[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 50 (Thursday, April 24, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3693-S3694]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   THE SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

 Mr. BUMPERS. Mr. President, On February 3, of this year, 
Carolyn

[[Page S3694]]

Stradley testified before the Small Business Committee regarding the 
problems she had starting a paving company. It was one of the most 
interesting and compelling statements I have heard since I came to the 
Senate, and I have heard thousands.
  Mr. President, without further elaboration, I ask that Mrs. 
Stradley's statement be printed in the Record for all to see and 
appreciate.
  The statement follows:

                    Testimony of Carolyn A. Stradley

       Good morning. Thank you for your time today.
       My name is Carolyn Stradley, I am the founder and owner of 
     C&S Paving, Inc. in Marietta, Georgia.
       I was born in the Appalachian Mountains at home in a two-
     room shack, without electricity or water. I had never seen 
     indoor plumbing until I went to school.
       My mother died when I was only 11 years old and my father, 
     an alcoholic, walked away. For two years I survived in the 
     mountains, then at 13 years old, I moved to Atlanta, 
     sometimes sleeping in the back of cars and bathing at the bus 
     station. When I entered high school, I did so without front 
     teeth. Working at night, going to school in the day time. I 
     married at 15 years old, was kicked out of school at 16 for 
     being pregnant, became a mother at 17, caring for a totally 
     disabled husband at 21 and became a widow at age 26.
       I started C&S Paving, Inc. out of necessity, not by choice, 
     from the back of a pickup truck, shoveling asphalt into 
     potholes. But I quickly found out that in 1979 very few 
     people would take a single, 32-year-old woman in the asphalt 
     paving business seriously.
       When I tried to purchase equipment and trucks in 1979, the 
     sales people just laughed at me. So, I asked my brother, who 
     was unemployed and only had an 8th grade education to work 
     with me for 25 percent of this new company. It was necessary 
     for us to work 14-16 hours a day, so I asked my brother's 
     wife if she would care for the children and answer the 
     telephone--for another 25 percent of the company.
       When the company was first started, I went to the Small 
     Business Administration and asked for an 8-A package, but was 
     told I did not qualify, but I persisted and finally was able 
     to obtain a package after many years of trying. After its 
     costly completion, and several months of waiting C&S Paving 
     was again denied entrance into the program.
       However, I did not give up and tried several years later 
     and once again was told that I was not and had not ever been 
     disadvantaged. I saw other people--some third generation 
     company and college graduates--qualify and permitted to 
     negotiate jobs that I was not allowed to bid on. I felt very 
     angry and betrayed. Sadly, it seems to me that the 8(a) 
     Program does not include white females whose circumstances 
     would otherwise qualify them as being disadvantaged. In my 
     case that was totally unfair and an abrogation of Congress' 
     intent for the program.
       In 1986, I realized that I could no longer work with my 
     brother because of a total different set of values in 
     business and life. I told him if he would just get my name 
     off the personal guarantees, he could have everything. He 
     could not and demanded $500,000 for his and his wife's 
     shares. My options, as I saw them: murder, suicide, or find a 
     way to buy him out.
       I went to several banks before I found one that believed a 
     woman could run an asphalt paving company, however, they 
     would only make the loan if the SBA would guarantee it.
       Business was great for the first 6 years into a 10-year 
     loan. However, several of our job sites were hit by two 
     tornadoes and one flood and the most rain that was ever 
     recorded in Georgia.
       The small bank that I had been dealing with was purchased 
     in 1993 by a large multi-state group. The loan was then 
     ``called'' at a time when I could not work because of 
     weather--the fact that I had never missed a payment for six 
     years meant absolutely nothing to the bank.
       I then requested a meeting with the Small Business 
     Administration. I met with Fred Stone, District Director for 
     the State of Georgia, Ray Gibeau, Chief, Portfolio Management 
     and Janis Burda, Loan Liquidation Specialist. It was at this 
     meeting that I realized that these three people were 
     completely different than anyone I had ever dealt with before 
     at the SBA. They were very professional, understood small 
     business and were willing to go the extra mile.
       It was with their help and guidance that C & S Paving was 
     able to restructure the remaining balance of the loan. As a 
     result of SBA's recognition that C & S Paving was a company 
     worth saving, we have grown, prospered and are currently 
     planning to build a new building this year which will enable 
     us to hire about 10 more people this year.
       Without SBA's help, I would have lost everything that I had 
     worked my whole life for and over 30 period would have lost 
     their jobs. Therefore, I am living proof that the SBA works 
     for this Nation by helping small business create jobs and 
     economic independence for its citizens. My survival has 
     provided encouragement to many other people, especially women 
     who wish to start their own companies.
       From its humble beginning, by the reinvestment of profits 
     back into the Company, C & S Paving was awarded the largest 
     single contract ever let to a female-owned company through 
     open-competitive bids. Other notable projects we have 
     constructed are the running tracks inside the Olympic Stadium 
     and the Georgia Dome.
       Additionally, we were honored by President Bush in 1989 at 
     the White House as Second Runner Up for the National Small 
     Business Person of the Year as well as the Small Business 
     Person of the Year Award for 1996 by The Small Business 
     Council of America.
       I share all of this with you, hopefully to help you 
     understand the passion I feel towards the Small Business 
     Administration. It is not perfect by any means, but to 
     millions of women of this country, who by no fault of their 
     own, do not have a father, husband, the education or 
     community standing to ask for help--SBA's Women Business 
     Ownership Program is their only glimmer of light and hope.
       Today, you can be the vehicle that helps those that seek to 
     help themselves by recognizing the true value that the Small 
     Business Administration has and the difference it has made in 
     so many lives and the tremendous contributions that small 
     business makes to this country's economy and to the world.
       This Agency's programs are not a hand out, but truly a hand 
     up. Please allow us to hope.
       Hope sees the invisible; feels the intangible and hope 
     achieves the impossible.

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