No Layoffs Yet At Union Carbide
Gardner V/r'f’
BY KAY STAMEY
VIEW STAFF
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“We don’t anticipate any
layoffs at the Shelby
plant,” a Union Carbide
spokesman said Tuesday,
four days after layoffs
became effective for about
100 workers at a company
plant near Greenville,
South Carolina.
“The recession has not
affected the Shelby plant as
adversely as some others,”
said Glenn Spears,
employee relations
manager for Union Carbide
in the electronics division
at Greenville. The Green
ville division is head
quarters for the Shelby
plant.
- The Shelby plant has
been spared layoffs to date
because of the ultimate use
of its product. Both the
Shelby plant, located a few
miles outside Boiling Spr
ings, and the Union Car
bide plant south of Green-
ville manufacture
capacitors, a ceramic
device widely used in elec
tric circuits.
The South Carolina plant
manufactures capacitors
specifically for
automobiles and household
equipment, and has been
especially hard-hit by the
recession. In addition to the
100 layoffs there last Fri
day, the plant had already
laid off 500 of its employees
in Feb., 1981.
The Shelby plant
manufactures capacitors
for computers, heart
pacers, and calculators,
and Spears attributed the
lack of layoffs here to con
tinued demand for these
products.
“We can’t anticipate how
far this recession will go,”
Spears said. “We don’t
know what areas of the
economy will be affected
adversely, and our
employees in each division
understand that. We
operate by supply and de
mand.”
Spears said there is a
freeze on hiring at the
Shelby plant, and that due
to a sales drop the plant
here has not grown as
rapidly as expected.
Union Carbide began
operations at Shelby in
August, 1981, and currently
operates with a work force
of 440. Full capacity would
mean 700 to 800 employees,
Spears said.
A spokesman at the na
tional headquarters in Dan
bury, Conn., told the View
that nationally many of the
larger Union Carbide
plants have had to lay off
workers due to the reces
sion.
“Layoffs have been very
spotty,” said Ralph
Leviton, a corporate com
munications director for
Union Carbide. “They
mainly occur in plants pro
ducing products related to
automotive parts or hous
ing equipment where both
those industries have been
already hurt by the present
economy.”
Leviton also said Union
Carbide plants in Arkansas
and Ohio which manufac
ture to a market of steel
and other metal industries
are suffering from the
economic slowdown.
In other business news:
was to hire a work force of plications are then screen-
60 employees, some of ed by Artex East person-
Artex East, an industry which are currently in a nel.
“Layoffs have been very spotty.
They mainly occur in plants pro
ducing products related to
automotive parts or housing
equipment.”
— Union Carbide spokesman
specializing in producing
table and napkin linens,
opened Monday, June 14,
near Boiling Springs off
Highway 150. Currently
there are 10 employees.
General Plant Manager
John Barnhill said the pro
jected goal of the industry
training program required
by the company. The train
ing program is sponsored
through Cleveland
Technical Institute.
Applicants should apply
at the Employment Securi
ty Commission in Shelby at
503 N. LaFayette St. Ap-
For Fiber Industries
employees and personnel,
the recession has resulted
in hundreds of layoffs and
transfers
By August 1, Fiber In
dustries will be operating
with a work force of 775
people.
The Foothills View
{(
We See It Your Way
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THURS., JUNE 17,1982
BOILING SPRINGS, NC
. T J
Proud As
A Lion
Taft Wilson, at left, was named “Lion of the
Year” by the Boiling Springs Lion Club last Mon
day week, June 7. Wilson was cited for his expert
salesmanship during the Lions Club broom sale
and the club’s calendar sale. His attendance
record at the club is excellent.
Street Dance
Next Week
They’ll be dancing in the
street next Friday week,
June 25, at Boiling Springs’
annual street dance at the
crossroads of Main and
College.
The town’s recreation
chairperson Jean Putnam
has booked the band, “Our
Grass Is Blue,” for the
dance, which is scheduled
between 7:30 p.m. and 11
p.m.
Boiling Springs Rescue
Squad will be selling home
made icecream at the
dance.
In other town news:
Boiling Springs’ propos
ed budget for next year is
available for public inspec
tion at the town hall bet
ween 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
weekdays.
After public inspection,
there will be a public hear
ing on the budget June 29 at
7:30 p.m., and the council
at that time will vote on
final approval.
Keeping It Wild
They’re lovable, cute,
and amusing. Give them
six months and they’ll be
irritable, a nuisance, and in
some cases downright
dangerous.
During the next few mon
ths, many “abandoned”
wild animals are apt to be
found and brought home by
children and adults.
However, anyone attemp
ting to raise a young wild
animal to adulthood isn’t
doing himself or the animal
any favors. It is also illegal
to hold a wild animal in
captivity without a permit
from the N. C. Wildlife
Commission.
“Young wild animals
often appear to be aban
doned, but that is seldom
the case,” said George
Smith, a wildlife manager
for the commission. “The
young animal’s mother is
usually hiding nearby,
waiting for the human in
truder to leave so that she
can go about the business
of raising her young.”
Smith says there a a
number of reasons not to
pick up or try to raise wild
animals as pets.
It takes a tremendous
amount of work to care pro
perly for a wild animal,
and also requires an exten
sive knowledge of the
animal’s specialized needs.
Youngsters will soon tire of
the work that goes into car
ing for a wild pet, and a
wild animal that is raised
as a pet will not have the
skills it needs for suvival
when it is eventually
released.
Wild things often become
unmanageable as they
grow older. Small mam
mals, for example, like to
gnaw on things, and will
soon destroy any furniturte
within reach. Larger
animals, as they mature,
often become mean and
may injure their keepers.
There are numerous cases
of “tame” deer killing their
keepers, and last year a
Warrenton woman was
badly hurt by a pet deer.
Few people can afford to
build proper holding
facilities for wildlife. A
bear cub may be able to
live in a house when it’s a
few weeks old, but it will
need several acres of space
with natural features when
it grow older. The same is
true for smaller animals on
a lesser scale. In addition,
it is difficult to meet the
special dietary needs of
most wildlife species.
Wild animals are very
susceptible to disease it
captivity. In the wild, they
have relatively little con
tact with other animals,
and haven’t developed the
disease resistance common
in domestic animals.
Rabies — which is often
found in foxes, skunks, and
raccoons — is also a threat.
Symptoms of the disease
are often not readily ap
parent in wild animals, and
anyone bitten by one of
these animals should seek
mnedical treatment im
mediately.
“Making pets of wild
animals is a practice that
we certainly don’t recom
mend,” said Smith. “Very
few people have the
facilties, knowledge, and
commitment to care pro
perly for a wild animal.
Wildlife is best left in the
wild.”
m
Now is the nesting season, and youngsters are apt to br
ing home “abandoned” baby birds and other young
wildlife.
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