Hundreds of New Jobs Coming to Stroud

Stroud City leaders annnounced plans to hire people who lost their jobsafter the May tornado. A bronze monument company will be setting up shop in Lincoln County. The News on Six was there Wednesday

Wednesday, August 18th 1999, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Stroud City leaders annnounced plans to hire people who lost their jobsafter the May tornado. A bronze monument company will be setting up shop in Lincoln County. The News on Six was there Wednesday for the announcement.

Finally, there's some good news for Stroud's economy. Cherry Love is happy is happy to let you know about it. She runs the beauty shop on Main street. "Our business has been hurt," she said.

Like everyone else who lives in Lincoln County, the tornado touched their lives
and ripped apart many others. The May twister shut down Stroud's top three employers and started an exodus. Couples have had to find work in different cities, forced to sell their homes and leave.

Sheldon Mitchell rode into town with an offer to rebuild the Sygma trucking terminal and turn it into a new company. "This is a time to come forward and let the city know it's our intent to put the workforce back to work," he said. "We don't want anyone else leaving and that's what's been happening here. "We want more than anything to re-employ the people that were working for Sygma, that were dedicated to Sygma," Mitchell emphasized.

Superior Bronze will spend more than $1,000,000 to fix up a metal building and hire 300 people by November. Base pay is $10 an hour with benefits. Within two years, the plan is to have three shifts of 800 employees making bronze grave monuments and signs. Counting the closed hospital, the closed Tanger Outlet Mall and Sygma,
Stroud lost more than six hundred jobs. The truck terminal was Stroud's largest utility customer. "If they perform like they anticipate, we could very well be better off than we were before," said Earl Burleson, Stroud city manager.

A large company has discovered the secret of Stroud and its people. "A lot of hard work and a willingness to work at it," noted 82-year-old Edith Jones. And the road to economic recovery is paved with bronze. "Like they keep saying, Stroud is strong ," said Love. "It will pick up and we'll bounce back."

For more information, call Superior Bronze at (918) 280-0600.