It was a frustrated and pessimistic group of people who met Friday at Fairview Christian Church to learn how they can bounce back from losing their jobs at a Carthage plant.
Former employees of Renewable Environmental Solutions gathered in the parking lot of the church prior to going inside for an informal meeting of the Missouri Career Center’s Rapid Response Team.
The employees were laid off on Monday when the RES plant closed its doors. Changing World Technologies, the parent company of RES, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Wednesday, but would not comment further on the fate of the plant or its employees.
The company said it hoped to reorganize and remain in business, but it was laying off most of its workforce while it sought more loans and investors.
Bob LeGasse, Riverton, Kan., a former employee who grew up in Carthage, said some employees were holding out some hope that the company might recover and the plant might reopen.
“It’s not pretty out there,” LeGasse said. “Most people want to know what’s out there as far as benefits. I’m sure most of us have filed for unemployment either at the office or on the Internet, but there are other things out there for people.”
Most of the dozen or so employees who gathered in the parking lot of the Fairview Christian Church before the meeting declined to speak to reporters, saying they thought it would only lead to more bad press.
David Brock, Carthage, said he has already been out searching for a job.
“Right now you just swallow your pride and you try to find whatever you can,” said David Brock, Carthage. “I’ve looked for eight, nine-dollar an hour jobs, and sometimes you’re overqualified. I’ve looked outside this area to try to find a job, to Texas, to Kansas, but there’s not a lot out there. It’s just frustrating, you can see a lot of guys it’s impacted.”
David Brock said he worked at the plant for two years as a driver and was training to be a process technician and do odor rounds.
D
avid Brock and his wife, Stefani Brock talked about the idealism of working for a plant that was experimenting with something that could revolutionize energy production, and the frustrations of hearing city officials say they were glad the plant is closed.
Carthage Mayor Jim Woestman said on Thursday he was disappointed that people were losing their jobs, but he was not unhappy that the plant was closing and the city would not have to put up with the odors that were blamed on the plant.
“When you don’t have the support of your community, you hardly stand a chance,” Stefani Brock said. “Basically what the mayor said in the paper was he was glad they were gone because then Carthage won’t have to deal with the smell, not considering that there’s 50 people out of a job.”
RES officials have denied that the plant was the source of the odors and said they put millions of dollars into equipment to keep odors from escaping from the plant.
“What we did there, it was to help the future and a lot of the problems we had at the plant were because it was an experimental plant,” David Brock said. “Over the years, we put millions of dollars into trying to take care of the problems and it’s just kind of frustrating.”
David Brock said he was looking for work in the area, but he was also looking as far away as Texas and Kansas, although he really didn’t want to leave Carthage. Stefani Brock works for the school district.
“I’m a resident here, I’ve lived here since 2000, I live right here on Garrison and there’s a lot more smells in Carthage than them just pointing a finger at us,” David Brock said. “There are other plants in the city that make odors.
