BUSINESS
imageseasttexas.com TM
OF EAST TEXAS
Salt of the Earth Morton conducts mining from huge underground mineral dome
Woman With a Beef Rancher instructs children about origins of food
Still Liquid Gold Famed 1930s oil field has yielded 5 billion barrels
SPONSORED BY THE EAST TEXAS COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS | 2008
ATHENS
www.athensedc.com
Athens Economic Development Office 100 W. Tyler St. • Athens, TX 75751 • (903) 675-4617 • E-mail: mwaddell@mycvc.net
contents BUSINESS TM
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OVERVIEW
11
BUSINESS ALMANAC
12
BUSINESS CLIMATE
Making the Move to East Texas
14
Attracting new business is about building relationships, and East Texas is making a lot of new friends.
A Business With a View
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ACCESSIBILITY
It’s Location, Location, Location
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Not all roads lead to East Texas, but enough major ones do that the region’s distribution business is booming. QUALITY OF LIFE
Recreation Makes a Splash
18
East Texas is a magnet for campers, boaters and ďŹ shermen.
Deals of the Century
19
On the Cover
PHOTO BY JEFF ADKINS
Oil derricks READ MORE ONLINE
IMAGESEASTTEXAS . com LINKS Click on links to local Web sites and learn more about the business click climate, demographics, service providers and other aspects of life here. WEB EXTRA Wine is the rising star of East Texas. Go online to read more about the region’s vineyards.
SHARE E-mail articles to a friend, Digg them, or use the RSS feed function to keep track of content updates. THE MOVIE Take a virtual tour of East Texas as seen through the eyes of our photographers. ABOUT THIS MAGAZINE
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ONLINE VIRTUAL MAGAZINE Flip through pages of Business Images of East Texas on your computer screen, zoom in to read the articles, and click on the ads to be linked to the Web sites of advertisers. B;
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Business Images of East Texas is published annually by Journal Communications Inc. and is sponsored by the East Texas Council of Governments. In print and online, Business Images gives readers a taste of what makes East Texas tick â&#x20AC;&#x201C; from transportation and technology to health care and quality of life.
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EAST TEXAS
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Find the good â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and praise it.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Alex Haley (1921-1992), Journal Communications co-founder
jnlcom.com
IMAGESEASTTEXAS.COM
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contents E N E RGY
Still Liquid Gold
20
20
Discovered in 1930, the famed East Texas Oil Field supports a host of related industries
Nature’s Sponge
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Oil Fields Fuel Cottage Industry
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Drilling machinery manufacturers are big business.
Back to the Boom Days
24
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CHE MICALS
Fantastic Plastic
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The combination of oil, gas and water has attracted major plastic producers and blow molding companies to the region. HEALTH CARE & BIOTECHNOLOGY
Curing What Ails You
26
Everything’s big in Texas, and that includes the Texas-sized health-care network.
Boosting Biotech
27
Robot Targets Tumors
29
FOOD SCIE NCE
Pittsburg’s Pride
30
Headquartered just outside Pittsburg, Pilgrim’s Pride has been a Camp County fixture since 1946.
34
Salt of the Earth
31
Building a Better Water Bottle
33
AGRIBUSINESS
Woman With a Beef
34
Rosemary Brizendine is doing her part to educate children about where their food comes from.
EAST TEXAS
PORTFOLIO
36
ECONOMIC PROFILE
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IMAGESEASTTEXAS.COM
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BUSINESS TM
EAST TEXAS 2008 EDITION, VOLUME 1
Chandler Economic Development Council Chandler is located on State Highway 31 just eight miles west of Tyler, Texas. The “City with a Heart” is the gateway to beautiful Lake Palestine. 811 Hwy. 31 E. • Chandler, TX 75758 (903) 849-6853 • Fax: (903) 849-4663 www.chandlertx.com
Since 1983, the East Texas Regional Development Company has provided small businesses in Texas with the financing they need to expand or even start their business. The East Texas Regional Development Company or ETRDC is a private, nonprofit organization formed for the purpose of assisting small businesses. The ETRDC has helped many Texas business owners achieve long-term financing for all of their business needs. To learn more about how the ETRDC can help your business with its financing needs, please call or see our Web site.
(903) 984-3989 www.etrdc.com
SENIOR EDITOR ANITA WADHWANI MANAGING EDITOR MAURICE FLIESS COPY EDITOR JOYCE CARUTHERS ASSOCIATE EDITORS LISA BATTLES, KIM MADLOM ASSISTANT EDITOR REBECCA DENTON STAFF WRITERS CAROL COWAN, KEVIN LITWIN, JESSICA MOZO DIRECTORIES EDITORS AMANDA KING, KRISTY WISE EDITORIAL ASSISTANT JESSY YANCEY CONTRIBUTING WRITERS PAMELA COYLE, KIMBERLY DALY, VERNE GAY, ELLEN MARGULIES, DAN MARKHAM, KATHRYN ROYSTON REGIONAL SALES MANAGER CHARLES FITZGIBBON ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER TODD POTTER INTEGRATED MEDIA MANAGER JOE THOMAS ONLINE SALES MANAGER MATT SLUTZ SALES COORDINATOR SARA SARTIN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS JEFF ADKINS, WES ALDRIDGE, TODD BENNETT, ANTONY BOSHIER, MICHAEL W. BUNCH, IAN CURCIO, BRIAN M C CORD CREATIVE DIRECTOR KEITH HARRIS WEB DESIGN DIRECTOR SHAWN DANIEL PRODUCTION DIRECTOR NATASHA LORENS ASSISTANT PRODUCTION DIRECTOR CHRISTINA CARDEN PRE-PRESS COORDINATOR HAZEL RISNER SENIOR PRODUCTION PROJECT MGR. TADARA SMITH PRODUCTION PROJECT MGRS. MELISSA HOOVER, JILL WYATT SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNERS LAURA GALLAGHER, KRIS SEXTON, VIKKI WILLIAMS LEAD DESIGNER CANDICE HULSEY GRAPHIC DESIGN JESSICA BRAGONIER, JANINE MARYLAND, LINDA MOREIRAS, AMY NELSON, CARL RATLIFF WEB PROJECT MANAGER ANDY HARTLEY WEB DESIGN RYAN DUNLAP, CARL SCHULZ WEB PRODUCTION JILL TOWNSEND DIGITAL ASSET MANAGER ALISON HUNTER COLOR IMAGING TECHNICIAN CORY MITCHELL AD TRAFFIC MEGHANN CAREY, SARAH MILLER, PATRICIA MOISAN, RAVEN PETTY CHAIRMAN GREG THURMAN PRESIDENT/PUBLISHER BOB SCHWARTZMAN EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT RAY LANGEN SR. V.P./CLIENT DEVELOPMENT JEFF HEEFNER SR. V.P./SALES CARLA H. THURMAN SR. V.P./PRODUCTION & OPERATIONS CASEY E. HESTER V.P./SALES HERB HARPER V.P./VISUAL CONTENT MARK FORESTER V.P./TRAVEL PUBLISHING SYBIL STEWART EXECUTIVE EDITOR TEREE CARUTHERS MANAGING EDITOR/TRAVEL SUSAN CHAPPELL PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR JEFFREY S. OTTO CONTROLLER CHRIS DUDLEY ACCOUNTING MORIAH DOMBY, DIANA GUZMAN, MARIA MCFARLAND, LISA OWENS, JACKIE YATES RECRUITING/TRAINING DIRECTOR SUZY WALDRIP COMMUNITY PROMOTION DIRECTOR CINDY COMPERRY DISTRIBUTION DIRECTOR GARY SMITH MARKETING COORDINATOR AMY AKIN IT SYSTEMS DIRECTOR MATT LOCKE IT SERVICE TECHNICIAN RYAN SWEENEY HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER PEGGY BLAKE BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR NICOLE WILLIAMS SALES SUPPORT MANAGER/ CUSTOM MAGAZINES PATTI CORNELIUS OFFICE MANAGER SHELLY GRISSOM
Business Images of East Texas is published annually by Journal Communications Inc. and is distributed through the East Texas Council of Governments. For advertising information or to direct questions or comments about the magazine, contact Journal Communications Inc. at (615) 771-0080 or by e-mail at info@jnlcom.com.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: East Texas Council of Governments 3800 Stone Rd. • Kilgore, TX 75662 Phone: (903) 984-8641 • Fax: (903) 983-1440 www.etcog.org VISIT BUSINESS IMAGES OF EAST TEXAS ONLINE AT IMAGESEASTTEXAS.COM ©Copyright 2007 Journal Communications Inc., 725 Cool Springs Blvd., Suite 400, Franklin, TN 37067, (615) 771-0080. All rights reserved. No portion of this magazine may be reproduced in whole or in part without written consent. Member Member
Magazine Publishers of America Custom Publishing Council
Member East Texas Council of Governments
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IMAGESEASTTEXAS.COM
EAST TEXAS
A GOOD PLACE TO …
Live
Work Shop
Explore the opportunities and discover your new hometown in East Texas. Economic opportunities abound with excellent location and transportation infrastructure. If you’re thinking about relocating, give us a call or pay us a visit.
The City of Fr ankston, Texas Frankston, Texas Economic Development Board City Hall • 200 W. Main St. • Frankston, TX 75763 • (903) 876-2241
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IMAGESEASTTEXAS.COM
EAST TEXAS
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imageseasttexas.com
EAST TEXAS
IMAGESEASTTEXAS.COM
9
Business and Industry regard East Texas as a region with an ever improving quality of life, an active and coordinated economic development program and a premier workforce.
“Proudly Serving East Texas Businesses” Texas Style!
BUSINESS RESOURCES
EMPLOYMENT SOLUTIONS
• assistance with posting jobs
• career consulting
• pre-screening of applicants
• fax, copier, phone, computers and Internet
• rooms for interviewing and training
• job search assistance
• printer, fax, phones, computers and Internet
• resume writing classes
• subsidized training
• child care resources
• mini-job fairs
• skills assessments
• employer training
• referral information
• training and education courses
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CALL (877) ETWORKS www.easttexasworkforce.org TDD: 711 Athens: (903) 677-3521 Palestine: (903) 729-0178 Canton: (903) 567-4706 Carthage: (903) 693-2272 Emory: (903) 473-8757
Gilmer: (903) 797-3655 Henderson: (903) 657-9553 Jacksonville: (903) 586-3688
Jefferson: (903) 665-1024 Longview: (903) 758-1783 Marshall: (903) 935-7814
Pittsburg: (903) 856-5643 Quitman: (903) 763-5421 Tyler: (903) 561-8131
This is an equal opportunity employer/program. Auxiliary Aids available upon request.
overview
TOP 10 REASONS TO DO BUSINESS IN EAST TEXAS 1. Location
6. Favorable Tax Climate
Centrally located within the United States, East Teas is accessible by air, rail and road.
The State Business Tax Climate Index ranked Texas as having the sixth best business tax environment in the nation. Local officials work hard to create favorable tax incentives for business.
2. Thriving and Diversified Industries
7. Hospitality
Manufacturing, energy, health care and distribution businesses have all found East Texas to be fertile ground for their growing businesses.
City, county and economic development officials actively work together to address the needs of relocating businesses.
3. Low Cost of Living
8. Mobility
Housing prices are among the lowest in the nation, making it an attractive location for relocating families who find they can get a lot more in return for their housing dollars here.
East Texas enjoys easy access to major highways, rail lines and airports, making it a natural distribution hub.
9. Recreation
4. Scenic Beauty
East Texas has an abundant supply of recreational activities, from boating and fishing to museums and festivals to retail shopping and small-town antique adventures.
Nowhere else in Texas will you find the combination of rolling hills, Piney Woods, and vast, clear lakes that comprise the largely undeveloped East Texas landscape.
10. An Ideal Climate
5. A Skilled and Adaptable Workforce
The climate is consistently mild, with more than 245 days of sunshine.
The region offers top-notch education and workforce training institutes. 37
Daingerfield Pittsburg
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Dallas
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Mineola
Kaufman
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154
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Canton 20
Marshall
Longview
S SMITH
GREG G REG EG GG GG
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Tyler
79
Kilgore
Gun Barrel City 69
Trinidad
Carthage
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Jacksonville
287
79
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Rusk
69
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Alto 294
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CHEROKEE C RO EE
Palestine
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315
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Henderson
HENDERSON D RS
East Texas
PA AN ANOLA A N LA
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SEE VIDEO ONLINE | Take a virtual tour of East Texas at imageseastexas.com, courtesy of our award-winning photographers.
IMAGESEASTTEXAS.COM
11
business almanac
GREGG COUNTY WOOD COUNTY
SPRINGTIME IN HAWKINS Ozarka Water has poured $150 million into Wood County just to take a little water out. The regional water company, whose parent company is Nestle Waters North America, opened a bottling facility in Hawkins in 2002. Ozarka had 90 employees when it was launched, though it now employs 265 people in a variety of departments. The company draws water from the springs on the property, then bottles the brand on site. A hydrogeologist employed by the company determined Wood County’s fitness for the plant. The facility itself also meets the earth-conscious image of a spring water company. The 415,000square-foot bottling facility is certified for its environmental friendliness.
SMITH COUNTY
GROWING A GROCERY EMPIRE Brookshires is building a name in Texas and beyond. The grocery store chain was founded in 1928 in Tyler, where it maintains its corporate headquarters, manufacturing facility and three distribution centers. Excluding its Tyler stores, it employs more than 2,000 in Smith County. The manufacturing facility produces Brookshire’s in-house brands of ice cream, dairy products, fresh fruit, water and ice. The company has expanded from its East Texas roots, building a presence throughout the state and into neighboring Arkansas, Louisiana and even into Mississippi. The chain has 152 stores, more than double the total from 20 years earlier.
AN OPENING IN CLOSURES When Alcoa Closure Systems International opted to consolidate its southern operations, Kilgore was the big winner. The manufacturer of plastic closures for consumer foods and beverages shuttered its Shreveport, La., facility and relocated those operations to Gregg County. Alcoa completed an $8 million expansion at its Kilgore location in September 2006. The project added a second facility that hooks up to the original 88,000square-foot building. It also added close to 70 jobs to the local economy. The company’s southern operations produced approximately 2.5 billion closures in 2006, serving such well-known brands as Nestle, Kraft and Folgers, among others.
CHEROKEE COUNTY
OUTFITTING AMERICA Stage Stores and its affiliated companies deliver upscale apparel to rural America. Much of that apparel is delivered from Jacksonville. Men’s, women’s and children’s clothing, jewelry, footwear and cosmetics are shipped to Stage, Bealls, Palais Royal and Peebles stores from the company’s 437,000-square-foot warehouse.
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EAST TEXAS
VAN ZANDT COUNTY
MAKING A SPLASH The City of Canton offered three prime reasons for why it would be the ideal location for Splash Kingdom Waterpark. The city is centrally located for the targeted East Texas market, with easy access to Interstate 20. And the city’s willingness to work with new businesses sealed the deal. Johnny and Marci Blevins opened the waterpark in 2006. The facility has attracted 80,000 visitors per year during its first two seasons of operations. The waterpark and its slides, wave pool and lazy rivers is open from Memorial Day through Labor Day. But with a mini-golf course, arcade and birthday party room under roof, Splash Kingdom offers year-round entertainment.
HENDERSON COUNTY
KEEPING ENERGY FLOWING The 395,000-square-foot Athens distribution facility for the worldwide Schneider Electric Company is only two years old, though it figures prominently in the company’s future. The company expects to supply nearly half the North American market with energy products from its facility in Henderson County. Schneider Electric North American Operating Division, headquartered in Palatine, Ill., provides power and control products to the residential, buildings, industrial, energy and infrastructure market. It offers three primary brands, Merlin Gerin, Square D and Telemecanique. The company’s North American sales totaled $17 billion in 2006.
ANDERSON COUNTY
BEER CENTRAL The Ben E. Keith Company’s beverage distribution facility in Palestine is not located there by chance. “There’s a reason we’re here,” says Andrew Gregory, general manager of the local facility, which sells more than 2 million cases of beverages annually. “This was proposed as the third-best distribution point in the country.” The facility is located off Highway 79 and in proximity to four other highways. That makes it a perfect launching point to distribute Anheuser-Busch products and energy drinks to Anderson and six adjacent counties.
RAINS COUNTY
HARDWARE HEAVEN In 1994, Lance Hooten opened a welding shop in Emory, performing welding repairs and selling a few things to a handful of customers. But soon, Hooten realized that both he, and his customers, needed a little more. Hooten’s customers were regularly asking for metal products, flat steel or pipe. So Hooten expanded, first adding pipe, steel and ultimately other building products. Then he added a hardware section to his store. Today Hooten’s encompasses welding, manufacturing, hardware and other products for contractors and do-ityourselfers in Rains County. The small shop has grown into a 30-employee operation. It operates on a 12-acre site on Highway 69 North.
“Palestine is perfect for business,” Gregory says. “The cost of living is low, the employees are good and the distribution point is second to none.”
EAST TEXAS
IMAGESEASTTEXAS.COM
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business climate
Making the Move to
East Texas Friendly business climate draws big business to region
JEFF ADKINS
A
A welder fixes a trailer hitch at Hooten’s Welding and Manufacturing shop, a growing East Texas company in Emory.
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IMAGESEASTTEXAS.COM
ttracting new business is about building relationships, and East Texas is making a lot of new friends. The region has much to offer: easy access to main transportation arteries; incentives such as tax breaks and workforce training; a modest cost of living; and great recreational options. “East Texas is one of the best kept secrets in the country in terms of beautiful surroundings, cultural things, and so many activities for families and young adults,” says David Cleveland, executive director of the East Texas Council of Governments, an umbrella agency for the 14-county region. “It’s got all the assets that companies are looking for.” Just ask John Herrick, president of Cleveland Steel Container, an Ohio company setting up a manufacturing facility in Kilgore’s Synergy Park. “The single most important thing that caused us to choose Kilgore was the people we were dealing with and sense of Kilgore being a friendly, workable community from the day we arrived all the way through the process,” Herrick says. The amount of attention was “amazing,” he says. The breadth of community involvement included a local judge, the mayor, the city manager, school board members, a college president and a representative from the governor’s office, among others. “That told us a lot about Kilgore,” Herrick says. The crowning touch was a beautiful dinner at a private home. That personal attention made all the difference. “If you go to a bigger city it is going to be hard to get that level of attention,” says Cleveland.
EAST TEXAS
And the Deep South’s hospitality doesn’t end when the deal is signed. “If you are a new company or existing company, once you make the decision to come here or expand here, our job is not done,” says Cleveland. “We look at this as a long-term commitment and partnership.” The approach is paying big dividends. SYSCO, the food service giant, is building a $33 million distribution center in Longview. Minserco Co. is investing $7.5 million for a new facility in Kilgore. Neiman Marcus is expanding its existing distribution center in Longview. Convergys, which provides customer support, opened a new call center in Longview in 2007. Orgill Inc., a hardware and home improvement distributor, is working out a brand new distribution center in Synergy Park. In Palestine, Willow Creek, a mixed-use business park, opened in 2005 and has five buildings, a sixth under construction and two more planned – a hotel and a surgery center, says Brian Malone, director of the Palestine Economic Development Corp. “We think it is pretty phenomenal,” Malone says. That became clear to the folks at SYSCO. The company looked at sites in Louisiana and East Texas before settling on Longview. “Our corporation wanted to be in a certain geographic area,” says Brett Lindig, president and CEO of SYSCO Food Services of East Texas. “You look at the East Texas market, and it is growing.” The East Texas region covers Anderson, Camp, Cherokee, Gregg, Harrison, Henderson, Marion, Panola, Rains, Rusk, Smith, Upshur, Van Zandt and Wood counties. U.S. Census figures put the population at 650,000 in 1990, 754,000 in 2000 and 850,000 residents are projected by 2011. For new and expanding businesses, that means a growing customer base – and a steady supply of workers. In 2000, health care and social services accounted for 12 percent of the region’s workforce and retail another 14 percent. Both sectors are expected to grow. “Retail growth is really picking up in our area,” says Luke Kimbrough, director of regional services at the Council. “That is mainly because of retirees moving out of the Dallas area. They want to get out of traffic. They are coming east. They like the lakes. They like the recreation.” In Texas, economic development is very much a local initiative, with dedicated sales taxes to fund city agencies, buy land for business centers and help attract new jobs. SYSCO, Lindig says, looked at Tyler, Marshall and Kilgore before settling on Longview. “There’s always friendly competition, but they seem to understand that to be successful the whole region has to prosper,” he says. And those communities competing for businesses extend Texas-style hospitality not only to prospects, but also to each other. “I may not have what is needed,” says Malone, in Palestine. “But, if I don’t, I hope my neighbor has it.” – Pamela Coyle
EAST TEXAS
A Business With a View SYNERGY PARK GIVES BUSINESSES AN ATTRACTIVE OPTION Not many industrial parks look out over beautiful woodlands, walking trails and a 10-acre lake. But Synergy Park in Kilgore is far from a typical industrial park. The land was once owned by a family that made its fortune in the East Texas oil boom and hired the Works Progress Administration to build the trails. The setting was a major factor in Berco of America’s decision to take the last space in the park’s shell building for its newest distribution center. “That is one quality industrial site,” says Dave Koester, Berco’s after-market director. Berco is the North American distributor of Italian-made track chains, rollers and idlers to customers that include John Deere and other equipment manufacturers. Berco took over 57,000 square feet in the building in mid-2007 and is up to full operation. “We wanted to be in the South, and you have the small town but are very close to Dallas, Houston and Oklahoma City, which are good areas for our business,” Koester says. The park’s business model is as unusual as its setting. The Kilgore Economic Development Commission, a non-profit arm of the city that took out bonds to build Synergy Park, has set up a property owners’ association that eventually will take over management of the common areas. The park’s first 80,000 square-foot “shell building” was a public-private partnership and, in August, was sold to a California developer for $4.5 million. The commission will use the money to leverage a second building, says Amanda Nobles, economic development director. Another difference is mixing public use with industrial use; the trails and Elder Lake have opened to the public. Synergy Park totals 700 acres. About 200 will remain undeveloped. Sites range from 10 to 200 acres. Potential incentives include local and county tax breaks, a dedicated economic development tax and grant-writing help for workforce training funds. The formula seems to be working. Among recent successes: Minserco, Inc., a mining and manufacturing service company, bought nearly 16 acres and doubled its workforce. – Pamela Coyle
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Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Location, Location,
LOCATION Easy access makes East Texas a distribution center destination
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EAST TEXAS
accessibility
JEFF ADKINS
N
EAST TEXAS
ot all roads lead to East Texas, but enough major ones do that the region’s distribution business is booming. With interstates 20, 30, 35 and 45 nearby, the area is a competitive spot for companies wanting access to markets as the nation’s population center moves south and west. Two railroads carry and load cargo through the region: the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific railroads. Orgill, a 160-year-old company that distributes everything from hammers and nails to hot tubs, had narrowed its search for a new distribution center to a 100-mile radius around Shreveport, La. The company, one of the four largest hardlines distributors in the U.S., settled on Synergy Park in Kilgore. With an investment of nearly $50 million, Orgill’s new, 558,000-squarefoot distribution center will employ about 300 people. “We are based in Memphis, but our business is shifting further south,” says Vic Price, the company’s vice president for distribution. “We run our own fleet of trucks so it is very important to us to have good access to interstates.” Orgill joins a host of other firms that have decided to set up distribution centers in East Texas. It is an impressive list: SYSCO Corp., the country’s largest food service marketer and distributor, is building a 290,000-square-foot distribution center in Longview, a $33 million upfront investment that will create about 300 jobs. The 70-acre site is expected to open later in 2008. SYSCO will serve thousands of restaurants, hospitals, schools, colleges, retirement homes, hotels and other food service operations in East Texas and portions of Arkansas and Louisiana from
the Longview site. None of the customers will be more than two hours away. “It is a growing market,” says Brett Lindig, the new president and CEO of SYSCO Food Services of East Texas. “No one in food service has made it a base of operations.” Also in Longview, Neiman Marcus, the high-end retailer, is in the midst of a $6 million expansion to its distribution center, scheduled to be finished in 2008. Brookshire Grocery Co. got its start as a single store in Tyler 80 years ago and now has 155 stories in four states. Tyler remains Brookshire’s home base, with two of its three regional distribution centers. Palestine has two Wal-Mart distribution centers and Target employs more than 1,000 people at its Tyler distribution center. “It is not only because of highway and rail structure, but it is also a convenient location on the national map for distribution,” says Tom Mullins, director of the Tyler Economic Development Corporation. “As population moves, it creates markets and companies need to catch up.” Target, he said, picked northeast Texas rather than central Texas because the retailer’s biggest cost is inbound freight and many of its products start their journey in the north or eastern seaboard. Much of the region is located along what is called the “Green Carpet” between the Gulf of Mexico and the Midwest. “You have all those big players in northeast Texas because the strategic advantage we have on the map,” Mullins says. At Orgill, Price is happy with the decision to set up shop in Kilgore. “We are growing,” he says. “There is still a lot of business out there.” – Pamela Coyle
A train moves along the tracks in Van Zandt County. With key transportation arteries crisscrossing the region, East Texas is a distribution center hub.
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quality of life
Recreation Makes a
Splash All you need is a free weekend and sense of adventure
O
Caddo Lake in Marion County is the South’s largest fresh-water lake, covering about 36,800 acres.
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nce upon a time, Jefferson was a bustling river port of about 7,000 people. The second-largest city in the state, in fact, following the Civil War. But a man who was thwarted in his attempts to bring the railroad through town made an unhappy – and now- famous – prophecy on this East Texas hamlet: “Bats will roost in your belfries, trees thrust branches through moldering buildings and grass will grow in your streets.” Bats in your Belfries, a comedy about the would-be railroad tycoon Jay Gould, is a favorite each year at the Bull Durham Playhouse in Jefferson. That the prophecy retained some truth – that the neverto-be railroad left the region’s undeveloped natural beauty untouched a century later – is a matter of bragging rights around here. “We like how it’s quiet here,” says Jim Gibson, city administrator of Jefferson. While it is the county seat of Marion County, the town of about 2,200 is definitely not the metropolis Gould wanted it to become. “It’s really nice to be able to walk out your front door, walk half a mile and be at the park,” says Gibson, a former Houston resident.
EAST TEXAS
Lake Palestine, about 20 miles outside of Tyler, is another popular destination for anglers and water-lovers. Featuring many of the same amenities as Caddo, Lake Palestine is also known as a great place to swim and water ski. Recreational gems like these do round out East Texas life quite nicely. True, the city of Jefferson is no longer the busy port it was in the 19th century. The pace is slower here than in neighboring Dallas and Shreveport. Turns out Gould was right on some counts. “Grass did and still does grow in our streets,” says Chitwood. And that’s just fine with everybody. – Ellen Margulies
P H OTO S B Y J E F F A D K I N S
East Texas is now a magnet for a different sort of adventurer, including campers, boaters and fishermen. Turning Basin Boat Tours takes 5-mile pleasure cruises up the Big Cypress Bayou. “We talk about the trees, the wildlife and fish – and throw in a little humor,” said Johnny Nance, who runs the tour boat business along with his brother. People flock to the tour during the summer months, but the best time to go, Nance says, is autumn. Turning Basin doesn’t go quite as far up the river as Caddo Lake in nearby Marion County, a favorite destination in this part of the state. “There’s fishing, boating – [other] tour boats will take you out to see it,” says Nance, who thinks it’s a good idea to get a guide before venturing out alone. “It is a swamp and covered in vegetation, and you could get lost.” Sometimes getting lost is just the thing. Caddo Lake is the largest fresh-water lake in the South, encompassing about 36,800 acres that straddle Texas and Louisiana. There are facilities for campers and vacationers: fishing and boating, with or without guides; nature trails for hiking; overnight lodging, campsites and RV hookups; and exhibits that describe the history of the state park and the American Indians the lake was named for. Amateur photographers have been known to catch a gator sunning himself on a fallen cypress, just out of reach of the shade cast by a hanging veil of Spanish moss. Other lakes in the area, too, boast that natural beauty. Lake of the Pines, a manmade lake created by flood control efforts in the 1950s, is full of bayou charm, says Juanita Wakefield Chitwood, director of tourism development for Jefferson. “It’s so green year-round,” she says.
Lilly pads float in the water as the sun sets over Caddo Lake.
The Place for Deals of the Century ‘FIRST MONDAY’ IN CANTON IS A SHOPPER’S PARADISE Here’s one Monday you’ll never dread: First Monday, Canton’s iconic, 150-year-old open market. Since the 1850s, when traveling Circuit Court judges made the rounds and landed in Canton on the first Monday of each month to hear cases, the area’s scattered ranchers and other residents figured it would be the perfect opportunity to do a little trading. Nowadays, it’s a lot of trading. What started as an informal barter session on the courthouse lawn has grown into the ultimate shopping destination. First Monday grew too big for the courthouse lawn and too big for Mondays, though it has always kept its quaint, pioneer market name. Now held on the Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday
EAST TEXAS
before the first Monday of each month, the marketplace boasts a staggering 7,000 vendors hawking their wares over 500 acres. And with its growth has come unique shops, bed and breakfast inns and other retail and restaurants. “It’s a golden egg for the city,” says Jim Stephens, administrative director for the city of Canton. Stephens tries to go to a different section of the market every month. The discoveries – and the possibilities – are endless. “When you come, plan to take about three days,” Stephens says. “It takes a good three days to walk it and see everything.” “Everything” ranges from rare antiques and home décor to children’s clothes and guitars
made out of bedpans and driftwood, says Linda Hatfield, director of marketing for First Monday Trade Days and a bona fide First Monday heiress. It was Hatfield’s uncle who, along with a friend, first came up with the idea to expand the market and make it a permanent fixture. “I’ve grown up in it,” Hatfield says, adding that the market is truly something that has to be seen to be believed. First Monday is now the oldest and largest flea market in the U.S., Hatfield says. “It’s the ultimate shopping experience,” she says, where you can find “just about anything. “If you can’t find it at First Monday, it doesn’t exist.” – Ellen Margulies
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energy
Oil Is Still
King Famed East Texas Oil Field supports a host of related industries
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T
An oil rig operates in the middle of a golf course at the Longview Country Club.
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he East Texas Oil Field” remains among the most iconic phrases in American industry. Discovered one day in October 1930, the field is spread across parts of Gregg, Rusk, Upshur, Smith and Cherokee counties, while some 30,000 wells drilled into the nearby Woodbine formation have yielded more than 5 billion barrels of oil over their lifetime. That oil helped win the Second World War – after the “Big Inch” and “Little Inch” pipelines were the first major lines to be laid across the U.S. – and it helped secure Texas’ role as a major economic force in its own right. To this day, the region’s oil and gas flow remains strong. Some 2,135 wells in the area operating at an average depth of 3,500 feet are still producing anywhere from three to 14 barrels a day, according to Bill Adamson, president of the Kilgore Economic Development Corporation. “We have operated leases that have not changed their daily production in 20
EAST TEXAS
P H OTO S B Y J E F F A D K I N S
‘Nature’s Sponge’
Bill Adamson, president of the Kilgore Economic Development Corp.
years,” says Adamson, who is also president of Sabine Pipe, one of the region’s leading oil producers, which supplies pipeline to dozens of other companies here. To sustain yield, oil producers recycle a vast underground reservoir – an “ocean,” Adamson calls it – of salt water deep back down into the field itself. The water forces the oil to the top of the reservoir, allowing it to be harvested. That in itself has literally created a booming “underground” economy of compressor manufacturers, plumbing contractors, and pipe-fitters. The future of the field, both for oil and gas – which is drawn from wells over 10 thousand feet in the so-called Cotton Valley formation – remains a subject of debate. Adamson says the vast field probably may not yield oil for a hundred more years, “but perhaps as long as fifty.” Nonetheless, oil and gas remain king, and the region encompassed by the East Texas Oil Field continues to be drilled by the nation’s oil industry giants. Houston-based Haliburton is repre-
EAST TEXAS
sented here, and after recently divesting itself of its KBR and military contracts divisions, has refocused attention on the East Texas field, actively drilling and engaged in evaluation, production optimization and drilling software and consulting. Howell Oil, one of the pillars of the local economy, predominantly drills for natural gas. Oklahoma City-based Devon derives about 90 percent of its oil and gas from North America, and a large portion of that figure from the East Texas fields. It produces over 2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, or 3 percent of all gas consumption in North America. EOG Resources of Houston is one of the region’s leading natural gas producers, too, with estimated gas reserves of 6 billion cubic feet; 60 percent of that is in the U.S., and much of that is in East Texas. Privately held Victory Oil and Gas, based in Mabank, is another major supplier. – Verne Gay
One of the most important industries to spring from the oil fields is activated carbon. It’s a product with literally hundreds of applications in dozens of industries, and all them engaged in one vital pursuit: purifying the products that they make. Marshall-based NORIT Americas Inc. – a subsidiary of a Dutch conglomerate – is the industry giant in the region, using lignite coal to produce the carbon. “We call it ‘nature’s sponge,’” says Don Saylor, director of sales and marketing for NORIT Americas. “When you put steam and heat to it, it makes it very porous, with very tiny holes. You then get it in either powder or granular form, and use it to remove substrates” in various products. Activated carbon is increasingly is used in carbon filters in cars to trap fumes. It can be used to purify foods or water or take certain unwanted flavors out of wines or foods. It is even used in sewage treatment plants. Saylor says NORIT has 33 separate product markets alone. NORIT has plants throughout the world, but one of the biggest is in Marshall. That plant will increase by one-third beginning in 2009, Saylor says. Demand, he says, is “driven in large part by the fact that the EPA has required that mercury be removed from coal-fired plants, and the best solution is to blow in lignite-based carbon. That market will at least double the North American carbon market over the next five to eight years.” – Verne Gay
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energy
Oil Fields
Fuel Cottage Industry Growing manufacturing sector provides parts for drilling machinery
P H OTO S B Y J E F F A D K I N S
W
Workers at East Texas Radiator construct a heat transfer system, which are used to reach the deepest pockets of oil.
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here’s there’s oil, there’s valves. And compressors, pumps and a hundred other manufacturing businesses that either feed the oil industry or derive raw economic power from it. The East Texas economy turns on such industries, and they’re growing rapidly. LeRoy Linseisen, president and CEO of East Texas Radiator Heat Transfer Products and one of the leading figures in the field, says much of this cottage industry has been galvanized by the maturation of the oil industry, requiring more advanced mechanisms to drill deeper. “The growth prospects are extremely good,” Linseisen says. “The less well pressure you have, the more need there is for compressors, and as the wellhead goes down [deeper], they need to keep more compressors on it.” Linseisen’s company is part of a growing field of industry that provides drillers with a broad spectrum of products and services. They’re vital to the drilling industry for many reasons, including supplying products for the so-called “re-
EAST TEXAS
injection” of salt water that often comes up with the oil. It has to be re-injected to maintain pressure in the wells and to literally force the oil to the ground. Among other oil-industry related ventures is Energy Weldfab, which has a 40,000-square-foot facility in White Oak, as well as huge sandblast and valve-repair facilities. It was founded in 1990 by Mike Clements, one of the region’s leading experts in the manufacturer of custom vessels, piping and structural, steel, while the company itself also provides indirect heaters, oil production treaters, dehydration systems and pulsation bottles to the industry. EFC Valve & Controls in Longview is another leading manufacturer of control valves, level controllers, pressure regulators, y-strainers, and valve actuation units – all essential in the process of oil removal. Companies like ETR supply the internal combustion engines that keep the drills operating. They also supply products that cool the compressed gas – which is extremely hot at great depths – and supply various types of compressors that re-compress the gas so that different grades of gas are broken off, such as natural gas supplied to individuals’ homes, says Linseisen. Because natural gas fields are “almost everywhere” in East Texas, Linseisen says his business – and the industry – are “very rapidly growing.” – Verne Gay
East Texas Radiator, located in Longview, manufactures heat transer systems and associated components for oil rigs.
EAST TEXAS
Boomtown USA at the East Texas Oil Museum
Back to the Boom Days EAST TEXAS OIL MUSEUM TAKES VISITORS ON A TRIP TO THE 1930S The oil boom of the early 1930s forever transformed the sleepy railroad town of Kilgore. Prior to the discovery of Daisy Bradford No. 3, Kilgore – population roughly 400 – was like many other struggling communities during the Depression. The big strike brought national attention and 10,000 people hungry to make their fortune. Overnight, Kilgore became a destination, with new opportunities as well as new problems. “With the flush of new money came the good, the bad and the ugly,” says Joe White, director of the East Texas Oil Museum at Kilgore Community College. The 27-year-old museum chronicles the area’s colorful oil history. The first gusher tapped into an oil deposit – the East Texas Oil Field – that to this day remains the largest in the lower 48 states. At the museum, children and adults can see, hear and feel what life was like during the oil boom. In “Boomtown USA,” the streets are rutted; the barbershop buzzes with rumors of a new gusher; the drugstore jukebox plays big band classics. “They literally step back into time,” White says. “It represents a recreation of a moment of time, a day in the 1930s.” The museum doesn’t just look back. In 2008, it launched a campaign to raise $20 million for a museum expansion that will “take the story of energy into the third millennium,” White says. The expansion will cover alternative fuels and include many hands-on activities to further strengthen the museum’s educational mission. – Pamela Coyle
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Eastman Chemical Co.’s Longview plant
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EAST TEXAS
chemicals
Fantastic
PLASTIC Natural resources draw major plastics producers to the region
G
ladewater, Kilgore and Longview form a triangle deep in the vibrant economic heart and soul of East Texas, but it’s not just oil and gas that created this powerful triumvirate. It’s also water – bountiful water just to the west of Gladewater that’s kept the area’s electrical rates among the lowest in the state. The combination of oil, gas and water has attracted some major plastics producers and blow molding companies, which produce the world’s plastic jars, tubes and tops. The venerable Eastman Chemical – which spun off from Eastman Kodak in 1994 – has a manufacturing facility located in Longview. With more than 1,500 employees, it is one of the largest employers in East Texas. It’s also one of the oldest, dating back to 1951, when the first shipment of chemicals was made. At the Longview site, Eastman manufactures some 40 chemicals and polymer products that are sold to individual customers and used in the manufacture of hundreds of consumer products, such as toothbrushes, bicycle helmets and vitamins. 3D Plastics, a major manufacturer of plastic blow molding, makes its home in Gladewater, while half a dozen other major plastic manufacturers lie in the
EAST TEXAS
triangle as well, including Frye International, which manufactures airtight food storage containers; GenPak Carthage, which makes plastic extruder and thermoformers; PakSher, a leader in the manufacture of flexible packaging for foods; and Swirl-way, a maker of acrylic whirlpools and shower bases. “One of the things we love here in
East Texas and Gladewater is the water,” says Lon Welton, executive director of the Gladewater Economic Development Commission. “We have our own lake, which gives us an unlimited supply of water so our electrical service rates are the lowest in the state. We’re also halfway between Longview and Tyler and have easy access to Interstate 20.” – Verne Gay
Eastman Chemical Co. employs more than 1,500 people in East Texas.
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health care & biotechnology
Curing What
Ails You East Texans have their pick of award-winning hospitals
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verything’s big in Texas, and that includes the Texassized health-care network. Providing state-of-the-art health care, specialized medicine and a wealth of resources to East Texas residents, the area’s network boasts 14 hospitals in the East Texas Medical Center Regional Healthcare System; two hospitals in the Trinity Mother Frances Health System and the awardwinning Good Shepherd Medical Center in Longview. What does it mean to have such top-notch hospital care at their fingertips? Good Shepherd, a 412-bed facility, got a taste of the community’s gratitude when it was named among the nation’s top 5 percent of hospitals for the fifth consecutive year by this country’s leading independent healthcare ratings company. “We were named among America’s 50 best hospitals,” says Cindy Terry, marketing specialist for Good Shepherd. “People are definitely proud. The medical staff is proud to be affiliated here, and the community is comforted to know they have such a high level of care right here. They don’t have to go to Dallas or Shreveport.” The hospital’s heart center just celebrated its 20th anniversary, and it also broke ground on the Institute for Healthy Living. Expected to open in August or September 2008, the $17 million, 75,000-square-foot facility will be “an integrated wellness center” on the north side of Longview, Terry says. “It will integrate rehab services with the largest educational institute in the region, plus a world-class fitness facility.” Trinity Mother Frances, with facilities in Jacksonville and Tyler, is also an award-winning facility, having been The East Texas Medical Center in Tyler is one of 14 hospitals in the East Texas Medical Center Regional Heath System.
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EAST TEXAS
recognized nationally for improving healthcare performance. Mother Frances Hospital has served the East Texas region for more than 70 years. In addition to its nationally recognized cardiac program, the hospitals also emphasize care for women and children; trauma; rehab; orthopedics; pain management and cosmetic surgery. The Trinity Mother Frances system also features the cutting-edge Center for Advanced Surgery and Technology, which offers robotic surgery, among other services. Largest among all the hospital systems in East Texas is the East Texas Medical Center system. With 14 facilities, ETMC is dedicated to being a health-care leader in the communities it serves. Rebecca Berkley, ETMC public relations manager, points to some of the center’s cutting-edge advances, such as: A $2.7 million expansion of its emergency center, Cyberknife, a $4 million investment added in 2006 that allows doctors to treat tumors without surgery, and new digital mammography in the breast care center and mobile unit. “People want quality health care, whether they live in a larger community or a smaller one,” Elmer G. Ellis, president and CEO of ETMC, says in the hospital’s brochure. “We want to provide a high quality of service at a cost that allows people to have access to it.” – Ellen Margulies
Boosting Biotech
JEFF ADKINS
ATHENS CENTER HELPS GET NEW MEDICAL DEVICES TO MARKET
EAST TEXAS
When Rick Gillespie and his partner wanted to develop a new self-injection medical device, they knew they had an innovative idea. What they didn’t have was a fully – and expensively – outfitted laboratory that met the Food and Drug Administration’s stringent requirements for medical product development. That’s where the Biotech Manufacturing Center in Athens came in. The only business incubator in the country that targets medical devices, not research or new drug development, the center is fully outfitted to meet FDA standards. “We didn’t have to go out and spend money on brick and mortar,” says Gillespie, program director for the now operational self-injection manufacturer, Pharma-Pen. “We were able to spend the money we raised directly for product development rather than capital equipment that we could use at BMC.” Pharma-Pen is one of six tenants on site, which also has about 30 “virtual” tenants who don’t need to rent space yet but may be working on clinical prototypes, says Greg Roach, BMC’s founder and first executive director. Roach came up with the idea for the incubator when he was at a small business center at Trinity Community College. The Athens area had lost thousands of manufacturing jobs, and the city’s economic development arm had an empty building it was about to padlock. “We have over 1,000 incubators in the U.S., and only 60 or so are in the biotech or medical arena,” Roach says. “The thing that was missing is they couldn’t take the development to the market. In the medical development field, it is a costly key because you have to meet FDA ground rules.” With the plan in place, Roach went bargain shopping. The center needed mold making, machining, ultrasonic welding and tubing equipment, all for work with plastic. It needed sophisticated “wet labs” and clean rooms. BMC got its FDA certification in late 2004, and for Gillespie’s Pharma-Pen, the timing was perfect. The company became the center’s first big success story in mid-2007, when West Pharmaceuticals acquired Pharma-Pen, Gillespie estimates BMC’s facility and technical staff saved at least two years of development time. – Pamela Coyle
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Jacksonville, Texas Bringing Opportunity to Industry ■ Excellent highway system hub for distribution ■ Economic development incentives that are both creative and flexible ■ Over 70 diverse and complimentary industries ■ Affordable, reliable utilities ■ Skilled, available workforce ■ Business-friendly local government Contact the Jacksonville Economic Development Corporation by calling (903) 586-2217 or visit us on the Web at www.jacksonvilleedc.com
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health care & biotechnology
The $4 million CyberKnife machine aims high intensity radiation at tumors with sub-millimeter accuracy.
Robot Targets Tumors Narrow radiation beam spares healthy tissue and organs
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t East Texas Medical Center, a $4 million robot, guided by neurosurgeons, radiologists and oncologists, uses radiation to treat tumors like a surgeon’s scalpel. The CyberKnife™ Stereotactic Radiosurgery System in Tyler at first targeted lesions of the brain and spine but now can help dissolve tumors of the lungs, liver and pancreas, says Todd Sigmon, administrator of the center’s Cancer Institute. “It is pinpoint, controlled beams of radioactive energy,” Sigmon says. “Radiation has been used to treat cancer for 50plus years. This just further refines it.” CyberKnife™ of Texas is a collaborative effort between the ETMC Regional Healthcare System and Tyler Neurosurgical Associates. It is one of more than 160 such systems worldwide, according to Accuray, the company that makes the machines. The treatment can target tumors that may have once been considered inoperable or untreatable. The 1-millimeter beam of energy is much more precise than traditional radiation treatment and can attack tumors while sparing healthy tissue and organs, Sigmon says.
EAST TEXAS
Each patient and each tumor are discussed at a conference attended by 20 to 25 doctors from a range of specialties. Misty Weathers, a registered nurse and the CyberKnife™ coordinator, walks patients through a process that includes careful screening and intense imaging so doctors can pinpoint tumor location. Still, most tumors actually move. The CyberKnife™ system tracks them. “Almost everything outside the skull moves when you breathe, and this corrects for patient movement and tumor movement,” Weathers says. The ETMC Cancer Institute began offering the treatment in November 2006; 110 patients were treated in the first 10 months. “We’ve been doing it long enough now we are seeing results,” Misty says. One of the first lung patients, for example, recently returned after treatment, and the CAT scan found no lesions. “The films are pretty amazing,” she says. “One guy, it is like it was never there. It melted away.” – Pamela Coyle
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food science
Pittsburg’s Pride Nation’s largest chicken company has deep roots in East Texas
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or the nation’s largest chicken company, East Texas’s businessfriendly atmosphere is the stuff of history – company history, that is. Headquartered just outside Pittsburg, Pilgrim’s Pride has been a Camp County fixture since 1946. The company began as a small feed store and has since grown into an $8 billion corporation with operations in 18 U. S. states, Mexico and Puerto Rico. It employs more than 55,000 people and
When Lonnie “Bo” Pilgrim co-founded Pilgrim’s Pride, it was a small feed store.
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supplies chicken to household names like Wendy’s restaurants and Wal-Mart. Ray Atkinson, director of corporate communications for Pilgrim’s Pride, says the company’s phenomenal success would not have been possible without community support. “This area has always been our home,” he says. “We are grateful for the support that the community has shown over the years.” According to Pittsburg Mayor Shawn Kennington, that hospitality is what makes Camp County a great location for Pilgrim’s Pride or any other corporation. “I think the friendly atmosphere of the people living in East Texas makes Camp County a good place to do business,” Kennington says. “The area has always supported Pilgrim’s Pride throughout the years.” And Pilgrim’s Pride has benefited from more than just community support. Both Atkinson and Kennington applaud local residents’ strong work ethic and diverse skill sets, and Kennington points out that the area offers significant financial advantages. “Pittsburg has in the past offered a tax incentive to improvements for new businesses,” Kennington says. The city participates in the statesupported Texas Enterprise Zone program, and tax rates throughout the county are comparatively low. Even the topography is ideal. “The nature of our business – raising
and processing chickens – generally lends itself to rural locations,” Atkinson says. Camp County’s wide open spaces are perfect for the Pilgrim’s Pride feed mill, hatchery and commercial egg facility located here. A company distribution center, just across from the Pilgrim’s Pride World Headquarters building, benefits from ready access to major highways. But in this relationship between corporation and community, the benefits flow both ways. “Our growth has created a significant number of good-paying new jobs in the area and helped support the local economy,” Atkinson says. Pilgrim’s Pride has also contributed generously to local charities like the East Texas Food Bank and the Titus County Regional Medical Center. “We’re strong believers in giving back to the local communities where we operate,” Atkinson says. “As the area’s largest employer, we understand the importance of working together to improve our local community.” For Shawn Kennington, this giveand-take is what East Texas business is all about. “The support of the community towards Pilgrim’s Pride has been positive for Pilgrim’s, and the employment opportunities have been very positive for Pittsburg-Camp County,” he says. “We look forward to many positive working relationships with Pilgrim’s in the future.” – Kathryn Royster
EAST TEXAS
JEFF ADKINS
The Grand Saline Salt Palace, constructed entirely out of salt blocks, houses a museum devoted to salt.
Salt of the Earth Morton Salt mines from a huge underground mineral dome
H
ow long would a dome of salt that is 20,000 feet from top to bottom and 1.5 miles wide keep the U.S. supplied? Thousands of years, according to Morton Salt, which has for decades mined an underground salt dome just that size outside the small city of Grand Saline for decades. Salt is the longest commercially mined mineral in the state, and much of it is sold to the chemical and ice removal industries. With underground mines, Morton uses two shafts, one for workers and one for materials and equipment, according to the company’s Web site. Both shafts help deliver fresh air to miners; mined rock salt comes up via equipment through the second shaft. The salt mine is the largest private employer in Grand Saline, population 3,100. And the town is happy Morton’s is around. “We’ve had a lot of good things working between the city and the salt plant,” Mayor Terry Tolar says. The mine, which is 750 below the surface, is not open for
EAST TEXAS
tours, but visitors can get a taste of the operation at Grand Saline’s biggest attraction: its Salt Palace. The structure is in its third incarnation. The first, made of solid salt, was built in 1936 as part of the Texas Centennial Celebration and patterned after the Alamo. It was torn down after it deteriorated. The second Salt Palace came courtesy of a citizens group in 1975 that wanted to launch an annual Salt Festival each June. Morton Salt donated solid salt rocks for construction. Again, the elements took their toll. By 1993, the rain was washing away the tiny building and Salt Palace 3.0 was built, this time with an overhanging roof to protect the exterior. The Salt Palace and a parade remain centerpieces of the town’s annual, three-day Salt Festival. The Salt Palace is also a tourist destination, pulling in 150 to 200 visitors each month, says Tolar, who also offers this advice. “You can lick it, but it might be better to go inside and get the free samples.” – Pamela Coyle
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WHITE OAK City of Pride and Tradition
A Great Place to Live and Work Existing businesses expanding and a brand new 30-acre Willow Lake Business Park, located on US Hwy. 80 with close proximity to Hwy. 42, Hwy. 271 and I-20 for easy access. Light and heavy industrial sites and lakefront office areas available.
White Oak Economic Development Corporation (903) 759-3936 ext. 16 debbiesadler@cityofwhiteoak.com
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food science
Building a Better Water Bottle OZARKA PRODUCES LIGHTER WATER BOTTLE AT WOOD COUNTY PLANT A lot of work goes into making a bottle of water. In Wood County, Ozarka Spring Water gets one of life’s basic elements from the Piney Woods and Clear Springs, but the plastic bottle it uses has its own story. Ozarka’s parent company, Nestle Waters North America, used the Wood County bottling facility to create a bottle that weighs an estimated 15 percent less than others on the market. The Eco-shape™ half liter bottle took two years to create; the company estimated the new container would save 65 million pounds of plastic resin each year. Compared with the traditional plastic water bottle, the new version “is similarly shaped, almost crunchy, very lightweight, and a little bit elongated,” says company spokeswoman Catherine Herter. Ozarka started bottling water in Texas in 1905 and launched its Wood County operations in December 2002. From an initial $150 million investment, Ozarka quickly expanded, adding a $17 million, 200,000 square-foot addition in 2005. The facility in Hawkins has seven bottling lines and employs nearly 300 people with what Herter calls an “above average” pay scale for the area of $14 to $20 an hour. And Ozarka pours back its own investment into the future of the community. For young people planning careers in environmental science, Ozarka provides $30,000 a year in scholarships, including two $2,500 awards to high school seniors in Wood County. “One of the kids is now back
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working in the Quality Control Division,” Herter says. The company also works with teachers, providing materials and technical help with water education programs. When the company bought 1,450 acres just north of Hawkins to develop sources of spring water, it developed the bottling
plant with the environment in mind, earning certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Nestle bought Ozarka in 1987, and the company owns land with springs in Henderson and Walker counties in Texas. The Wood County plant last year bottled 62 million cases. – Pamela Coyle
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agribusiness
Beefing Up The
Cattle Industry Winona couple help promote industry, education, new beef products
Cattle wander the fields at Cross J Ranch in Winona.
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and has climbed 17 percent since then. Wortham says. To meet changing consumer tastes, Texas producers have been developing new products, such as pre-cooked roasts and beef tips that are simply heated in the oven or microwave. Both have been hits with the public. In leadership positions, Brizendine has been a player in some of those big decisions for more than six years. “She brings a lot of enthusiasm to whatever she does. She is committed to the beef industry,” Wortham says. “She understands how important it is for us to get information out to a wide range of audiences.” It is a passion Brizendine picked up at an early age. She was raised in the White Mountain area of Arizona, in timber and cattle country. Her father was in the timber business; most of the kids at the one-room schoolhouse she attended were children of ranchers. “It was not unusual for us in the middle of the summer to get out in the morning to get on a horse and be gone all day,” says Brizendine, who has helped out with more than a few
neighborly cattle roundups. As a rancher, the days are long but gratifying. She’s up at 6 a.m. The animals eat first. Later, it’s fence mending, paperwork and getting the crew out to cut or bail hay. “It is very satisfying to come in at 8 or 9 at night, and every cow on the place goes to bed with you,” she says. But no two days are alike, and one sticks out in Brizendine’s memory. She was in charge of bottle-feeding a young calf that had been rejected by its mother. Fatigued, Brizendine sat down in front of the hungry baby to get him started but soon realized she was atop a mound of red fire ants. “I took the bottle, the calf started wailing, and I ran for the nearest water trough and got in.” Her husband heard the calf and came running, asking, “Where’s the bottle?” Brizendine, soaking in the trough, held it up for him to continue with the feeding. “I saved the bottle,” she says. “You just have instincts.” – Pamela Coyle
P H OTO S B Y J E F F A D K I N S
oo many youngsters don’t know where their food comes from, says Rosemary Brizendine, a longtime cattle rancher along with her husband near the small town of Winona. “Children now think that hamburger comes from a wrapper at McDonald’s and milk comes from a plastic jug,” Brizendine says. As a former president of the Texas CattleWomen’s Association and most recent past president of the Texas Beef Council, Brizendine takes great pride in being a woman leader in the industry and its efforts to better educate kids about where their food comes from. At Cross J Ranch, Brinzendine and her husband, Jim, run about 100 to 120 head of beef cattle, a good-sized operation even by Texas standards, where 84 percent of ranches have fewer than 100 heads of cattle, according to the National Agriculture Statistics Service. That means Brizendine is very handson, doing whatever needs to be done. From worming the animals to castrating them, hopping on the tractor to put out hay to bottle-feeding a newborn calf, “both of us do it,” she says. “We see our animals every day,” she says, “At bigger places, it might be every six months.” She’s also watched the industry change, tackling concerns about product safety, developing new offerings and finding ways to promote them – and seeing more women put on their cowboy hats to tackle the business of ranching. Texas remains the nation’s largest beef producer, with 14 million heads worth some $8 billion in 2007. At the Texas Beef Council, executive director Richard Wortham has weathered the changes, too. In the 1970s, federal dietary guidelines recommended less beef and more fish and poultry, creating a 20-year “freefall” in beef demand, he says. The industry responded by creating a self-help program that set aside $1 from every head sold for promotion and education. U.S. beef demand stabilized in 1998
Cross J Ranch owner Jim Brizendine makes his morning rounds.
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JEFF ADKINS
portfolio
Rangerettes captain Maghan Bridges, right, strikes a pose, in front of Rangerettes, from left, Chelsea Cagle, Nikki Evans, Brittony Peters, Adiah Prince, Erika Raggio and Mackenzie Oden at Kilgore College.
The Rich History of the Rangerettes Lives On E
very time a precision drill team takes center field at a football game, you can thank the founders of Kilgore College. The college itself was a product of the East Texas oil boom in the 1930s, which lured scores of young men. Soon the Texas Rangers followed to help keep them in line. To balance out the population, Kilgore’s college dean came up with an idea to attract young women to the campus. So in 1939, the Rangerettes were born. Since then, the Rangerettes at Kilgore College have set the standard for majorettes. A showcase at the college celebrates the squad’s glorious legacy, which a new batch of young women builds on each year. In 2006, the college wrapped up a major renovation project that added more space for memorabilia, especially
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from Gussie Nell Davis, the first director of the Rangerettes. One of only three Rangerette directors, Davis died in 1993. The showcase, housed in the campus physical education complex, has added a computer that allows current and former Rangerettes to access their “sister line.” Each year, the squad adds 30 to 35 freshmen, and each gets a “big sister” sophomore. Rangerette genealogy also traces separate lines for officers, such as captains and lieutenants. More than $200,000 was raised for the renovation, enough to cover the costs with some left over for upkeep and maintenance, says Paula Jamerson, director of alumni relations at the Kilgore College. Cases highlight awards, trophies, jewelry and mechanized, twirling Rangerette props. Mannequins hanging from the ceiling model original costumes
from past decades of the Rangerette’s annual spring review. Also on display are scrapbooks with decades of newspaper clippings and a plasma television that continuously plays past performances. There’s a bigger, 60seat theater that shows a longer film, too. The Rangerettes have a rich history to document: The squad has appeared in major football games across the country, including the Cotton Bowl in Dallas every year since 1951. They were one of the first groups down the parade route for President George W. Bush’s second inauguration celebration in January 2005. The Rangerettes still remain a strong recruiting tool for the college, Jamerson says. The skirts are a bit shorter than the when they began, though another early goal of the halftime entertainment was to keep fans in the bleachers. They still do.
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Balloon Race Lights Up Sky ill Bussey was in Aspen, Colo., taking hang-gliding lessons when he spied a hot air balloon resting on a nearby rugby field. Called a Godseye, it was all the colors of the rainbow and had him mesmerized. “I just sat there in awe,” says Bussey, a Longview dentist. That moment was the seed that sprouted into the Great Texas Balloon Race, an annual event that celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2008. The spectacle has grown from 30 hot air balloons to 80 and now includes a stunning nighttime display that draws up to 40,000 people to Longview every July. But not in 2007. For the first time, the Great Texas Balloon Race was cancelled. The summer’s torrential rains made the fields wet, muddy and unsafe. “It was the best decision for the race,” says spokeswoman Julie Rigby. “But it was a very sad and very emotional decision.”
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The race will be back in 2008, set for July 11-13. It will, as always, have food, an arts and crafts fair, parachuters, a military aircraft display and flyovers. And dozens of big, beautiful balloons. Bussey, one of the race’s founders, bought his first balloon not long after returning from that Aspen trip. Or rather, he bought a share in a balloon because it was all he could afford, and he figured if he gave four balloon rides a month at $30 a pop he’d cover his monthly payments. The first race was launched from a parking lot behind the Longview Mall. Bussey’s other distinction is as creator of the “balloon glow,” the nighttime display of illuminated hot air balloons. It started in Longview after a latearriving spectator complained that the balloons, which had launched for the race and left, should come back. He agreed, and now virtually every hot air balloon event in the world
features a “balloon glow” at night. “The neat thing about it is this is what made hot air balloon festivals such a success,” Bussey says. “It is drop dead gorgeous.”
P H OTO C O U R T E S Y O F PA U L A N D E R S O N / LO N G V I E W C V B
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The Great Texas Balloon Race
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portfolio
Lady Bird Loved Nature he was born Claudia Alta Taylor in the tiny town of Karnack, but the brick antebellum home of her childhood is where she got the nickname that stuck for life: Lady Bird. The two-story, 10-room mansion was distinguished when it was built in 1846 and remains so today, both as the spot where Lady Bird Johnson grew up and as an architecturally unusual home for East Texas. Nash Castro, a longtime friend, made two visits to the “Brick House” with the former First Lady, who died in 2007. For years, he had tried to convince her to preserve the home and have it designated a National Historic Landmark. At the time, no other First Lady’s birthplace had received that honor. She eventually agreed, but the effort stalled. “I was struck by the house. It represented some of the glamour of the old South,” says Castro, who met Mrs. Johnson in the 1960s when he was director of the National Capital Parks in
Washington D.C. and worked with her on national beautification efforts. “I was rather enchanted by it. There is nothing like it in Karnack or the surrounding area.” The Brick House is not open to the public, remaining a private home, and is owned by children of her father’s second wife. Mrs. Johnson’s mother died when little Lady Bird was five. Though a lonely child, Mrs. Johnson developed her love of nature in Karnack, a lifelong passion that eventually led to the establishment of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the University of Texas in Austin. Castro was its first director. Castro and the former First Lady had thought about using the Karnack property as the site for a wildflower center and she talked of her early experiences there often. “The song of the wind in the upper branches of the pine trees is the most evocative symphony I’ve ever heard …
most of us cherish memories which have their roots in nature – a bond that forever ties us to the land,” Mrs. Johnson said in 1988.
JEFF ADKINS
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“The Brick House” was Ladybird Johnson’s childhood home.
Festival Celebrates Fire Ants hen a community-minded newspaper publisher decided to devise a fall festival in Marshall that would be a bit different, he succeeded. Every October, the town now embraces, at least figuratively, a tiny critter that most folks try to avoid. The pesky fire ant is cause for a parade, an arts and crafts festival, a rubber chicken throwing contest and a chili cook-off. Ants are not a required ingredient. “It’s crazy, zany,” says Phyllis Bryan, the chamber’s special events coordinator. “There is something for just about all shapes and sizes.” The festival started in the early 1980s; it now swells Marshall’s normal population of 10,000 to about 25,000 for the day. The event takes place every second Saturday in October. In 2008, the big date is Oct. 11. A mascot family of fire ants presides over the festival: Freddie, Elvira and Baby
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Sugar. Anthony the anteater, a family friend, is on hand, too. The costumed fire ants ride atop a fire truck during the parade through downtown Marshall. Bryan says the parade is in need of new costumes because the ones they have are getting worn. For the fitness-minded, the festival sponsors a 100-kilometer, 10-mile, 30mile and 45-mile “Tour de Fire Ant” bicycle tours and a 5K run. Creative types can draw ugly faces for the “gerning” contest. The brave can stick their heads through a special toilet seat, make an ugly face and have their pictures taken. The fire ant extravaganza in 2008 returns to Marshall’s historic town square; work on the square required the festival to relocate in 2007. As always, there’ll be more music, food and fun than fire ants. Well, almost. When it began, the festival also featured a fire ant roundup in which participants
gathered as many bugs in a milk jug as they could. That contest is gone, but the fire ant calling contest is not. “They come because they always are around,” Bryan says. For more information please go to www.marshall-chamber.com/ pages/fireants.php or call (903)
935-7868. – Stories by Pamela Coyle
PHOTO COURTESY OF KEN FREEMAN
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Fire ants on parade
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ECONOMIC PROFILE BUSINESS CLIMATE
TRANSPORTATION AIRPORTS East Texas Regional Airport, www.flyggg.com (903) 643-3031
The East Texas region is strategically prepared for business, with its proximity to Mexico, excellent infrastructure, skilled and trainable workforce and favorable pro-business business climate. There is affordable, customized workforce training available through the regionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s many colleges and universities.
Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, www.dfwairport.com (972) 973-5100
ANDERSON COUNTY
HARRISON COUNTY
Dallas Love Field www.dallas-lovefield.com (214) 670-6073
Population, 57,064
Population, 63,819
Palestine Area Chamber of Commerce 401 West Main Street P.O. Box 1177 Palestine, TX 75802 (903) 729-6066 (903) 729-2083 (fax) www.palestinechamber.org www.co.anderson.tx.us
Marshall Texas Chamber of Commerce 213 West Austin Marshall, TX 75671 (903) 935-7868, (800) 935-7868 (903) 935-9982 (fax) www.marshall-chamber.com www.co.harrison.tx.us
Shreveport Regional Airport www.ci.shreveport.la.us (318) 673-5370
RAIL Burlington Northern Santa Fe www.bnsf.com, (888) 428-2673 Union Pacific, www.up.com (402) 544-5000 Amtrak (Texas Eagle) www.texaseagle.com
CAMP COUNTY
Population, 80,222
PORTS
Population, 12,410
Port of Shreveport/Bossier www.portsb.com (318) 524-2272
Camp County Chamber of Commerce 202 Jefferson St. Pittsburg, TX 75686 (903) 856-3443 (903) 856-3570 (fax) www.pittsburgchamber.com www.co.camp.tx.us
Port of Houston www.portofhouston.com (713) 670-2400
TAXES Texas is a pro-business state with low taxes and no personal or state corporate income tax. Texas state sales tax is 6.25% with an additional economic development sales tax of .5%. The local sales tax and property taxes vary by county. 2005 State Tax Comparison Texas per capita income $32,462 Taxes as a percentage of personal income, 4.42%. State taxes per $1,000 of personal income, $44.18 Comparison of Percentage of Personal Income Oklahoma percentage, 6.59% Louisiana, 7.69% Arkansas, 8.77% Source: www.longviewedc.com
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HENDERSON COUNTY
CHEROKEE COUNTY Population, 48,513 Rusk Chamber of Commerce 415 N. Main St. Rusk, TN 75786 (903) 683-4242 (800) 933-2381 www.rusktexascoc.org www.co.cherokee.tx.us
GREGG COUNTY
The Chamber of Athens Texas 1206 South Palestine Street Athens, TX 75701 (903) 675-5181, (800) 755-7878 (903) 675-5183 (fax) www.athenscc.org www.co.henderson.tx.us
MARION COUNTY Population, 10,970 Marion County Chamber of Commerce 118 N. Vale Street Jefferson, TX 75657 (903) 665-2672 (888) GO RELAX (903) 665-8233 (fax) www.jefferson-texas.com www.co.marion.tx.us
PANOLA COUNTY
Population, 117,090 Longview Partnership 410 N. Center Street Longview, TX 75601 (903) 237-4000 (903) 237-4000 www.longviewchamber.com http://www.co.gregg.tx.us
Population, 22,989 Panola County Chamber of Commerce 300 West Panola Street Carthage, TX 75633 (903) 693-6634 www.carthagetexas.com/chamber
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economic profile
RAINS COUNTY Population 11,514 Rains County Chamber of Commerce 410 W. Tawakoni Drive Emory, TX 75440 (903) 473-3913 www.rainschamber.com www.co.rains.tx.us
SMITH COUNTY
VAN ZANDT COUNTY
Population 194,635
Population
Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce 315 N. Broadway Tyler, TX 75702 (903) 592-1661, (800) 235-5712 (903) 593-2746 (fax) www.tylertexas.com www.smithcounty.com
Canton Chamber
52,916 of Commerce 119 N. Buffalo St. Canton, TX 75103 (903) 567-2991 www.cantontxchamber.com www.co.vanzandt.tx.us www.vanzandtcounty.org
RUSK COUNTY
UPSHUR COUNTY
Population 48,354
Population 37,923
Henderson Area Chamber of Commerce 201 N. Main Street Henderson, TX 75652 (903) 657-5528 (903) 657-9454 (fax) www.hendersontx.com www.co.rusk.tx.us
Gilmer Area Chamber of Commerce 106 Buffalo St. Gilmer, TX (903) 843-2413 (903) 843-3759 (fax) www.gilmerareachamber.com www.countyofupshur.com
WOOD COUNTY Population 41,776 Greater Quitman Area Chamber of Commerce P.O. Box 426 Quitman, TX 75783 (903) 763-4400 (903) 763-4913 (fax) www.quitman.com
VISIT OUR ADVERTISERS Athens Economic Development Corporation www.athensedc.com
Frankston Economic Development
Atmos Energy www.atmosenergy.com
Good Shepherd Medical Center www.goodshepherdhealth.org
Austin Bank www.austinbank.com Chandler Economic Development www.chandlertx.com City of Jefferson www.jefferson-texas.com East Texas Medical Center www.etmc.org East Texas Regional Development www.etrdc.com East Texas Workforce Solutions www.twc.state.tx.us Express Personnel Services www.expresspersonnel.com First Federal Bank Texas www.ffbtx.com
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Jacksonville Development Corporation www.jacksonvilledc.com Oncor Electric Delivery www.locationtexas.com Texas Bank www.texasbank.com The University of Texas at Tyler www.uttyler.edu Tyler Junior College www.tjc.edu White Oak Economic Development www.cityofwhiteoak.com Wood County Industrial Commission www.woodcountytx.com
www.co.wood.tx.us/ips/cms
FOR MORE INFORMATION East Texas Council of Governments 3800 Stone Road Kilgore, TX 75662 (903) 984-8641 (903) 983-1440 (fax) www.etcog.org Established in 1970, the East Texas Council of Governments (ETCOG) is a voluntary association of counties, cities, school districts and special districts within a 14 county region. ETCOG assists local governments in planning for common needs, cooperating for mutual benefit and coordinating for sound regional development.
SOURCES: www.etcog.org, www.longviewedc.com www.ecodevdirectory.com/texas www.census.gov
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