LaGrange Company To Idle 100+ Workers

A company in LaGrange that makes gas and electric cooking appliances is hitting its workforce with a second round of lay-offs in a three-month period. Roper Corporation will furlough 120 workers temporarily by the end of this month. It follows a similar action last month that laid-off more than 250 workers.

The company cites the continued economic downturn as reason for the lay-offs. Roper Corporation makes appliances under the G.E., Profile, and Monogram brands.

PSC Approves Pipeline To Feed Kia Plant

State approval has been given for a natural gas pipeline to fuel the Kia Motors plant under construction in west Georgia. The 12.5 mile line will connect to an existing line already feeding LaGrange.

Under terms of Publis Service Commission approval, the city of LaGrange must provide construction and economic data within 30 days. An operations safety plan is also required for Coweta County.

The KIA plant in West Point is scheduled to open at the end of this year--capable of building 300,000 vehicles at full capacity.

In a statement, PSC Chairman Doug Everett says the new pipeline will promote west Georgia’s economic development.

Columbus Bank To Merge With Neighbors

The president of Columbus Bank and Trust Company says it’s "strength in numbers" for his institution’s decision to merge with three other banks in the region. The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reports this morning the Columbus bank will merge with banks in LaGrange, Warner Robins, and Phenix City. All four institutions are affiliates of the Columbus-based bankholding firm Synovus Financial Corporation.

An approval from regulators is expected by early June. The new merged operation would operate under the name CB&T, with $7.5 billion in assets serving 10 markets.

Job Seekers Flood LaGrange

Job seekers flooded a state employment office in LaGrange this morning, hopeful of landing one of 600 positions to be filled for a new KIA auto supplier. Sewon America has positions in stamping, production and assembly for its operations--in support of the KIA plant being built in West Point. The Georgia Quick Start office in LaGrange began accepting applications at 8am today. They'll be accepted through Wednesday, until 9pm each day.

Kia Supplier, Quick Start Ink Jobs Deal

A major Kia Motors supplier has signed a deal with Georgia’s Quick Start training program to prepare hundreds of production workers.

Korea's Sewon, state and local officials attended the agreement ceremony which will train upwards of 600 workers for their Lagrange plant.

Sean McMillan, director of Quick Start's western operations says the signing is a positive step in a gloomy jobs market:

"In the times that we're living in now, with the economy being front and center, and a lot of negativity that's being heard by the public, [it's] a great, great ray of hope for many people in this community to have an opportunity to go back to work."

The firm plans to open the 420,000 square-foot factory in April. The plant will make chassis and body parts for the Kia car plant, in nearby West Point.

Trainees will learn the necessary production line skills at West Georgia Technical College.

The Kia plant is slated to begin production this fall.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the Kia operation.

Lagrange planning biomass power station

In western Georgia, Lagrange and Troup County officials are planning a biomass power station to generate electricity.

The $170 million dollar plant would burn wood pellets, brush and similar woody waste materials.

25 people would work at the facility, which would bring in some $2 million dollars in local taxes annually. Officials say the 50 megawatt plant would supply enough power for 25,000 homes.

The plant's builders, Rollcast, want to sell the electricity to Georgia Power and Oglethorpe Power. The plant is one of several at various stages of operation, construction or planning statewide.

The Georgia Forestry Commission estimates the state can produce some 19 million tons of forestry-related biomass annually.

Officials hope to have the facility up and running by 2012.

Click here for more GPB News about biomass plants.

Crux of tri-state water war focus of public meetings

The crux of the tri-state water dispute between Florida, Georgia and Alabama is the topic of five public meetings scheduled for next month.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will discuss how it operates the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee Flint River basin.

Lake Lanier residents and Georgia lawmakers have long criticized the Corps for continuing to operate the lake by a manual last updated 50 years ago.

Georgia meetings will be held in LaGrange, Marietta and Gainesville.

Kia: car plant construction still on track

Signs on the road to completing the Kia car plant. (Dave Bender)

Vehicles are set to roll off the Kia Motor assembly plant near West Point by November of 2009 according to Randy Jackson, Kia human resources director.

Jackson said an estimated 650 employees will be hired by the end of 2008, and that by the end of 2009, about half of the 2,500 team members expected at full capacity will have been hired.

Jackson said that output would depend on how quickly and how well the workforce training comes along. The company says it expects to reach the 2,500 employee benchmark in late 2010.

One hundred and sixteen professionals have been hired so far to work at the $1 billion facility, and have set up temporary offices in nearby LaGrange and at the plant site.

Companies supplying the plant have hired on over 5,000 employees, according to a Kia statement.

The plant will produce some 300,000 vehicles annually including the Sorrento SUV, and another, yet-to-be-named vehicle, when the facility reaches full capacity, Jackson said.

Kia officials in May quashed rumors of changes and uncertainty in their production plans, due to soaring gas prices. Senior Hyundai officials in Korea had been quoted in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution as saying that the plant would retool to produce a small car, instead of a planned SUV model.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the Kia plant, and its regional impact.

Man arrested on suspected investment scam

Troup County authorities have arrested a Georgian man suspected of investment fraud to the tune of over a million dollars.

Randy Banks of LaGrange, has been charged with "theft by taking," involving “numerous Georgians,” according to a statement from the Georgia Secretary of State's Office.

The warrant alleges that he took some $1.5 million from his victims by giving the false impression he was investing their money in bonds and mutual funds.

“Investment fraud against Georgians will not be tolerated. Due to the aggressive investigation by our staff and the assistance and quick response from numerous agencies, Banks was taken into custody less than three months after the investigation began." Secretary of State Karen Handel said in a statement.

Our office will continue to aggressively pursue complaints against Mr. Banks and anyone who may be engaging in investment and securities scams,” Handel said.

Banks is being held on a $10 million dollar bond.

The Secretary of State’s Securities Division and Office of Inspector General, the Troup County District Attorney, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation took part in the joint probe.

Hearings on West Point Lake water levels

The US House of Representatives Small Business subcommittee convened at West Point Technical College in Lagrange on Tuesday to gather testimony on the impact of the 2006-2007 drought on Georgia's economy.

Third district Republican Congressman Lynn Westmoreland heard testimony from local representatives, and Army Corps of Engineers and Fish and Wildlife officials about the epic drought's effect on West Point Lake and the area.


Brig. Gen. Joseph Schroedel, Commander of the South Atlantic Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and US Fish and Wildlife Service Sout heast Regional Director Sam Hamilton give testimony at the hearing. Behind them is a map of bodies of water in western Georgia affected by the drought. (Dave Bender)

Westmoreland questioned the Corps Brigadier General Joseph Schroedel and Sam Hamilton, of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, about their agencies' water policies on the lake.

Fourth District Congressman Henry “Hank” Johnson Jr. (D), who chaired the hearing, listens to testimony at the session, as Third District Congressman Lynne Westmoreland (R) reads documents detailing state water policies. (Dave Bender)

Community and business leaders say current policies are hurting them. Many of the businesses are recreation-based, and rely on the lake.

Westmoreland says some progress had been achieved at the meeting, saying the Corps would let West Point Lake and Lake Lanier store more water.

But he also was hoping for higher intervention to help the situation:

“So, we are making progress. Are we where we need to be yet? No, because we have to have some response from God, too, to let this rainfall come into areas that we need it.”

Over 200 residents attended the session, which was held at West Georgia Technical College in nearby LaGrange. The lake provides water for LaGrange.

Over 200 area leaders, businesses representatives, and residents attended the hearing. (Dave Bender)

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the drought.

US House C'tee Seeking Answers on Drought

Formerly submerged shoal marker and tree along the receding shoreline at West Point Lake. (file photo/Dave Bender)

The US House of Representatives small business subcommittee will meet on Tuesday in Lagrange in western Georgia to discuss the drought and its effect on local businesses.

Third district Republican Congressman Lynne Westmoreland, who represents a 15-county area around West Point Lake will host the field hearing.

The lake provides drinking water for Lagrange and some 24,000 area residents.

The committee will question Brigadier General Joseph Schroedel of the US Army Corp of Engineers southeastern region and Sam Hamilton, Southeast Regional Director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service about water levels and policies for the lake.

Westmoreland says his group is seeking answers as to why water use policies haven't been updated in the last half century:

"The last water manual that was written, went through the process and was approved was in 1958. So, you can see that it's been 50 years since we've done anything with the situation, and I think the Corps, Fish and Wildlife and others owe us an explanation."

Westmoreland said the group would also discuss a long-term solution for businesses in the vicinity that rely on the lake. Many are recreation-based and have been hard-hit by the drought.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the drought.

LaGrange youth killed in bizarre gun mishap

Natorrin Brown, a 17-year-old of LaGrange resident was fatally wounded shortly before midnight Tuesday, in a bizarre gun mishap.

Brown was among a group of people visiting with a friend, who was showing some of the visitors a gun hanging in his attic, when the loaded weapon went off.

A Troup Co. sheriff says the man was showing how the stock of a loaded AK-47 would go in and out a few inches, and "he disturbed the position of the gun." When it went back into position, the trigger hit a nail and the gun went off, hitting Brown as he stood in the doorway.

The gun fell to the floor, but Turner said gunpowder residue indicated it had fired while it was on the wall. To test the accident theory, sheriff's Chief Investigator Charles Nixon unloaded the gun, cocked it and put it back on the wall. He bumped it with his hand and the trigger activated when it slid back into place.

Nixon said he used a string to determine that the gun barrel would have been pointing where the victim stood. Nixon said he is conferring with the district attorney's office about the possibility of presenting charges to a grand jury.

(The Associated Press)

Kia swamped with online job applicants

Thurmond and Kia officials at a ceremony inaugurating the online hiring process, at West Georgia Technical College, Jan. 8, 2008. (Dave Bender)

In a just-concluded jobs program, over 43,000 applicants swamped Kia Motors' online hiring site for their SUV plant being built in west Georgia. The applicants were vying for 2,500 production and maintenance jobs at the West Point plant.

State Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond says this is the first totally online job application process for a major employer in Georgia:

“Any person who had access to a com puter could go to kiajobs.com – apply for a job. We also - for those who did not have Internet access – we allowed individuals to use our computers at our 53 career centers around the state of Georgia.”

Thurmond added that some 400 walk-in applicants came to a recruitment center set up at West Georgia Technical College in LaGrange. A similar number applied with Kia at a recent job fair held in Columbus. The online hiring program was inaugurated only a month ago.

Thurmond says that most of them are Georgians:

“We're very proud of the fact that between 70 and 75 percent of the people who applied online are Georgia residents.”

Kia's hiring and job training program at West Georgia Technical College set up this center, with several hundred computer stations, to aid the process. (Dave Bender)

But getting that job – and they're paying between 15 and 23 dollars an hour – is just the first step.

Ron Jackson, Commissioner of the Technical College System of Georgia, set out the hiring path at the program's gala inauguration in early January:

“Once they are selected and employed by kia, they will go through a full training program that is generated by Quickstart, supported by our technical college system, at the training center that will be at the Kia site.”

The $1.2 billion dollar plant is due to open in Nov., 2009, will produce about 300,000 Sorrento SUVs annually.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of ongoing developments in the Kia operation.

Soldier from LaGrange killed in Iraq

Family members say an Army sergeant from LaGrange has been killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq, a week after his first wedding anniversary.

Relatives told the LaGrange Daily News that 21-year-old Sergeant Corey Spates, 21, died Sunday morning in the Diyala province.

His wife and parents were notified by the Army on Sunday evening.

The family said they were told there were multiple casualties in the blast, but that the Army would not release details until the next of kin of all victims had been notified.

Spates, who attended Troup High School, had left for his second deployment in November. He and his wife celebrated their first anniversary last week.

(The Associated Press)

Chambliss meets with Troup Co. officials, residents over drought

Ga. Senator (R) Saxby Chambliss speaking with reporters at the La Grange, Ga., City Hall on Monday, Jan 7, 2008. (Photo: Dave Bender)

Republican Senator Saxby-Chamblis toured West Point Lake today, and met with local and Troup county officials to hear about the drought's effect on local businesses.

Chamber of Commerce representatives told Chamblis that the steadily-encroaching mud flats bordering on the lake have taken a severe toll on businesses catering to water recreation and area housing values:

“The economy in this part of the state is suffering in a huge way, as a result of the lake level being at 622, even though we've had an increase up to almost 627, right now – it's been nothing short of a disaster.”

Private boat docks high and dry along West Point Lake, at Lagrange, Ga., Monday, Jan. 7, 2008. (Photo: Dave Bender)

The recent storms have raised the lake five feet from 622 to 627 feet, Chamblis told reporters at a press conference on the steps of the La Grange City Hall. He said that one outcome of the meeting was to keep lines of communication open between local residents, the US Army Corps of Engineers and state officials over water usage.

Chamblis said the drought and water levels would have no effect on the Kia auto manufacturing plant being built nearby, and scheduled to open in 2009:

“There will not be any effect, from a commercial standpoint on the amount of water that's needed to make sure that all of our commercial and residentail facilities have adequate water.”

Exposed tree stumps now clearing water-level (seen in the center of the photo) create a boating hazard on West Point Lake, at La Grange, Ga. (Photo: Dave Bender)


Private boat docks high and dry along West Point Lake, at Lagrange, Ga., Monday, Jan. 7, 2008. (Photo: Dave Bender)

Chamblis will visit Lake Lanier north of Atlanta on Tuesday, along with Gainesville, and other drought-stricken areas.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the drought.

New Kia Supplier Opening Shop

Backhoe removing foliage for entrance road off I-85 to Kia plant at West Point. (file photo/Dave Bender)

The State of Georgia has inked a deal with a Korean company, that will manufacture parts for a Kia auto plant being built at West Point.

The Governor's Office says the Sewon Precision company will create 700 jobs and invest $170 million dollars in the LaGrange facility. It'll be built over the next three years at a site not far from the Kia production facility being built in West Point.

The Sewon plant will make chassis and body parts for Kia SUVs. Georgia and Korean officials signed the deal on Wednesday, and the plant will be the company's first facility in the United States.

Governor Sonny Perdue met with a range of Korean officials in October, Sewon among them, in a bid to sign as many local Kia suppliers as possible. Kia's West Point auto plant is scheduled to open in 2009, and the company is opening an internet site for job-seekers at http://www.kiajobsingeorgia.com.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the Kia facility.

Kia: Water Woes No Worry For Plant

Backhoe rips out foliage beneath Kia sign at plant site, to make an entrance road. (File photo/Dave Bender)

Kia construction project manager Mike Criddle says Kia's not considering any changes in construction, or planned production as a result of the current water crisis.

Criddle says that Kia has agreements in place with the nearby cities of LaGrange and West Point, who are to both provide water for the manufacturing facility's water-based paint system.

Criddle at work in his office at Lagrange City Hall. Artist's view of finished manufacturing facility is visible in background. (File photo/Dave Bender)

West Point City Manager Ed Moon says his city will spend an estimated 20 million dollars to expand their water and wastewater capacity in preparation for the town's and factory's expected demands.

Kia officials say the two-million sq.-ft. facility, set on a 650-acre site will employ nearly 3,000 workers and produce 300,000 vehicles annually.

Click here for more GPB reports on the manufacturing facility.

Jobs and investment on the way to Troup County

250 jobs and nearly 28-million investment dollars is on the way to Troup County. Sejong Georgia LLC is a leading and longtime Kia supplier, and will set-up a facility in LaGrange. The Korean company in this plant will make muffler and exhaust systems for Kia Motors. This announcement is another of several in recent months that supports Kia. Other plants and jobs are on the boards for West Point, Meriwether County, and other locations in west Georgia.

Westmoreland, Corps meet over water issues

Dried-up boat dock at West Point Lake. (Dave Bender)

Congressman Lynne Westmoreland (R) met with US Army Corps of Engineers officials at the LaGrange City Hall Friday morning to discuss the drought's damage to West Point Lake, and the local economy.

Westmoreland met with Col. Byron Jorns, commander of the Corps Mobile District, and Steven Logan, operations manager of the West Point Project.

Westmoreland gave the Corps a letter requesting an immediate update, and details of any further talks between the Corps and the Department of Fish and Wildlife Service about water usage plans for the area, according to Chip Lake, Westmoreland's Chief of Staff.

After the meeting, Westmoreland, who represents the Third Congressional District, toured the lake on a pontoon boat in order to personally gauge the extent of the damage, Press Secretary Brian Robinson said.

Westmoreland later met with Lagrange and Troup Co. officials and local business leaders, specifically in the marine sport and hotel trades, to assess the extent of the economic damage to the area.

Westmoreland is interested in a longer-term solution to the dilemma of sharing water resources and conflicting needs between Georgia, Alabama and Florida, Robinson said.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the drought.

Lawmakers consider new eyewitness ID rules

Georgia law enforcement officials are warning lawmakers it’s a bad idea to pass a law mandating how police must conduct eyewitness identifications. A House panel is weighing whether to create rules governing police lineups. The move comes after six men in Georgia who went to prison on the strength of eyewitness IDs were recently exonerated through post-conviction DNA analysis. Today the police chief of LaGrange testified that law enforcement, not lawmakers, should study the issue and come up with guidelines.