FORT WAYNE, IN (Indiana's NewsCenter) --- Tense moments Thursday at a public event in Kendallville where State Senator Bob Meeks collapsed.

By Thursday afternoon, the powerful republican senator from LaGrange County had been released from the hospital and was resting at home.

Meeks, a crusader for the widening of U-S 6 in Kendallville, was ready to take part in a ceremony marking the completion of the project about 9 a-m, when he took ill.

Senator Meeks, who uses a cane to support a weak leg, fell backwards on a strip of grass, just moments before the event was to take place.

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels was close by as others came to Meeks' aid.

Eventually, he was loaded into an ambulance and taken to Parkview Noble Hospital for care.

Meanwhile, the governor and other elected officials from Noble County later carried on with a ribbon cutting on the expansion of U-S 6 that was paid for by proceeds from the toll road-leasing plan.

The governor gave Meeks his due.

Governor Mitch Daniels/(R) Indiana: " This project and hundreds like it around Indiana wouldn't have happened without Bob Meeks standing tall for the Major Moves transaction, the coup that it was, the windfall, the bonanza that it brought to Indiana. So, I'm glad to see him today and I trust his recovery will be immediate and full."

This is just the latest in a series of health problems for Meeks.

He suffered a slight stroke in February, and missed some time in the General Assembly.

He suffered a setback after the session, and recently announced he will not seek re-election.

Meeks said he felt lightheaded before falling, but the episode was not related to other medical problems.