My dear friends, we gather here today to mourn the passing of a good, loyal and stalwart friend of Michiganians. It has looked over us. Watched over us and protected us. But in the end, too many of us were not here when it needed us the most.
It has been often said that "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."
Sadly, that lack of vigilance is all that was required for those forces allied against us, to take from us, that which we held most dear.
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