University Daily Kansan / Friday, May 5, 1989
Minneapolis' future unsettled
- Continued from p. 15
ber, said the company would come back.
Weathered previous crises
"At one time, it was almost as bac as this," Dallen said. "They came up with a way to get the business back feet. I think they will do it again."
In 1974, the company went through its first crisis when a drop in the motor home market forced the company to reorganize. Eldorado slowly back from that, only to face another crunch during the gas crisis in 1980.
The company switched its target customer from the middle class to more affluent customers who could afford a car but not be not owned by rising gas prices.
Since 1895, the motor home industry has experienced steady growth. In 1988, total sales of motor homes in the United States peaked at $3.3 billion, an increase of more than 25 percent from 1866, according to statistics provided by the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association.
ElDorado, however, did not make the trip to the top of the growth charts.
In 1986, the company unveiled the Starfire fire motor home. The motor home debated with a resounding victory and surrounded by many toward its current shaky situation.
According to a statement released by the company, ElDorado does intend to continue business through a reduction in size.
"EI Doradon now looks to the future and the opportunity to downsize its core business, making it survive," the statement said. "Certainly the business, its lender, the employee, the company, the ongoing suppliers deserve every opportunity a successful Chapter 11 can afford them."
Bill Hemenway, co-publisher of the Minneapolis Messenger, the town's newspaper, is the person in town with the job of keeping the town informed about ELDorado's status.
The Minnesota Messenger is published weekly from its modest building off the main street. Behind the counter, Henemway stands to greet customers amid piles of papers on the desks. A picture of a lone Jayhawk wearing a cowboy hats on the wall among other pictures.
Hemenway said that since the news broke of the plant closing, the town and the newspaper had been swamped by the media.
"I think most of the coverage we've had so far has been awfully negative. Hemeenay said, "We've been in storm before and come out OK."
'We'll hang on'
"I think we'll hang on with or without it," Hemenway said. "It would be tough for me, since the town depends on them so much."
He said, however, that without EiDorado the town would experience a population decrease. He said that everyone would "pull in their horns" for a while but that the town would continue.
bruce Cleveland, vice president of the United Branch Bank of Bennington State Bank, said he was worried about prospects of a population decrease.
"I've lived here 20 years, and the population has not changed all that much." Cleveland said. "Without me, I'm sure the population will drop."
ElDorado reopened March 27, recalling 35 workers, a fraction of the 700 the company once employed. The company has a psychological boost for the town.
already made a trip to Salina. Not to work, but to apply for unemployment.
The workers who were laid off have
One group of people in Minneapolis may have no other choice but to move out. Cleveland said that group was high school graduates.
"Without ELDorado, they are going to be moving out of the community," Cleveland said.
"The plant has employed a lot of kids out of high school." Cleveland said. "They have hired a lot of home-grown workers. In the past, many of the kids who went on to higher education came during the war at work at the plant. They'll probably have to find somewhere else to work."
He said that both the townpeople and the bank were unsure of ElDorado's future.
"A wait-and see attitude is the position we are taking at the bank," Cleveland said. "The impact of the closing is going to be felt suddenly if it's not reopened soon. It will affect businesses, businesses and families in town.
"If it is opened back up on even a small scale, the psychological effect will make the impact less. It would make people relax a little."
Dallen, as manager of the chamber, helps in industry recruitment. She said Minneapolis would continue to look for an industry.
make people realize if the plant does eventually fail.
Hempeny said, the town would hunt for another industry to take its place.
While the town continues its search, ElDorado attempts to survive. Hemenway said the combination of bad farming conditions and the problems at ElDorado were taking their toll on the town.
given them on to it. "There is a lot of concern in town about both of them." Heemway said, "I would say that right here in town, the ElDorado plant would be the most important as far as we are"
The possibility of losing the major industry would be the most important issue in any small town, Hemeney said. It is a problem that other Kansas towns might face in their future.
concerned."
On March 24, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Topeka granted Minneapolis a little mental relief. But more worrying, the court gave the town hone.
The court granted the corporation temporary approval to use some of its cash to continue making motor homes. ElDorado will be able to use $500,000 until April 21 to pay bills and meet payroll.
Could happen to any town
Cleveland said that the problem Minneapolis was facing could happen to any town its size across the Midwest.
"I've been the talk of the town," Cleveland said. "EI-Dorado kept an incredible secret. It's amazing, in a way that we never wraps for so long."
Cleveland said that people from small towns would understand the difficulty of keeping anything affective in large majority of the town's news.
On the afternoon of March 24, four men sat in the Pump and Pantry 24-hour convenience store and discussed the possible salaries that might be paid if the plant were reopened. The next morning, 10 men discussed the possibility it was Mary's Daylight Donuts. They argued among themselves about the possible workforce size if the plant were reopened.
The donut shop was a morning stop for EL Dorado workers during the strike, and the place for talk about EL Dorado. And the talk is not optimistic.
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