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Celotex wants $3M Pa. loan: Money woes may delay reopening(The Daily Item, Sunbury, Pa. Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Dec. 9--SUNBURY -- If it doesn't receive a loan from the state, Knight-Celotex may have to hold off reopening its Sunbury plant after shutting it down temporarily over the holidays. Northumberland County Commissioner Vinny Clausi received an e-mail from Knight-Celotex's chief financial officer Rob Wasielewski on Oct. 30 after the two had a phone conversation about the plant's struggles. In the e-mail, Wasielewski wrote the company has been "denied the additional debt capital we require to maintain operations at Sunbury by a number of banks." He cited high energy prices, the credit meltdown and the generally poor state of the American economy as reasons for the company's financial woes and asked Clausi for help in obtaining a $3 million to $4 million loan from the state. The term of the loan would be one year. Clausi said he contacted the governor's action team, as well as several politicians -- including U.S. Rep. Chris Carney, D-10 of Dimock, state Sen. John Gordner, R-27 of Berwick, and state Rep. Merle Phillips, R-108 of RR2 Sunbury -- to enlist their help in saving the struggling plant. The county commissioner said he hasn't heard from any of them in the past month. Clausi said Phillips invited him to a meeting with state officials in November, but Phillips cancelled the meeting at the last minute. Phillips did not return a phone call seeking comment. "As elected officials, we have an obligation to step in and help these people," Clausi said. "But we need help from the state and federal government." Clausi said the Sunbury plant, which employs about 125 people, furloughed 16 people in its fabrication department around Thanksgiving and then closed temporarily. The plant is supposed to reopen at the beginning of January, but Clausi said his contacts at the plant have told him if the company doesn't get the state loan, plant officials may have to postpone the reopening. Calls to Knight-Celotex's Sunbury plant and corporate headquarters in Illinois were not returned. n E-mail comments to [email protected]. To see more of The Daily Item or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.dailyitem.com/. Copyright (c) 2008, The Daily Item, Sunbury, Pa. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |