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Marengo Commission votes to save 425 jobs at Linden Lumber Company The Marengo County Commission approved Aug. 24 to begin the process for a bond issue to loan up to $7 million to Linden Lumber Company in Linden. The company is facing a foreclosure sale date of Sept. 7 from the Federal Land Bank for all buildings, fixtures and other tangible and intangible property in Linden and Thomasville. Thirteen percent of the company's approximately 425 employees come from Clarke County. Eight percent each come from Perry and Wilcox Counties with the majority from Marengo County. The loan "is going into an area that Marengo County hasn't been in before," said Marengo County Attorney Woody Dinning Jr. The commission held a public hearing Aug. 24 in the courtroom of the Marengo County Courthouse. The courtroom was standing room only with a majority being Linden Lumber employees. The company has been going through a restructuring for a few years. Company officials admit their failure to establish a factory finish business hurt the company's bottom line. "It was a mistake that we got into it," said Terry Dunnam, chief executive officer at Linden Lumber. "We bled a lot of money out of this company with that mistake. The Chinese imported a lot of material - because of cheap labor - and we couldn't compete with them. We could not get our product to the marketplace cheaper than the Chinese and the 800-pound gorilla called Armstrong." Under the loan proposal, Linden Lumber will pay $7 million in debt over 20 years instead of the next two years, Dinning said. Wachovia Bank will also restructure the deal where the debt will be written down from $21 million to $12 million. The principal and interest payments will be $1.5 million per year as opposed to $4.1 million. Company officials and employees said at the public hearing that the company had never missed a payroll. The county commission heard comments for and against the loan proposal. If this was a brand new business coming in, the local media would applaud and say, "let's see what we can do to help," said Joe Parden of Coffeeville, a contract logger for Linden Lumber since 1992 and exclusively for the last few years. "This man (Linden Lumber founder Don Overmyer) has been here since 1969. He's already here. He's done made the commitment." In its heyday, up to 100 trucks per day would roll into Linden Lumber. A shutdown would not only affect the 425 employees but again that many indirectly, he said. "My job site is 110 miles from (the Linden) mill," Parden said. "Linden Lumber Company has got roadbuilding equipment on that job site, deep in the river swamps to access it and get logs into the mill." Resident Chuck Glass asked if the commission had a study on whether the company had been run in a responsible manner. Dunnam said there have been consultants on the site since February to study efficiency and quality. "There have been improvements already that we have realized," he said, which should amount to $5 million saved annually. "We operate the business on a cash flow projection that we submitted to the bank." The owners of the company, Donald Overmyer Jr., Hugh Overmyer and Kathryn Overmyer Eartman, "are limited in even the salaries they can draw." Dinning said the Overmyers even proposed to give the plant to the county, but the commission did not want to run the mill. "It's not an issue of anything but 425 jobs," said Linden Lumber employee Ed Hildebrand. "…It's about economic development, the future of local businesses, the health and welfare of over 425 employees." "I cannot understand why the county commission wants to get into the finance business," said resident Billy Rose, a timber owner from the Jefferson community. "It was presented as a last resort with a hurry up deal….I don't see anybody on the county commission who has the expertise to compete with a bank in Birmingham or Demopolis. They have the expertise to know what they can lend and what they can't….You're opening a new can of worms." "There's not a local bank that is going to loan them $7 million and lock them in at five percent interest for 20 years," attorney Dinning said. "My concern is to keep what (industry) we will have to go out and find," said Commissioner Freddie Armstead. "We're not going to go out there and find 425 jobs. We're not going to find 100 jobs right now. Why shouldn't we keep what we've got?…I think it is the right thing to do." Armstead said he had received a letter that said he would not be reelected if he voted in favor of the loan. "…If I'm not elected for doing what's right, don't elect me." The final motion in favor of the $7 million bond issue, which was approved unanimously by the commissioners, features many conditions, according to attorney Dinning: • there will have to be an independent audit of the finances of Linden Lumber Company; • there must be restructures of the Wachovia Bank operating line and the Federal Bank debt;
• there must be an independent audit of the assets that they (the company) would be taking a mortgage on.
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