The Old Factory

Articles

Craig Chamberlain

The Old Factory
Aug 8, 2003

I've heard that it is being torn down. The old Fostoria glass factory. It sits in the middle of town rotting away. An entire wing of the building has collapsed since its closure,about 20 years ago. Countless windows have been broken out by vandals, and thieves have broken in to steal what they can.

Now why I am writing about an old factory that has been closed for years? Because even though it is an eyesore, I think it needs to remain. A monument to liberal stupidity. You see Fostoria had been in business for a almost a century. It made glass that was valued for its quality, and now is valued as collectors items. President Kennedy used Fostoria glass in the White House when he was president. What does this have to do with liberals. It was liberals who enacted the policies, who ruined our economy, that led to the factory being closed. It was then Governor, now Senator Jay Rockefeller, that was in charge when it all started to fall apart.

You see I think that the factory in its current state is the perfect symbol. An eyesore, a rotting shell. It is the perfect symbol for my town, my state and what the democrats have done to make it that way. The factory was a major source of employment. When it closed a lot of things closed with it. Its true that Fostoria didn't close until the 1980's, but it had been killed in the 1970's. Its last years it was like a hospital patient that was terminally ill. You knew that it was going to die but no one wanted to think about it, about what it would to to the town.

My grandparents talk about the good old days. When the town was twice the size it is now, and when jobs were plentiful. I have never known such days. I walk through the downtown and all I see are empty buildings,yes there is a bar here and a bar there.But by and large it's empty. Across from the Fostoria factory is the old Stamping building, where the used to make pots and pans, it burned down before I was born but the building, or what is left remains. It has been bricked up and a small part of it has been turned into a pawn shop. I think that is appropriate. Pawn shops make nothing they just take what no one really wants anymore. Our state is like that, no one really wants us, and within our state our town is like that, no one really wants us.

So now the city has bought the property, and is in talks with a developer. The factory will be torn down. I don't know what they are going to replace it with, maybe a light industrial complex, maybe another shopping plaza(we have three already and they are mostly empty). Some would say this is a time for optimism. That what is dead is being removed and maybe a little life will be brought back to town. I don't beleive it. Nothing ever stays here for long. So when I see the factory my thoughts return to the man who we made senator, who was once governor. And I laugh out loud when a liberal says they can make the economy work, like its a broken car, instead of people living, working, and interacting. I laugh long and hard at their solutions. So I think I am going to be laughing a long time.

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Email Craig Chamberlain: craig_chamberlain@hotmail.com

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