[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 7 (Tuesday, February 5, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H120-H121]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
JOSEPH E. DINI, JR. POST OFFICE
Mr. HORN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
Senate bill (S. 737) to designate the facility of the United States
Postal Service located at 811 South Main Street in Yerington, Nevada,
as the ``Joseph E. Dini, Jr. Post Office''.
The Clerk read as follows:
S. 737
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. JOSEPH E. DINI, JR. POST OFFICE.
(a) Designation.--The facility of the United States Postal
Service located at 811 South Main Street in Yerington,
Nevada, shall be known and designated as the ``Joseph E.
Dini, Jr. Post Office''.
(b) References.--Any reference in a law, map, regulation,
document, paper, or other record of the United States to the
facility referred to in subsection (a) shall be deemed to be
a reference to the Joseph E. Dini, Jr. Post Office.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
California (Mr. Horn) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California (Mr. Horn).
General Leave
Mr. HORN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on
the bill under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from California?
There was no objection.
Mr. HORN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, S. 737 was introduced by the distinguished Senator from
Nevada, Harry Reid. This bill designates the facility of the United
States Postal Service located at 811 South Main Street in Yerington,
Nevada, as the ``Joseph E. Dini Post Office Building.'' A bill for the
same purpose was introduced by my distinguished colleague, the
gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Gibbons).
Mr. Speaker, Joseph E. Dini was born and raised in the small town of
Yerington, Nevada. Mr. Dini was first elected to the Nevada State
Assembly in 1966 and is currently the longest-serving member of the
State Assembly in Nevada history. Mr. Dini has served Nevada as speaker
pro tempore, majority leader, and speaker of the State Assembly. During
his tenure, Mr. Dini became the legislature's leading authority on
Western water issues.
In addition, Mr. Dini is an active participant in many community
service organizations throughout Nevada.
Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of S. 737.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
{time} 1500
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, as a member of the Committee on Government Reform, I am
again pleased to join with my colleague, the gentleman from California
(Mr. Horn), in consideration of S. 737, a bill which designates the
post office in Yerington, Nevada, after Joseph E. Dini, Jr. S. 737 was
introduced on April 6, 2001, by Senator Harry Reid of Nevada.
Born on March 28, 1929, in Yerington, Nevada, Joseph Dini was
educated in the Yerington public schools and at the University of
Nevada. He went on to represent his hometown of Yerington well in the
Nevada Assembly, where he amassed several impressive records. Not only
did he serve the longest of any member in the Nevada Assembly, from
1967 to 2001, but also he served as speaker of the Assembly more
sessions than anyone else in Nevada history. For an unparalleled eight
times he was elected speaker by his Assembly peers. In 2001, Joe Dini
became the speaker emeritus.
Joe Dini devoted much time to numerous community service
organizations, including the Yerington Rotary Club, the Yerington
Volunteer Fire Department, the Nevada American Revolution Bicentennial
Commission, the Yerington Lions Club, the Yerington Rotary Club, among
other organizations.
The awards that Mr. Dini has earned are quite impressive and
numerous. Let me just mention a few. He was designated as the
Outstanding Senior Advocate by the Governor's Conference on Aging, the
Citizen of the Year by the Nevada Judges Association, and Man of the
Year by the Yerington Kiwanis Club. He received the Outstanding Citizen
Award by the Nevada Education Association, the Excellence in Public
Service Award by the Nevada Trial Lawyer Association, and the Friend of
Education Award from the Nevada State Education Association. Of course,
we could go on and on listing Mr. Dini's awards.
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Joseph E. Dini, Jr., is the epitome of what a public
servant should be; a man who has honored his State of Nevada, his
hometown of Yerington, and, yes indeed, his country, the United States
of America, through his years of dedicated service.
By naming the post office at 811 South Main Street in Yerington,
Nevada, for Joseph E. Dini, Jr., we will not only be honoring a man,
but also we will be honoring a building, a building that serves the
citizens each and every day. I would urge swift passage of this bill.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. HORN. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
Nevada (Mr. Gibbons).
Mr. GIBBONS. Madam Speaker, I also would like to thank my colleagues
who have allowed me time to speak on this very important bill. It
brings me a great deal of pleasure to offer my full support of this
legislation here that is before us today, S. 737.
As you know, this legislation, as has been described, will designate
a facility of the United States Postal Service located in Yerington,
Nevada, as the Joseph E. Dini, Jr., Post Office.
Madam Speaker, it was my great honor and great privilege to work with
Speaker Dini when we served together in the Nevada State Legislature.
As a freshman legislator, I can speak from experience and fact that
very early in my political career, Speaker Dini taught me some very
valuable lessons about the passage of legislation, about bipartisanship
and all the things that are important to doing a job as a public
servant in a legislative body.
I can remember how well Speaker Dini worked with those from both
sides of the aisle, focusing more on the legislative accomplishments
than on one's personality or partisanship.
Still to this day, after serving in our State legislature since 1967,
Speaker Dini maintains his ability to put people before politics. Mr.
Dini certainly is a natural leader. He has achieved one success after
another, as you heard my colleague the gentleman from Illinois (Mr.
Davis) say, and he has avoided the political grandstanding that tends
to stymie the legislative process.
Madam Speaker, Speaker Dini has not only served his constituents in
the Nevada Assembly, district 38, with distinction and class, but he
has served and continues to serve the entire State of Nevada in the
same fashion.
Madam Speaker, I would ask all my colleagues to join me today in
honoring one of our country's, and, yes, Nevada's, finest public
servants by supporting Senate bill 737.
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as she may
consume to the gentlewoman from the First District of Nevada (Ms.
Berkley).
Ms. BERKLEY. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me
time.
Madam Speaker, I am going to join my colleague from Nevada (Mr.
Gibbons) in praising Assemblyman Joe Dini. This is an extraordinary
man. We know him very, very well. I am very proud to stand here and
speak on his behalf.
[[Page H121]]
Assemblyman Dini, as we have heard, was born in Yerington, Nevada, in
1929. He went through school in Yerington. He went to the University of
Nevada in Reno. He is truly a homegrown and cherished possession of the
State of Nevada. He has served his constituents in Yerington very well.
He has served the people of the great State of Nevada very well.
I, too, have a number of remembrances of Joe Dini, having also served
in the Nevada State Legislature with him, but I would like to harken
back to the time that I was a freshman.
Mr. Dini had already been speaker of the Nevada State Assembly, and
he was going to become speaker again. But during my first term as a
young assemblywoman in Nevada in the early 1980s, he did not speak to
me very much during the session. Every time I saw him, I was a bit in
awe, and I used to step back, and I thought perhaps the less
interaction we had, the better. He observed me and he watched me, and
we kept our distance. He was certainly somebody that I would want to
impress and want to do well for.
I did not hear from him the entire session. Towards the very end of
the session, the end of May, he came over to where I was sitting. He
sat down, he looked at me and spoke to me for the first time, and he
said, ``You did a good job. I am proud of you.''
Those words meant everything in the world to me. It was more
affirmation that I could actually do the job that I had been elected
to, and there was somebody from the State of Nevada that was such an
icon and such a respected member not only of his community of
Yerington, but of the entire State of Nevada that I felt that what I
was doing had been appreciated, and it gave me inspiration to continue
and do other things.
I am sure that I am not an isolated incident, and I suspect there are
literally thousands of young Nevadans that Joe Dini has significantly
impacted on their lives and made a significant difference.
So I am delighted to be here today. This is a much-deserved honor.
The people of Yerington, the people of the great State of Nevada, are
very grateful for this honor for our homegrown native son, Assemblyman
Joe Dini.
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for
time, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. HORN. Madam Speaker, I urge adoption of this measure, and I yield
back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Morella). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentleman from California (Mr. Horn) that the House
suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill, S. 737.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor
thereof) the rules were suspended and the Senate bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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