11 young farmers,
ranchers visit D.C.
WASHINGTON -- Members of the Arkansas Farm Bureau Young Farmers & Ranchers program visited the nation's capital last week.
They stopped on Capitol Hill to meet with members of the state's congressional delegation, staking out a spot in the basement of Tortilla Coast, a bustling lunchtime Tex-Mex restaurant.
They also made trips to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Mexican Embassy, where they heard about the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The names of participants and an abridged list of their crops is below.
The delegation of up-and-coming agriculture leaders included Chase and Krystal Groves of Garland (they raise cattle and grow soybeans, corn, wheat and pecans); Mark Morgan of Clarksville (peaches, cattle and turkeys); Terrance Scott of Cotton Plant (soybeans and purple hull peas); Dustin Cowell of Mount Judea (cattle, hay and timber); Jared and Michelle Pass of Hartford (cattle); Adam and Sandra Cloninger of Keo (soybeans, rice, corn and wheat); and James and Christina Smith of Hope (poultry and cattle).
Cowell said the trip was a great opportunity "to talk to a lot of people ... and make contacts."
He's glad the Farm Bureau is committed to training young farmers.
"A lot of our farmers are older generation, a lot of them [are] getting out. Not a lot of the younger generation [are] coming back to the farms," he said. "Who's going to take over that farm once this generation passes on? I think that will be a big issue."
Cotton recognizes
2 military heroes
In a Senate floor speech, U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton paid tribute last week to two Medal of Honor recipients, Capt. Thomas J. Hudner and Col. Wesley L. Fox.
Both men died recently. Hudner was 93, Fox was 86.
Hudner earned his medal for the heroism he displayed in December 1950 in Korea.
After seeing a squadron mate shot down on a snow-capped mountain, Hudner intentionally crash-landed his own plane nearby and fought unsuccessfully to free his comrade from the burning plane.
Hudner was white; the doomed serviceman, Ensign Jesse L. Brown, was black. They were serving together in a military that had only recently been integrated.
"The only color that mattered to them and that they shared in common besides the color of our flag was the Navy blue of their uniform," Cotton said.
Their friendship, he said, was "a symbol of America's promise."
Fox, wounded in Korea, went on to serve in Vietnam, as well.
In February 1969, he was wounded in the A Shau Valley, but "refused medical attention, instead concentrating on leading the attack, coordinating air support, and supervising the evacuation of the dead and injured," Cotton said.
Fox's Medal of Honor citation cited his "indomitable courage, inspiring initiative and unwavering devotion to duty in the face of grave personal danger."
Cotton, who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Hudner and Fox were "true American patriots" who displayed "the utter selflessness of courage."
Personnel office
gets Fleece Award
Saying that the Office of Personnel Management has wasted taxpayer money, U.S. Rep. French Hill recently announced that he's bestowing on it a Golden Fleece Award.
"OPM has spent over $10 million to build a data warehouse for health claims data from beneficiaries of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHB), data that OPM does not have," Hill said, citing a recent article by Politico.
The late U.S. Sen. William Proxmire, D-Wis., was the creator of the Golden Fleece Award, using it to highlight government spending that he considered wasteful.
After Hill's election to Congress in 2014, he resurrected the award.
The Republican from Little Rock sent a letter to Office of Personnel Management acting Director Kathleen McGettigan to let her know he disapproves of the office's "misuse of tax dollars."
Hill also questioned whether the data should eventually be entrusted to the Office of Personnel Management, saying Chinese hackers had previously hacked into the office's system, improperly accessing 21.5 million files.
Boozman praises
40-year veteran
U.S. Sen. John Boozman last week highlighted the work of retired Chief Warrant Officer 5 Pamela Huff, a 1975 graduate of Hall High School in Little Rock who served her nation for more than four decades.
Huff enrolled in the Army National Guard, completing her basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C. From there, she headed to Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and was trained to become a dental technician.
After working in that field for a few years, she decided to apply for a job at Camp Robinson in North Little Rock.
She was hired to work for the Combined Support Maintenance Service. She advanced quickly, eventually becoming the first female chief warrant officer 5 and "the first black female noncommissioned officer at the NCO academy," Boozman said.
As the Persian Gulf War neared, Huff was stationed at Fort Sill, Okla., overseeing its mobilization station. She would eventually receive the Meritorious Service Medal.
Huff, who retired earlier this year, was interviewed for the Veterans History Project. Boozman is submitting the recording to the Library of Congress' American Folklife Center, which has spearheaded the oral history initiative.
In a news release, the Republican from Rogers said he is "grateful" for Huff's service and glad that she was willing to be interviewed.
"Her memories of military service are an important part of our history, and I am pleased to be able to collect and preserve her stories," he added.
Planning to visit the nation's capital? Know something happening in Washington, D.C.? Please contact Frank Lockwood at (202) 662-7690 or flockwood@arkansasonline.com. Want the latest from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Washington bureau? It's available on Twitter, @LockwoodFrank.
SundayMonday on 12/17/2017