House Bill 9395

    Florida House of Representatives - 1998                HR 9395

        By Representative Bullard






  1                         House Resolution

  2         A resolution honoring the National Association

  3         of Black Scuba Divers.

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  5         WHEREAS, the National Association of Black Scuba

  6  Divers, headquartered in the District of Columbia, is a

  7  nonprofit organization comprised of African American and

  8  Caribbean sport divers, and

  9         WHEREAS, organized in 1991 by instructor, underwater

10  photographer, and marine environmentalist Richard V. Powell

11  and Dr. A. Jose Jones, the National Association of Black Scuba

12  Divers provides a network for the exchange of information

13  sensitive to the needs of minority scuba enthusiasts, and

14         WHEREAS, with a commitment to the development of the

15  next generation, the National Association of Black Scuba

16  Divers promotes the sport of scuba diving, environmental

17  awareness, and conservation among ethnic people and provides

18  scholarships for minority students studying marine and

19  environmental science, and

20         WHEREAS, the National Association of Black Scuba Divers

21  has been instrumental in spreading scuba diving to thousands

22  of students who otherwise might not have had the opportunity

23  to learn the sport, and its annual summits attract not only

24  divers, but also underwater photographers, educators,

25  scientists, and historians from across the United States and

26  the Caribbean, and

27         WHEREAS, in an emotional ceremony sponsored by the

28  National Association of Black Scuba Divers in 1993 to

29  memorialize the courage, pain, and suffering of all African

30  people enslaved during the four-century trade in human lives,

31  divers lowered a bronze plaque mounted on a one-ton concrete

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida House of Representatives - 1998                HR 9395

    546-164-98






  1  base to the watery resting place of the slave ship Henrietta

  2  Marie, which sank in the early 1700's in the waters 35 miles

  3  west of Key West, and

  4         WHEREAS, the National Association of Black Scuba Divers

  5  provides a forum for the discussion of means by which ethnic

  6  scuba divers may contribute to the well-being and future of

  7  children, teenagers, and young adults, NOW, THEREFORE,

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  9  Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of

10  Florida:

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12         That the House of Representatives pauses in its

13  deliberations to commend and honor the National Association of

14  Black Scuba Divers.

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