Bebe Heiskell
“I must say that I was somewhat surprised by the announcement,” Heiskell said. “I was not aware of any plans to close the plant until I received the call yesterday.”
Heiskell explained she was saddened to hear of the plant’s closure.
“My heart goes out to the families that will be affected by this loss of jobs. This is certainly a blow to all of us here within our community,” Heiskell said.
Although the closure points to a deepening of the recession on the local economy, Heiskell said she remains optimist about the prospects interested in possibly locating within Walker County.
“We are seeing a heightened amount of interest that is coming into our county from interested business parties considering locating here,” Heiskell explained.
“Hopefully we will be able to fill this gap left by the closing of Blue Bird with these other economic possibilities in a timely manner,” Heiskell continued.
Heiskell concluded, “I want the people of Walker County to know that I am committed to leaving no stone unturned when it comes to attracting new opportunities to support the livelihood of our county.”
Fearlessbiker - You're remembering history as the R's tell it. They recklessly spent our money too...although not to the degree the D's are spending it now.
Moral to the story, good luck finding someone that will put our interests above their own.
I must say I have no beef with you and have always found you to be kind, considerate and proffesional. I truly beleive you have Walker county citizens interest at heart.
At the same time, we have one great big stone up here in Rossville. It is the city of Rossville. I need you to start turning that stone and talk with the governor about helping us turn that stone.
As you know and have seen I have put hundreds of thousands of dollars in the Peerless site. We have moved 13 new businesses in the site the last 3 years. That is in spite of the fact that Rossville has refused to issue business license and has harrased us. We have asked for 3 years if the county and city would help us out with our taxes so we could better develop the site and attract more bsuiness. It would be nice if you guys would just pay us for the usage of our sewer system and other infrastructures that every other county and city in the State have to pay for. I have a business in the site now named Aftek. They are talking about moving up north. There goes another 10 jobs. They have asked me to see if the local goverment would help them stay here. I have received no response from the city.
We could really use your help in getting potential tenants a license to operate in Rossville. It would be nice if you could somehow help Johnny Baker understand that when a business comes over to ask about locating in the Peerless site. He should not start bashing me. All that does is run them right up the road to Chattanooga. Also when the local police seize folks assets and then cannot account for them and break into their building and steal things. How can you expect them to stay around.
Like it or not Rossville is the only thing about Walker county that many people see. When they see and here what has been going on up here. They do not want to come to town or stick around. I know myslef for one would love to get my money back and let the whole place rot to the ground. Unfortunately that is not an option at this time. The building is now in a trust for my children and I am into it for 2.0 million dollars. I have no choice but to stick around. I am too heavily invested in Rossville to simply move away.
I sure have learned one lesson and that is to never ever again buy another asset in Walker county or invest in another buisness or proeprty in this county. I can only wonder how many other companies and business owners feel the same way. Could it be that Blue Birtd felt that way and exited as soon as they could.
I had high hopes for the Peerless site and the community. I can only wonder now how in the world did I get so much money tied up into such a corrupt community.
The bottom line is I am here to stay not buy choice but by economics. I have no choice but to fight for change in the local goverment. It really would be nice if you would step up to the plate and ask Sonny Purdue and others in the state to help us out up here and send in some honest folks to look into the way Rossville operates and treats people. Until there is a change in the attitude of the goverment it is never going to get better for the citizens of Walker County.
Please help us.
Les Coffey
lesc@lescoservices.com