THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 24, 1994 TAG: 9408230120
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Linda McNatt
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines
Funny, isn't it, how quickly people pick up on the misdeeds of their fellow human beings? And isn't it strange how hard it is to forget those misdeeds and then give credit when that same person does really good things?
Finally, after years of seldom getting a whole lot of credit for the good he's done, Joseph W. Luter III, chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer of Smithfield Foods Inc., was handed a pat on the back by the Isle of Wight/Smithfield Chamber of Commerce.
The chamber, at its annual dinner meeting at Cedar Point Country Club, presented Luter with the 1994 Business of the Year Award.
Hmmm. It's been a long time coming.
Talk about Joe Luter in this county and you're likely to hear how his company polluted the Pagan River. You'll hear about all the fines the company paid for those nasty deeds.
How bad was it? I'll tell you. A friend, retired from the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, told me he can recall when an inch of grease covered the river and the only birds sitting in the trees at Ivy Hill Cemetery were buzzards, waiting for guts to spill.
Well, that was before any of us realized how badly we were all treating the environment and how important it was not to do such things.
And look at the Pagan River now. Marsh grasses are green. The river is clear. The birds are back. The fish are swimming. Has anybody said ``Thanks''? Maybe the chamber did, just last week.
And what do you hear about the packing plants in general? A horrible place to work, right? Low wages, right? Killing hogs, right?
Let's look at it again. If you don't like pork chops or sausage, that's your business. But talk to the people who work there. Find out for yourself how many familes are being supported, how many young people have been sent to college or put themselves through college because of the jobs the packing plants have provided.
Employees of the company have hospitalization, benefits, Christmas bonuses. Ride past just before the holidays and take a look at the trucks out front handing out turkeys to workers as they leave for the day.
Let's face it. Lots of folks aren't working at all. People in Smithfield are. Has anybody said, ``Thanks''? Maybe the chamber did, just last week.
Luter certainly isn't your ``average'' citizen. It's common knowledge he has much more money than most of us. You won't see him at Ruritan meetings or pushing a grocery cart at Little's.
But somewhere under the skin of the jetsetter who flies with the rich and famous, there is a hometown, ordinary Joe. That's what folks tell me, anyway.
He's the same man who worries because he can't find time to have lunch with his mother. The man who plies local waters wearing cutoff jeans and an old hat.
He's the man who once asked for cardboard to cover the holes in the soles of a favorite pair of hunting boots. And he's the man who keeps pound puppies at his house rather than bred canines.
He's also the man who gave a job to a young man who was trying hard, after drug addiction, to go straight. When he couldn't get a job anywhere else, the young man told me, he called Luter personally. And he got his chance.
He's also the man who, when one of his employees was killed at Norfolk State University, and somebody suggested the company should offer a reward, simply asked, ``How much?''
Luter volunteered the use of his beautiful farm for the first Smithfield Ham and Gourmet Food Festival, and he's allowed it to be used every year since. He gave $200,000 to the downtown renovation effort, and it's likely he'll continue to help.
And where did those wonderful bronze statues on Main Street come from, the ones that have brought folks from all over Hampton Roads to pose with old Ben or admire John and Mary? Luter brought them here. He could have put them in his front yard. Instead, he shared them with everybody.
``He has proposed an ambitious plan for the Wharf Hill area of downtown which would include moving his corporate offices to what was once the center of Smithfield's business district,'' the press release the chamber issued said.
And the press release also talked about his company, with Luter at the helm, developing lean pigs and leading the industry in innovative products. But I'm not sure I want to hear all of that.
At the chamber dinner, I think I shook hands with the ordinary Joe and congratulated him on the award.
``I love your fishing pier,'' I said.
Luter smiled and shook his head.
``People really are using it, aren't they?'' he replied.
Maybe Luter hasn't always done everything right, and maybe everybody, me included, doesn't agree with the way he's done some things.
But, hey, he's tried. Must have been the fishing pier that did it.
Finally, somebody said, ``Thanks.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by LINDA McNATT
Joseph W. Luter III, CEO of Smithfield Foods Inc., is presented the
Business of the Year award by Randolph Barlow, right, a board member
of the Isle of Wight/Smithfield Chamber of Commerce.
by CNB