Demopolis has made the front page of the Monday, August 14th, issue of the
Tuscaloosa News. Although the article is a little long to re-print here, I have added the first few paragraphs. Pick up a copy or view it on-line at:
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/p...608140314/1007
DEMOPOLIS | “Knock on wood," is a popular superstitious act for good luck. No place is it more apt than Marengo County.
“Our strength is natural resource, which is wood products driven," said Jay Shows, executive secretary for the Demopolis Industrial Development Board.
Marengo County sits in a triangle created by three pulp and paper mills: Rock Tenn’s Demopolis Mill, Georgia Pacific’s Naheola mill and Weyerhaeuser’s Pine Hill Mill. While two of those mills, Georgia Pacific’s and Weyerhaeuser’s, are in Choctaw and Clarke counties, they are close enough to draw workers from Marengo County.
In the center of that triangle is Linden Lumber Co.’s large lumber mill in Linden. Fueled largely by the wood products industry, Marengo’s citizens have fared better economically than their Black Belt neighbors in Greene, Sumter, Hale and Perry counties. In December 2005, Marengo County had a net gain of about 600 jobs over January 1995.
The average employment for 2005 was somewhat lower, showing a gain of about 300 jobs over 1995. The annual net gain was higher in 2002 and 2003 before layoffs at Linden Lumber Co. and a couple of smaller plant closings in Demopolis.
But economic prosperity in Marengo County isn’t evenly distributed. Growth is almost entirely concentrated in the north end of the county around Demopolis.
On U.S. Highway 80, a steady stream of shoppers hustles in and out of the new Wal-Mart Super Center. All around it, new retail shops have sprung up, and the roadside is dotted with fast food franchises and chain stores.
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