Dusty Johnson: “Earlier this year, my friend Mark Shlanta died at age 57. He had been a South Dakota telecommunications leader since…”

“Earlier this year, my friend Mark Shlanta died at age 57. He had been a South Dakota telecommunications leader since 1998. Earlier this year, my friend Greg Dean died at age 58. He had been a South Dakota telecommunications leader since 1999. Earlier this year, my friend Rod Bowar died at age 60. He had been a South Dakota telecommunications leader since 1976. Earlier this year, my friend Bryan Roth died at age 59. He had been a South Dakota telecommunications leader since 1998. Now, losing one friend, losing one industry leader, is not easy. When you lose four over the past few months, it can be almost more than their friends and family can bear. These were real leaders. Everybody around here talks about broadband. It has been a hot topic in Congress for the last 2 years, every day-- broadband, high-speed internet, broadband, connectivity. But I tell you, Madam Speaker, those four gentlemen were involved in broadband long before it was cool and long before it was the hot topic in Washington, D.C. Mark spent 20 years as the CEO of SDN. Originally, it was the South Dakota Network. He turned this into one of the most sophisticated State networks in the country, and he expanded it by 50,000 miles of fiber- optic cable. For 20 years, Greg, in his work with the South Dakota Telecommunications Act, was probably the most influential person to help set rural broadband policy in the halls of the State capital.…”