Pine Ridge couple to open Subway restaurant

[blackcrowheart]

Pine Ridge couple to open Subway restaurant
Thursday, May 22, 2008

It took a lot of work but construction is underway on the first Subway
restaurant on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
Darlene Nichols-Ecoffey and her husband, Bob Ecoffey, the _Bureau of Indian
Affairs_
(http://www.indianz.com/my.asp?url=http://www.doi.gov/bureau-indian-affairs.html) superintendent for the Pine Ridge Agency, are opening the
restaurant. Even though the couple has experience in the industry, they had
trouble securing financing from mainstream banks.
"We tried all the big banks, and it was very frustrating because we were
turned down by a lot of people," Nichols-Ecoffey told The Rapid City Journal.
The couple ended up getting help from _Lakota Funds_
(http://www.indianz.com/my.asp?url=http://www.lakotafund.org/) and a bank in Nebraska. The Subway is
set to open in August.
Get the Story:
_Pine Ridge Subway under construction _
(http://www.indianz.com/my.asp?url=http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2008/05/22/news/top/doc483504bf24cd7440
293493.txt) (The Rapid City Journal 5/22)