[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 12 (Wednesday, February 9, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 9, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                     THE RETIREMENT OF DEWITT REAMS

  Mr. HEFLIN. Madam President, I want to commend and congratulate long-
time Mobile, AL, attorney DeWitt Reams, who retired in December 1993 
after 53 years of law practice. During that time, he became one of the 
Mobile area's top corporate lawyers and civic leaders.
  Although he will be away from legal circles, DeWitt Reams will long 
be remembered as one of the giants of his profession. I wish him all 
the best for a long, healthy, and happy retirement. I ask unanimous 
consent that an article announcing DeWitt's retirement and summarizing 
his life and career from the December 16, 1993, edition of the Mobile 
Register be included at this point in the Record.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                    Attorney Retiring After 53 Years

                          (By George Werneth)

       As a youngster, Dewitt Reams was the son of poor tenant 
     dirt farmer in Elmore County during the depression.
       Although his mother Minnie had only a sixth-grade 
     education, she read avidly to her seven children by the light 
     of a kerosene lamp in their modest home. She urged Dewitt and 
     his six brothers and sisters ``to go somewhere and be 
     somebody'' when they grew up.
       They did. All seven children obtained college educations.
       Today, Reams--one of Mobile's most prominent lawyers--is 
     retiring after 53 years of law practice.
       Now 77, he worked his way through the University of Alabama 
     and the university's law school by selling candy and sodas. 
     He began practicing law in Mobile in 1940 and became one of 
     the area's top corporate lawyers and civic leaders.
       ``One of the most challenging and interesting undertakings 
     I've had as a lawyer was representing Mobil Oil (as chief 
     counsel) in their efforts to obtain a permit to drill for oil 
     and gas in Mobile Bay,'' Reams said in an interview 
     Wednesday.
       ``It took us nine years from the time the first lease was 
     obtained from the state to the time of getting the first well 
     drilled,'' he said.
       This legal battle over getting drilling permits began back 
     in the 1970s, and continued into the 1980s. Reams said 
     environmentalists fought to keep the permits from being 
     issued, but Mobile Oil prevailed in the federal courts.
       ``The first well was successful,'' he said, noting, ``It 
     was capable of producing in excess of 56 million cubic feet 
     of gas per day, and after that well was completed, there was 
     a rush of leasing water bottoms'' in Alabama waters in the 
     lower bay and Gulf of Mexico, as well as in federal waters 
     off the Alabama coast.
       ``Monies that have come to the state from leasing and 
     production (from Alabama waters) amount to almost $1 billion 
     now,'' said Reams, who added, ``I consider that to be my 
     biggest contribution from my practice of law.''
       Reams has served as chief Alabama counsel for a number of 
     large corporations and he represented the University of South 
     Alabama when it was formed in the early 1960s.
       Today Reams is senior partner in the firm of Reams, 
     Philips, Brooks, Schell, Gaston & Hudson, P.C.
       He is a former president of the Mobile Area Chamber of 
     Commerce. He is an original incorporator and former board 
     member and former president of the Mobile Area Chamber of 
     Commerce Foundation.
       He was a member of the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control 
     Board from 1963 to 1967 and served as chairman of that board 
     from 1967 to 1970. Reams was a member of the board of the 
     National Alcoholic Beverage Control Association from 1967 to 
     1970. He served as a vice president of that board in 1969 and 
     1970.

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