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Thousands of visitors and thousands of jobs floated into southeast Indiana with the arrival of riverboat gambling a year ago, leading the eight-county area into an unparalleled building and economic boom. At the same time, manufacturing continued a healthy growth pace, fueling even more optimism for good days ahead.
DEARBORN COUNTY
Drop $210 million and 1,400 new jobs into Dearborn County's economy, and it's no wonder that Larry Tiettmeyer, executive director of the Lawrenceburg Chamber of Commerce and head of its economic-development committee, is pleased. "Employment is good and our per capita income is going up," he explains.
The boost came with the arrival of Argosy Casino a year ago. In October, Argosy set sail with a new larger boat and by late December the new pavilion and parking facility opened. And Argosy's hotel is scheduled to open in April, adding another 200 jobs.
Manufacturing, too, is making a strong showing, Tiettmeyer says. Aurora Casket Co. in Aurora and Joseph E. Seagram and Sons in Lawrenceburg, each employing 750 to 800 people, are both strong. Anchor Glass Container Corp. in Lawrenceburg pulled through its Chapter 11 reorganization.
And two new companies have moved to Dearborn County. G.C. Fuller Co., manufacturer of flints for welding torches, moved from Cincinnati. Specialty Adhesive Film Co. also moved from near Cincinnati.
DECATUR COUNTY
Thanks to a ready-and-waiting 325 acres of industrial ground, 70 acres of commercial property and infrastructure upgrades, Decatur County is poised for a new wave of growth, reports Robert Bostic, who served as executive director of the Greensburg Area Chamber of Commerce until the end of 1997.
"We started preparing in the early 1980s, and Greensburg began real, progressive growth in 1986," he says. That's when GECOM Co. came to town to make car-door locks and latches. The company boosted employment by about 400 in the last year, to 1,500.
"Now, 1997 has been a year of preparation again, of getting new land sites available," Bostic says. "We're ready for a new wave." The county has just launched a new comprehensive plan and Bostic hopes to attract diversified industries.
Besides GECOM, major employers include Delta Faucet, which employs about 1,000; Valeo Thermosystems, which employs 800 and makes vehicle heating and air-conditioning components; NTN-BCA, which makes ball...