[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 16 (Tuesday, February 22, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S697]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             CONGRATULATIONS TO THUNDER CLOUD CONSTRUCTION

 Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, I rise today to publicly 
congratulate two of my constituents, Mr. Leonard Lone Hill and Mr. 
Warren Giago, both of Porcupine, SD. I am pleased to announce to my 
colleagues that Mr. Lone Hill and Mr. Giago, partners in Thunder Cloud 
Construction, a Porcupine-based construction company, have been honored 
by the Small Business Administration as winners of the 1999 Minority 
Small Business People of the Year for South Dakota. As my colleagues 
may know, Porcupine is located in Shannon County on the Pine Ridge 
Reservation. Highlighted by the President during his New Markets 
Initiative tour, Shannon County is the poorest county in the country.
  Thunder Cloud Construction is working to reverse the trend of Native 
American poverty on the Reservation by not only hiring minority 
workers, but by providing on-the-job training for new, unskilled 
employees. The activities of the company and its two owners, result not 
only in participation in the development of community infrastructure 
and resources but also a substantial contribution to economic growth 
and development of the Pine Ridge Reservation. Among its achievements, 
Thunder Cloud has recently completed a shelter for homeless children, 
the Casey Family Building. Following last years devastating tornadoes, 
the company won a substantial contract to build foundations and 
basements for twenty-two units of replacement housing.
  Mr. President, Leonard Lone Hill and Warren Giago of Thunder Cloud 
Construction richly deserve this honor. After five years in business, 
they have twenty-two employees on the payroll and annual sales of 
$277,500. Their work has vastly improved the economic landscape of 
Porcupine and the Pine Ridge Reservation, and is a great model for 
other aspiring businessmen to follow. They have overcome many obstacles 
and I look forward to all of their future successes.

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