It is truly a sad day in the Ole North State and in America in losing such a great and honorable American. He is my Senator and will always be my beloved Senator. He was a fellow North Carolinian and a fellow American who truly understood , as he once said, the honor it was to grace the halls of the Senate like the great statesmen of the past. He has now joined those few Great Statesmen that have gone on to their reward who fought for the basic tenants of American freedom and exceptionalism that many of us have allowed to become so insignificant. If you ever met him, you felt his warmth and easily realized that he was a gentleman, almost chivalrous in his approach and interaction to others. He stood for state’s rights and for the ability that we so often forget that we can do anything we set our minds to as Americans. So, this Fourth of July, I will remember not only the greatness of our country not in exception to, but because of men like Senator Helms. May God bless his family, his state, and his country in this time, and the efforts that continue through today that he so often and bravely championed. The Ole North State forever...Hoorah, Hoorah, the Good Ole North State!