Gold N Plump Breaks Ground For Chicken Plant In Independence
US - Max Baertlein and Don Woychik worked four years to bring a Gold’n Plump chicken facility to Independence.On Tuesday, Gov. Jim Doyle and other representatives helped Baertlein, Independence’s city council president, and Woychik, a water and sewer board member, celebrate the groundbreaking for an $8 million hatchery in the vacant industrial park on the east edge of town.
Four years of effort to entice the St. Cloud, Minn., poultry plant and about 20 jobs to town doesn’t sound like much when one considers the 40-acre industrial park has sat empty, except for row crops, for 18 years.
“I heard four years ago when I was up in St. Cloud, Gold’n Plump was going to expand,” Woychik said. “Max and I wrote a letter and hand delivered it. Two years ago, we followed up with another letter to let them know we were here and willing to work with them.”
“This is exactly the kind of economic development and job creation we desperately need here in western Wisconsin,” said U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, who represents the state’s 3rd District. “I’m especially heartened to see this effort to combat hunger, taking the lead and showing what we can do each in our own way.”
Source: La Crosse Tribune
19 April 2006
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