By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
A company which has been in Forrest City more than 40 years will be closing its doors for good by early next year.
The Columbus McKinnon Corporation of Amherst, N.Y., has announced that the Yale Hoist facility in Forrest City is closing.
Hubert Shackleford, general manager at Yale, confirmed the closing this morning.
"It really is (closing)" Shackleford said, adding that there is an approximate timetable.
"We're going to be phasing out some of our products over the next two months. And at that time we will lose some people," he said. "And then we'll phase out the rest of the facility and the rest of the product lines, probably, no later than March of 2002."
According to Shackleford, there are currently 180 employees in the facility. He said when he came as general manager in 1998, there were around 300 employees, and said at its peak, there were closer to 700 employees.
"So it's been sort of a steady decline," he said, adding that the company has been in Forrest City for a long time.
"Yale moved into this building in 1957, some 44 years ago," he said.
According to a fax from Columbus McKinnon, over the past six years the parent company has acquired several major North American hoist producers, and is now consolidating some of its operations.
Shackleford said the plant's closing is no reflection on the workers.
"It's very unfortunate. The people here in Forrest City have performed really great. It's just a matter of too much capacity," he said.
"We've got eight plants building the same products, almost, and none of them are capacitized," he continued. "The decision (to close) had nothing to do with the people who work here at Yale. They were losing money some two and a half years ago, but we've come back and we've refocused and the people here have performed just magnificently."
Shackleford said some people would be relocated.
"We are certainly going to relocate people, as many as we can -- who want to relocate -- into our sister facilities."
He said an outplacement program would begin next week. He also said he has been in touch with a state task force which helps dislocated workers.
"We'll be bringing them down here, and they'll be helping us set up some programs. And I'll have the union involved with me here to make these decisions," Shackleford said.
"Columbus McKinnon is going to do everything in our power to make this as easy on our people as we can."
Danny Ferguson, executive director of the Forrest City Area Chamber of Commerce, said the Yale plant had been downsizing for some time, and said the Chamber regretted the loss of jobs. However, he said the thing to do would be to try moving forward.
"I will be meeting with company officials in the very near future," Ferguson said. "And as soon as we get the go-ahead from the company, we will begin aggressively to market the facility, to get somebody else in here."
He said that would include getting on the web site of the Arkansas Department of Economic Development.
"It will go on the web site as an available building. It will include details such as the floor plan, ceiling height, infrastructure, etc."
He said he believes the facility has been well-maintained, and said it is a good facility.
"I think it would be very marketable," Ferguson said. "It's a big facility, a lot of acreage right on Interstate 40. It would take a pretty big prospect, but sometimes we have prospects inquiring about large buildings."
He agreed the current slowness of the economy might also present a problem.
In the fax sent out by Columbus McKinnon, Timothy T. Tevins, president and CEO of the company was quoted as saying, "While it is always a difficult decision to close a facility, the benefits of closing the Forrest City plant are significant and in the best interests of all our stakeholders."
According to the fax, the company expects to save $7.25 million annually by closing Yale in Forrest City. The fax also states that the company is in the process of consolidating several other facilities.
Forrest City Mayor Larry Bryant did not return phone calls today for comment on the announcement.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Early voter turnout Saturday for Tuesday's school millage election was lower than expected, but according to St. Francis County Clerk Elizabeth Smith, Saturday's numbers are definitely not the norm so far in this election.
"We had a little over 70 people come in Saturday and vote. That was good, but we were really expecting more. A lot of people may have already voted, and that would lighten the crowd up some, and there were those that simply had other things to do with their Saturday. Overall, we've had a good turnout for early voting, and we've had a line of voters up here all morning," said Smith.
As of 9:30 this morning, 1,040 District 7 voters had cast ballots in the election.
Polling locations for Tuesday's vote have some changes with some of the county boxes that normally vote at the St. Francis County Courthouse voting at the Forrest City Civic Center. The polling locations will be Newcastle, Colt, Caldwell, Madison, Christ Church and the Civic Center.
Voters in Pine Tree and Widener will have their locations moved to combine their boxes with other county boxes. Pine Tree voters will have to travel to Colt to cast their ballots, and Widener voters will go to Madison for the election. One city ward will be spilt into two separate locations.
"We will have some in Ward 4 voting at the Civic Center and some people will be voting at Christ Church. It's just something that we've done for some of the voters in that ward that prefer to vote at Christ Church," said Robert Traylor, election commission secretary.
On a related millage matter, Forrest City Junior High School Principal Billy Ferguson said Sunday's open house at the junior high school was a success. According to Ferguson, roughly 150 people toured the facility on Sunday.
"We didn't have a huge crowd like we would have liked, but we did have a steady stream of people coming through. It was great for us because we were able to show the building to people who might not have a chance to see it normally, and that made yesterday successful."
Polls open Tuesday morning at 7:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m. Early voting concludes this afternoon at 4:30 p.m. in the County Clerk's office.
Two men were treated and released at a local hospital Friday morning after accidentally shooting themselves in their hands during two separate incidents.
The Forrest City Police Department reported Jerry McDowell, 33, 1101 S. Whitaker, told officers he was cleaning his .25 caliber pistol about 7 a.m. when it discharged. The bullet struck him in the right hand.
In the second incident, John Millen, 23, 460 W. Sharp St., Forrest City, originally told police he was unloading a .380 caliber pistol at his home on Sharp Street when the shell became lodged in the chamber and later discharged. The bullet struck Millen in his right hand about 9 a.m.
However, police began questioning Millen's story after Tiffany Green, 446 Cope Cove, Forrest City, reported about 1 p.m. that she returned home from work to find blood inside her apartment.
Green told police she owned a .380 caliber pistol and had left Millen and another subject at her home when she went to work about 8 a.m.
Upon further questioning, Millen admitted the shooting had occurred in Cope Cove, but he had lied to police in an attempt to protect Green from getting into trouble with the local Housing Authority.
The Forrest City Council will meet Tuesday, June 5 at 7 p.m. in regular session.
The meeting will be preceded by two public hearings. At 6 p.m., there will be a hearing concerning the Arkansas State Parks Outdoor Recreation 2002 Matching Grant. At 6:30 the Arkansas Development Finance Authority will conduct a public meeting.
During the council meeting, there will be bid openings for the demolition of condemned structures and third reading of an ordinance to waive bid requirements to purchase a video projection system for the civic center.
The Forrest City Junior Auxiliary, in conjunction with the Colt Community Park, will sponsor a week of activities for children ages five to 10 this month at the park.
Activities planned for the week of June 18-22 include games, crafts, music and stories. The events will be held from 9 to 11 a.m. each morning at the Banks Wilkinson Playground in Colt.
Children participating in the event should meet at the community center, across from the playground, to register. There is no charge for the program, and refreshments will be served.
For more information, contact Myra Long at 633-2934.