[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 118 (Tuesday, September 9, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1703-E1704]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO DAVID HAMIL

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BOB SCHAFFER

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, September 9, 1997

  Mr. SCHAFFER. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this time to tell you 
about a man who has achieved so much for Colorado and the country, Mr. 
Dave Hamil of Sterling, CO. According to Colorado Country Life 
Magazine, in an article written by Mona Neeley:

       Dave Hamil started out simply as a man from the plains of 
     Colorado, but the effects of his leadership still ripple 
     across the State and the Nation. Hamil, now 88 and retired in 
     Sterling, Colorado, grew up in the northeastern corner of the 
     state, the son of a rancher.
       Circumstances and unexpected phone calls took him from 
     Sterling to Holyoke, on to Denver and the Colorado State 
     Legislature, into State government, and eventually to 
     Washington, D.C., where he ran the Rural Electric 
     Administration for an unmatched 14 years.
       During his years of service he helped develop Highline 
     Electric Association, one of the first rural electric 
     cooperatives in Colorado. He represented his district in the 
     State legislature for 16 years, including three terms as 
     Speaker of the House. He was called to Washington, D.C. by 
     President Dwight D. Eisenhower to serve as the national 
     administrator of the Rural Electric Administration (REA), an 
     appointment that lasted until John F. Kennedy took office. 
     Then, following one of only two elections he lost, he was 
     appointed Director of Institutions for Colorado by his 
     primary opponent. He returned to Washington, D.C. in 1969, 
     when he was reappointed REA administrator, and served another 
     10 years.
       He slowed down in 1978, when he resigned from the REA (at 
     age 70). He and his wife, Genevieve, returned to Sterling. 
     Since then, he has stayed involved in the industry by serving 
     as a consultant, staying in touch with today's decision-
     makers, and providing valuable background information.
       Now, as the electric industry is poised on the precipice of 
     change, it's time to honor a man who propelled the industry 
     so far. A Colorado Women's Task Force committee, chaired by 
     Janice Pflager, is leading an effort to establish a museum 
     addition in Sterling to honor Hamil and to preserve the 
     history of rural electric and rural telephone systems for 
     future generations.
       Much of what would go into the Dave Hamil Exhibit at the 
     Overland Trail Museum now hangs on the walls of what Dave 
     refers to as the trophy room in the basement of his home. 
     Some of the trophies go back to the 1920's when Dave was one 
     of the best college milers in the United States. Graduating 
     from Logan County Industrial Arts High School, Dave followed 
     his brother, Harold, to Hastings College in Hastings, 
     Nebraska. Besides working his way through college, he also 
     ran track, and in 1926 Dave came in 8th at a Chicago track 
     meet pitting the top 26 college milers in the United States 
     against each other. The 1932 Olympics were mentioned, but 
     Dave returned to his studies, running a 4:21 mile and came 
     back to Sterling after graduating in 1930 with a degree in 
     English.
       The degree languished as Dave went back to the cattle 
     business in which he was raised. First, he worked with a 
     large land and cattle company and later switched to a cattle 
     and sheep feeder. He made his first real money with the sheep 
     feeder, earning $10,000 raising 2,568 lambs and between 500 
     and 600 head of cattle.
       After marrying Genevieve Robinson in 1933, Dave used his 
     newly earned cash to buy a ranch. Since the ranch had no 
     electricity, this forced the first step toward his lifelong 
     involvement with the electric industry. But, before bringing 
     electricity to his own ranch and thousands of others across 
     the country, Dave received an unexpected phone call 
     announcing that he had been nominated as the Republican 
     candidate for the State House of Representatives. He won 
     the election and began his political career.
       Back home in 1939, Dave started looking at stringing 
     electricity to his ranch. While Public Service Company wanted 
     $10,000 to string the wires, (Dave only paid $20,000 for the 
     land itself) he knew there had to be a better way. He and a 
     group of neighbors contacted representatives of the fledgling 
     REA, setting in motion the wheels that eventually led to 
     Logan County becoming Section B of the new Highline Electric 
     Association in nearby Holyoke, CO. ``I had no more idea 
     (then) of becoming the administrator (of REA) than I had of 
     going to the moon,'' says Dave, looking back on those early 
     years. He was too busy locally.
       He stayed active at Highline Electric, serving as a 
     director for years. He was also busy at the Statehouse. He 
     served on the powerful Appropriations Committee, made an 
     unsuccessful run for governor, and then returned to the State 
     House of Representatives where he became Speaker. During his 
     last stint as Speaker, he was instrumental in relocating the 
     Air Force Academy to Colorado Springs. He also was part of 
     the decision to extend Interstate 70 west of Interstate 25, 
     into the mountains and through the Eisenhower Tunnel, 
     avoiding Loveland Pass. ``The value of those (two items) to 
     the state is incalculable,'' Dave says with pride.
       Enough was enough. Dave announced that he would not seek a 
     ninth term in the House. He was planning to run for the U.S. 
     House or Senate when one of his respected friends there 
     retired, but, Washington called him first.
       In May 1956, President Eisenhower was looking for a western 
     Republican with a solid background in politics and in the 
     rural electric industry to lead the REA. Dave Hamil, with his 
     years in Colorado politics and his experience with the 
     Highline Electric Association, was brought to the President's 
     attention by a family friend who had become a presidential 
     advisor. Dave figures there was more to the nomination than 
     that. ``I hadn't done anything to make anyone mad,'' he says.
       That was Dave's strength as he took the reigns of REA. 
     While he was straightforward and honest about how he saw an 
     issue, he also had a knack for bringing people together.
       It was Dave who got rural electric cooperatives and the 
     investor-owned utilities to pool their resources and work 
     together on projects. It was Dave who went into many 
     volatile, unpredictable situations and got everyone talking 
     until all sides agreed on a compromise. ``I have said time 
     and again that it's better to meet in the banquet room than 
     in the courtroom,'' Dave says. ``And it is a hell of a lot 
     less expensive.''
       Dave was instrumental in bringing together more than just 
     people. It was Dave Hamil who pursued new technology that led 
     to the David A. Hamil Direct Current (DC) Energy Tie in 
     Segall, Nebraska, linking Colorado to the eastern electric 
     power grid in the United States. During Dave's tenure with

[[Page E1704]]

     REA, the entire country was linked electrically. The DC tie 
     worked so well in Nebraska that four more ties were put in 
     place across the country. Those DC ties, and the growing 
     cooperation between utilities, brought us to the place where 
     we are today--on the verge of deregulation. Yet, the prospect 
     of change is splintering the industry. Investor-owned 
     utilities and rural electric co-ops are fighting over who is 
     getting the most government help, or the biggest tax break. 
     They are jockeying to write the legislative acts that will 
     change the industry, and debating how the changes ahead will 
     affect everyone from the corporate chiefs to farmers at the 
     end of the line.
       So much change. So much dissension. It seems that what we 
     need today is another Dave Hamil--someone to bring the 
     industry together, to get all sides to sit at the same table, 
     and coax all compromises from everyone as only Dave Hamil 
     could have done.

  Mr. Speaker it is people like Dave Hamil who have made this country 
great. Dave Hamil shaped America simply by being a good solid American 
citizen who works hard to implement the values on which he was raised. 
He continues to contribute so much because he sees a need and fills it. 
Thank you David Hamil.

                          ____________________