetime swept through our State. I come to the House floor today to pay tribute to the lost, and to those who lost their homes and their businesses, and pay tribute to the first responders and to the countless thousands of Hoosiers who have come alongside their neighbors in this grievous hour. As millions of Americans have witnessed on television, these violent storms left utter destruction in their wake across a three-State area. Schools, businesses, and homes were reduced to piles of rubble. Cars were flipped and thrown about as if they were toys. Some communities, as one local official said it, were ``completely gone.'' In the Hoosier State we lost 13 lives, including an entire family from Pekin, Indiana. Yet in this dark hour, for so many families, as is always the case in the Hoosier State, we hear stories of communities coming together to rebuild. Despite the snow and cold that followed the storms, we see generosity, community spirit in full display. Over the coming days, weeks and months the wounds will heal, debris will be cleared, homes and businesses and barns will be rebuilt.…
