Mountain town struggles after devastating layoffs

[Gunny]

By Sara Lane
CNN

SPRUCE PINE, North Carolina (CNN) -- Like most parents, Vickie and Keith Murdock worry about providing for their family. With three teenage daughters, that can be a big challenge, but these days it's more difficult than ever.
Keith and Vickie Murdock retrained for new jobs after suffering layoffs. But they remain unemployed.

They live in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, a tiny mountain town about an hour's drive northeast of Asheville that has lost more than 2,000 jobs since 2003. That's a devastating number, given that Mitchell County's 2000 Census population was only 15,687.

Mountain town struggles after devastating layoffs - CNN.com

 

[KittenKoder]

This is sad ... and no end in sight thanks to you know who.

 

[RodISHI]

That is the case in many small towns throughout the country. Rod's sister among hundreds of others were layed off when Semiens closed it's plant in 2001. She retrained and it still took her three years to find a steady job. They supposedly moved there operations south and then moved clear out of the country.

If we cannot get small manufacturing jobs and independant businesses back into this country to help sustain rural areas these giant corporations will be the only ones left owning the majority of the farms.

 

[Iriemon]

Hopefully they are getting unemployment -- Not being able to find a job is far more devasting when you have no other income coming.

But many states put up various barriers to paying it. Some states are paying less than 30% of unemployment claims.

 

[strollingbones]

well gunny you had no way of knowing i live 25 miles from spruce pine..one major problem in this area...did you notice both people dropped out of high school then went back to school for their ged's. in this area....you are considered foolish for spending 4 yrs getting a degree when you can get a ged at mayland...spruce had little textiles...mostly mining..feldspar (sp) but the use of it has dropped and the mines are beginning to close...unfortunately one major factor not mentioned in this story was the burning of half the town by arson...burned most of lower street....the guy terrorist the city with threats of fire etc...now the town is in transition...from a blue color town to more of an artistian place...one of the greatest schools of the art...penland is near there....but back to my point...if the county allotted money keeping kids in school instead of advertising maylands ged program things might be a little different there...i realize adults need to do something but dont make it appear more appealing than finishing high school...

now in all fairness....its only a 45 minute commute to asheville from there....mostly 4 lane roads...asheville is a growing area..

i am not now downplaying any of this..its going on in all the small towns....

o btw....spruce pine has a superwalmart ...packed day or night.....no one gave a damn when it was built that it would destroy the downtown merchants...hor did the miners care when the textiles shut...now its them..they knew this was coming...just like construction knew it was happening..what no one expected was the suddeness of it all...it was like in nov..the world stopped...

much poorer towns in the mountain with even less prospects....

but spruce pine use to be a quaint little town....you went downtown...you went shopping ate at the crestwood....closed...but now its a superwalmart and a vacant downtown

 

[RodISHI]

I have talked with a few of the locals here that used to be in the merchants association. One gal said they used to all work together to keep one anothers businesses alive and that has changed over the years.

Back in Idaho in the little town of a few hundred where we lived the market that had been there for sixty years closed a few years ago. To me that seems sad as I recall how good these people were to us. If I was short one month and needed to spread the bills they were always graceful about it. (The children fed all their friends one month at the deli and ran my bill grocery bill up to $1,100.00. took months to get that one paid.)

That neighborhood friendly store is a thing of the past and it really is a sad thing to see. Now when I drive up to shop at the nearest larger town I noticed that Wally world overall has higher prices there than the local grocers.

I sure would not be happy if the only place I could get groceries was at Wally world.

 

[strollingbones]

well that is what is gonna happen...typical walmart style come in with low prices....aint shit made in america...notice that bullshit ad has stopped....people think they are going to bring good jobs...they dont...work people part time etc..to keep them from benefits....the prices are real low till they put the locals totally out of business then they go up...but for some reasons the herds flock there...ready to buy...its almost a social event to go to walmart

 

[Luissa]

well that is what is gonna happen...typical walmart style come in with low prices....aint shit made in america...notice that bullshit ad has stopped....people think they are going to bring good jobs...they dont...work people part time etc..to keep them from benefits....the prices are real low till they put the locals totally out of business then they go up...but for some reasons the herds flock there...ready to buy...its almost a social event to go to walmart

Everything except food and formula I have ever bought there is made in china. But try to find baby or toddler clothes that is not made in China and if it isn't made in china it is made in some other third world country.

 

[RodISHI]

well that is what is gonna happen...typical walmart style come in with low prices....aint shit made in america...notice that bullshit ad has stopped....people think they are going to bring good jobs...they dont...work people part time etc..to keep them from benefits....the prices are real low till they put the locals totally out of business then they go up...but for some reasons the herds flock there...ready to buy...its almost a social event to go to walmart

Agreed. I'm not sure how to turn the trend back. People shop there because that is what they can afford much of the time. It has turned into a vicious circle of lower wages for so many and lower cost for some things but it is breaking the country into corporate monopolies ran by a few.

Then yo get the greed factor. I know this couple that both operate their own businesses. They both make pretty good so they bought a little motel. Now they both work at their businesses and hire help at their little motel. The gal was bitching when the talk about raising the minimum wage was going on. She said, "Well I won't be able to afford to keep the motel if I have to pay someone $8 an hour to clean the rooms." I felt like telling her this but I didn't. "So it is too much to pay someone to work for you but you can work at a job making at least a $100.00 an hour. Your husband's making an average of $600.00 an hour and you guys have everything paid for? It too f'ing much for someone else to make 8 bucks an hour for a few hours every day?" That is the type of shit that is going on out here and truthfully it's disgusting that anyone can be that vain to think they are so much better than anyone else. They demand the right to that money and yet they are unwilling to give even a fair chance to another to have the ability to pay their bills too.

 

[ItsFairmont]

We shop at Wal Mart because it's cheap and we're on a fixed budget.

And it's less than a mile from my house, whereas the other store is about 8 miles. Ours has a grocery store in it (the Wal Mart).

 

[AllieBaba]

You know, people were warned about this when the city populations, and the people of DC, in their infinite wisdom, determined we needed to stick it to the industries in this country. First the lumber industry....they were making the hills ugly! So now we get our lumber from other countries at exorbitant prices. Then it was all about increasing wages and forcing employers to provide health insurance for their employees. So now all the big producers have their plants in other countries.

You can't SHUT DOWN industry, INCREASE WAGES, PENALIZE COMPANIES, and limit options and expect to maintain a high employment rate.

It's idiotic to think you can.

 

[strollingbones]

how does one turn the tide of walmart....you have to realize you have to try to spend your money as locally as possible.. and walmart is not local...we try hard to avoid walmart but there are some things you just cant resist....knee meds....5 bucks lower than cvs...otc....then the 4 buck drugs...cvs the drug was over 25 bucks...walmart 4....who can afford not to take advantage of it..and walmart has pushed other pharamacies to go low...i will give walmart this..in the realazation of room needed on shelves they work with companies to package in smaller packages allowing more use of space...but they are hell on vendors...i worked for a vendor and the reason i left was to get more work..i had to ad more walmarts...the first thing the manager will ask ...is you work more hours than allotted by your company....he had several suggestions for how i do this...one split my allotted hours into 4 days instead of 2...or just volunteer to come back....neither worked for me...so i left...i just couldnt take walmart and their extremeness...workers do paperwork on lunch breaks etc...it never fails to surprise me that walmart has employees they way they treat them.

any walmart workers who would like to add or correct feel free to

 

[RodISHI]

You know, people were warned about this when the city populations, and the people of DC, in their infinite wisdom, determined we needed to stick it to the industries in this country. First the lumber industry....they were making the hills ugly! So now we get our lumber from other countries at exorbitant prices. Then it was all about increasing wages and forcing employers to provide health insurance for their employees. So now all the big producers have their plants in other countries.

You can't SHUT DOWN industry, INCREASE WAGES, PENALIZE COMPANIES, and limit options and expect to maintain a high employment rate.

It's idiotic to think you can.

The raw materials industry has the same problem. Yet look at who owns the majority of the mines now. Giant corporations. They have assisted in running the small guy out of business if they won't sellout or partner with them.

Near larger cities people don't want a sand and gravel operation next to them so they push for cities to deny the permits. Those same people bitch about paying excessive trucking cost, go figure. A yard of sand cost a buck ten fifteen years ago. Now it cost six or more plus trucking.

As far as lumber goes or steel either one the people of the country assisted in the demise of both of these industries. Plus certain ones in those industries were being careless. It is more complex than simply people did not want to see barren hills.

In the long run both the working man and the corporates have helped run the small local businesses out of business. And a majority of the corporates only care about profits. So we have an entire country in the shitter. A broken system that is not going to be repaired easily.