Ethanol plant job fair draws a big crowd
The Fayetteville Observer
RAEFORD - More than 300 people from across the Cape Fear region swarmed Raeford City Hall on Wednesday to compete for 41 jobs at the state's first ethanol plant.
Clean Burn Fuels, which opens in mid-January a few miles south of Raeford, is expected to produce 60 million gallons of ethanol fuel a year and 175,000 tons of dried distiller grains to feed pigs, chickens and cows.
Waccamaw Transport Inc. of Selma was at the event, too, looking for people with commercial driver's licenses. The trucking company is contracted with Clean Burn for transportation services.
Job-seekers began lining up two hours before the event to compete for $12- to $18-an-hour jobs. The first batch of 150 blank applications was depleted before the official 3 p.m. start time, said Benjamin Thomas, a veterans employment consultant with the Employment Security Commission.
Thomas wasn't too surprised at the turnout but said he never knew what to expect at job fairs anymore.
"A lot of people around here are unemployed," he said.
Don Porter, executive director of Raeford/Hoke Economic Development, said the turnout was a testament to the region's willing and able work force.
And as far as running out of applications before the job fair even started?
"It's a good problem to have," he said, smiling.
"This is why I do economic development, you know," Porter added. "People talk about how a job is just a job, but these are good jobs. And it's at a time when the need is clear."
The first 41 jobs at the plant will include manufacturing, mechanical and lab positions. Three or four administrative jobs will also be created, said Doug Archer, general manager of the plant.
Warren McNair, a 53-year-old veteran from Wagram, arrived at the job fair about 2:30 p.m. and was still waiting for an interview with plant officials at 4:15 p.m.
McNair said he hadn't worked since October and was willing to do almost any job the plant offered.
"Not paying the light bills is what's bad," he said. "Not paying the heat bills. Anything is better than zero is what I'm saying."
Brenda Conoly of Raeford agreed.
"It's a lot of people for just 41 jobs," said Conoly, who lost her job at Maidenform near Hope Mills in July. Since then, she's been substitute teaching at a day care.
A sense of camaraderie was evident in the packed council chambers at City Hall. William Van Allen of Raeford said everyone was in the same boat - looking for work at a time when there's not enough to go around.
"I didn't expect this big a turnout," he said. "But that's a good thing. I hope a lot of people get jobs, too. Me, for one."
The ethanol plant has been in the works since 2005, when the Cary-based investment company began looking at Hoke County and its inexpensive farmland and railroad connections.
The $100 million plant is expected to eventually employ about 100 people. It is on about 500 acres of the county's never-before-used industrial site in Dundarrach.
Clean Burn Fuels is one of several ethanol plants proposed in the region in recent years, but it's the first to come to fruition.
Porter said it all came down to money and tenacity. The company collected millions from investors, received tax incentives from the county and $35 million in loan guarantees from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
"There's been a lot of logs in the road," Porter said. "But they've been tenacious and aggressive about eliminating obstacles."
