Hill honors veteran, retiring professor

U.S. Rep. French Hill has returned to central Arkansas for the August recess. But before heading out of Washington, he paid tribute to two of his constituents on the House floor. In one speech, he congratulated R.D. Kinsey “on becoming the first African-American to be elected as commander of the American Legion Department of Arkansas.”

Kinsey, a Vietnam-era veteran, was elected to the post on June 24. He is the founding commander of American Legion Post 74 in North Little Rock.

The Air Force veteran from Sherwood has “proven his devotion to community and our state and veterans,” Hill said in his speech. “He’ll be a great leader for Arkansas’ American Legion.”

The Republican from Little Rock also gave a speech congratulating Dan Tullos on his retirement from Harding University.

The professor has been “a key figure in education and communications sciences in Arkansas” for decades, Hill said.

Since 1979, Tullos has played an important role at the school, serving as a “professor, program director and chair of the communications sciences and disorders department,” Hill noted.

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.