2015 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 106
BY SENATOR WALSWORTH
A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
To commend CenturyLink, Inc. and its employees for eighty-five years of service to the
citizens of Louisiana and customers across our nation and for following an
exemplary corporate philosophy.
WHEREAS, in 1930, William Clarke and Marie Williams purchased the Oak Ridge
Telephone Company with its seventy-five subscribers in rural Morehouse Parish for five
hundred dollars from F. E. Hogan Sr.; and
WHEREAS, the switchboard was located in the Williams' front parlor so the family
could man the switchboard twenty-four hours a day, with the only exception being on
Sundays between the hours of ten o'clock in the morning and three o'clock in the afternoon
when the office was closed for church and dinner; and
WHEREAS, the Williams' instilled in their son, Clarke McRae Williams, a tireless
work ethic and Christian values as demonstrated by his delivering telephone bills by hand
at the age of eight and the switchboard being closed on Sundays; and
WHEREAS, upon his return from World War II in 1946, where he served as a flight
engineer in the United States Air Force, Clarke McRae Williams married Mary Kathryn Lee
and his parents gave the newlyweds the company as a wedding gift; and
WHEREAS, from 1946 until the 1970's, Oak Ridge Telephone Company
transformed into Central Telephone and Electronics serving three states and ten thousand
access lines, then renamed Century Telephone Enterprises, Inc. in 1971, and on October 24,
1973, shares of Century Telephone Enterprises, Inc. (Century) common stock traded on the
New York Stock Exchange for the first time under the symbol CTL; and
WHEREAS, in the 1980s, Century obtained the Federal Communications
Commission's approval to operate cellular mobile telephone systems in three areas in
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Michigan; and
WHEREAS, in the 1990s, Century demonstrated enormous growth with the
following acquisitions and milestones: acquired Central Telephone Company of Ohio which
served more than 65,000 access lines and this acquisition increased Century's access line by
a total of twenty percent; surpassed the half million-customer mark in its local exchange
operations and the one hundred thousand-customer mark in its long distance operations; its
largest acquisition at that time with the purchase of Pacific Telecom, Inc. gaining about
660,000 telephone access lines in twelve states and doubling its size; acquired Century
Protection Systems, providing full-service security systems to residential, commercial and
industrial customers in northeastern Louisiana; added about 89,000 access lines with the
purchase of Ameritech's telephone and directory publishing operations in nineteen exchanges
in twenty-one northern and central Wisconsin communities; admitted to the Standard &
Poor's (S&P) 500 Index; and in 1999, changed its company's name to CenturyTel, Inc.; and
WHEREAS, in the 2000's, CenturyTel became the second largest provider in
Wisconsin with the purchase of approximately 133,000 additional lines in seventy-seven
exchanges; successfully defeated a hostile take-over attempt by Alltell, Inc.; expanded
operations to twenty-two states with the acquisition of approximately 300,000 Verizon
access lines in Alabama and approximately 354,000 Verizon lines in Missouri, bringing the
total access lines served nationwide to nearly 2.5 million; ranked by Business Week as
sixteenth among the top one hundred information technology companies and ahead of all
other U.S.-based telecommunication companies; completed its acquisition of fiber networks
in sixteen markets that added key markets to its footprint across Alabama, Indiana, Kansas,
Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin;
expanded operations in Alabama and Illinois and into Georgia and North Carolina with the
acquisition of approximately 165,000 access lines and a 2,400-mile-long fiber network;
acquired Embarq Corporation; began operating under the name CenturyLink; and with the
Embarq acquisition, CenturyLink was positioned as the largest independent
telecommunications provider and the fourth largest telecommunications provider, based on
access lines, in the United States; and
WHEREAS, in 2002, the founder and chairman of the board, Clarke M. Williams,
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died following a lengthy illness and Glen F. Post III was elected as the new chairman of the
board; and
WHEREAS, in 2011, CenturyLink acquired Qwest Communications and Savvis,
Inc., and with these two acquisitions became a national, industry-leading communications
company providing broadband, voice, and wireless services to consumers and businesses
across the country; advanced entertainment services under the CenturyLink Prism TV and
DIRECTV brands; and data, voice, and managed services to businesses, government and
wholesale customers in local, national, and select international markets through its high-
quality advanced fiber optic network and multiple data centers; and with the acquisition of
Qwest, CenturyLink became the third largest telecommunications provider, based on access
lines, in the United States; and
WHEREAS, between 2013 and 2015, CenturyLink has acquired AppFog, Inc. and
Tier 3, Inc. and Orchestrate to enhance its cloud services; DataGardens to strengthen its
disaster recovery options; and with the acquisition of Cognilytics, CenturyLink has been
transformed into an integrated provider of advanced IP-enabled network, cloud, hosting, and
IT services; and
WHEREAS, throughout the growth and expansion of CenturyLink, the company was
guided by the principles of its founder, Clarke M. Williams, including "Do unto others as
you would have them do unto you"; and
WHEREAS, its current president and chief executive officer Glen F. Post III says
that "Mr. Williams' life still teaches me two things: Be kind and true in all dealings, and
anyone can learn to succeed", and Mr. Williams was often described as the opposite of a
cutthroat negotiator, and would only make acquisitions by insisting to sellers, "If this deal
isn't good for you, I don't want to do it"; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Williams' business principles are continued in CenturyLink's
"Unifying Principles" of fairness, honesty and integrity, commitment to excellence, positive
attitude, respect, faith and perseverance that are the foundation for how its employees
interact with its customers and other employees; and
WHEREAS, CenturyLink, Inc. deserves to be recognized for its corporate philosophy
and dedication to the communities and countries where it does business.
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THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
commend CenturyLink, Inc. and its employees for eighty-five years of service to the citizens
of Louisiana and customers across our nation and for following an exemplary corporate
philosophy.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
Glen F. Post III, Chief Executive Officer and President of CenturyLink, Inc. and to the
family of Clarke McRae Williams.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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