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News From The Hoosier State
David In Indy:
Whirlpool will close plant in Evansville
1,100 to lose jobs as refrigerator work heads for Mexico
Indiana will lose another industrial icon next year when Whirlpool closes its Evansville refrigerator plant, wiping out 1,100 jobs.
Known a half-century ago as the world refrigerator capital, Evansville will see its last remaining refrigerator plant close next summer when Whirlpool moves production to Mexico.
The Michigan manufacturer announced the closing Friday, saying it also will move assembly of ice makers from Evansville to an undetermined location.
"We had to take a look at which plant we could get the best cost position in, and because top-mount refrigerators are not in the demand that they used to be and they're more of a commodity item, Mexico offers us the best cost platform to continue to produce (them)," Whirlpool spokeswoman Jill Saletta said.
Losing the Whirlpool line will be a shock to Indiana's southwest corner, an area that had weathered the recession with relatively few industrial job losses compared to the state as a whole.
By July, the Evansville area had lost 4,200 factory jobs, or about 13 percent of its manufacturing work force, since the recession began in December 2007.
In contrast, the state has shed 110,000 -- or 20 percent -- of the 545,300 industrial jobs in place when the recession began.
"We're talking about a dramatic impact on the economy and the work force," Evansville Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel said. "Our job is to try to find ways to absorb these folks into other positions in the economy."
July's jobless rate in Evansville and Vanderburgh County stood at 8.2 percent, compared with 10.6 percent statewide.
Hundreds of offices, shops, stores and plants in Indiana have let go of workers, but Whirlpool's layoff would be one of the largest of the recession.
By closing a plant employing 1,100 people, Whirlpool's would rank as the second-largest shutdown or layoff announced this year in Indiana.
In July, Navistar closed its Indianapolis diesel engine plant, wiping out 1,336 jobs. Other major job losses include 985 temporary layoffs by Caterpillar in Lafayette this week, 978 temporary layoffs by ArcelorMittal at East Chicago last month and 696 temporary layoffs by Cummins in Walesboro in May.
The largest single layoff of this recession was the shutdown of Monaco Coach's recreation vehicle plants in Elkhart and Nappanee, which idled 1,430 people in September, state reports show.
City officials said they hope to keep Whirlpool's refrigeration product development center, but Whirlpool said it has not decided the fate of the center's 300 employees. It expects to in the "near future." Last year, Whirlpool cut 120 jobs at the Evansville plant.
Its closing fits into Whirlpool's bigger plan of reducing excess capacity that it built from 2004 to 2007, said Brian Sozzi, an analyst with Wall Street Strategies.
Refrigerator plants run by Sunbeam, Seeger, Serval and International Harvester in the late 1940s gave Evansville the reputation of being the Refrigerator Capital of the World, noted the Evansville Courier & Press.
Serval was gone and Harvester had left the refrigerator business by the time Whirlpool and Seeger merged in 1955. But by then, Whirlpool was on the way to employing what would be a peak of 10,000 workers in the city.
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009908290351
Jeff Wrangler:
Shit, that's hard. I'm sorry to hear this, David. :(
David In Indy:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on August 31, 2009, 09:52:28 pm ---Shit, that's hard. I'm sorry to hear this, David. :(
--- End quote ---
Yeah, it's a beeyotch Jeff. That Whirlpool plant has been there a long time. It's one of the first things you pass as you come into Evansville on 41. I have som friends that work at that Whirlpool plant. I'll call them and find out what they are planning to do now. Evansville isn't really very big at all - about 150,000 people, so that's a lot of jobs for a city its size. :-\
David In Indy:
Wildlife officials closely watching bobcat population
Emily Longnecker/Eyewitness News
Columbus - Hoosiers might never see or run into one, but wildlife experts say Indiana's bobcat population is growing quickly.
"They're an invisible animal," says Kathy Hershey with Utopia Wildlife Rehab in Bartholomew County. "They're there. They're minding their own business and they have a function."
Hershey says she knows she's got a bobcat living nearby.
"I heard this noise and I absolutely could not figure out what it was and went to the Internet and listened to bobcats," she said.
But just how many are in the state is hard to tell. The Department of Natural Resources says its been tracking bobcats with electronic collars. DNR officers say even with the growing population, there have been zero problems reported. That means no attacks on humans, no attacks on pets.
"Maybe if you get a chance to take a picture, take a picture, but don't bother the bobcat. Let them do their thing and they won't bother you," advises Tim Rose from Columbus.
Rose would know. He ran into a bobcat a few years ago near the Columbus city limits. The animal got stuck in a trap Rose had set for coyotes.
"I can't describe the sound it was making but it was very aggressive, but it was cornered," describes Rose.
Once Rose and DNR officers set the animal free, Rose says he disappeared and never looked back.
"He was gone," added Rose.
According to the DNR, bobcats are protected by state law and that means if one decides that your backyard is its new home, there's nothing you can do. It's illegal to trap or kill a bob cat.
"They're not a threat to us," adds Hershey.
She also hopes humans won't pose a threat to the bobcats.
http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=11095653
David In Indy:
Disney train arrives in Bargersville
Bargersville - Parents and kids are lining up to get a closer look at Disney's "Christmas Carol" promotional train in Bargersville today.
The train, which is a first-of-its-kind marketing tool by Disney, is making its only stop in Indiana Wednesday.
The train arrived in Bargersville Tuesday. It's part of a 40-city, 36-state free interactive tour to promote the November release of "A Christmas Carol" starring Jim Carrey.
"When you can actually see the soundstage that they use and motion capture technology, when you can do your own face morphing and take your face and morph it into a character, it leaves a greater impact. Hopefully they'll all go see the movie on November 6th. Either way, though, it's a really great thing that we're able to provide a free experience in 40 cities all across the country," said Nicole Rivelli, tour spokesperson.
The tour features four custom-designed vintage rail cars. It includes a 3-D digital theater where you can watch a preview of the movie, and a Charles Dickens museum.
The train will be at 24 North Main Street in Bargersville Wednesday from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm.
http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=11092061
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