Going and Gone

How quickly people turn on you:

Vacuum Maker Hailed as Savior Quits Gulf Town


LONG BEACH, Miss., — Ten days after Hurricane Katrina tore through town, the Oreck Corporation reopened the storm-damaged plant where it assembled its widely advertised vacuum cleaners. It hauled in generators to make electricity, imported trailers to house its workers and was hailed as a local hero for putting people back to work so fast.

But now, 16 months later, Oreck — which had employed almost 500 people at the factory — is throwing in the towel and moving its manufacturing to Tennessee.

Thomas Oreck, the company president, said Oreck was reeling from sharp increases in insurance costs, and a smaller Gulf Coast work force.

The company says it cannot get enough insurance to cover its plant here, and cannot hire enough skilled workers to replace those who never returned after the storm, mostly because they had nowhere to live.

The move has caused an uproar in Mississippi, where the company has been criticized in the local newspaper and by government officials, including Senator Trent Lott. State officials say Oreck is the only major business they know of that has decided to leave the state in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. But they concede that the problems Mr. Oreck described are hurting other businesses.

Mayor William D. G. Skellie Jr. deals with the effects on the ground in Long Beach, which he said lost 40 percent of its businesses in the storm. Stores are not reopening in part because they cannot get insurance, he said; just three gap-toothed blocks remain of the commercial strip that was once at least twice as long, running from the railroad tracks down to the beach.

“We bent over backwards to work with them,” said Richard Bennett, chairman of the development commission and an alderman here. “For them to pull up and leave is very dispiriting, to say the least, at the time when we need it most.”

Some say it might have been better had the company not reopened at all. “I think it would have been easier on everybody if they had stayed closed rather than put everyone through this and use them up while they got their deal done," Mayor. Skellie said. “It’s a bigger punch in the nose.”

I find it quite funny the politicians who have no idea what it takes to run a profitable business are the first to criticize businesses!!

But then the politicians get a paycheck no matter what.

Lets review: Ten days after Hurricane Katrina tore through town, the Oreck Corporation reopened the storm-damaged plant.

It hauled in generators to make electricity, imported trailers to house its workers.

Now, 16 months later, Oreck cannot get enough insurance to cover its plant, and cannot hire enough skilled workers to replace those who never returned after the storm, but they should stay open just because the politicians say so!!

Oh, let us not forget in the words of the Mayor "I think it would have been easier on everybody if they had stayed closed rather than put everyone through this and use them up while they got their deal done."

Sure Mayor, 16 months of employment plus from now til October when the plant closes and not to mention the taxes they have paid, yeah it certainly would have been better not to reopen.

Why is it nowadays people think a successful business has an obligation to lose money and eventually close their doors before it's OK to change the way they do business?

I wonder why as an encouragement to stay and employ people the politicians didn't offer to suspend tax collection for two years to keep the plant there?

If the plant leaves, you collect no taxes and townsfolk lose employment. If the plant stays and you waive taxes, you have people employed that pay taxes.

Seems simple to me, but then what do I know?





On a sad note, Tuesday the racing world lost a great racer/ broadcaster and the world lost a good man:

NASCAR Champion Parsons Dies at 65

Broadcaster Loses Battle With Lung Cancer


Benny Parsons, a taxi driver who became a NASCAR champion in 1973, died Tuesday from lung-cancer complications.

Parsons began broadcasting in the 1980s as a pit reporter for ESPN and TBS, when he was still racing a partial schedule. He moved into the booth for good in 1989 for ESPN and won a Cable ACE Award for best sports analyst in his first season in the booth. He also created the popular ESPN segment "Buffet Benny" on food available at race tracks.

"Benny was a beloved and widely respected member of the NASCAR community, and of the NBC Sports family," NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol said.

"He was a great driver and a terrific broadcaster, but above anything else he was a kind and generous human being," he said. "His character and spirit will define how he is remembered by all of us."


This is a loss for sure. Anyone that ever watched him race, watched him on TV, or listened to him on the radio will miss him!




That's all I have for you today, but glad you stopped by. Come back again tomorrow and see more ravings of a mad man!!!!!!