[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 46 (Tuesday, April 23, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S3160]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   RECOGNITION OF MR. BEN LAMENSDORF

 Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I am pleased to commend Mr. Ben 
Lamensdorf of Cary, MS, for his distinguished service as President of 
Delta Council.
  Delta Council is an economic development organization representing 
eighteen counties of Northwest Mississippi. Organized in 1935, Delta 
Council brings together the agricultural, business, and professional 
leadership of the area to solve common problems and promote the 
economic development of the Mississippi Delta region.
  As President of Delta Council, Ben has been an effective leader in 
promoting sound agricultural policy in a year when that issue has been 
so vital to rural America. His insights and experience have been of 
invaluable assistance to my staff and me as we addressed policies to 
make American agriculture stronger.
  Ben also distinguished himself in other areas of public policy that 
have impacted on his beloved Mississippi Delta region. He has been a 
proponent for better schools and innovative educational models; he has 
supported transportation and water resource projects that are vital to 
the future of Northwest Mississippi; his personal farming practices 
have served as an example for sound conservation and environmental 
measures, and he has been a leader in defining and shaping alliances in 
health care that can have both an immediate and long-term impact on the 
well-being of citizens in the Delta.
  The level of Ben's commitment to Mississippi and its people has been 
evident since he returned home to Cary after graduating from 
Mississippi State University. In addition to operating a cotton, 
soybean, wheat, and pecan farm in Sharkey and Issaquena Counties, he 
owns and operate Grundfest and Klaus Gin.
  Ben serves as a chairman of the board for the Bank of Anguilla. He is 
a member of the Anshe Chesed Temple in Vicksburg and serves on the 
board of the Institute of Southern Jewish Life. A Founding Director and 
current Board member of Delta wildlife. Ben has also served as a member 
of the Sharkey-Iaasquena Soil and Water Commission.
  I congratulate Ben Lamensdorf for his contributions to the Delta 
region Mississippi and the Nation, and I look forward to his future 
contributions in improving the quality of life for our 
citizens.

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