THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 27, 1996 TAG: 9602270285
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: TAR HEEL LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
Since Smithfield Foods opened a large slaughterhouse in Bladen County three years ago, the county's unemployment rate has dropped, but demands for social services and workers compensation have soared.
The underground aquifer serving the county is being depleted at a rapid rate, and discharges from the plant raise fears of water pollution.
While there are still many fans of Smithfield Foods in Bladen County, the company has made new enemies too.
``I don't give a damn about that place,'' said assembly line worker Mary Lou Reaves, who is thinking of quitting. ``It could blow up tomorrow and it wouldn't hurt my feelings.''
The plant provided 3,000 manufacturing jobs. But many of the employees are migrants who need government aid. Some new immigrants qualify for food stamps even though they are working at the plat.
Bladen County social workers are expected to hand out more than $5 million worth of government food stamps this year - up more than $2 million from 1995. County social services director Larry Moore said.
``The plant adds a lot to the overall economy, but because of the work force, it also creates a greater demand on the social-service system,'' Moore told The State of Columbia, S.C.
Smithfield's jobs are so physically demanding that many employees quit soon after taking a position on the meat-production line, which processes 24,000 pigs per day. Plant officials hope to boost production to 32,000 but need regulatory approval.
At the urging of environmental groups, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Management has asked Smithfield to do a report showing whether the plant upgrade will result in more hog farms.
In the five years after Smithfield first made rumblings in 1989 that it would open a plant near Tar Heel, the number of hogs raised in Bladen County increased from 40,000 to 405,000.
Enough workers have complained about the plant that a Jacksonville law firm opened an office nearby to discuss workers' compensation cases with employees.
``These jobs aren't easy jobs,'' said Robert Manly, Smithfield's executive vice president. ``They are difficult and require a lot of manual labor.''
But he said his company has helped out-of-work people down on their luck. The county's unemployment rate dropped from nearly 11 percent in 1992 to 7.1 percent by last December.
``We're very proud of our record at Tar Heel,'' Manly said.
Water supplies are dwindling because, according to records, the plant is sucking so much from an underground aquifer. Millions of gallons of waste water pour from the factory into a major river that provides drinking water for cities downstream.
The area also often reeks of burned animal flesh and pig manure from both the plant and the giant farms that supply it, critics say.
The company believes its water use is not affecting private wells. But it is working on a water reuse plan to reduce both its withdrawals from the aquifer and its discharges to the Cape Fear River, Manly said.
The company is committed to protecting the environment, Manly said. But the plant has run afoul of state regulators.
Not long after it opened in October 1992, inspectors found that fecal matter, oil and other material were draining toward a nearby stream. The state levied a $15,546 fine.
All told, the company has been fined more than $50,000 by North Carolina for breaking water- and air-pollution laws, according to the state Division of Environmental Management.
``It takes time for a system to balance itself out,'' Manly said. ``We certainly feel whatever parameters we have exceeded caused no permanent environmental damage.''
Local politicians and restaurant owners dismiss the complaints. They love Carolina Food Processors, the name of Smithfield's Tar Heel subsidiary.
Smells from the plant are not noticeable sometimes - and when they do waft through town, they are easy to stomach, supporters say. Mayor Phil Allen described the odor as a ``burnt-bacon'' smell.
The most important thing is that the plant has poured big money into the county, both in taxes and in economic impact on local businesses, said Allen and Bladen County Commission Chairman Larry Smith.
In the past two years, the plant has paid $1.3 million in Bladen County taxes, according to the county revenue department.
At the Riverside Restaurant, co-owner Shirley Ransom figures her business has jumped 50 percent since the hog factory opened in 1992.
``It's been a real asset to our business,'' Ransom said of the plant during a break from a busy lunchtime. ``This was a small town, and it didn't have much going for it.'' by CNB