[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 134 (Thursday, October 20, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S11662]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  DON OVERMAN: RURAL AIRPORT CHAMPION

 Mr. NELSON of Nebraska. Mr. President, I am here today to 
honor a fellow Nebraskan, Don Overman, who has made a significant 
contribution to maintaining commercial airline service in rural 
Nebraska.
  Mr. Overman is a former mayor of Scottsbluff, NE and currently serves 
as Chair of the Western Nebraska Regional Airport Authority Board in 
Scottsbluff. For nearly two decades in his various roles Mr. Overman 
has dedicated himself to assuring that Nebraskans are not deprived of 
having access to passenger airline service.
  It can be hard for those who have never lived in sparsely populated 
areas of this country to understand just how difficult it is to provide 
services that people in large urban areas take for granted, such as 
airline service.
  In large urban areas, there is never a question whether citizens will 
have ready access to airline service because of the economies of scale 
where expenses are offset by a large number of users. In lightly 
populated areas where there are fewer customers, the economy of scale 
can be nonexistent.
  For instance, at the Western Nebraska Regional Airport in 
Scottsbluff, NE, they struggle to board 10,000 airline passengers per 
year. Compare that to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport 
in Atlanta, GA, which is the busiest airport in the world and boards, 
on average, nearly 10,000 passengers per hour. Even with 10,000 
passengers per year, the Western Nebraska Regional Airport is the third 
busiest airport in Nebraska.
  Residents of the Nebraska Panhandle who use Scottsbluff's Western 
Nebraska Regional Airport are taxpayers, just as certain as those who 
use Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson and, as such, deserve to have 
convenient access to an airport.
  The economy of scale makes convenient access a challenge. It is a 
challenge that Don Overman has accepted. As Chair of the Airport 
Authority Board, he has worked tirelessly to increase boardings so 
Western Nebraska Regional Airport can be considered a primary airport 
and remain eligible for Federal funding. I have worked personally with 
him and can attest to his perseverance and dedication.
  Under his leadership, Western Nebraska Regional Airport will exceed 
10,000 boardings this year for the first time since 2001. This is a 
significant achievement which is not only important to the flying 
public but to economic development in lesser populated areas of 
Nebraska. Airports provide a vital link for business to ensure that 
those Nebraska communities remain competitive in attracting new 
opportunities.
  Among other achievements of Don Overman and the Western Nebraska 
Regional Airport Authority Board is the construction of a new $4.2 
million terminal of which $2.7 million was funded through the Federal 
Airport Improvement Program and $1.5 million was secured through local 
funding. This is a new facility to replace the current terminal which 
dates back to World War II. As Mr. Overman has observed in the past, 
the first image people see when they arrive in a community is the 
airport. That first impression creates their feelings about the 
community. Thanks to Mr. Overman's hard work, that first impression 
will be a positive one which will help attract economic development and 
growth to the area.
  Mr. Overman, who is often referred to fondly as Mr. Scottsbluff or 
Mr. Airport, will be recognized Saturday, October 29, 2005, when the 
new terminal is dedicated and named the ``Donald E. Overman Terminal.'' 
It is a well-deserved honor for a man whose achievements in the past 
have earned him recognition as the Scottsbluff Star-Herald Newspaper's 
Citizen of the Year and Citizen of the Century in Government.
  I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to Don Overman on 
this historic occasion. Thanks to him and the Western Nebraska Regional 
Airport Authority Board, citizens of the Nebraska Panhandle and 
surrounding States will have a modern new building and continued access 
to commercial airline service.

                          ____________________