Talk of Lufkin

By petshopdad

September 29, 2008 1:59 PM | Link to this

Chalk up more successes for our Economic Development Board. Not only can they not get industry to come to Lufkin, they can’t help keep what we already have.

Too busy playing golf, perhaps?

Since the early 2000s, a portion of our city taxes have gone to fund this board, and just what have they accomplished with that money?

They’ve bought and cleared land for an industrial park. That will come in real handy considering how fast industry is leaving Angelina County.

Jim Wehermeier needs to be fired for lack of performance. If the LDN brass were not in the pockets of the Chamber of Commerce, perhaps they would expose the misappropriation of funds by this board.

Considering the current local and national economy, the funds being diverted to the local ED board need to be rescinded and returned to the taxpayers.

Like that’ll happen! Then, return it to the city so that it could delay the next tax increase.

Of course, the city is more concerned with upgrading a decrepit theater than making sure that spending is controlled and that they are prepared for the looming financial crisis.

By justayoungn

September 29, 2008 2:20 PM | Link to this

It seems as if our major income for Lufkin residents is leaving or downgrading as quick as the little restaurants are moving in. No one will be able to eat at all these restaurants if they have nowhere to work and financially live!! Someone needs to get a grip before Lufkin is a place just to eat and shop and have noone living here due to the lack of good paying employers.

By Nsmokg

September 29, 2008 2:34 PM | Link to this

I have to agree with petshopdad. We have gone nowhere with the EDB and they have spent many a dollar without performance. We did get the biomass plant but that had to do more with who is running it than it does the EDB. I don’t think they had much to do with it.

I like how every quarter Wehermeier comes out and says they have a “potential” buyer or leaser for the land and building they have but it never comes to fruition. They also never say who it is. It’s a secret because it might effect their decision. Next time tell us it might help.

They need to figure out why Lufkin is always the first place a company decides to close. Work on that to keep what we have. We need to spend the theater repair money, park money, and all the other extras on getting to a strong work area where companies will stay here and then others will move here. This will increase the amount of money the city and Chamber can spend. By being a strong employer and not a strong sales city we can make it happen.

I wonder what we could have done for the worker and companies without the one million + dollars that has been spent on the EDB and the one million + dollars that will be spent on the renovation of the Pines theater. It would be great if we where more proactive than reactive. I know that is what Mr. Wehermeier and the Economic Development Board is suppose to do but they are not accomplishing anything.

I thought that the Chamber of Commerce was like an EDB. Working on getting more business’s and jobs to the area. Why is it that they need the EDB? Just wondering.

Thanks

By petshopdad

September 29, 2008 2:47 PM | Link to this

“Retirement Mecca” Please LufkinMfgEx, don’t get me started.

I agree with you. Lufkin Industries could have used a voice in Austin regarding unfair prison labor PRIOR to having to shut down to get the problem noticed.

By Lufkin_Mfg_Ex

September 29, 2008 2:47 PM | Link to this

The continuing death knell for Lufkin manufacturing can shared by the Economic Development Board, the Chamber of Commerce, and the State of Texas. From the paper mill to the foundry, the reason for closure of manufacturing facilities has always been the same … high costs. Most of these manufacturing entities have been competing with sister plants in other states/countries where the cost of energy is much cheaper than in Texas. There has been absolutely no aid from the State to alleviate these high costs. All you hear from them is that deregulation is working … everyone can freely choose who they buy their electricity from. The EDB & Chamber should have been camped out in Austin for years demanding some sort of action to fight for manufacturing. Instead the lion’s share of activity has been geared toward making Lufkin a “Retirement Mecca”. If the continuing closure of manufacturing in Lufkin continues, we’ll see real quick how retirement incomes can support the entities that currently derive a large portion of their annual revenues from manufacturing.

By Erin

September 29, 2008 3:07 PM | Link to this

This is sad but…………MOVE ON. Lufkin is a horrible place to raise children. Nothing but drugs and theives.

By John

September 29, 2008 3:58 PM | Link to this

Soon Lufkin will be just a restaurant/fast food/retail store economy. There will be no industry, just low-paying, part-time jobs available. Yeah, I see Lufkin prospering in the future….

By Keppler

September 29, 2008 4:12 PM | Link to this

Can’t wait to see how our resident economic experts (Gordon and Wehmeirer) will spin this positively for Lufkin. I’m sure they are already coordinating their comments to the faithful.

By Don

September 29, 2008 4:27 PM | Link to this

One of the lessons that Bob Bradshaw and Texas Foundries learned early in its history was to not get dependent on the auto industry. You could have too much business one day and none the next. Apparently, Citation could not find any other customers except in the auto industry because they fell into the trap. Lufkin deserved better than this.

By PATRICK

September 29, 2008 5:53 PM | Link to this

i would personally like to thank doug for coming to lufkin and closing our plant down …thank you doug for all your help and support.

By raisemytaxesagain

September 29, 2008 6:47 PM | Link to this

This is not going to be good for Lufkin. There are a lot of companies and people that will be affected by this shutdown. There will end up being a lot more people lose there jobs, as all the companies in town that support citation will have to layoff workers or shutdown. I am not sure what is going on in Lufkin but one thing is for certain, the EDB has not shown the taxpayers that they can accomplish anything except talk and secrets. I for one am tired of seeing my tax dollars wasted. I am tired of my taxes going up year after year. I am tired of my property values going up year after year when all across America values are plummeting. I was told by my tax appraiser that the housing market and economy in Lufkin was not effected like the rest of America. Well look at all the major industry that Lufkin has lost and tell me that again. We are being takin for a ride and there is not much we can do about it.

By Jessie Bonner

September 29, 2008 7:09 PM | Link to this

How would we get an initiative on the ballot (prolly next year) to take back that percentage currently going to the EDB. I would be very happy to volunteer my time to work on such an initiative.

By chris

September 29, 2008 8:14 PM | Link to this

thank you George W. Bush for this great economy, its really doing great cant you tell!!!

By Tom

September 30, 2008 6:36 AM | Link to this

“Come October Citation will have 350 GOOD jobs” i seem to remeber Doug saying that in a plant wide meeting. Sad to see most of us was right on with what we thought was going on.

By XTEXASEMPLOYEE

September 30, 2008 7:38 AM | Link to this

DOUG MORRIS, the man that knows it all. We had you pinned from the start. When they hired a bean counter to run a foundry everyone should have seen the big picture. it takes a bean counter to get the books right before shutting the doors. One more thing you can add Texas foundries to the very long list of jobs you have had and shut down. Remeber to dress your best doug as you lock the gates.

By KJ Bentley

September 30, 2008 8:51 AM | Link to this

I understand now why my father left Angelina County as a young man and never moved back. I should never have moved there in 2006 with my own family and I am glad we left as quickly as we did less than two years after moving there. The cost of living in Lufkin is high, too high. The employers in Texas treat their employees horribly with low pay and few if any benefits. The jobs are terrible and becoming fewer by the day. The paper mill closed and from what I have heard the only benefit was cleaner air. Armour-Eckrich closed, Lufkin Industries closed, now Citation is closing, next will probably be Pilgrim’s Pride. Lufkin is becoming no place to be for anyone who wants a better life including retirees because as Erin stated earlier it is full of “drugs and theives.” I was astounded at the high crime rate there when we lived there. All of the business closures will only make it worse. There is no future in east Texas and my father saw that in the late 1940s. Folks if you can get out of there do so. There are places in this country begging for skilled workers who want to work.

By tadd price

September 30, 2008 11:47 AM | Link to this

I hated having to leave Lufkin years ago to find a decent job, and I wish I was able to move back. Unfortunately I can’t foresee this happening. For too many years Angelina County has relied on to few resources to support the population. Its just as expensive to live there as it is in a major city but the salaries are half. Some people with limited economic understanding will blame the president or politicians and whoever they can find, but this has been coming for decades. For the many of us who left years ago this is not a suprise and I bet its not much a suprise to the people who are left to cleanup the ashes back home

By Thomas

September 30, 2008 12:41 PM | Link to this

To Tad and KJ Bentley……You folks are one of the few people that I have seen on this site that made any sense. You are absolutely 1000% correct. Lufkin and Angelina County is a cesspool. It is way too expensive to live here, the infrastructure is inadequate, and the employers do treat employees like crap. I just love getting ripped off by the utility companies here. This is the worst place I have ever lived in my life! My wife just got fired from her job because she didn’t come in to work after she got into a car accident with one of these “great” Lufkin drivers….and she had a doctor’s note. They just don’t care, especially if you are not from here. I say just give this town to the Pentecostals and get out! I for one can’t wait to get the hell out of here!

By Tommy Binion

September 30, 2008 1:13 PM | Link to this

As a past employee of TF, I was sad to hear of the closing of this fine old company. I came to Texas Foundries in 1970 for my first full time job as a second shift stores clerk and spent 12 great years under the direction of such men as Bob Bradshaw, Mark Miller and C W Sneed. It was a great place to work with people who cared for their company and their management. As a lot of young men do, I left to follow other opportunities but never forgot what I learned and all the great people I learned from during my time at Texas Foundries.

By PR

September 30, 2008 3:35 PM | Link to this

KJ - Lufkin Industries is still here, and doing quite well I might add. Citation cornered itself into a market that has been in a s spiraling downtrend for so long. They tried to find outside customers beyond automotive but they just were not competitive. That’s the nature of capitalism.

By Kim

September 30, 2008 5:10 PM | Link to this

Wow, I can’t even begin to say how worried about this I am. My dad is one of the hourly employees at this plant. What kind of job is there available that will help him support his family, his medical expenses, and just the cost of living period. Is this plant willing to try to relocate these employees to other plants in the states? And why is it that when the new management took over things went downhill way to fast. I’m sure they’re sitting pretty right now with the salary bucks they are making while the average man is going to struggle.

By ken

September 30, 2008 8:47 PM | Link to this

THOMAS!!!! tote you —- to another town. no one is holding you back but youself. Lufkin has been and will continue to be a great place to raise families and to retire. you have to help yourself and not setback with you hand out. good luck in you new town.

By Lou

October 4, 2008 3:27 PM | Link to this

I have worked here for 13 years and hate to hear of the plant closing.I have stuck it out, no matter what happened and would like to know if the Company, will be placing us somewhere else.I would like to know where Rod Paulette is and wish he could buy the plant back, because things were good when he was here.

By mike

October 5, 2008 10:38 AM | Link to this

way to go Doug!!!!

By tf employee

October 5, 2008 2:29 PM | Link to this

The plant manager could have done more to help save the plant, but you would have to know how to run a foundry first……

By anon

October 14, 2008 3:20 PM | Link to this

When are the leaders in Lufkin planning to bring New Business to this town. I lost my job 2 years ago at the Foundry. I left a good stable job, because I was promised the moon by this company. Then 40 of us were laid off 3 months later. This town is going to dry up and blow away - I wish I would not have moved here. Most jobs pay $7 an hour? Whats left after you gas up your car? This is a joke……….

By tf employee

October 17, 2008 6:39 PM | Link to this

We received a letter from corp office just to tell the “HOURLY EMPLOYEES”that they had to stay at TF until March 2009 to receive the enourmous check of woohoo $1500. Until all orders are completed the orders (AS ALWAYS TO THEIR BENEFIT).What really upsets me about this letter was how they classified us as “HOURLY EMPLOYEES”. I ask my self what about the “SALARY EMPLOYEES”. How much will they receive? And would a “SALARY EMPLOYEE” be happy with $1500…IF IT WASN’T FOR THE “HOURLY EMPLOYEES” THERE WOULD NOT BE CITATION. But ofcourse the “SALARY EMPLOYEES” get all the credit and will more like be compensated more than $1500.. Just becuase they sat on __. Letters are being sent to CORP. office and employees in other plants to make them aware that CITATION does not value it’s employees and what their future holds with Citation…… I suggest we all send letters to corparate. I don’t think we are treated fairly. No I don’t think it’s all Doug’s fault…..

Send your complaints to: Vice President Gordon Madlock CITATION CORPORATION 27275 HAGGERTY ROAD SUITE 420 NOVI, MI 48377

248-522-4500 248-522-4577-FAX