Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of the 60th Anniversary of the Korean War Commemoration Committee as they recognize Korean Veterans on November 11, 2011, Veterans Day.

The Korean War began on June 25, 1950 when the North Korean People's Army invaded the Republic of Korea. The Korean War was the first ``hot'' conflict of the Cold War and included historic battles and offensives as well as important technological and medical advances. On July 27, 1953, the United States, North Korea and China signed an armistice. A total of 33,651 U.S. service members died in battle during the Korean War; 27,709 U.S. Army; 4,269 U.S. Marines; 1,198 U.S. Air Force; and 475 U.S. Navy. Seven thousand, one-hundred and forty Service Members became prisoners of war.

The Korean War Commemoration Committee's mission is to honor the service and sacrifice of Korean War Veterans, American service members, and their allies who fought heroically to preserve Freedom; to commemorate the key events of the Korean War; and educate the American people about the significance of the Korean War.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honor of the 60th Anniversary of the Korean War Commemoration Committee as they pay special tribute to the more than 6.8 million servicemen and women who bravely fought in the Korean War.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor and memory of Mrs. Franziska Holzer, a long time and active member of the German-American community in the Greater Cleveland area.

Mrs. Holzer was born on April 15, 1927. After World War II, she met her future husband Josef, in Deggendorf, Bavaria. The two were married in 1949 and had a daughter, Ilse. In 1952, the Holzer family immigrated to Cleveland, Ohio. The couple would eventually settle in North Royalton, Ohio, where they enjoyed the rest of their 62 year marriage.

Upon settling in the Cleveland area, the Holzers became extremely active in the German-American community. Mr. Holzer would eventually become the Regional President of the National Donauschwaben Organization and led the building of the Donauschwaben Society of Cleveland's German-American Cultural Center at Lenau Park. Much of his success is credited to the support offered by his loving wife, Franziska.

I offer my most sincere condolences to her husband, Josef; daughter, Ilse; grandchildren, Lisa, Brian and David; and great-grandchildren, Peter and Alexandra.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honoring the memory of Mrs. Franziska Holzer, her devotion to her family and Cleveland's German-American community will be sorely missed and thoughtfully remembered for years to come.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of Mr. Walter Beebe, who is being honored at the New York Open Center's 2011 Gala Celebration for his extraordinary vision and service to the New York Open Center and progressive philanthropy.

After obtaining a bachelor of arts from Harvard University in 1962, Mr. Beebe earned his bachelor of laws degree in 1965 from Stanford University. Almost immediately after finishing his education, Mr. Beebe began his career with Partner, Jacobs Persinger & Parker in 1966. He was a corporate attorney with the New York law firm until his retirement in 2006.

Mr. Beebe is the founder, Board Chair and President of the New York Open Center. He has been a leader in the holistic movement through the work of the Center for nearly 30 years. The Center is a nonprofit holistic learning center that seeks to integrate the intellectual, emotional, physical, and spiritual elements of life.

In addition to his work with as an attorney and with the New York Open Center, Mr. Beebe has been an active philanthropist. He has served on the Board of Directors of several organizations and companies including Westar Institute, Interfaith Center of New York, New Jersey Steel Corporation, Von Roll of America, Inc. and subsidiaries, Bank Street College of Education, Sunbridge College, Near East Foundation and Greyston Foundation. Mr. Beebe was also the co-host for the White House Commission on Alternative Medicine.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues please join me in congratulating Mr. Walter Beebe as he is honored by the New York Open Center at their 2011 Gala Celebration on November 10, 2011.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Mr. Thomas A. Wilson, a cartoon artist whose character, Ziggy, brought joy to people's lives every day.

Mr. Wilson was born on August 1, 1931, in Grant Town, West Virginia and raised in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. He served in the U.S. Army before graduating from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in the mid 1950s. Mr. Wilson began a nearly forty-year career with Cleveland's American Greetings in 1955. He spent time writing romantic greeting cards and comedic greeting cards for the public. Throughout his stay with American Greetings he served in several different executive roles for the creative department.

In 1971, Mr. Wilson created the character Ziggy and launched a cartoon series featuring this average American character. Ziggy started off as part of a cartoon illustration collection that had no words. The Universal Press Syndicate worked with Mr. Wilson to put words into the animation and bring Ziggy to life. He worked with the Universal Press Syndicate until he formed Ziggy and Friends. In 1987, Mr. Wilson gave control of his comic strip, Ziggy and Friends, to his son and fellow cartoonist Tom M. Wilson. Ziggy cartoons continue to be published in more than 500 newspapers throughout the country and enjoyed by millions.

The Cleveland Museum of Art has honored Mr. Tom A. Wilson by exhibiting his artwork. Mr. Wilson has also had his artwork shown in the Society of Illustrations and the Butler Institute of Art.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honoring the life and achievements of Mr. Tom Albert Wilson. I offer my condolences to his wife, Carol; son, Tom; two daughters, Ava and Julianne; and five grandchildren.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of El Centro de Servicios Sociales Para la Communidad Hispana, a non-profit group that serves the Greater Cleveland community.

El Centro is a Hispanic-Latino non-profit advocacy organization whose mission is to enhance the socio-economic status of the greater Lorain County community by providing essential social, educational, cultural and community development services. Children in need are able to keep in contact with El Centro to individually seek solutions to their problems.

With the influx of Hispanic-Latino industrial workers to the Lorain County community during the 1970s, the need for social, cultural and educational needs increased. In 1974, El Centro de Servicios Sociales Para la Communidad Hispana was formed in order to address these problems by helping monolingual Spanish speakers transition in an English speaking environment. El Centro also works to prevent, treat and rehabilitate community members with mental and physical health ailments. It also had a few clinics to specifically treat community members afflicted with high blood pressure and diabetes.

Although El Centro began as a non-profit that helped only Latino members of the community, recently it has expanded its services to support all members of the community. Recent economic hardships in the State of Ohio have increased the need for community services and El Centro has met that need by serving about 2,000 people.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honoring El Centro de Servicios Sociales Para la Communidad Hispana.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of the Cleveland Junior Tamburitzans, a group which has been promoting Croatian arts and culture for more than fifty years.

Established in 1959, The Cleveland Junior Tamburitzans are a parent sponsored non-profit group whose members range in age from 5 to 21 years old. The group performs songs and dances to traditional Croatian music in order to celebrate and honor their heritage. The group is currently comprised of more than 100 children who are under the direction of Katarina Lukacevic and Tom Salopek. The Tamburitzans have held concerts in Canada, Croatia, and throughout the

United States. The group's purpose is to preserve and celebrate the culture of Croatia.

Cleveland's Croatian community is among the most robust in North America. Croatians have played a pivotal role in developing the businesses and industries which helped make Cleveland great. Their presence provided additional diversity to our growing city and members of the Croatian community have made valuable contributions to the area's athletics, arts, and music. In 1949, Cleveland was the first city to bring traditional Croatian song and dance together with the founding of the American-Croatian Singing Association.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in recognition of the Cleveland Junior Tamburitzans, just one of the many bright spots of Cleveland's Croatian community.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Mrs. Gia Hoa Ryan as she celebrates her 40th anniversary since coming to America from Vietnam in 1971.

Born in Vietnam, Mrs. Ryan worked as a secretary and interpreter for the United States during the Vietnam War. She immigrated to the United States in 1971. Since immigrating, Mrs. Ryan has been an active community leader in the Greater Cleveland area. She is a teacher and lecturer of Asian culture, food, and society. She has been active with the Lorain International Festival, and hosted the 1995 Festival which honored Vietnam and the Vietnamese people. Mrs. Ryan also served as the coordinator for the Asian Community Project at Bridgeway from 1997 to 2003. This Project provided mental health care to hundreds of Asian, Vietnamese, Laotian, and Cambodian families.

Mrs. Ryan has truly been a leader to Cleveland's Asian community. She started the Asian Women's Support Group in early 1980s. In 1993, she created the Friendship Foundation of American Vietnamese. The organization has provided humanitarian services to the people of Vietnam by furnishing scholarships, building houses and schools, providing medical services, educational materials, food and clothing, and raising funds for the poor. She has also founded the Asian Community Mental Health Services as part of the West Side Community Health Center to provide mental health services for Asian families, senior citizens, and young people. Furthermore, in 2005, Mrs. Ryan established the Sai Gon Plaza. The Plaza serves as a community center in Northern Ohio for Asians, immigrants and various community groups. Mrs. Ryan has sponsored forty members of her family who have come from Vietnam and helped them establish homes and businesses.

Mrs. Ryan has also served on many community boards including the Lorain County Community Alcoholism Board, various boards in the Detroit-Shoreway area, and the Mayor's Community Relations Board of the City of Cleveland. Most importantly she has raised her two children, Lynda Mia Ryan Shea and Thomas Joseph Ryan.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honoring Mrs. Ryan as she celebrates her 40th anniversary since coming to America. Her advocacy work continues to improve countless lives both in Cleveland and Vietnam.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor and memory of radio D.J. Chuck Collier, a man who entertained Cleveland's country music fans with tunes and colored commentary for decades.

Mr. Collier was born on May 6, 1946 in Greenfield and raised in New Vienna, Ohio. He attended New Kenton High School, where he was his class president. During his time at the University of Cincinnati, he began his career in radio with a job at WSRW in Hillsboro, Ohio in 1963. His graduation brought new opportunities, and he began working at WMWN in Wilmington, WONE in Dayton, WSAI in Cincinnati and WCBS in New York. The dedication it took to handle all of these jobs led to Mr. Collier landing a career at WGAR. For forty years Mr. Collier was WGAR's premiere radio personality for country music, adult contemporary music and AM programming. While WGAR has changed its programming over the years, Chuck kept listeners tuning in throughout the changes.

In 2005, the Ohio Radio-TV Broadcasters inducted Mr. Collier into their Hall of Fame. His fame over the radio brought him the National Association of Broadcasters' Marconi Award as Large Market Radio Personality of the Year in 2007. In 2009, an especially rewarding year for Mr. Collier, he was inducted into the Country Music Radio Hall of Fame.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues please join me in honoring the life and achievements of Mr. Chuck Collier. I offer my condolences to his wife, Joni; daughter, Melanie; son, Jason; and sister, Carolyn Taubenheim.

Mr. Speaker, I spoke yesterday with a very well-known Cleveland talk show host, Mike Trivisonno, who told me he and his listeners, who are many, are concerned that an al Qaeda flag is flying over the courthouse in Benghazi, Libya. It was put there by the same group that we helped to oust the Qadhafi regime.

Trivisonno is right. U.S. soldiers died fighting al Qaeda in Afghanistan, but in Libya we enabled al Qaeda to raise their flag? Will al Qaeda now have access to Libya's oil wealth thanks to the U.S.-led invasion?

Months ago I raised this question about elements of al Qaeda reportedly being involved with so-called rebels. This administration looked the other way. Why? What are we doing?

Our international policies are a diversion from our disastrous domestic policies: 14 million unemployed, millions of small businesses at risk, millions of homes at risk, Social Security at risk.

Wake up, America. The administration just helped elements of al Qaeda knock off one of the world's leading oil producers. Their flag flies over Benghazi. It's time for us to get out of these foreign adventures and start taking care of things here at home.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Mr. Tom Feran, a writer and editor with the Cleveland Plain Dealer, who is being honored by the Press Club of Cleveland and inducted into the Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame, Class of 2011.

Tom is a longtime Clevelander who graduated from St. Ignatius High School before attending Harvard University. While at Harvard, he was the president and editor of the Harvard Lampoon, the world's longest continually published humor magazine. He graduated from Harvard in 1975.

Tom joined the Cleveland Plain Dealer in 1982 as the editor for the publication's Sunday magazine. He has since worked as the editor of the Arts&Life section of the paper, a columnist, television critic and is currently working as a writer of PolitiFact columns. In addition to the Plain Dealer, Tom has published articles in Ohio, Cleveland, and DirecTV magazines. He is the author of Ghoulardi: Inside Cleveland TV's Wildest Ride and Cleveland TV Memories. He has also co-authored Six Inches of Partly Cloudy, Big Chuck! and The Buzzard. Tom was recognized by the society of Professional Journalists in 2007 as the Best Columnist in Ohio.

In addition to his career, Tom has served as the president of the Television Critics Association of North America for two terms. He is also a member of the Harvard Club of Northeast Ohio.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in congratulating the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Mr. Tom Feran as the Press Club of Cleveland inducts him into the Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame, Class of 2011.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Mr. Bob Schieffer to acknowledge his contribution to broadcasting. He has been a valuable journalist in the broadcasting community for several decades and the host of CBS' ``Face the Nation'' for 20 years.

Mr. Schieffer was born on February 25th, 1937 and grew up in Fort Worth, Texas. He went to North Side High School and attended Texas Christian University. Upon graduating from TCU, Mr. Schieffer joined the US Air Force where he earned the ranks of captain and information officer. His first reporting job was with the Fort Worth-Star Telegram where he was a police reporter.

He has been a journalist for CBS since 1969 and hosted the ``CBS Evening News'' for 23 years. His career covering national politics included assignments with the White House, Pentagon, Department of State, and Congress. During the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections, he served as moderator of the third presidential debates. Mr. Schieffer has also written three books regarding his career in broadcasting.

Mr. Schieffer has won six Emmy awards, as well as the National Press Foundation's Broadcaster of the Year Award. He has also been named to the Broadcasting/Cable Hall of Fame. In 2005, Texas Christian University honored him by naming the Schieffer School of Journalism in his honor.

Mr. and Mrs. Schleifer currently reside in Washington D.C. and are the parents of two daughters.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honoring the work of Mr. Schieffer and celebrating his countless achievements.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Steve Jobs, the former CEO of Apple Incorporated.

Mr. Jobs was born February 24, 1955 and graduated from Homestead High School in Cupertino, California. Steve would then attend lectures at Hewlett-Packard Company in Palo Alto, California, where he met future business partner Steve Wozniak. After attending Stanford, Steve was hired by Atari where he created the circuit board for the game ``Breakout.''

Mr. Jobs' invention of the personal computer happened in his family garage, where the company name ``Apple'' stemmed from his favorite fruit and where the technological word byte was also created. His vision included condensing computers to box size and having them introduced into the masses. In order to initiate their new company, Jobs sold his Volkswagen Micro Bus and business partner Steve Wozniak sold his HP scientific calculator to raise funds to begin Apple.

Later on in life Steve purchased The Graphics Group which later became Pixar. In 1995 he was executive producer for the Pixar movie ``Toy Story.'' Years later Disney would buy Pixar and Steve would sit on the Disney committee for Disney's Pixar animation business. He was a pioneer and innovator. In August of 2011 Steve resigned as CEO of Apple to concentrate on his health. He died on October 5th, 2011 as the former founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple Incorporated.

The work Steve accomplished throughout his life was invaluable towards personalizing the computer and paved the way for the future of the technological world. In 2007, Steve was inducted into the California Hall of Fame and was recognized by Forbes as the most powerful person in business. Billions of people have benefited from Mr. Jobs' work which ranges from the Mac computer and iPhone, to the many Disney Pixar films.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me remembering Mr. Steve Jobs as we honor his work and life as an innovator and offer condolences to his family and friends.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Mr. Tom Beres, a reporter for Cleveland's WKYC, who is being honored by the Press Club of Cleveland and inducted into the Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame, Class of 2011.

Tom was born and raised Ashtabula, Ohio. He graduated from Westlake High School and earned bachelor's and master's degrees in broadcast journalism from Northwestern University. During his last year at Northwestern, Tom worked as a radio correspondent covering Watergate for WMAQ in Chicago.

Before returning to his hometown of Cleveland, Tom worked as an anchor/reporter for WDTN and WLWD TV in Dayton, Ohio for four years. He has been working for WKYC in Cleveland since July 1979 and is the longest tenured reporter with one station in the City of Cleveland. He worked for many years as a general assignment reporter before being promoted to senior political reporter in May of 1998. Throughout his career Tom has garnered several awards including the Best Broadcast Writing award from the Ohio Associated Press in 1984 and three local Emmys. His 1989 Emmy for Investigative Reporting was for his coverage of ticket abuse by Cleveland police officers.

In addition to his storied career with WKYC, for the past eight years Tom has hosted the political discussion show, Between the Lines. He has moderated countless local and state wide political debates. Tom is on the Board of Directors for the local chapter of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and Camp Ho Mita Koda, a camp for diabetic children. He has also served on the boards of the Diabetes Association of Greater Cleveland.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in congratulating WKYC's Mr. Tom Beres as the Press Club of Cleveland inducts him into the Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame, Class of 2011.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Mr. Bob Paynter, who is being honored by the Press Club of Cleveland and inducted into the Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame, Class of 2011.

Bob was born and raised in Kirkwood, Missouri. He attended the University of Missouri--Columbia School of Journalism and graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1975. He first worked for the Akron Beacon Journal from 1981 to 1985 on crime, parole policies and political corruption. During his first period with the Journal he wrote a number of stories that helped free a man wrongly convicted of a child-murder case and led indirectly to conviction of the real killer.

Bob left the Greater Cleveland area and worked as a general assignment and projects reporter for The Dallas Morning News during 1986. He covered local courts and government and investigating the effects of lead pollution on inner-city children. Bob returned to Ohio working for the Akron Beacon Journal in January 1987. He worked as an investigative reporter and editor with the newspaper for the next 13 years. He covered topics such as campaign-finance abuses, failed drug- enforcement policies, illegal awarding of county sewer contracts, wrongful conviction of college student for date rape and evolution of race relations in the Akron area. In December of 1999 Bob began working for The Cleveland Plain Dealer as a projects editor and investigative reporter. During his 9 years with the Plain Dealer, Bob wrote on misconduct by the Parma police and the priests of the Cleveland Diocese and the ``Cold-Blooded Liar'' series. He is now the principal of Investigative Communications, LLC.

Throughout his career, Bob has been the recipient of some of journalism's most prestigious awards. As a result of his work on race relations in Akron Bob was awarded a Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal for Public Service. He received Worth Bingham and Sigma Delta Chi awards because of his work on the Ohio legislature's ``Pay to Play'' system and American Society of Newspaper Editors Local Watchdog Award while he was with the Plain Dealer.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in congratulating Mr. Bob Paynter as the Press Club of Cleveland inducts him into the Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame, Class of 2011.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Mr. Phillip Morris, a columnist with the Cleveland Plain Dealer, who is being honored by the Press Club of Cleveland and inducted into the Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame, Class of 2011.

Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, Phillip attended Ohio Wesleyan University and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism. After graduating in 1987, he began working as a police and courts reporter for the Dayton Daily News. He would eventually work as an editorial writer for the paper.

In October of 1990, Phillip joined the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Editorial page. His responsibilities included editorial coverage of Cleveland city government, Ohio state government, the state and federal penal systems, education and children's issues. In 1995, Phillip began writing a weekly column for the Plain Dealer's Forum page and continued to do so for eleven years. In April of 2007, he became a metro columnist and gained national recognition in this role. Currently, Phillip is working as a Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan; he will return to the Plain Dealer in the spring of 2012.

Despite being at the Plain Dealer for less than twenty years, Phillip has garnered local and national recognition based on his work on criminal justice issues. He has been awarded a National Association of Black Journalists award, a National Headliner Award and has been a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize twice. He is also a finalist for a second Association of Black Journalists award this year.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in congratulating the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Mr. Phillip Morris as the Press Club of Cleveland inducts him into the Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame, Class of 2011.